City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, I've got six o'clock. If everybody would rise, Councilman Allers is going to do the prayer and then we'll follow that up with the pledge of allegiance. Council, heavenly father, God almighty, as last year winds down and this year starts, we gather to say thank you for our daily blessings we receive from you. As we go forward every day, may we pause to say thanks and remember to do your will, to be kind and love one another, your greatest commandment to us. We ask for your continued blessings for the people of Jefferson City, for our men and women who serve us tirelessly, and for we on the city council so we make the best decisions for those we represent here. May our decisions reflect to all what Jesus teaches us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Amen. to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right, welcome. We'll go ahead and call the meeting to order and do a roll call. Here, hereson here. Joe here. Champer here. Lester here. Michael here. Millie here. Thomas present. Present. All right. Item three, adoption of the agenda. Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? All right. takes us to item four and we're going to recognize some outstanding ladies in our community. Got former council member Hensley. So, I may let you lead the troops up and whoever you would like to join you. I think we may have a coach there and we've got a proud superintendent. I watched their escapades in the local newspaper and I'm jealous of their scores. So, thanks for being with us. Well, good evening, John Hensley, 1204 Mororrow Drive. Is this on? There you go. Thank you.

There you go. Uh, thanks for having us. I'm really just here as a proud golf dad. Uh, and really appreciate y'all making time to recognize our golfers and their coaches, and it's always nice to see uh old and current friends. So, uh, Coach Stevens, you want to

Yeah, sure. [laughter] Uh we really appreciate this and thank you for this opportunity of recognizing these five young ladies that did a tremendous job this year. Uh Coach Papis and myself uh really walked into like a little gold mine. Uh Mia McGrath is our captain uh attending uh Evansville University next year on a golf scholarship. Uh Katie Griffgraphth was our number two player. Our number three was going back and forth between Lily uh Cado and Caroline Hensley and then Ella Gingrage was our number five player. Um we did a tremendous job this year, won a lot of tournaments and to our surprise we ended up winning the district championship which was the first time since the '9s is what we've been told. Uh so I am very proud of these young ladies and I want to thank you guys for helping us recognize their achievement this year. Um, Oak Hills was our practice course. Uh, we really appreciate, uh, all the help that they have provided for us by allowing us to practice there every single day. Uh, Jefferson City Country Club was another one that allowed us. And then Metal Metal Brook or Metal Lake. Okay. But no, thank you so much, mayor, for allowing us. And I think our girls do have a gift for you.

Well, could the ladies come up and just tell us what grade they're in? Yes. Yeah. I know we got one. [laughter] Yeah. On me. I am a girl. I'm a senior. And yes, we do have a gift for you because I've seen you out on the golf course. [laughter] [applause] I'm Caroline Hensley and I'm a freshman. Yep. I'm Katie Griffith and I'm a senior. I'm Ella Gingrich and I'm also a senior. I'm Lily Codle. I'm a freshman. Wow, you've got quite a team coming back. Yes,

we're very excited. Coach, you want to introduce yourselves?

Sure. Um, I am Coach Papis and I am just so incredibly proud of our girls. We walked in and truth be told, neither one of us are professional golfers. [laughter] Um, and I was the personality manager, I like to say. Um, and just the girls have been so fantastic to work with. They really embodied the sport. And that's something rare. you know, players will go out, they practice, um, but to have a team who really embodies the sport and then they really, I think our proudest moment is they helped each other. Like it not a single member of our team was selfish. They were always encouraging each other, um, helping each other, helping, you know, tweak different things and it was just um, such a blessing and such an honor to see. So, we just want to thank all of you for your support and I want to thank the girls for a fantastic season.

Well, great. Any comments or questions from council? Councilman Ellers. Thank you all. I got the chance to play with [snorts] Councilman Hensley one time. So I see his ability is passed down which is um good and it's also people that play against her if has any kind of the competition that your dad has instilled in ought to watch out. So uh John has a great swing, gets a good ball. Um, but it's pretty decent, too. So, congratulations. Uh, look forward to seeing you all again next year. Thank you.

All right. If you wouldn't mind coming down front, we'll do a quick picture. Council will jump behind us and then, as I indicated, you're free to stay or take off. Miss Brian will help us out. That's not my guest smile. Oh gosh. [laughter]

I know. Let's wait for everybody to get past. One, two, three.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Really appreciate it.

[clears throat] Good to see you. All right. Item five, opportunity for public comment. I think we have one individual signed up. Mr. Wagner. Yes, sir. You could identify yourself and welcome. Good to have you.

Always a pleasure. We on. Always a pleasure to be in front of the city council here. Are we on? There we go. Thank you. Always a pleasure to be here in front of the city council uh and our friends and neighbors here at Jefferson City. Uh just had a couple comments. Gus Wagner, 253 Green Tree Road, Jefferson City. Um, I'm speaking solely tonight as Gus Wagner, a city resident, downtown business owner, and a pot stirer uh here in community, not on behalf of any organization, client, political committee, or grassroots group I may be involved with outside of this conversation. Also, my comments are not directed at the city of Jefferson, the city council, or former parking department employees who now work for the contractor. We're here to represent the many, many voices and comments that Jeffersonians from across the city have willingly shared with myself over the recent months. And here I am to share them with you or share some thoughts with you. These comments are specifically directed at our new friends uh and only directed at our new friends at PCI Municipal. Uh, I want to be clear up uh that I personally support the proposed increase in parking fines. And I say that as someone who frequently abuses the current free parking system in downtown Jefferson City. Um, the initial roll out, we got a couple quarter issues here, but the initial roll out of PCI's municipal parking system lacked clear, centralized, and proactive communication to the public. Um this started or this started beforehand but is most uh symbolic uh with the downtown uh parking town hall that the downtown association held. Coincidentally the day after the Madison Street garage was closed to the public uh at the upper levels. Um it was a very consternationfilled time here in in Jefferson City as a whole and our friends at PCI came in to address the public uh at that uh meeting and immediately opened up uh discussing increased fines, increased fees, and increased parking changes and really

