City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, could everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the Republic, which stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Roll call, please.

Mayor Gibbons.

Here.

Councilmember Arnold. Here. Councilmember Burkett. Here. Councilmember Jack Sedeck. Here. Councilmember Lavender. Here. Councilmember McLean. Yes. Councilmember Schaefer.

Present.

Thank you. This evening, we have a presentation by the Human Rights Commission. I'd like to invite up, come talk, because David could not be here. So the vice chair is here and tell us your name again.

Nicole Goldkamp. Nicole. Yeah. Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Yes. So good evening, Mayor Gibbons and council. My name is Nicole Goldkamp, Vice Chair of the Kirkwood Human Rights Commission, and I'm here tonight to recognize the winners of our 2026 essay contest. So each year, the commission invites 11th grade students to reflect on the importance of human rights in their communities and around the world. This year, students responded to the prompt, what is the most important human rights issue today and why? Interestingly, every student chose to write about freedom of thought and expression, the right to think independently, to speak freely, and to share one's thoughts and views without fear of reprisal. They drew on sources ranging from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to current events, and they examined threats to those freedoms from governments, corporations, social media, and technology. This generation clearly understands how essential these rights are and how easily they can be lost. The commission scored each essay on understanding of the human rights issue, strength of argument, organization, and writing quality. The winners are, in third place, Devin Osborne. Second place, Addie Clements. First place, Ava Henderson. So I would like to call everybody up, all of our winners up, and present them with their awards.

Great.

Great.

Okay. Yeah. Would you all like to come along and shake hands with the council members?

Yeah.

Mayor, if I could invite you and our other commissioners down for a photo, that would be wonderful.

You go to Ursuline too? Say you're a smart man if you go to Ursuline.

You carried out the Kirkwood. Two Ursuline, one Kirkwood. Okay.

Gini, Beth, want to come up?

Congratulations.

Paul, maybe you could introduce your other.

Absolutely. Yes. All right. Beth, I never remember how to pronounce your last name. That's right. And then we have Jeannie Webdell. So Beth and Jeannie are commissioners on the HRC as well. And Jeannie far outdates me.

And Beth is a more

you guys want to come on up sure i've been instructed to stay in front of the podium oh no no like if we want why don't we like center everybody yep okay over there three all right three two free award winners right here god mom and dad's back there Okay, so just to wrap up, congratulations to Ava, Addie, and Devin. On behalf of the commission, we're proud of the work you put into your essays, and we thank the council for the opportunity to recognize these young people tonight. Thank you.

And Council Member Sheila Burkett is the liaison to that commission, and thank you for the work that you do with them. Before I go any further, I do have someone exciting to introduce to everyone, and that is our next Chief Administrative Officer is here, Darren Lamb. Thank you, Darren, for joining us tonight.

We can't officially start, man.

June 8th. We can't wait.

David especially.

Yeah.

Right. We now move into public comments. Zoe is.

Yes. Public comments, three minute limit per person. 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 or to the interim chief administrative officer. If city clerk, or an administrative officer or city clerk if action is needed.

Thank you very much. I just want to emphasize that the three minutes last week, we had somebody who deferred there to someone else. Everyone that wants to speak needs to fill out a card. They need to be the one to speak, and it'll be for three minutes. So thank you. Zoe, has anyone filled out a card for tonight? Yes, Mayor and Council, we have one comment from Mick Eskew.

I'm a resident here of downtown Kirkwood.

Mick, would you raise that? You're a tall guy, so.

