Board of Aldermen - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call this meeting to order and ask everyone to please rise for pledge of allegiance and prayer. 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. John, if you'd lead us in a prayer, please.

Heavenly Father, we come to you this day, and as always, Lord, we thank you for your son and your grace and mercy. Father, I just ask that you lead and guide us in this meeting and that everything we say and do brings honor and glory to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

All right. I am President Alderman Dent.

Present.

Alderman Kinsey is absent for medical procedure. Alderman Whalen. Present. Alderman Letchworth. Present. City Administrator Burbridge. Present. City Clerk Culler.

Present.

City Attorney Weber. Present. Public Works Director Payne. Present. Jeeva Bleas-Chase. Present. Finance Director Houston. Present. Economic Development Director Sutterfield. Present. I don't think we have any other city staff with us tonight. I need to next up would be tonight for an approval of tonight's agenda.

I'll make a motion to approve the agenda with the exception of bill number 3717.

Do I have a second? I'll second that motion. This time I'll call for the vote. Alderman Whalen. Yes. Alderman Letchworth. Yes. Alderman Dent.

Yes.

Next item up is the approval of the consent agenda.

I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda tonight.

Do I have a second? I'll second that motion. This time I will call for the vote. Alderman Whalen? Yes. Alderman Letchworth? Yes. And Alderman Dent?

Yes.

All right. Move on to public comments. We have two for tonight. We'll start with Mr. Dylan McGinnis. Subject matter for bill number 3713.

Good evening, alderman and mayor. I appreciate you giving me the time again. I want to talk to you guys about bill number 3713. You're going to hear about it. The utility committee met. They were only able to talk about it. They couldn't vote on actually what they wanted to send to you guys. And I believe the recommendation was to bump it up where it's going to cost $14 extra a month. And the staff, you know, the reason the utility committee couldn't vote is because there was only two people. Then the staff, which Ms. Burbrick said was her and Stacy, which is only two people, gave a recommendation as well. So I would like to give a recommendation from the citizens. Now, I cannot speak for every single citizen. But I can speak for what I've seen online. And we don't want to raise it all on our utilities, especially not the water. Now, I understand that you can look at that and say it's only $10. But do you know what $10 is to a family that's living paycheck to paycheck? That's a couple meals that they're not going to get to eat. Does that make sense? That's something that it's not just $10. Oh, it's just $10. $10 is not what it used to be. You can't even hardly buy anything with $10 anymore. So what I would like to see is at least for y'all to discuss it At least if you're going to vote yes on it, at least give us an answer as to why you're voting yes on it. I think that would go a long way for transparency with the people instead of, you know, you guys have time for open discussion. You also have time at the end of the meeting if you want to say why you voted yes or no. But I believe the recommendation from the people, from what I've seen online and just talking to people, is that we don't want any raising it at all. There's plenty of other places that we can find the money from. This is for capital improvement, if I'm not mistaken. There's $138,000 that y'all are spending on the bus that we could use instead to pay for the stuff so that we don't have to raise our water utility. There's money to be found where we don't have to pay it anymore because that's the problem. It's far too often, you know, it's not your money so you don't care. At least that's what it feels like to the people because what happens is you don't actually say anything to us. You just vote on it. You say, hey, it's just $10. But $10 to somebody that lives paycheck to paycheck and has four kids or whatever and doesn't get assistance, they can't just pay that extra $10 all the time. but it's just $10, but it's not. And I want y'all to really consider that when y'all go to look at bill number 3713. Thank you.

Next up, we have Ms. Vontell Kisser.

I know it's another speaker.