downplayed the situation regarding the critical issue at that time of the Madison Street garage. Uh this opened up the community for a lot of confusion, uh perceived distrust and again um a a lot of things here that that led to an aggressive reaction from the public uh throughout this uh since that date until tonight today even. Um optics were extremely poor and avoidable in this entire situation. Um, we've had a lot of discussion as well regarding confusion regarding payment systems, regarding the current meters, future kiosks, apps, QR codes, text messages, all sorts of things. Lots of mixed messaging on this information and it's confused a lot of folks, namely our seniors. And it is going to cause a lot of confusion uh this week when we start having an extra thousand people minimum visitors every week coming in for the capital uh business. Uh we've also had a secure a failure to address security and trust concerns which have been brought up by the public. Regardless of how secure this actually is, the silence on the security issue, it creates fear and more uh consternation on behalf of the public and uh which we continually hear about on a daily basis. Um and here's my personal part of this whole thing. Uh, I had to hit the roof last week myself when I uh volunteered to get a $6 parking ticket to test trust test the system, which then I went to pay that $6 parking ticket and was encountered a $3.95 fee to pay an online fee, an online ticket. Uh, that's a 66% uh increase in the cost of the ticket uh to pay that citation. I'm not sure if that's going to increase respectively with any proposed uh rate increases uh for the fines, but it's something that I'd like everybody to consider. Additionally, the park link system that has been established or was previously established. I'm sure it's a third party vendor uh for the permit parking system has been a very very confusing system uh

to use uh as with myself is trying to sign up to pay for our permit uh as well as other businesses here in downtown Jefferson City include up to and including giving false positives of having our payment system our payment uh form connected to that website. So that's not uh it hasn't been very helpful uh in this matter at all. So, um, last comment I'm going to say is please don't eliminate the 90-minute free parking downtown during the business hours. Uh, it's very critical to our locally owned businesses here in downtown Jefferson City. I thank you onward and upward and look forward to better communication on all counts with all parties and I'll answer any questions that I can. Thank you very much for being with us. Very good. Thank you,

Mr. Mayor. I do have a question for you. Well, this is a public comment, not a public discussion. Okay. Thank you. All right. Go on to item six, public hearings. Item A, introduce bill 2025-064, an ordinance establishing the downtown Jefferson City Conference Center Community Improvement District, designating the proposed district as a blighted area, appointing the initial board of directors to the to the district and authorizing certain actions and documents in connection therewith. Mr. Crane, thank you. Mayor Mark Spikeman from Gilmore Bell is here. He's going to give the staff overview before the public hearing.

Welcome. How you? Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Thank you. Can everyone hear me? We can.

Great. Uh a as the ordinance of the or the title of the proposed ordinance suggests, this is a ordinance to create the downtown conference center hotel community improvement district, which would be a special taxing district uh located only on the parcels where the proposed uh downtown conference center hotel are located. Uh not anywhere else in the city, just those uh three parcels. the uh the community improvement district or I'll call it a CI uh will impose if if created would impose a 1% sales and use tax only within its boundaries again not within the entirety of the city and it would also uh impose a special assessment based on hotel usage in the district. the revenues from that uh district, the sales tax and the special assessment would go to repay uh was proposed to go to repay bonds associated with constructing the the conference center and hotel project. Uh this uh the petition before you is actually signed by the city itself because the city is the pro lone property owner within the district and it uh it sets forth the term of the district which is 27 years the maximum permitted by the statute. It also asks that this uh city council make a blight finding. Uh when a few weeks ago when the city approved the downtown uh revitalization preservation program, uh it made a blight finding for that same area and uh using the same criteria that was before the council. Then um the request is that the council reaffirm its blight finding for purposes of the CI. The the purpose of that is that CIDs within blighted areas have expanded powers to use their their revenues to uh basically make more types of costs including demolition and uh and

reconstruction of parking garages a a eligible CD cost. Know that's a lot uh out there. So I'm happy to answer any questions. [snorts]

All right. I don't see any right now. I think we'll go ahead and open the public hearing, see if there are any comments, [snorts] and then we can come back to councel if there are any questions. So, we'll go ahead and open the hearing. Is there anyone to speak in favor of this item? [snorts] Anybody to speak in opposition of 20 25-064? All right, we will go ahead and close the hearing on 2025-064. We will open up it for council comments or questions. Councilman Humble. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, I've noticed a trend here in the past where when things come up concerning the conference center and the various aspects of funding the conference center, the quality of it or how we're going to proceed that there are protest votes in it that are that are automatic nose. I just want the statement to be made that from this point on the cement has been poured as far as whether or not there's going to be a conference center and now we are dealing about the details of how it's going to be funded and how it's going to be. So I would encourage anybody who is entertaining a protest vote, your protest vote could have impacts on the quality of the end result. So consider that carefully. Thank you. All right. Any other comments on 2025-064? All right. As you can see on the agenda, this is eligible for passage at the next meeting. So, it'll be back on the agenda. [clears throat] Moves two items. Seven, appointments by the mayor. There are none at this

meeting. Item eight, presentation from staff consultants and invited guests. Christy Drive annual tip update. Benjamin Mushel. Welcome. If you could just identify yourself and we appreciate you being with us. Yes, sir. [clears throat]

