City Council - Special Meeting

I call this meeting to order. Would all please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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. Roll call, please. Mayor Gibbons here. Council member Jedetic is absent. Council member Litzo here. Council member Mlan here. Council member Reiner is absent. Council member Schaefer is absent. Council member Zimmer here. Thank you. Um, this evening we have no introductions or recognitions. We'll move straight into public comments. So, has anyone Oh, would you like me to read? Yes, please.

Okay. The public comments portion of the meeting is an opportunity for the city 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. Thank you. So, has anyone filled out a comment card for this evening?

Yes, mayor and council. We have one comment from Mary Fitzgerald. Hi, good evening. My name is Mary Fitzgerald. I'm asking you, why not wait a couple more weeks to hire the new CEO? The new city council have walked, these folks, the new candidates just elected Tuesday night, walked hundreds of miles, spalked to hundreds of citizens. You all remember what campaigning was like, right? It was hard. It was a lot. But you also listen to people considering there are a lot of trust issues with the city right now. There's lots of questions about fiscal mismanagement of the city. I volunteered for 12 hours at the polls Tuesday. I got sunburned. I got tired. But I listened to people and they are really concerned. Hurrying this hiring is not a good look for y'all. Um, having the new council who would be overseeing the CEO, having their voice, their input in that hiring decision would help real big rebuild the trust with the citizens and the city employees. Thank you very much.

Thank you. We have no further comments. We're good. Thank you. Since um there's no consent agenda this evening, we're going to move to unfinished business, Bill 1123. Mayor and council, this is an ordinance granting a special use permit for outdoor use and outdoor dining at 612 West Woodbine Avenue, Lonas Little Eats, subject to certain conditions. Thank you. Do I have a motion and a sec and a second to accept second reading? Oh, you can open up for discussion.

Any discussion this evening? I I'll say that I know the folks are here again. Um, I said it last time and I'll say it again that Kirkwood is most excited about your coming to Kirkwood and opening a new restaurant for us. I know you're going to make it beautiful. The parking lot is going to come be completely repaved and there will be three new concrete curb cuts which I think the total is about $130 something,000 to do that. At the same time, they're going to be pushing and getting all the honeysuckle out. I mentioned it the last time that there's um some secret sidewalks. Um there's a lot of those in Kirkwood, which I think are so fun. There's a path from behind one at one side and then there's some stairs as well from the street behind. So, you're going to add a lot to our community and I'm looking forward to voting yes on this. Any further discussion?

Sure. I I thank you all for your patience, uh, for your hard work and how this is going to turn out. I think this is going to be a wonderful addition to the neighborhood and Kirkwood. I wish you all success in your endeavor. Thank you. Any further discussion? Okay. All in favor? Roll call. Roll call, please. Mayor Gibbons, yes. Council member Litzo, yes. Council member Mlan, yes. Council member Zimmer,

yes. Great. Bill 11123 passes. Congratulations. Okay. Uh, city council reports. Need to report.

Yes, ma'am. We had an election on Tuesday and I are all the new council the new council members are not here but I want to congratulate them and um thank them so much for uh uh running for election. This is an extremely important role um that citizens can play part of a democratic republic. We are the we are the people are the ones who have to step up to the plate and make this the system work. And I so much appreciate all the new council members and um wish them the best and offer any any help that they may need along the way with

well with your 12 years of experience they will be calling on you I'm sure and I am I am good with that. anything to do to help this community move. Thank you, Nancy. Thank you very much. That's all. Further reports?

Yes. Um, and I'll second that. You know, we're certainly uh grateful for anyone that, you know, volunteers to help in this great city. And, you know, that's that's part of it. You know, this is a a volunteer because we love Kirkwood. I think besides um you know ensuring fiscal stability for the next council, I think one thing that I want to talk about tonight uh since our our time is limited here uh for now and and that's our city employees. Our city employees are fantastic, hardworking people. I have known some of these folks for a long, long time. In fact, I just spoke this morning with some folks that uh are in our street department. Had the pleasure of talking to them and they're, you know, digging holes and repairing streets from a water mane break over in my neck of the woods. And, you know, these folks are dedicated and committed to Kirkwood. Uh the next council really and the next CEO needs to focus on attracting and retaining good employees. Our employees are some of the best in the business. our city clerk here, Lori Ashy. She is probably the best city clerk in the state of Missouri, if not the country. And and you know, we have a lot of very talented people. Mr. Widler has done a fantastic job serving as our interim chief administrative officer. um you know, our department leads and directors um such as Jonathan here, um Amy, all of our staff here, our our first responders, these people work very hard for the citizens. They're the backbone of our community. They put in a lot of time and effort and caring

into the city and that should be stated. You know, sometimes I know it's a very competitive market out there, but we need to make sure that they feel valued and that they feel like they're satisfied and working for Kirkwood and that we respect their labor and we respect them as people and as individuals. And that's so very important because we the citizens count on them every single day to make our city function. So, uh, hats off to all of our great city employees and we thank you for your service to Kirkwood.

Very nice. Thank you. Thank you for that, Mark. Any further comments? Interim chief administrative officer report. I have nothing to report. Thank you. Thank you. City attorney report. Nothing to report. Okay. City clerk report. Nothing to report. Oh my goodness. Okay. Seeing no further business, our next regular scheduled meeting is Thursday, April 16th, 2026. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you.