Good evening, Mayor, City Administrator, and Board. My name is Vontella Kisser, and although I'm located outside the city limits, I work in the city, I spend my money in the city, I spend a lot of time in the city. I deeply care about this city, and right now, I'm concerned with the unprofessional behavior within our city leadership. Recently public online behavior by an elected alderwoman and the spouse of an alderman has completely degraded into hostile personal attacks on Facebook. This continuous social media drama has become a major embarrassment. It can cause negative attention, more negative attention to Salem. Worse, the unprofessional environment has leaked into this chamber. The public targeting of economic development director Carrie Sutterfield at the last meeting, that was uncalled for and entirely unacceptable. Ms. Sutterfield was subject to a public reprimand simply for including a flyer in her agenda packet to draw awareness to benefit auction. To claim this was showing favoritism completely misuses the mark. Zach Mosier is not just any citizen. He is a pillar of this community who has dedicated his life to making Salem a better place. Ms. Sutterfield did not demand attendance or donations. She just simply made aware of a community benefit for someone who's given so much to this town. Our city employees work hard for Salem. They deserve to be treated with dignity and professional respect by this board and not subject to public sit-downs. That should be done in private. When outsiders look at Salem, they see leadership's inner circles fractioning online and targeting staff in person. This toxic environment drives away economic development. It causes damage to community trust and completely undermines your board. Therefore, I have a request of you. Can you enforce rules of meeting decorum to ensure city officials are protected from toxic, disrespectful behavior during official proceedings? And can you direct the city attorney, if we already don't have one, to draft a code of conduct and social media policy for all elected officials? Let's end this public name calling and bashing. Our town deserves leadership focused on economic progress and community support, not personal internet feud and hostility. Thank you for your service and thank you for letting me speak.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. Next up, we have the Fireworks Committee approval to set the fireworks off on the 4th of July. I think it's at the park. Ms. Former Alderwoman Kayla Sisko, please come on up.

Hi, guys. So thank you guys for your donation. Again, I know we thanked you previously at the meeting that we attended, but it truly does make a difference. I mean, if it wasn't for the $5,000 that you guys allotted for us, we wouldn't be able to have fireworks. It's very hard to raise what we already do. So it's a big thank you to you guys for allotting that for us. I come to you today. We've already been to the Parks and Rec Board, and they have approved us to use the city park. But of course, the next protocol is to come to you guys to approve that. It's going to be very similar to last year. It's hopefully a bigger and better show, as we have more funds to go towards the fireworks this year. We're planning to put $15,000 towards it from Riverways Federal Credit Union's donating to it, and then, of course, the funds that you guys have donated, and then what we have raised. So 250th year deserves a big bang, is what we like to say. So this year, we'd like to do what we did last year and just close. I've talked to Public Works Director Mr. Payne, and I've talked to Melissa DuBois, Chief Chase. And so we have everything kind of worked out, just needing a vote for you guys. We're wanting to close the park down, have vendors in there again. And the reason we want to close the park down is just for safety reasons. We don't want any cars coming in or out too. keep children at risk. I mean, the armory's opening up their building for blow houses, and then the gym's going to be open. They're going to have water health things going on in there. We were going to try to have a car show, but unfortunately, they already have something else going on, so that's not happening this year. But we are just wanting to close the park down. you watch it happen um wanting to close the park down um mr payne has agreed to bring in the lights like they did last year just for safety so we have more lighting and then we're also going to have some handicap parking available around the armory and then also they're like the new concrete that they put in by the t-ball fields that will be open for handicap parking but we just plan to have some vendors in there so we want to keep it safe while people run around so

You guys find a new food vendor? I've seen the advertisement.

We did, yes. We have vendors coming out of our ears, we hope. So we did find a food vendor. We have some snow cone vendors, different craft vendors. So a lot of things happening to make it bigger and better. And then we have Mr. Devin Sutterfield coming back this year. And so he's going to be singing, and we're trying to look for a bluegrass band. So if you know anything.

Good. So are we doing the dunk tank?

Well, that's coming. We're waiting for a response. But your name's in the draw.

All right. And if I'm showing up.

Swimmer's cap again, please.

I'm looking toward the back audience. Chief Chase. Yeah.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

This time, buddy, come and be a team player.

Don't leave the mayor hanging. There's got to be a line for him.

So come on.

So today I just come to you to vote to close the park down for the day of 4th of July. Not necessarily to people. They can come in and still walk, but just traffic. So the pool parking will still be open up until after the parade, until the pool closes. And then we'll block that off, and that's just for the fire truck to be close by in case there is something that happens and easy access for them to get out.

Any questions from the board? No. No.

I was out of town last year, but I heard nothing but good things about it. The late Mr. Roger Gott was very complimentary of it. And I'm glad to see you doing it again. I thank you.

We are very thankful for his family. I mean, if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be able to have the fireworks this year either. So they were very kind in letting us use his property again.

Yes. All right. It's time to, if we don't have any questions, I have a motion.