I'm afraid of heights. I'm a resident here. We're residents here of downtown Kirkwood for a long time. And the issue that I want to bring up again this year is the health hazard of the water by the railroad tracks. It has to do with harming citizens here of Kirkwood with the mosquitoes. Last year the mosquitoes were rampant. They're already starting this year. Along the railroad tracks is owned by Union Pacific. Water standing there all summer long creates infestations of mosquitoes. Of course, that's nature. Now, The mosquitoes, I did a little research, and one can of mosquitoes can breed up to 1,000 mosquitoes. And a mosquito will lay multiple times a year and could produce 100,000 mosquitoes out of one tin can. I don't know how many tin cans fit into that water down there alongside the railroad tracks, but it's a lot. Now, my bride here, Dr. Kathleen, contacted Union Pacific. They can't pour something on the water and pollute or do anything like that, but they have procedures that were outlined on the website how they take care of that. We want them to take care of it. Now, we sent a notification to Union Pacific, and we have not heard anything back yet. We're just too lowly. The city of Kirkwood, in the interest of health here, nothing's happened so far, West Nile virus. None of that has happened, but it could. And they're not going to say, well, that's Union Pacific's problem. No, the paper will say that's Kirkwood's problem. So we need to do something about that. And the reason we're here is we would like to have Kirkwood contact the railroad along with Westergroves or Glendale, wherever this train goes through, and have Union Pacific do something about that water down there.

Thank you, Mick.

Can I use my three minutes?

Two seconds.

Thank you much, and I would like to have some feedback after you contact the railroad. Thank you.

We have no more comments.

Thank you. Okay, we will move into the consent agenda. May I have a motion?

So moved. Second.

Okay, and then discussion. Council Member Lavender.

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to know if there's anybody that has been approved to be on a board or commission that might be in the room tonight that could come up and introduce themselves to us.

none tonight i know we knew that we knew that but that was a great idea thank you for bringing that up and so now we will uh vote on the motion all in favor say aye aye aye opposed nay the consent agenda carries um we will move into new business we have no old business bill one one one two seven

Mayor and Council, this is an ordinance appropriating $8 million from the Certificates of Participation Series 2026 to the other bond proceeds account to the building and site improvements account for the Public Works Facility Renovation Project.

Thank you. May I have a motion, please? Motion.

Second.

Thank you. Discussion?

I have some comments. So, again, as many of you are aware, I have had concerns about the city continuing moving towards the retrofit of Amarazac and what we're doing at the public works property. I continue to have those same concerns, which include we still aren't sure about the next steps with our water department. I still haven't seen a really good plan for how we're gonna recoup the losses in electric, which include, I think we don't have this year, this past year's fiscal year end, but we should be about 15 million in the hole that we're covering by the general fund, the water department, and sanitation. And we should have anywhere from $8 to $10 million in our unrestricted cash reserves in electric. Plus, as some of the consultants have helped us look at our future financial need of electric, we should be budgeting $2 million in our capital reserves. that will match what we're depreciating every year. So you start, and we owe the general fund about $9 million to rebuild their reserves. You start putting those numbers together, you're talking 30, 35, $40 million of profit that we have to get out of electric over the next how many ever years. To me, I have great concerns about that. Um, we, um, you know, as we still go through knowing what's going to happen today, whereas those costs kind of keep ticking and we're still doing some discussion in closed session. Um, so I don't know where we're going to end up there. Um, I believe we need to put this on hold and reevaluate and make sure we have, um, the numbers and confidence that we can move forward on this the best we can with our eyes opened. I don't have that confidence. So as these votes keep coming up, I will continue my no vote and continue to push that we get real financial information and know where we're heading.

Thank you. David, we've gotten a very strong confirmation on what our costs are with the retrofit of AID-MARASIC, and those are?

That's currently will be for you guys next meeting. It still hasn't been recommended through resolution. That will be contingent upon this ordinance meeting second reading. It is well within the $8 million, including contingency.

Thank you. So the $8 million is what it's going to take that we're asking for in here to retrofit Morazic for our public works, our electric department, to move into. And the A. Morazic building was owned by Mr. Morazic, obviously. He knew that the city had been looking for how many years for a location for our public works to move?

Well over 10 years at this point.

Okay. And all property in Kirkwood and outside of Kirkwood, all kinds of places had been looked at, and it looked like it was going to cost more to buy property and build a building than it was to purchase a Marais Act. I am in favor of us moving forward with this. The location of our public works is in an area that is pretty prime, right next to our new theater, and it makes sense to me that we would move forward. More discussion, Justin.

