City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I call this meeting to order. Would everyone please rise for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance 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. Thank you. Roll call, please. Mayor Gibbons, here. Council member Jetic, here. Council member Litzo, here. Council member Mlan, here. Well, Council Member Reiner, here. Council member Schaefer, here. Council member Zimmer, here.

Thank you. We move into presentations tonight. We have our human rights commission here. Uh, Chairman David Hartung will make a presentation. Good evening, mayor, um, city council, city staff, neighbors. Uh, good evening. My name is David Hartung, and I'm here on behalf of the Kirkwood Human Rights Commission. Um, before I get to tonight's recognition, I want to briefly explain what the commission does because it helps frame why this award matters. The Human Rights Commission works to make Kirkwood a community where every person is treated with dignity and respect. And we do that in practical ways. We show up at community events to share information and resources. And we try to make it easier for residents to find the right help when a concern comes up. Each year we also convene a public conversation, speaker events, panel discussions focused on human rights and equality because understanding and dialogue are part of how communities improve. And as we do that work, if we see patterns that deserve attention, we bring them to the city council with recommendation. We also cooperate with other organizations and educational institutions to seek ways to eliminate discrimination. That is the backdrop for the Dennis Hart Award for Excellence. Each year, the commission presents this award to recognize service that reflects the commission's values. Those values include fostering respect for awareness of an appreciation of diversity. They include encouraging positive human relations across our community. The award is also personal to the commission. It was renamed in 2020 in honor of the late Dennis Hart, who chaired the commission for six years. So, when we present this award, we're honoring both a legacy and a standard. We are saying this is what leadership looks like in Kirkwood. With that, I am honored to announce the commission's 2025 recipient of the Dennis Hart Award

for Excellence. Emily Cuden Cooler, would you please join me?

Bear with me for a few minutes. I'm going to talk about you in front of you. The commission received multiple nominations for Emily. Those nominations told a consistent story. Emily is a steady, collaborative leader who brings people and organizations together to support neighbors who are too often left behind. One n one nominator captured it perfectly by saying, "Emily shows what our community can accomplish when we work together for the good of all, including the marginalized. Emily's service is not about a single headline moment. It is about sustained hands-on work that expands opportunity, strengthens human relations, and advances dignity and inclusion in our community. First, Emily has helped build and sustain community partnerships through her leadership with the Kirkwood Social Justice Coalition. She previously served as chair and just recently stepped down at the end of 2025. In that role, she helped coordinate member organizations and expand community access to civic education and engagement. And that is the kind of work that quietly strengthens a community over time. Second, Emily has spent years helping open doors for students, especially where extra support can make all the difference. She serves in leadership with heart-to-he heart tutoring, a Kirkwood based program that provides free one-to-one reading support to young readers. Pronominators highlighted her role in helping launch and grow the program, including expanding volunteer tutoring support and sustaining the program's work during the COVID period. That is not abstract equity. That is a child reading with more confidence because someone showed up for them week after week. Third, Emily has also strengthened support for families more broadly through her service with LifeBridge. She served on the board of directors since November 2024. Life Bridg's services include financial coaching and a lowcost market and closet. This is more of Emily's practical approach to human dignity,

meeting people where they are and helping them move forward. And finally, Emily's commitment to the dignity of every person includes immigrant and refugee support and advocacy. Her nominators noted her on the ground support for immigrants and asylum seekers, including accompaniment and logistical assistance. They also noted her involvement in broader advocacy efforts, including support for educational access for international students. That kind of accompaniment is deeply human. It says you are not alone and you belong. Emily, the commission is grateful for your leadership, your persistence, and your example. You strengthen Kirkwood through consistent, meaningful action, and you bring people together, and you turn values into service. So, on behalf of the Kirkwood Human Rights Commission, is my honor to present you with the 2025 Dennis Hart Award for Excellence. Congratulations.