Good evening, council. Benjamin Mushel with Pulson Law Firm, State 30 Oliver Street, Jefferson City, Missouri. Uh I'm just here tonight for our annual progress report for the uh TIFF that we created for Christy Drive, which you guys may remember it's the soccer complex essentially off of uh 54 and 179. Uh we're required to give you an annual update. In your packets, you'll see our memo that gives you the update. We are progressing uh and moving forward with everything. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to take it. But uh at this time, the memo should speak to everything you need to know. questions from council.

Do a good job. Thank you very much, council. All right. Item B, monthly financial update. Mr. Perry, welcome. Happy New Year.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, what you have before you in your packet is still in relation to fiscal year 2025. We are still working on closing out the books for 25. So, I just want to run through on page one of the packet information, you've got your sales tax report. Uh, as you can see, we do have all collections now for the 2025 fiscal year and [snorts] the general sales tax came in slightly above projections. Um, we received uh $25,274 over what our budget projections were. Uh, as we go down the list, the other sales tax items unfortunately came in below projections. So, the capital improvement tax just under $191,000 under projections as was the park sales tax and then also public safety tax in at just under $90,000 um based on projections. I do want to point out with the capital improvement sales tax that um that shortage of $191,000 staff has spoken as to how we should essentially account for the fact that when we budgeted we budgeted all of the revenues and so we are kind of short. Uh essentially what we decided at a staff level and we did pass this through discussions with the finance committee. We took an interest income on the capital improvement sales tax of just over $258,000 and there was only $80,000 of interest income budgeted for the year. So that's an additional $178,000. So, we come close to making up the $190,000 shortage. Based on the additional interest income that we took in, we will deal with the remaining

$12,000 with the interest income that we have coming to us fiscal year 26. I'd be [snorts] happy to answer any questions on sales tax. See none.

Next, we're going to go to page six in the packet information. This is the uh revenue report, revenue model report. And as you look at this, you can see that based on the actual versus the budget for 25, there is just about $2.1 million in additional collections of revenue. Um you can see broken down there by category on that first page. The only one that we had shortage in was contributions and donations. And if you go to the next page, you'll actually see on the individual accounts within each grouping uh how we fared on our our budget versus actuals. Um we have made modifications for the FY26 budget based on the information that we had at the time when we went through the budget process. And so a lot of these where there are actual shortages compared to to the budget, we made modifications for those on the FY26 revenue projections as we went through. I'd be happy to answer any questions on those.

All right, seeing no.

Last page that I have here before you is the estimated fund balance. I just kind of wanted to give you an idea [laughter] of where [cough] we stand with the general fund. Uh I do have on here the supplemental workers comp uh appropriation that we did for $390,000 out of the general fund. And so essentially where we're sitting right now just based on uh the only supplemental that we did in FY25 is the $518,419. I want to touch briefly just on health insurance. That's something that we've had conversations about. And at this point in time, I went through the figures this morning and it appears that there's about $1.5 million in that self-funded health insurance fund. It's possible that that number could grow slightly. Uh we received notification today that there were uh two stop-loss payments that we have coming to us and I believe that those will relate to um transactions or activity that occurred prior to 1031. So it's possible that if that is a true statement uh once we receive those payments, we will push those back to FY25 as well. Um, I [snorts] think that is all I have unless there's some question council would like to cover about a topic that I haven't addressed.

So, just council [clears throat]

when when can we expect that the health fund uh will be closed out and we'll know how how it sorts out. I have the auditors coming back for their second fieldwork week at the end of January. Um, usually we would stop accounting for uh any transactions that relate to the prior fiscal year when they come in for their second fieldwork week. Um, so typically by the the time they're here for that second week, we are getting really close to closing everything down and get [clears throat] the financial reports produced. So, I expect we have uh three more weeks, but I do know that uh the the payments that we've been making on self-funded health insurance, the dollars that relate to prior to 1031 are dramatically declining, and I would expect the same thing to be happening over the next three weeks.

Thank you, Councilman. Sheila, thank you for all the work you you're doing on this and and for the the we talked at finance meeting about the uh excess interest income and all that and I I really appreciate that. The uh when do you think we'll get the supplemental that we will need [clears throat] something coming out soon to us [clears throat] said then we have a pending supplemental for that. Will that come out of

council? council has actually already approved the workers comp supplemental that is for the 390. I think we did that maybe two meetings ago. Um the one we had not done would have related to self-funded health insurance. But then also um anything that we may need a supplemental for for FY25 that relates to expense accounts that have exceeded the budget. Uh and we [snorts] know that there are a few accounts there that have some significant uh shortages in them. So, that is really the one supplemental I anticipate could come back, but until we've got everything squared away and finalized, I will hear that for sure. Thank you.

All right, seeing no other questions. Thank you very much. Thank you. Takes us to item nine, questions by mayor, council, and staff. Back to Councilman's, administration committee. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We have one set for Wednesday at 4:00 pm in the council uh booten bank office over there. All right, council. Thank you, mayor. Our next meeting will be the 21st at 4 p.m. across the hall.