David, and thank you. I've had a couple questions for you, and you've got me some answers. So the public knows these COPs that this would be paid out of were approved when? They were approved back in April. Okay. And I'm trying to understand because the COPs were sold for about $13.5 million, a little over $13.5 million. This project is $8. The rest of that money, my understanding, was to refinance. Other COPs, is that right?

Yes, it was the 2024B issuance, which there was a split issuance back in 2024. The 2024B, it was about $5.6 million of this value, was actually utilized for the purchase of the property of itself. At that point in time, the previous owner was the tenant. And since they were a taxable entity, they had to be taxable bonds. So the other part of the issuance was to refinance those into a non-taxable bond.

And then obviously with new COPs, we're going to pay interest on top of what we're taking out of that, right? So if I'm looking at, you know, the debt service for these new COPs is somewhere north of $25.5 million, okay? Okay. And so I'm trying to figure out what's the net, right? So what does this version of COPs add to our debt service bottom line? Because I'm sure we already had some baked into the old debt services we had, right? So do you have any idea what the net debt service addition is with these COPs?

Is that the information you gave us this afternoon? Yeah, that's what I thought. Okay.

Yeah.

And you can give me a ballpark. I'm just trying to I know, I know.

We're laughing up here because Council Member Lavender is saying we should all have paper.

No, I just said paper. Yeah, that's true. The rest was implied. True.

Do you know where he's just? Yes, I think so.

Right, that's our total.

Yes, that's our total, so 160.

So that is the net number that we're adding.

That's what I'm trying to figure out. Right, because it's not as far as you think.

So is it $8 million plus the interest? $12. Okay. My point is we're not just adding $8 million here to our debt service. It's going to be a number higher than that, right? And I appreciate that, and I'm sorry for sending you down that rabbit hole. Um, I've struggled with this one a lot. Um, these COPs were agreed to right before we came on to council and, um, you know, uh, there are costs associated with what we've done so far at Maraisic and I, I fully understand that. Um, I have concerns about the way that the other property, the current public works property is going. Um, and, um, you know i i just can't get my head around uh moving forward you know on both of those so i'm i'm gonna be a no um but um i appreciate david you trying to give me all that information thank you man real quick um and that 5.6 million x that we're refinancing that's in a more favorable interest rate right yes yes

All right, so we're going to be reducing our total debt there. I agree with Liz on the location. It makes perfect sense to be relocating that. In the bigger picture, I've said this before and I'll say it again, I thank Gina for being the watchdog here. I agree with her and Justin. We've got to keep close tabs on the build-out. Right now, we're within the range, but we have to keep close tabs on that. And that's something I'm hoping Darren, the new CAO, come in and really keep fresh eyes on and have new set of eyes looking at things kind of objectively to help guide us going forward with things we've done in the past, good and bad, and question what we've done in a good way. But then the other issue that Gina brought up that I'm raising now for Darren's radar screen is um the following up on electric and where we are on that it's been six months seven months since we've started that new program we haven't seen a report yet on where we stand on that and i think it's important the council finds out where we stand since we've implemented the new rates um on that but i'm a yes on this as i've said before um but again there's presentations but it's a good thing i think any more discussion council member linder

Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate the comments of Councilmember Jasetic and Arnold. The way I look at it is right now we've approved the COPs for $8 million, and this is just putting that money into our budget. And so if we don't pass this, then that money is kind of sitting in no man's land. So for me to put it into the budget, My calculations are that regardless of what you think of having bought the building, the Mrazek, if we were to pause the entire process right now, let's say we reverse everything and we stop doing this, I see that as a loss to the city of $6 to $10 million that would never be recovered. And so I don't see that this is the time to stop forward movement on the Murazic building and renovating the new public space works, which may or may not have anything to do with what we put into the space we're now leaving, which may be some of some council members consideration also. So I think to at least get the money into the budget is very appropriate. And then there'll be an opportunity to vote on a resolution to spend it. but to at least put it in the budget. And I'm as or more worried about the potential $7 to $10 million loss if we pause and don't move forward with what we're doing today.