Thank you. Would you like to play a seat, please? and I believe Emily would like to share a few words. Great. Thank you.

Um I feel weird having my back chubby. Um, first of all, I would like to thank you for uh having me tonight and for this recognition. Um, I'd also like to thank the Human Rights Commission for this um, wonderful award. I want to say that in the work that I have done and that I will continue to do, it always takes uh a team a team of people standing beside me um helping me through and um getting the work done. So, I also want to thank the heart-to-heart tutoring program and my partner in crime, Verita Carrier. Um, the Kirkwood Social Justice Coalition, which um gosh, has done a lot of work in the past few years and in the years that they were created. Um, I'd also like to thank my church and my church family um because their support is critical in the things in the work that we do for the underserved. Um, and then last but not least, I'd love to thank my family. um my husband Russ and my daughter Lisa and granddaughter are here tonight, Regina, because without their support, um I couldn't do what I'm able to do. So, thank you very much. This is an honor.

Congratulations on Perfect. Okay. Can I help you? Oh, I don't know.

Got it. Um, David, while we're going back to our seats, would you mind introducing your commission members? Oh, sure.

So, don't sit down just yet. We have Beth Howerman, Carolyn Becker, Sandra Green, and Sheila Burquette. Some of our great commissioners. know this city couldn't operate without the volunteers on our boards and commissions and we thank each of you for the work that you've done for the human rights commission. Thank you very much. Okay, we are now moving into our public comments. The public comments portion of the meeting is an opportunity for the city council to listen to comments from citizens. It is not a question and answer session and the city council will not respond to comments or answer questions during this period. The mayor may refer any matter brought up to the city council to the interim chief administrative officer or city clerk if action is needed.

Very good. So, has anyone filled out a card to make a public comment this evening? Yes, mayor and council. We have one public comment from Michael Duff Kelly.

Hi everybody. This was just kind of a um Could you tell us your address, please?

Oh, sure, dear. Yeah. Uh I'm was raised in Kirkwood, but um I'm in the city now. Actually, I grew up behind the magic house. Um and um this is just a kind of concept that I uh um kind of discovered when my I've got an 11-year-old now. when he was little and we were crossing streets uh around Kirkwood and the and the city specifically um we noticed some u some kind of safety issues and stuff and uh and like for folks that are in wheelchairs or um even folks that are on bicycles. I do uh I'm a civil engineer I'm a civil engineer by trade and um I just kind of got thinking of some stuff that might maybe be applicable to my hometown of Kirkwood and kind of inspired by all the creativity that goes on in the Magic House also. And um that kind of aligns with uh the Kirkwood's master plan to kind of be an active but pedestrianfriendly um town while also trying to uh maybe include some traffic calming devices along Kirkwood Road there within the city proper. And all these kind of ideas kind of combined um into a request to your friend in mine chat GPT and uh and what what um I thought I'd present to assess interest um was this thing uh um that I either call pedestrian aerial lift systems PALS

or uh or in Kirkwood it probably called the two towers and what it is is it's basically a uh an aerial lift system kind of like a ski lift system that's fairly inexpensive to build but on on four busy street corners um like I was thinking down you could do two one down on Woodbine and Lindberg which is right there by the Magic House. And um and then the other one would be up kind of by the Alpine Shop, which is kind of has an outdoorsy theme and is at the northern end of the commercial district. Um and it would basically be a zipline system. And so I I have some images here that I can Would you like me to

Thank you. could you share them with um the city clerk? And um thank you very much for your presentation and information. No, we appreciate you being here this this evening. Thank you. Thank you for letting me present. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Um now we'll move into the consent agenda. May I have a motion and a second? Motion. Okay. Although are there any questions on the consent agenda? minutes and okay all those in favor I I

oppose nay. The consent agenda passes. We'll now move into unfinished business bill 11117. Mayor and Council, this is an ordinance amending the provisions of the Municipal Code Chapter 25, zoning and subdivision by creating a new zoning district known as the R seven planned multif family residential district and amending various sections of code to reference said district.