Next public safety will be January 29th at 3:30 in the police training room. Final final list or public works. Our next meeting will be this Thursday uh at 7:30 during the health chambers. Any other comments? All right. Item 10, consent agenda. You have three items before you. I'll make a motion. A motion and a second to approve. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? All right. Item 11, bills introduced. Item A, we've already taken care of under 6A. Item B, 2025-065. An ordinance of the city of Jefferson, Missouri, accepting and approving the final subdivision flat of 179 Investments property subdivision, a subdivision of the city of Jefferson, Missouri. Happy New Year. Happy New Year.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, before you, you have Bill 2025-65. It's the final subdivision plat for the 179 investment property subdivision. It's located at 2607 Routes CC. Um the bill is being introduced this evening um with it um coming back before you on January 20th. The location of this uh parcel is about 60 600 ft south of Route C. Um you can see it on the screen outlined in the blue line. This would be just south of the Dollar General store. [snorts] Um the area is zoned C2. The reason for the subdivision split is to allow uh gas station to go into the northern uh partial of this property once it's split. Uh that is an acceptable uh permitted use for this zoning.

[clears throat]

If you look at the subdivision uh plat that you have on the screen here, uh the two zones that we're looking at, you can see the line right here that kind of zags down and over. This would be the northern parcel and then there would be a larger uh parcel down to the south. Um that parcel would be there for future redevelopment. Um that's not determined at this time what the use would be there. Um, [clears throat] as far as um the proposed uh subdivision plat did go to the planning and zoning commission at their December 11th meeting and was recommended for approval on a vote of 8 to zero. Happy to answer any questions. All right, seeing none, that's done right. Item C 2025-066,

an ordinance of the city of Jefferson, Missouri, authorizing the continuence of a sales tax for capital improvements [clears throat] at the rate of 1/ half of 1% the collection and use thereof and providing for the submission of this ordinance to the qualified voters of said city for their approval at the election to be held on August 4th, 2026. Mr. Print.

Thank you, Mayor. This uh will put This will put the capital improvement sales tax H uh is expiring on March 31st, 2027. And public works and planning reviewed this at their uh previous meeting and recommended moving forward a 10-year uh expiration for a new sales tax. I to continue our sales tax for 10 years to address maintenance and improvements on infrastructure. Be happy to answer any questions.

Questions? Councilman Ozington. U Mr. Crane, could [snorts] you highlight for the folks at home like the top three projects that are going to be funded by this sales tax? We we really don't know that yet. Uh that's a good question to ask. But what we'll do is once this goes on the uh once the council approves to put this on the ballot, then we'll start those open house public input sessions to start developing lists and projects and priorities for this upcoming tax. So that will happen over these next six months. Forgive me. I didn't mean to put you on the spot. I just wanted to underline the importance of capital improvement is yeah essential capital improvement.

Council. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I uh see that we want to do a 10-year um expiration. Can you tell us what the current expiration time frame is?

Yeah, currently it's a fiveyear and with the uh climate of getting projects done. It was uh recommended that we move it to a 10-year to have more time to get our projects done. Also have an opportunity to build up more uh funds to do larger projects. That's been one of the the critical points that we've had uh over the last few years is recognizing that the bigger projects seem to take multiple cycles to get done. Uh so this will give us a little bit more flexibility in trying to take on some larger projects that have been unfortunately pushed to the side because of lack of funding. Thank you.

Thanks for your work on this. I appreciate it. So, we'll have public hearings related to these different topics and the council will be able to also give some input to this before we actually put it to the ballot. Is that true? That's true. And what we usually try to do is identify broad categories where the uh resources want to be used and then throughout the years as the revenues come in, councils will make determinations based on what projects they feel um are appropriate based off the uh election.

Okay. And I know our dollars are always, you know, very tight of course. So um each area will be important to really critically look at and I feel confident that you all will do that. Yeah. And this is a tax that uh is broken down by a lot of departments. Um so it's going to be critical that the council and the public have input into what they want to see for the next 10 years and how and where they want those dollars to go. So we'll be going through that process um pretty much right after this. Okay. And I know in our ward especially there's a lot of discussion about infrastructure streets [clears throat] and water and I know we give about right now about 68% to our public

59 59%. So I know in our word that will be one area that is a special concern but of course most people are also concerned about all the other areas too but I just want to share that. Yeah. And and I think it will be important that uh when we talk about a 10-year sales tax that we're also looking at what those current splits are and if they need to change. Right. [clears throat] Those splits were formed probably I don't know 20 years ago. Um and things have changed and priorities have changed and it's important that the council and the public what [clears throat] their priorities are for the next 10 years with capital improvement funds. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it. Council Light.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I would also note that the uh county is moving forward with a tenure as well uh to the voters. Um and how that benefits the city is the Wildwood extension. It allows for more cooperative agreements and shared funds. So uh certainly need need to consider this and get this going for sure. Council Western. [laughter] [snorts] Thank you. All right. Thank [clears throat] you. Item D, 2025-067,

an ordinance of the city of Jefferson, Missouri, amending the 2025 2026 budget of the city of Jefferson, Missouri by supplementally appropriating additional funds within the general fund. Mr. Perry.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, what you have before you is a budget amendment, a supplemental appropriation kind of all rolled into one. If council recalls, when we actually adopted the FY26 budget, we did not have uh any final contract or agreement with PCI. And so, we adopted a budget and parking for business as usual. So what this does is this actually now takes into account um the agreement that we have with PCI what we previously budgeted and um rearranges the funds and also provides additional funds. So um to point out the last page in your packet here is an operating budget for $645,000. That is a breakdown of the budget for PCI. And then if you kind of backtrack and move to the page prior, you will see under professional services kind of a few categories, a few lines down on the report, we've got a 15, I'm sorry, a $15,000 current budget and it needs to actually go to 645. That is the PCI budget. So this would be the fixed price contract that we have. Um so in that third column what you see is the additional funding that we're requesting and kind of how we're moving those funds around. Um the PCI fixed price contract will be under the professional services and all other categories that you see in the GL accounts are either operational that are not included within that express contract or they are expenditures that we anticipate having during the transitional period here. uh initially as we go forward u I'd be happy to answer any questions I know Mr. Bummer. Um, but also answer any questions you have.