And let's remind people that the current public works needs at minimum $2 million worth of work. We know the roof is bad. I mean, there's work to be done there. Yeah, thank you. Okay, any other comments? Yes, Constable Marquette.

This has been one that I think we've grappled with to understand the impact, what has already been decided, what can we do? This has to continue, as Council Member Lavender mentioned, we have to continue moving forward. The ball's already, the dice been cast. I think it's our responsibility to also understand this project. David, one of the questions I have, though, is we talk about this $8 million is what the cost is for the build-out. Does this include the architect and the project manager? I can't remember what we call him.

It does not. We do have those funds actually in our capital budget.

and that's the 900 and some thousand. So the 8 million is the build out of the actual construction costs. There's another this year, 900 and some thousand that will be on top of that. So it's almost a 9 million, and that doesn't account for the architecture costs that we had last year, correct? And project manager. And so I just want to make sure that everyone understands that $8 million isn't the cost for this. It's also the cost of the architecture and the project manager last year. There may have been stuff that I don't even know about from the years before that I haven't found, but also the additional $900 in the budget for this year. But that is anticipated to be all the cost, and this would be done in this year. physical year, right?

Yeah, it'll all be done in this fiscal year. Okay, thank you.

Any more discussion? I have one more comment just to follow up with what you were just asking. So on the March 30th work session, we did get a new facility cost breakdown. So the total expense at that time, which includes the purchase and all the other things, was $22,625,276. That does not include the interest on the COPs. So right now, our running total for the Amerasic is right at about 30 million. So again, where that number ends, once we finish out, and I know you're scowling, David, but this was something you all handed out which talks to the acquisition costs, the construction costs, the projected renovation costs, which also includes the moving expenses. So we have a 22-plus interest of whatever is going to be about $30 million now, and those numbers will probably change.

I was just calculating through what you were talking about for the interest rates.

Yeah, so I think it's $8 million of that $13 million will be the same percentage out of the $12 million of interest. So, you know, 75% of it's going to be interest on the seat. Well, actually, that whole $12 million, that includes the purchase cost of Amerasic, does it not? refunding those. So that whole $12 million will factor into the overall cost of Amerasic. So that $13 million, actually, then I could add that and come up with $35 million, but I won't keep adding.

Okay. This is first reading, so all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, nay.

Nay.

All right. Council Member Schaffer, Council Member Arnold, Council Member Jaxetic. Were those my nays? All right, thank you.

Okay. Resolution 43-2026.

Mayor and Council, this is a resolution accepting the EDROAR safety products and the amount of... in the amount of $24,524.39 pursuant to the St. Louis County Cooperative Contract for the purchase and installation of emergency lighting and sirens for two 2026 Dodge Durango patrol vehicles for the police department in authorizing and directing the director of procurement to issue a purchase order.

May I have a motion and a second?

Second.

Discussion? Roll call.

Just to expound just a little bit, I asked David about why our staff doesn't do this, and they've done the numbers here, and it's actually cheaper to do it, out-service it. They're faster at it. They do it on a regular basis. So I'm in favor of moving it forward.

Thank you, Council Member Schaffer. And I just have a kind of a comment on this. For those who are listening or might be following legislation, as we get these to vote on, there is a legislation request form that first of all, and David might be able to explain how this goes, but we get background information and recommendations. And there's a question about, does this have a public information component? and then whether it's in the budget or not, and then the department heads sign off on it, approve it. In some cases, then procurement does, and then it goes to the finance director, and then the CAO approves it to go on the agenda. So if you have, and this is all kind of posted with the agenda, there's also attachments that kind of support each one of the process points, denote that they have an attachment. It's not identifiable clearly which one goes with that person, but you might be able to... to connect the two. So there is a lot of information and it goes through a lot of steps for approval by the time it comes to the city council.

Mayor, just to add an inch to that, I'm familiar with medical billing, and sometimes you worry about being doubled and triple charged. I had the opportunity to talk to Sarah, and they washed this out. Remind everyone who Sarah is. I believe is our procurement person who manages the purchase orders, and she says it goes through the wash several times to make sure we are charged for two of each item and not more than that. Very good. Thank you.