Okay. Do let's see are there any where am I? Yeah. Okay. Are there any questions or comments on this bill? 1111. Council member Leau.

Thank you, Mayor. It's not really a question because I already had my question answered earlier today when I emailed um Jonathan about it. I had was wondering just how are the setbacks determined for the R seven um the new uh district that we're creating here. and basically that it there's a a 10-ft minimum setback and it will be based on you know the specific site plans that are being presented because right now there's aside from this minimum 10 foot setback um there's really nothing in the the draft code that kind of specifies but he did I want to say thanks to him for getting back to me so quick on um reminding me of what the deal was with setbacks. Okay, that's all.

Great. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. Um, roll call, please. Mayor Gibbons, yes. Council member Jedetic, yes. Council member Litzo, yes. Council member Mlan, yes. Council member Ricker, yes. Council member Schaefer, yes. Council member Zimmer, yes.

All right. Bill 11118A. Mayor and council, this is an ordinance changing the zoning from B2 central business district to R seven plan multif family residential district on the properties known as 345 South Filmore Avenue, 336 South Taylor Avenue and 340 South Taylor Avenue being an approximate 5.9 acre site between Taylor Avenue and Filmore Avenue and south of Monroe Avenue and directing such change in the zoning district map. Are there any questions or comments on bill 111108? I'm sorry, 11118A. I just want to say that this is, you know, these are changing the zoning codes right now. This is has nothing to do with a site plan. Roll call, please.

Oh, I think Council Morisso did Oh, did you raise your hand? I'm sorry.

Yes. Yes. It's okay. Um, not a question, but another another thank you to Jonathan for clearing up some confusion on my part because um the letter from Mr. Jurus to Jonathan in October talked about um focusing on uh hybrid town homes, ranches, and flats. And I just was wondering if ranches were still part of the kind of um home design uh mix. And he actually um I was happy to learn that there there will be a type of ranch house um despite the fact I'd call it a building.

Yes. I mean Yeah. A ranch unit, whatever. Um because looking at the sections of the of the buildings and um the overhead site plan, you know, they look kind of like sort of very uniform. So I was very happy to learn that there's going to be a mix of of various home types. So that's I just want to thank building types. Yes, building types and units. Yeah. Yeah. That's all. Roll call, please. Mayor Gibbons, yes. Council member Jedetic, yes. Council member Litzo, yes. Council member Mlan, yes. Council member Reiner, yes. Council member Schaefer,

yes. Council member Zimmer, yes. Okay, the bill has passed final reading. Um, we now move into new business. Bill 11119. Mayor and Council, this is an ordinance appropriating $73,200 from the Equitable Sharing Fund balance to the police department machinery and equipment account, accepting the single source quote of TI training for the amount of $73,200 for the purchase of a TI training simulator for the police department and authorizing and directing the director of procurement to issue a purchase order. Do I have a motion and a second to accept bill 11119? So moved.

Second. Okay. Are there questions or comments? How's this work? It sounds pretty cool.

All right. Um, so it is actually really cool device. The current one they've had for some some period of time here. Uh, essentially it is a situational based uh screen system that allows for training in different sorts of scenarios that go on for police officers. They also have utilized in the past too for some of the programs where it's uh just citizen training for police officers. It's a big hit when they come to Kirkwood in that that realm. But it it allows us to provide our officers with uh several different scenario-based accounts for all different types of interactions

like interactions with interactions on how to deal with certain people or interactions with guns for deescalation for um you know issues you know subsequent for if we have to use any form of forces like tasers or things along those lines that all sinks into the system as well. but mainly for deescalation techniques. Any other questions, comments? Okay. All in favor of first reading approval of Bill 11119, please say I.