Thank you for your work on this. I appreciate it. So, in included in this is money for the additional money for the parking garage demo. Is that right? Or am I confused? Correct. So, included would be an additional $500,000 for parking garage demo. It's at the very bottom of um the GL listings under a category that is a 62621. We are making an effort here to keep operational expenses separate at 620 and the grant expenses in 621. But yes, those are included here as part of that number a half million. And that's really the difference from the state appropriation that we received. I guess I'm looking at

that is that is the funding that we will be required to put forth as essentially the matching money associated with the grant. Okay. Just want to make sure because looking at it you can think well we're increasing a huge amount to PCI and that's really a half a million of this has to do with the parking garage demo

and and we have made some significant changes in other areas. You can see that for the most part there are no salary wind pixels here. That's because it's part of the PCI contract. Um, but then you've got other things that are not included as part of the PCI contract that after having discussions with um, Mr. Burmer and Mr. Fitch, we need to make some modifications in for that first year just as a transitional phase. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it. Okay. Thank you. Item 2025-068,

an ordinance of the city of Jefferson, Missouri, vacating and discontinuing a general utility easement on a portion of lots 1 through 10 of Meadowacre subdivision in the city of Jefferson, Missouri. Yes, Mr. Brown. Yes, Mr. Mayor. Happy New Year.

Happy New Year to you and and everybody on the [snorts] board. The uh yes, this is a simple vacation of a of a general easement um at Meadowacre subdivision. When this uh subdivision was originally platted, there was a easement for a water uh water line which uh turns out to be a water transmission line and and the water company needs a dedicated specific easement uh for that transmission line. So uh this is vacating a general easement that any utility can use and uh what will supplement that uh is is a private easement to the water company uh directly to the water company. So um that's what this bill is about. Any questions? All right. Seeing none. Thank you. And item F 2025.069. 069,

an ordinance of the city of Jefferson, Missouri, authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute a $25,000 agreement with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission for the development of the capital Area NO coordinated public transit human services transportation plan in FY 2026.

Mr. Mayor, thank you. Uh I would ask the council to uh suspend the rules and uh read this in his final for it final passage uh for the city. Is there any opposition to suspension of the rules? All right. Hearing none, we'll have the clerk reread it and then we'll go to Mr. H. An ordinance to the city of Jefferson, Missouri, authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute a $25,000 agreement with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission for the development of the Capital Area MO Coordinated Public Transit Human Services Transportation Plan in FY 2026.

Mr. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, as the clerk stated, this bill would authorize a grant agreement with MODOT to utilize Federal Transit Administration funds in the amount of $25,000. This would be used by Campo to offset the costs associated with the development of the coordinated plan, which is a federally required plan that we have to update every four years. This plan uh addresses transportation needs of elderly, disabled, and low-income populations. Um, and this is grant funding that Campo receives every four years. Um, with the scheduled update of this plan, the plan does require a 20% match from the city, um, which is already in the budget for 2026 for Campo. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

All right, seeing none, you have 2025-069 in front of you for a roll call vote. Hollers. Hi Allan. Hi Hamilton. Hi Joe. Hi Camper. Hi Lester. Hi Michael. Hi Millie. Hi Thomas. Hi Young. Hi. Bill passes. All right. [clears throat] Item 12A bills pending 2025-062. An ordinance of the city of Jefferson, Missouri modifying and amending various fines related to parking. [clears throat]

Mr. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. At this time, I'd like to introduce Mike Vandy, the PCI mun municipal, and uh also John Fitch to my left [clears throat] here, our operations division director. So, uh if I can't answer it, hopefully these two experts will will help me out. that major objective uh of this bill is to increase the uh fines for parking violations uh to promote turnover considering uh the Madison Street garage demolition which um has begun this week if anybody was up in the area. Uh today you you noticed our our contractor uh doing some doing some work in the alley adjacent to the parking garage. So, uh, if there's there's any questions related specific to the bill, please ask. Otherwise, uh, Mike Van, [snorts]

welcome, sir. You can just identify yourself for folks at home, and we appreciate you being here.

Sure. Uh, Mike Vandy, PCI, Municipal Services, um, regional manager here in the Midwest. Um just a quick uh background on what we we've been here since September with the contract and and one of the things that we found was uh there is a severe lack of compliance there out on the on the streets and I think that was that became very apparent when we did an open house a couple months back and um when we found out that the the parking fine being $6 uh was under what a maximum rate at a meter would be that didn't seem to make any sense. So, we're what we're really striving for is compliance in the city. We need people to park where they're supposed to be parking for how long they're supposed to be parking and uh ideally uh we wouldn't really want to write any citations. We just want compliance out there. Um, so what we did was we took a look at some of the other cities that we manage and made some recommendations based on that and um and and and gave it over to uh Kyle and his team to review and and here we sit with the recommendation.