Any other comments? Roll call, please.

Mayor Gibbons?

Yes.

Councilmember Arnold? Yes. Councilmember Burkett? Yes. Councilmember Jack Sedeck? Yes. Councilmember Lavender? Yes. Councilmember McLean? Yes. Councilmember Schaefer? Yes.

Resolution 44-2026.

Mayor and Council, this is a resolution increasing the contract amount with Starfire Corporation and the amount not to exceed $50,000 for the City of Kirkwood 4th of July Freedom Festival fireworks displays and authorizing and directing the Mayor to enter into an amended contract.

May I have a motion and a second, please?

Motion. Second.

Very good. Thank you. Just to let everyone know that, of course, I don't have to tell you this, I know, the 250th anniversary of our country is causing us to want to have a really spectacular fireworks display this year. something really different and really fun and really exciting. We have had two citizens that have gone out and raised money to put towards this, and so far they've raised $45,000. So I feel very comfortable that we can go ahead and pass this because they are working on getting the last $5,000, and I think that will happen. Any other comments? Council Member?

David, can you explain to us the process that the appropriation of the money from the fundraising, how would we see that from into the budget?

So in this instance, we already have budgeted funds available in our recreation account. So since we have budget funds available, the funds that we take in will actually go into a revenue account that will offset that expense in our recreation budget.

Will that come back to council?

It will not come back to council since there's already enough funds to cover it.

Council Member Arnold.

David, we have some other costs associated with The 50,000 we've already budget just for fireworks. Okay. So that other amount for that event is already budget as well in separate line. Okay. Thank you. Yes.

And I have one more question on this one. So they attached a resolution from goodness 2024 in reference to a annual renewal of a contract times four. So, you know, again, this may be something when Darren comes. to kind of walk us through how these initial contract annual renewals happen and what kind of authorization, what kind of pricing contract happens under an annual renewal, because we don't typically see those. Now this one, Kyle, who's so incredibly efficient and does a great job, he actually puts in his memo, it's a request to authorize a contract with them, So, you know, again, it's kind of I think it falls under an annual renewal. And, you know, whether we do things one off or whatever, how those annual renewals come back through to us.

I can go through that process real quick here as well. Underneath our current policies and procedures within our procurement ordinance, when a resolution comes for a contract that's a multi-year agreement, the number of terms is listed to the city council for their initial review, along with the total dollar amount that they're allowed to spend within one budget. It is reviewed on an annualized basis. It's also contingent upon it being funded in future years. That's written into every one of our contracts. So if our, our budget is defunded for that line item, we have, we will not move forward with, with that item. Um, After it's approved on the initial time, the renewals are actually administrative in nature. So as long as the price is within what was provided to and approved by our city council, then it can be moved forward administratively on an annualized basis. This is an instance where we do have a contract that has an annualized value. And the main reason that's coming before you guys is is the value that we have on an annual basis is much less typically than $50,000, but we are increasing the show size. So since that show size is increasing, that's why it's coming back to city council for additional review. Now, if an expenditure exceeds the amount that's approved by city council by one penny, it comes back to city council.

Great.

Thank you. It's real fast. Historically, it's been like a $35,000 range. This year, we're hoping to get $50,000, which we'll have $50,000. But some of that is related to the tariff costs also, right? Which we may, based upon recent law, we may not have to pay tariffs. We may get more bang for our buck for the $50,000.

Bang?

So some of it was due to cost inflation. moving forward with the order. If we see any sort of cost reduction, hopefully we'll get it out of the contract or we can put as much product as possible, but $50,000 is almost as much product as our park can handle, so.

Yeah. Okay, any other questions? Roll call, please.

Mayor Gibbons? Yes. Councilmember Arnold? Yes. Councilmember Burkett? Yes. Councilmember Jaxetic? Yes. Councilmember Lavender? Yes. Councilmember McLean?

Yes.

Councilmember Schaefer?

Thank you. The resolution passes. Resolution 45-2026.