Oppos? Nay. Bill has passed. First reading approval. Resolution 82026. Mayor and Council, this is a resolution determining the intent of the city of Kirkwood, Missouri to reimburse itself for or to pay for certain capital expenditures with the proceeds of certificates of participation in approving a municipal advisor agreement with WM Financial Strategies and a proposal for special tax and disclosure council services with Gilmore and Bellpc in connection with the delivery of the city certificates of participation city of Kirkwood, Missouri series 2026. Do I have a motion and a second to accept resolution 82026 as read? So moved.

Second. Thank you. Are there questions, comments? I do. Yes.

To date, the council hasn't been presented with any detailed plans on the Morasic project. We haven't been told Well, we've been told the retrofit will cost about $8 million, but we don't have a clear scope. We don't have a timeline or a funding plan. Without these basics, it's hard for me to evaluate and being asked to approve. More broadly, we don't have a forward-looking financial plan for the city. Since I've been on this council, we haven't received regular financial updates or multi-year revenue projections. That makes it difficult to understand where this city is headed, and I can't figure out the reluctance to provide that information. Against this backdrop, this year, we're planning to transfer another 1.9 million from the electric fund to the general fund. At the same time, we're being told that we're going to borrow $8 million here for the Morasic project, plus another one and a half million through the COP's or else we'll have to cut services. We're also being asked to start funding the move to Morasic, all without a clear picture. As council members, we have fiduciary duty to the residents of Kirkwood to understand the financial consequences of our decisions. Several of us have have tried to help with the necessary financial information, but been told that we need to stay in our lane. We're only legislators. If that's the case, then the only tool I have is a vote. My hope is that my no vote will prompt financial clarity.

Can I make a motion that we continue this to council meeting more information? Is there a second? I'll second it. February discussion. Yep. Okay. Discussion on the motion. David just said that we need to do this. If we don't, we would delay time frame on issuance and construction.

I can, you know, again, I will um reiterate um and add on to some of what Al's just stated. Since I've gotten on the council um two years ago, um we have gotten again little to no financial statements, information. In my understanding, the year before us, financial um report, quarterly reports were stopped. Um we we've had the $13 million surprise five months after the year end closed last year. We continually have not been able to get up-to-date financials. Um, I've done a lot of looking at where we've been and where we are. And over the last 10 years, we've had a 69% reduction in our unrestricted cash between the general fund and the enterprise funds. We went from a 34.6 million to $10.8 8 million unrestricted cash reserves as of last year. We still don't know where we stand now. We don't know what the electric department, for as hard as they're working to try to rightsize that department, we have no idea what we're still facing. We've had two margin calls from MYSO this week um within the week. So, we are the the volatility of the electricity market is still out there. I don't know where the cash came, which was well over a million dollars to cover these margin calls. Um to to Al's point, we've seen no plans for the Amarazz lefting wheel pl um building. Um we've asked for it. You know, we've got an $8 million number that I think was assigned a couple years ago and have no idea what real costs are going to be. And most of us know that what we thought was going to happen a

year or two ago or even last week is not what's going to happen now. Um the lack of ability to even know where we are so we know where we're going to be. Um it just doesn't make sense to me. Um and as we're still struggling to get financial or getting the budget for even looking at next year have no idea where we are this year. Um, and I don't want a fivemon into next year to find out, whoops, you shouldn't have done that. We continue to add debt, which may be okay, but maybe not. And I cannot make a decision with no information or on a wing and a prayer. There are some in this realm of decision- making that think we're okay, which is fine. Think we're okay. You maybe they have access to information I haven't had access to. Um it just give us information before you ask us to take on more debt. You know, we have 65 to 70 million of debt accumulated over the same 10 years. We've saw a significant reduction in our unrestricted cash reserves. Both of those numbers seem to be going in the wrong direction. And sometimes it's easier when we're spending other people's money not to pay attention like we should. And to Al's point, you know, we've we can't interfere with operations, but the only thing we can do is say we we not going to continue to fund things that we don't have any sense of where it's going and where we are. Um, frustrating. They all know how frustrated I've been with the financial conversations over the last two years. I mean, even in today's uncertainty, we need help in our finance department and the next year's budget doesn't even