All right. And you were with us at public works the committee. Did you present this to the committee? Finance. Finance. Um, finance. I think you were at finance. Doesn't ring a bell. Okay. Do you remember seeing me and him there at the same place? Yes. Yeah. Works and plan. Okay. Sorry. Jefferson City's been keeping me a little busy, so some of the meetings. We tend to get that.

Well, my point was that it was received at public works brought to this council. So, are there any questions or comments from council? Councilwoman Y. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I had questions um about the the [clears throat] fee, the electronic fee that they're paying when they go pay the ticket and um are there options of pay getting around that? Right now they're saying if you pay on an electronic device then you may be if they were to come into city hall or mail in the ticket. Is there is there a get around on that?

There is. Yeah. The processing fee of 395 for for a parking citation. It's really just to cover the cost of the interchange fees from Visa, Mastercard, American Express. Um we don't charge that fee if you're mailing in a check or you want to go into the courthouse and and pay cash that way. And uh will that fee increase with the increase in the fines? No, it will stay the same. That's correct. Okay. Thank you. Councilman.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um have you experienced some challenges communicating with the public uh the broad scope of changes and everything that are that are coming? Um, and is there anything that we could do to further facilitate better connections?

We did a community outreach with [snorts] the help of the city a couple of months ago. Uh, it sounds like from a gentleman earlier today, it may have not been uh enough. Uh, we probably could have done a bit a better job on that. We got hired in September. You got a garage coming down in January. We have some changes that need to happen before that happens. So, uh, I I would say that with everything happening within the span of three months may have probably caused some some of that. Um, but I think moving forward once we're sort of all on the same page of where we need to be with the plans, um, I think we can take a step back and and work a little closer with the city on a better communication plan.

Councilwoman Allen, then Councilman Thomas,

thank you for your work on this. I appreciate it. And I know this is a little bit like drinking from the fire hose because you came in right when we unexpectedly had to close the garage and so you had to scramble to do that and I know how hard a project can be both for city staff and for you all. So I do appreciate your work. Um, I want to say first of all, I think I will speak for myself, but of course we've carefully considered this fine and um, I have heard from a few people with concerns, but I've also heard from probably the equal number of people who who know that we need compliance downtown and that means that $6 does not work. You know, I actually can attest to that. So, um, so I do support that fine for a couple reasons. One is we have infrastructure that really hasn't been in our parking that hasn't really been handled or addressed for probably the past 10 or more years. So, we're trying to catch up. We have infrastructure both in our surface parking lots and our parking garage that is needs, you know, in dire need of help. So those fines and our at some point our parking fees will have to reflect some of that and we're getting ready to build a parking garage which costs a lot of money. So we have to be willing to you know understand that that comes to a at a cost. Um also our practices I know have not always kept up with current practices and the best you know sort of the best practices that you would use. So, in reality, once I looked at it, that $25 fine is really, if we had moved along and used best practices in our parking and our policies, we'd probably be at the $25 now anyway. So, I know it's a it seems like a huge jump, but a lot of that has to do with the fact we haven't managed our parking in a

way that maybe we should have in hindsight. It's always easy to talk about hindsight. I'm not pointing any fingers at anyone. It's just where we're at. and also um it's really in line with other surrounding communities and and I trust your your recommendation too from your experience. So I do support that fine. I am concerned about our communication and I know many of us have been working back and forth with city staff. I know we have Miss Brian who is a great, you know, public information officer and her and I have talked about communication, communication, communication. And so, and when you think you've communicated enough, communicate. So, um, I just really I want to see communication happening for all the stakeholders. That includes the council and it includes, um, everybody else in the city. So, I encourage that and I'm looking forward to hearing and seeing positive communication, proactive communication. Thank you so much,

Councilman Thomas.

First of all, I I've had lots of conversations with Mr. Fitch's predecessor, and I know how relieved he was to retire and not have to hear about parking anymore. Um, and I know that Mr. Fitch and Mr. Brower and Mr. Bandy have been pretty much hurting cats here for a while. U so I I commend you on the work that you've done. However, I have to strongly agree with Mr. Wagner's comments that the communication has just been abysmal. So my question is what what plans do [clears throat] you have going forward to roll out to the public um how this is all going to work, what they can do to help themselves, etc., etc.

Well, we've been working with the city on on this. We've had a couple discussions over the last few days, uh Thursday, Friday, end of this week. Um we're going to be releasing some more information on our website, parkjimmo.org. Uh there'll be an FAQ that'll be on there and uh I assume from that point it also be on the local uh social media pages. Okay. And do we just expect that'll be on the city website as well? It'll be on parkjcmo.org. So everything on our city if you click parking it's going to be parkjcmo.org. So there'll be a link that would take them to Yes. And I will expand. We do a lot of different communication rather than just digital.

Could you put a microphone? Oh, I'm so sorry, Mayor. Thank you. I thought it was loud. [cough] Totally forgot. Yeah. I'd just like to add that digital media is one way. So, using our websites um and using social media, but we rely on locally a lot of traditional media, using our news tribune and our three news outlets as well as radio. So, um, we did that with the increases and if this gets approved, there's going to be an effective date of February 1st, I believe, that the fines will be, um, implemented. And so, that's going to give us a couple week period that we can really do a push to make sure people know that these fines are going to be increased using all the different communication tools.