Mayor and council, this is a resolution accepting the bid of Don Brown Chevrolet in the amount of $49,190 pursuant to MoBi's cooperative contract for the purchase of one 2026 Chevy Silverado 1500 crew cab 4x4 for the fleet department in authorizing and directing the director of procurement to issue a purchase order.

Thank you. May I have a motion, please? Motion.

Second.

Very good. Is there any comment or questions?

I'll comment again. So again, I talked to Sarah Fonore, I think that her full name, Procurement. There's a lot of information in the packet about the Missouri approved providers. And so the question was, we go there, we feel we get the best price, we... It has been negotiated. We either find the one closest to us to decrease transportation costs or the ones that has availability for us. So if people are looking into the packet, that's why we have the entire list of Missouri preferred providers.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Arnold.

David, does this one need anything when it comes in? Do you know?

This one should not because it is a vehicle for our fleet department If there's anything to be some minor lights because I saw it's budgeted.

I mean, it's well within budget It's like 65,000.

So yes, it's money that we saved so we'll be able to retain a good part of that I couldn't go towards a Marissa Sorry didn't mean to think Any additional comments roll call please mayor Gibbons.

Yes councilmember Arnold Yes. Council Member Burkett. Yes. Council Member Jaxetic. Yes. Council Member Lavender. Yes. Council Member McLean.

Yes.

Council Member Schaefer.

Yes.

Very good. Resolution 45-2026 passes. Yes. Resolution 46-2026.

Mayor and Council, this is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Kirkwood requesting that the Missouri Department of Transportation reduce the speed limit on Manchester Road within the city limits from 35 miles per hour to 30 miles per hour.

Thank you. May I have a motion and a second, please?

Motion. Second.

Very good. Thank you. I just want to say that we... One of the reasons that we brought this up is that Manchester Road is 30 miles an hour until you get to our border. And then all of a sudden, MoDOT has changed it to 35. We're interested because we're a city, a Vision Zero city. We're a complete street city, meaning what we're trying to do is make our city as safe as possible for all users of our streets. We're trying to slow traffic down. And this is one of the ways that doesn't cost much, maybe a few signs to do. So additional comments. Council Member Schaffer.

Thank you, Mayor. So this started with Nancy while she was here. So I want to give Nancy the credit where credit's due.

And what's her last name?

Letso.

Thank you.

challenging. Anyway, I believe that it's needed as well. Some of the people in town that have shown that the speed limit slowing people down, we have less problems and people are not as hurt when they get hit by a car. So again, we go back to the city limits all through Maplewood, through Rock Hill, Through Glendale, it's 30. I say continue it over to De Pere and let them do their thing over there. I did run it past SCIT, which is our internal here, and they have thought that it was a good idea, and so they're in favor of that as well. I've reached out to MoDOT, and I have not heard back, but that does not mean that he might not be available or he may be on vacation. So again, I, I'm in favor of this. Anything to slow people down with speedy signs or whatever we got to do.

And let's remind folks that there is a fairly large middle school right on this road. Yes. That is probably our biggest concern is those. We all see those kids when they get out and they're crossing Manchester Road. Any more comments? Thanks, Mayor.

I am fully supportive of reducing not only the speed, but ensuring that we are doing everything possible to put measures in place that will actually calm the traffic. So we all know that just changing the speed limit may not result in a full reduction. But since Manchester Road was recently done, there are low-cost options that our streets department and our city have said that they would consider if we can get this reduced. So I am in absolute favor and while I'm concerned making sure MoDOT will do all the things necessary to ensure that that not only do we reduce the speed, but we put traffic calming in place that I'm in favor of moving forward.

You know, I will admit to you all that I use my speed control everywhere in Kirkwood, cruise control. I recommend everyone do it. It's so easy and it keeps you, I mean, when there's cars zipping by you on it, it's easy to kind of try to keep up with them. So if we all started using our cruise control, Things would be good in Kirkwood. Hospital member McClain.

Now I know who the slow lady is. You already knew that.

At least he didn't say old.