have it in there. So, we continue to limp along and we have serious I think serious financial I may be wrong. I hope a year from now everybody goes, "Oh, Gina, you were wrong." I will gladly say, "Thank God I was wrong." But I don't have any information that gives me a sense that I am wrong. And I did my own modeling for where we may end up with electric. I happen to model where we're going to be at a seven and a half million dollar loss this year. I hope I'm wrong, but I've again seen nothing that says, you know, that. So I I too I I just can't continue to rubber stamp and hope that we're okay spending. And I think, you know, unfortunately for David, David has stepped into a very, very tough job because this has been going on for many years. And you know, we may be okay. But until I know I it's just about getting information, and I am not in support of moving forward with this unless we get more information. We have Yes.

Um, a couple things. First of all, I want I I want to say David, thank you for doing the job you're doing. I think you're doing a phenomenal job of what you've been thrown thrown into, and I appreciate that, and I think the rest of the council does. Um, I want to see this thing happen. But, um, and then to Al's point on the 1.9 electric transfer, I think it's a debt repayment. So, you you know, maybe it's it's clarifying things, but, you know, it's a debt repayment, not necessarily a transfer, but to tack on what they've said, you know, we've done, we have KAC, which is losing $75,000 a year in operations before you even throw in the debt service of over a million dollars. How much cash is that? We have the aquatic center that is now aging and we're going to be going to the voters for if we want to have an aquatic center. We have a water system that this city hasn't looked after for a while. Grand finale the grant the electric department 13 million, you know, and so I'm I agree. I I'm I want to see this thing happen, but I don't I want to see what the cash flow looks like and what the project looks like before we spend money that we may not even have. I'm a no. Um, I like that's why I asked to continue this.

So, quick question. We're still on the motion to continue. We are, correct? Okay. So, I'd like to ask uh to Mr. Widler. I I'm concerned about uh you know, our financial situation as well. Uh this has been planned for a long time. So, can you lay out the consequences for us by continuing this And if if we continue all it would mean was the the issue in state will push out which will push out construction which ultimately would be on a tight time frame but is something that we would have to work through. Okay.

So there is if you want to continue it to get more information here over this week which is what I'm hearing we can try to make that work within the schedule. Okay. Is it do you feel it's possible to get us some information by then if we do continue it? I feel comfortable depends depending upon the volume of information that you want but I I feel it's possible here in the next week that we can get you some answers as long as you provide me direction on what information you would like to see in that regard. I believe at the next work session you were going to give us plans for

work session next week is on the schedule to go over the Morasic property plans. Moretta, we talked about this recently and I don't recall hearing these kinds of reservations about um these certificates of participation and refunding the taxable bonds um with non-T taxable bonds. Um, and on this specific question, if we don't do this, I think it's going to highly jeopardize the entire project of upfitting the aimic for our future public works. It's according to David going to delay the whole progress of these two intermingled developments. Um, I mean, yes, we want more information. We'd like to see some plans, but what are we not going to do this? Are we not going to um issue the bonds as described here? I I just I'm not sure where we're going with this continuence and what the purpose of it is other than to put the foot down and say we're demanding information. I I I would like to make sure that we are also, you know, taking care of business as staff sees fit and has planned and discussed with us. So, I I don't I don't really see a reason for continuing it. Um, the future public works is is a done deal. We have plans to move all of public works, procurement, electric,