Thank you. I appreciate that. And I I have to emphasize as Councilwoman Allen said, um I totally get the need for this. We've got to get PE compliance. Um and thank you, Council Lester. Councilman Hamilton just wondering do you have do you have metrics uh to uh let us know that the intent is uh is happening from these increase mines metrics in terms of will will this help solve the problem right right what what are those yes

we well nothing we have some anecdotal information that we take from other cities and uh I think for example you have 75 cent an hour meters here. Let's just say somebody does pay those for 9 hours. That's $6.75. They get a $6 fine if they don't pay. So, it's cheaper not to do that. So, we already knew we had a problem there because it was cheaper to get a ticket than to just pay the meter throughout the day. Uh so, we knew that minimum was far too low. and we took a look at all the other cities that that we that we manage and then sort of looked at the areas in Iowa, Missouri and came up with what we recommended. Okay. Will you be tracking number of tickets?

We are tracking the number of tickets right now. And when I when I said the anecdotal information, I mean, we are writing probably more citations per hour in Jefferson City than we would be in any other city. And you know, based on that alone, I think it's telling us that people are perfectly comfortable just receiving the citation and not pulling out their phone and paying for the part. Right. One would expect the number of tickets after this is to go down, you know, on time.

I would assume once we do that, it would go down. I This would be a first for me. I've not seen a city with citations this low for for parking. any city that has a paid parking program where an operator is issuing citations. Uh so so once we do implement that, I think everybody's assuming that we're going to see much more compliance there on the street. Okay. And I know in some of our conversation there was conversation [snorts] about uh initially doing some warnings. Uh is that still going to be the case? Yes.

To initially warn uh in the first I what period is that going to be? I I don't think we really discussed on on on the timeline of that. That would be something that we'll talk to the the city about on how we want to do that, but the idea is, you know, we don't want to have a a heavy hand on it and an authoritarian approach to it. We we really want to get the word out and we're not trying to get everybody to to get a $25 ticket and and pay the city. We want to make sure there's ample notice and and the least amount of noise.

Okay. I just want to make a a comment that that uh there's a narrative that's been put out there that that this is a a revenue generator and and and it is not uh this is this is to cover operations uh for for this and uh it's not uh not to your benefit that you have a fixed price contract so it's it's not going in your pocket.

That's correct. Uh yeah, like like I mentioned earlier, we would be perfectly comfortable not issuing any citations. We really just want the compliance there on the street. My understanding is that the revenue is into an enterprise account from those citations and that can be used for other capital improvement projects through for the city. U but PCI municipal services does not get any use of that. Okay. Thank you, Councilman Oswaltton.

Um I just wanted to also say kudos. I did see the popup on the website for the announcement of the transition. So, I did want to give a shout out on that for Miss Brian. And uh also to echo Mr. Lester, we don't want your money. We just want parking that works.

Yeah. So, I know everybody's hounding on the uh communication. Um, I just want people to know you've been you were awarded it in September. So, we've asked you to start a new program. Start. You didn't know the parking garage was coming down. You found that out in your 3-month period, and there's several changes that council kind of is asking for, you know, that wasn't started with. I think there's no way we can ask somebody on any other project to give you three months and you wouldn't even have a program. I mean, we've got other stuff that we just approved and nobody's even come and talk to us yet. We're waiting for them to fly in. So, you know, I'm giving you kudos. We're not giving you anything easy here. Um, the communication, the warnings, um, I don't know if there's warnings needed. I mean, if you, you know, if you're speeding, you don't get a warning. you know, if it's the speed limit changes, they're not going to say, "Hey, we're going to give you a warning. You're going to get a ticket." Um, I just, you know, I think if we want to do a warning today, hey, if we pass this, this is your warning. Let's, you know, stop parking longer than you're supposed to, but just wanted to say, you know, it's only 3 months in and we're hounding you. I don't think that's right. I think [clears throat] let's let's give you a year with what we gave you, and then maybe we can hound you if we need to, but I think [clears throat] it's not going to happen.

Thank you. Appreciate that. Councilman Thomas. Um, Councilman Lester asking about metrics reminded me, Mr. Fitch, I don't know if this is something you can answer, but I was just curious about um the usage in parking of the passport app or you know, how many people are are going digital versus actual coinage use? If anyone has an answer to that, I just

Yeah, I actually happened to look at that last week. Uh, it varies by block face and it varies by rate. Overall, the average is around 65% are using the app, but uh 90% in those areas that are a dollar an hour, 90% are using the app. Where it's 35 cents an hour, it's about right around 60%. Great. Thank you very much, Councilman Joe.

Yes, thank you. Um I know there's been a lot of talk about this over the past few weeks. the public has had a lot to say and I always value their input including um some feedback that receive we received today from the association of businesses downtown and with that um if we're basing it off the survey results the the downtown's not entirely unified on raising the ticket prices um and my concern is is raising the fine by so much so quickly. Not that I don't see the need, um, but there is a a lot of push back for that, especially in a time as the garage is coming down and parking is is crazy downtown. So, while I do see the need, um, I will not be supporting for for that reason to represent those voices. If I could add to that, the the increase for the fines would really only affect those who are not following the rules. So if somebody is compliant, they would never get a citation.

All right. Seeing no other comments, you have 2025-062 in front of you for roll call vote. Alan, I Joe, no. Camp Peter. Hi Lester. Hi Michael. Hi Millie. No Thomas. Hi Young. I vote 8 to two. The bill passes.