We're about the same age. I know there's people out there that say this isn't enough, that we need to do more, as Sheila was saying. But baby steps. Got to start somewhere, people out there. So we're starting here. Have some faith. Maybe we can carry it on.

Very good. Thank you. And, you know, I did make a mention just the other day that our police who have a contract to patrol 44 and 270 caught someone doing 107 miles an hour. That is just an example of how out of control things are. And we've got to try to get them back into control. All right. Roll call, please.

Mayor Gibbons? Yes. Councilmember Arnold? Yes. Councilmember Burkett? Yes. Councilmember Jack Sedeck? Yes. Councilmember Lavender? Yes. Councilmember McLean? Yes. Councilmember Schaefer?

Yes.

The resolution passes. Resolution 47-2026.

Mayor and Council, this is a resolution accepting the bid of Tubbs & Son Construction in the amount of $24,000 for single-family residence demolition and property restoration at 921 South Fillmore Avenue. Kirkwood, Missouri, and authorizing and directing the mayor to enter into a contract.

Thank you. May I have a motion and a second, please?

Motion.

I guess that was two or three or four. David, could you explain this for everyone?

Yeah. So, When the city of Kirkwood receives maintenance complaints on properties, we try every means possible to have those remedied and taken care of by the property owners. Fortunately, once it gets to a certain point and remedies aren't made, we have to go through and demo certain sites. It's incumbent upon the city to take on that role. What the city will then do is they'll issue a contract for the demolition of the house. In this instance, and then it will put a lien on the property owner to recoup those funds at the point of sale of that property.

And how many how long do we do we give the people time to remedy the situation before we.

Jonathan, do you have a better answer on to the exact timing of the process?

Thank you, Jonathan. I just think it would be helpful for people to understand why we're doing this.

Sure. Yep. Thank you, Mayor. So this particular case, so it does, as David mentioned, it starts and we try to work with them to get them to... address the issues, but it's a pretty serious thing to take somebody's property, right? So it is a very legal process. We have support from the city attorney's office. This was almost a year exactly from when we issued the initial, and that wasn't really the initial complaint, but that was the initial violation about it being unsafe. So things had gotten far enough last May. And I know that it's a balancing of that, but we have to do a number of notifications in the paper, letters sent with giving them still opportunity to address it. We then hold at least one hearing that is advertised. We did that in this case. So all those things in the past year have been happening with notification. We do multiple title reports to make sure anybody with interest in the property is getting these notices in due process. And at the tail end of it is where, after all that is done and the legal findings are made, then we start to do the procurement process, as David mentioned. So does that answer your question?

Yes, it does. Let's see if anybody, does anybody else have a question?

Is anyone living in... Was anyone living in the property before you condemned it?

No. I mean, there were times when I was told inspectors were out there and people were in the structure at certain times. But, no, I mean, there have been... No.

We did... The...

heirs or inheritors of the property, a couple of them showed up at the hearing. And so we're involved and understood the process did not dispute the process. So just unfortunate circumstances.

Council Member McLean.

I just did a quick research on this property, and it looks like it just recently transferred into U.S. Bank's name. So I just want to make sure that they were properly notified.

Yes, yeah, that we did. Yeah, there were a couple, and that's another... reason why we take our time with these things. They often, when they get to this point, they do often change hands. So we made sure we ran, I want to say at least three title reports over this process to make sure we were updating them. In January, we sent additional notice out. One of the last times we went out and they had an attorney for, I believe it was US Bank, had posted the property saying you everybody needs to vacate so they were then we contacted them as well and went through that process so yes we've been in contact with anyone and everyone that that we're aware of that has interest and we also as a public uh publish public notice in case as a as a last effort um to make sure everybody has notification so all right and then this is more the more technical but if this were to go into foreclosure then now that's owned by the bank who knows what they're going to do with it

Would the city ever bid on that property up to the amount of their lien? Would we ever bid on it? Up to the amount of the lien, just so you wouldn't. Otherwise, the lien, I think, would get wiped out for a foreclosure sale.