um, possibly dispatch, police, evidence. Um, we've got a preliminary agreement for the existing public works and um, delaying all of this. I'm it only incurs additional cost and uncertainty and I I'm just not sure how it's going to what the point of it is. So, I I I really I don't I don't see a point of continuing this. Yes, we want information. We would like reassurance. We would like numbers. And you know, there's a whole bucket re of reasons why we're where we're at. It is not as dire as it has been characterized by many members, overinflated terms, highly charged rhetoric. Um, the city of Kirkwood is is in decent shape. Moody's itself just gave us a double A3 rating, which is a high rating, investment grade rating. Um, uh, we have an excellent staff running our utilities. We've got excellent staff and administration. We've got a team that that loves this community and works for this community. Um, I just I mean, yes, there's other financial questions at other levels that certainly could befall us, but I mean I I just I don't Okay. Um, so I think that if we continue this, which I'm okay with, um, to get information that the pe that people seem to need. I'm sorry I didn't know about this. Um,

but I think continuing would be all right and then David can work on getting us more information. So, are there any other comments or questions? Okay. All in favor of the motion say I. I oppose. Nay. Nay. It carries and we will continue this until February 19th. February 19th. All right. Very good. Um, now we will move into uh council report or let's see is it council reports.

Council reports. Um, I'd like to just say one thing. Um, our trash collection has I think done a phenomenal job over the last two weeks since we got I don't know how much was it nine inches 10 inches of snow? section mean streets mean well street clearing's done a great job too they both have done sorry I didn't want to leave out streets um I don't understand

but no both streets and trash they they did miss a beat they've done a phenomenal job and I just if David if you would pass on to both of those departments how much it's appreciated we we would really appreciate that uh other council reports like to ditto that you took the words out of I'm sorry I didn't have

remember leta um I have um lots of great news about the park board um so we recently had a presentation from Great Rivers Greenway asking for our um general approval for them to pursue the possibility the feasibility of a bridge between Anger Park and Green Tree Park and that Same presentation was made to the park board and they voted of of the nine member board. Six members who were present voted in favor, one member abstained. So they were they were good with Great Rivers moving forward with that feasibility study. So the park uh the new park master plan efforts continue. They had a work session on January 12th to review and discuss proposed park improvement priorities and associated funding focusing on cost estimates, safety concerns, and transpar transparency and capital planning. Next steps uh will be a public hearing on the plan, consideration by the park board for approval, and then if approved, it would come to us for approval. Um, the park board finance committee and staff drafted a budget for FY27. A public hearing for the draft budget will be held at its next uh regular meeting on February 23rd. And then a special meeting will be held on March 9th to consider approval of that draft budget. Um, another really cool thing is Mitchell Park, which is a pocket park on Mitchell Avenue. So because of storm water issues over there and uh resident uh complaints um uh parks uh staff were able to get um obtain a grant from the St. Louis County Municipal Park Grant Commission which uh basically funded um a brand new park over there and park

superintendent Pete Laferweiler reported that but for a few punch list items the park is is ready to go. They still have to put a sign in and a few other things, but it's very cool.

Uh, very cool. I would recommend people go over there and see the new playground and the whole layout. They've got interact even with the storm water. They've got a way for kids to like if there's a stream from a recent rain, they can they can play in the stream. So, it's very neat. And um sometime this spring there will there will be an official ribbon cutting over at the park. The neighbors love the new park and have let staff know that they love it. Uh Pete uh also was very grateful, same thing with the snowfall to all of the park staff who along with city staff and other departments did a great job um all hands on deck clearing the recent foot of snow from city streets. And we again had some of our staff staying in nearby motel overnight so that they could be um closer to the action. There's two park staff that are leading um the volunteer coordinator Sarah Balick who managed to uh heard volunteers for over 2500 hours in 2025. over 350 individuals, adults and kids. Thanks to her, she is moving on. I think she's going to work for St. Louis, either St. Louis UI or St. Louis University. Um, so very grateful to her and bid farewell to her. And then, um, a longtime employee of the park department, uh, Renee Kennedy, uh, retired on January 30th after 17 years, uh, being part of the horicultural op, uh, operations. And then another really cool bit of news about the park, it's not the park department, but the park foundation has gotten its tax ID. So, they will be helping fund various things in in our wonderful parks. Um, but they've already received a sizable

donation from the Gaylord Foundation. And they also had funds that were left in a now deceased park lover in his will so that they can now that that transfer of funds can now be received by the park foundation. So that is like so cool. And the team I want to thank so much the team who are on the foundation. Linda Ross, um Michael Beenstein, um Bob and Sharon Sears. I'm not sure who else is is on the foundation, but this is this is really awesome news, right? Yes. Very good. Thank you. That's all. That's all. Any additional counsel?