Thank you sir. We will continue to work. All right. In form of calendar there is none. Item 13. Item 14 resolutions. resolution 2025-56. And if you will take a look at the highlighted area, this is not eligible for passage until after the public hearing on January 20th of 2026. A resolution of the city of Jefferson, Missouri, approving a special exception use permit for a conference center and hotel exceeding 100,000 square feet for property addresses 2011 Madison Street and 210 Monroe Street.

Mr. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh as the clerk said, this is uh a resolution seeking approval of special exception permit for the conference center and hotel um located downtown uh between Madison Street, Capitol Avenue, and Monroe Street in Commercial Way. The hotel is exceeding 100,000 square ft, which makes it necessary to have a special exception. The hotel that is and conference center that is potentially going to be built downtown is approximately 102 feet tall, 190,000 square ft with the conference center, 201 hotel rooms and a restaurant. Um it's around 170,000 square ft and the final design details may change as the development plan is finalized. Um, in your packets, you do have a traffic demand and uh the uh traffic analysis report as well. Um, we're introducing the um resolution tonight on January 5th and then there will be a public hearing and eligible for passage on the 20th uh before this body. U if you look at the map, the area that we're talking about is highlighted in blue. That area is owned by the city of Jefferson City and is uh bound by Monroe Street, Madison, Capitol Avenue, and Commercial. This is the preliminary [clears throat] site plan um showing the layout of the hotel, conference center, and parking garage. Um, as part of this um, special exception permit uh, resolution, there's [clears throat] also a part for a signage [laughter] uh, resolution as well as a permissive use of rightway. The permissive use of rideaway um, pertains to the items that you'll see on the site plan that are out in the rideway. This would be landscaping, um, trees, shrubs. It would also be things

like canopies and ballards and other um decorative things that would be out in the rightway. Um so this there's really three parts to this resolution. The building design which I'm sure all of you have seen um is featured on the board. And then the signage plan which is part of this resolution. Uh the signage uh resolution would approve two deviations from the normal signage allowance. [snorts] Um roof level signage displaying the brand name of the hotel um is pictured on the screen up here in the red box. Um you'll see it is located towards the roof line at the top of the structure. The normal allowance in this area for signage would be uh 20 ft or below the seconds story window of the structure. Um so this would be a deviate um deviation from what's normal. And then as part of the electric uh the signage plan also is electric signage. Um this sign would be on the area facing Capitol Avenue. It'd be an electrical or electric uh message sign that's approximately 50 ft uh above grade. Um and it would be at the corner of Madison and Capitol Avenue. Um besides that um the uh this uh development plan went before the planning and zoning commission on December 11th and was recommended for approval on a vote of 8 to zero. Um and then as said stated before we will come back before this body for a public hearing on the 20th. Be happy to answer any questions. Anyone has any

questions? I may should have researched this ahead of time, but the electronic sign bothers me. Um, didn't the previous didn't we have a previous council? I thought some [clears throat] churches on Capitol wanted electronic signs and that was voted down and now because it's our project, it's okay. I'm question mark. Just curious about the electronic sign issue. There are some churches and schools in the same uh area that do have electronic signs currently.

On that, I would note that the the signage that the churches were looking at were ground level and this is quite a bit higher. just because it's the two. Thank you, Councilman.

Council, I haven't planned to talk, but just a code clarification for everybody in the room. The St. Peters has a electronic sign because they have a school attached and so CO allows that, but a church for whatever reason is not permitted to do so by city code. All right. Any other comments on 2025-56? Aren't they in charge of sir?

All right. That takes us to resolution 2025-57, item 14B. A resolution of the city of Jefferson, Missouri, authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute an agreement with engineering surveys and services in the amount of $160,950 for the Viper Drive, another storm water infrastructure reconstruction project. Council Lester. Yes, I move to bring this to the table for discussion or vote.

All right, we got a motion and a second. So you have resolution 2025-57 in front of you, Miss. Yes. Uh I believe we had five qualified firms who proposed on on this work. Uh again, this work is storm water uh related. It's storm water work. Uh binder, Jennifer Drive, Winchester Court, Cedar Brook Drive, and Fairmont Boulevard. um engineering surveys and services uh was deemed the most qualified response and uh happy to answer any questions.

Councilman House, do you have a question? I had a question for that gentleman that left, but how about on 2025- 57 or 20? Nope. No question. All right. Any comments on resolution 2025-57? All right, we you have that in front of you. We'll do a roll call vote. Hazelton, I Joe I [snorts] Camper I Lester I Michael I Mey Thomas I [clears throat] Young I Ellen I

resolution is adopted. All right, takes us to item 15, [clears throat] close session minutes. We do need an action on this motion. Second motion and a second. We'll need to do a roll call vote. Joe, I can't. I Thomas. Hi, Young. Hi, Hi. Alan, I Post session minutes are approved.

All right. This is item 16, new business. None. Item 17, unfinished business. None. Item 18. Let me need to have the clerk read the statement and then I'll entertain a motion. The chair will entertain a motion to adjourn the public session in pursuant to section 61021 of the revised statutes of Missouri to go into close session to discuss the following personnel. Section 61021 subsection 13. Young is your delight. Do you have a motion? Yes, Mr. Mayor. I move that this be adjourned and that we move into 12 session. All right. What's the roll call on that real quick? Peter. Hi. Cluster. Hi. Michael. Hi.

Ney. Hi. Thomas. Hi. Young. Hi. Hi. Alan. Hi. Hi. Hi.