I do not know the answer to that about foreclosure. My understanding was the lien would stay on, but I am not going to swear to that.

This is kind of a situation you've had in the past, I know.

Yeah, yeah.

It's a nice piece of property, actually. Take care of the house.

Thank you, Mayor. Jonathan, you and I have talked. So, yes, we put a lien onto the property. If it's gone to foreclosure and a bank owns it, my guess is that it will probably be for sale soon. If it's a nice piece of property, we should be able to recoup our cost, hopefully sooner than not, on the sale of the property.

That's always the hope.

Who maintains the lot once you do the demolition?

Still the property owner. So we're not taking anything with the property. It's just we're getting rid of the public health safety hazard.

And if the title has been passed to the bank, is the bank then accountable for maintenance?

If they're the owners, whoever the owner.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Schaffer.

I'd like to comment that we have four bids for this. So I'm always the one that looks for more than one bid on something. So kudos to David and the crew.

But Mr. Tubbs came in the lowest.

Yes. Yes. It's all in the paperwork.

Anyone else? Okay. Thank you, Jonathan. Roll call, please.

Mayor Gibbons? Yes. Council Member Arnold? Yes. Council Member Burkett? Yes. Council Member Jack Sedeck? Yes. Council Member Lavender?

Yes.

Council Member McLean? Yes. Council Member Schaefer?

Yes.

Very good. Thank you. We move into City Council reports. I just want to let everyone know, remind folks that there is a Memorial Day service, and they are kept at one hour starting at 10 a.m. on Monday morning. It will be in Memorial Park, which is between here, City Hall, and the train tracks down there. So it should be a very lovely service, and I hope you all will join us. Anyone else with a report?

I have one from the Arts Council. Our KPAC has been nominated by St. Louis Magazine to be nominated for one of the best indoor music sounds. And we are all encouraged to vote early, often, multiple times for KPAC to be able to come in first in the best indoor sound facility.

Great, thank you. I might also remind everyone that there was an art installation that was just put in the gallery over there. They put it in over the weekend, I think, and so they had a reception last night. And there's some really, really great things. It's definitely worth it to go see that. Anyone else? Council Member Burkett?

Monday night, the Human Rights Commission had a wonderful event with Judge Michael Wolf. It was very well attended. I mean, it was a packed house and very thankful to everyone who came out and everyone who also participated in bringing tables and information out. So it was a really amazing event, I think. So thanks to the Human Rights Commission for putting that together.

Council Member Arnold? Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you had your hand up. Oh, Council Member Schaffer?

This is a library report. Just reiterating, they received a $9,000 grant, which helps them, obviously, for everything that they're doing. The YMCA has a, in conjunction with the library, is doing a story walk program I think that's pretty cool. It's involving the children and so forth. And then the last one is Patty Smith, who was our president of the board, is stepping off, term limited out. But I just wanted to tell her thank you for doing what she did. I was there for two years as the liaison, and she welcomed me immediately and led the crew for the two years that I was there. one other one because I have received emails and phone calls from our veterans. There is not a flagpole over up at the library. They are working on it. I'm told that it will be in in November. The new president of the library board, said they will do something special for the 4th of July. Even though the flag won't be up, they're going to do something special at the library around the outside. I won't disclose what that is yet, but they said they were going to do something.

Very good. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. Interim Chief Administrative Officer report.

I have nothing to report at this time. Okay.

Okay. Did the attorney report? Okay. City Clerk report.

Yes, Your Honor. I have the report of the May 20th, 2026 meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission. The following action was taken after a presentation by staff on a zoning map amendment from B4 Planned Commercial District to B2 Central Business District at 422 South Clay Avenue. A subcommittee was appointed. The subcommittee will meet on site on Thursday, May 28th at 830 a.m. After a presentation by staff on a staff-initiated zoning code text amendment related to clarifications and revisions of the zoning code, a subcommittee was appointed. The subcommittee will meet at City Hall on Tuesday, June 2nd at 8.30 a.m. That's all I have.

Very good. Thank you. So we will adjourn this meeting. The next regular meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 4th.

Thank you.