Just have a quick comment. I understand the live stream's having problems this evening. Is that And it's not the first time. Is that Oh, sure. We're not sure what's going on. It's connected to the internet and the meeting is being recorded, so it will be posted. Um but I'm not sure what happened to the stream, unfortunately. Sorry. All right. I just want to make sure you guys were aware of that and try to fix it. Okay. Council member Simmer.

Yes. Thank you. I recently attended the latest uh Kirkwood School District Board of Education meeting. Uh we have a board member here tonight, uh Lisa Neman. Thank you for attending. We're both liaison to each other's groups. Uh Kirkwood is very fortunate to have such an outstanding school district that attracts a lot of residents to come live here. Uh in addition they have a very outstanding board of education, a lot of great employees and teachers that are very dedicated and I witnessed that as a liaison from the city council. Um one concern that they discussed during the meeting was their funding. You know their funding comes from uh different sources uh such as the uh in state income tax as well as property taxes. So that was an issue that was discussed and raised during the last meeting. That's all I have to report.

Thank you. Any other council reports? Okay. Interim chief administrative officer report. Yes, mayor and council. I have an item here for you. The city received an application for liquor license to sell intoxicating liquor and original package including Sundays from CF Altit Altitude LLC DBA Rocket number 4250 at 11142 Big Ben Boulevard. This will this request needs city council approval by a voice vote. Are there any questions or comments?

Motion. We need a motion and a second. Okay. Now, comments. Is Mr. Allison here? Oh, okay. The owner of the the new owner. Oh, no. Oh, you just worked there, Mr. Allison. Division manager for the company. Okay. Yeah. And the company is it's uh Altitude um or known as Rocket. Like if you've seen the stations, we took over 38 stations in St. Louis area. Mhm. They're the Rocket logo. Okay. We're just trying to pick up another one. We have one in Kirkwood already, right by the 44 um Holiday Inn. Right across from the Holiday Inn, we have one there as well.

Okay. All right. Very good. Does anybody have any questions? Yes. So, I did a little research on you. Now, I know you're the new guy, but the old company that was there, we had zero complaints from the police department. Zero responses, I'm told. We would like to keep that going forward. We would too, 100%. Just so we're all on the same page. Definitely. That's great. You have u you have received our letter that we have eliminated gaming in Yes. Kirkwood. Yes, we're okay with that. Very good. Well, welcome to Kirkwood. Well, I guess we need then. Welcome. Um as we did a motion in favor. All in favor say I. I. Oppos? Nay. Now, welcome to

Thank you. Have a good night. Okay. I have nothing else to report, mayor. Thank you. City attorney report. Nothing to report tonight. Okay. Um, city clerk report.

Yes, your honor. I have a couple things to report on. First is the report of the February 4th, 2026 meeting of the planning and zoning commission. The following action was taken after a presentation by staff and review of an application for a special use permit for outdoor use um for meat smoker and for outdoor dining for Lona's Little Eats restaurant at 612 West Woodbine Avenue in the B1 neighborhood business zoning district. The commission recommended approval by a vote of 5 to2 with one abstension. A public hearing will be scheduled before the city council on March 5th. And then a reminder that February 19th, we will have the public hearings on city of Kirkwood's uh fis next fiscal year budget as well as the downtown special business district fiscal year budgets.

That's all I have. Okay. Seeing no further business, this meeting is now adjourned. Our next meeting will be on Thursday, February 19th, 2026. Thank you.