Make a motion to approve the closure of the city park for the 4th of July. Close it to traffic only, not to pedestrians.

I'll second the motion.

Thank you.

At this time, if there's no further questions, I'll call for the vote. Alderman Letchworth. Yes. Alderman Whalen. Yes. And Alderman Dent.

Yes.

Thank you guys for your support.

Thank you. I'll make sure to get a new swim hat again like I did last year to cover up my bald head. All right. Moving right along, we've got some new miscellaneous business. We've got surplus equipment approval.

Mayor and board, I believe you have the staff summary for this item before you on your table.

Yeah.

I thought we read that. Good evening, Mayor Alderman. I'm just up here in case you have any questions.

Oh, since they're non-usable, two of them. Okay.

One of them had snapped in half and been patched back together and snapped in half again. So, yeah, they're done. All right.

I'd say so.

Is there any discussion from the board for this? All right. Do I have a motion?

I move that we approve to scrap out the two Husqvarna mowers due to their non-usable condition.

Do I have a second?

I'll second the motion.

If there's no further discussion, I'll call for the vote. Alderman Dent?

Yes. Alderman Whalen?

Yes. Alderman Letchworth? Yes. And right along next up, we have Resolution 14-2026.

Resolution number 14-2026, a resolution authorizing the renewal of software subscriptions and services with Omnigo Software LLC for the City of Salem Police Department.

This time, I open it up for discussion.

I look at this and it's a renewal, so obviously the police department is happy with the service or can't find another one.

Is it coming up? It's tough to find. We use the same one. It's tough to find one that has every aspect of what Omnigo offers.

So to that contract, we're not particularly pleased with Omnigo. And it's not the... service, per se, the software. Trying to get bid pricing, and they switched out all their administrative staff, so prices are creeping up this year. And their one-year, three-year, five-year pricing, while it's not horrible, it's still not really that good. And then so the customer service is starting to kind of slide a little bit for NIBRS reporting, the MOSTARS for the accidents, things like that. And so we discussed it in length and we made the determination that a three-year contract would get us a little further down the road. Data migration costs are always a big concern. We feel like with three years of advancement in technology that there would be a better product out there, potentially at a better rate and provide a better service for the city.

But this time this is

It's the only game in town for us currently.

That's what I was trying to get at. But I wanted to be clear where we stand with them. I appreciate that.

Mayor, if I can add, Chief. So this was one of the things we also, when we put out requests for proposals for our ERP software in code, we asked were there any that included a law enforcement package, and there just isn't. So they're entirely separate things.

All right. I have no more further questions.

I don't either.

Okay. Thank you, Joe. All right. Thanks, Joe. If there's no further questions, do I have a motion for Resolution 14-2026?

I make a motion for Resolution 14-2026 for the renewal of the software subscription.

Do I have a second?

I second the motion.

At this time, if there's no further questions, I'll call for the vote. Alderman Whalen.

Yes.

Alderman Dent. Yes. And Alderman Letchworth. Yes. Next up is resolution number 15-2026.

Resolution number 15-2026, a resolution of the Board of Aldermen of the City of Salem, Missouri, authorizing the mayor to execute amendment number two to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services program services contract for wastewater operations.

So this is a renewal to a current contract we have. The city currently does participate in this Missouri wastewater surveillance program. This program does monitor our wastewater for viral and bacterial pathogens and monitors for disease outbreaks. The wastewater is collected weekly and then given to the health department to be tested. The city is not out any funds, but we are reimbursed $100 per sample each week, so with a cap of $5,200. So we're just asking to renew this program for another year.

All right.

Any discussion? I have none.

None.

Oh, we're good.

All right. Do I have a motion?

I move to approve the contract between the city and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

And do I have a second? I'll second that motion. There's no further discussion. I'll call for the vote. Alderman Dent? Yes. And Alderman Letchworth? Yes. Alderman Whalen?

Yes.

Next up, we've got bids. Purchase of asphalt bid.

OK, basically, this is our annual paving that we put out for bids. And we received one bid from Pierce Asphalt. Pierce has been doing our paving for years now. I think they do a quality product. The street department's happy with them. We put it out for bid to have the entire length of North Pershing to East Scenic River Boulevard done. So all of Pershing. East Hawkins from Warfel to Holman Street. Holman Street from Hawkins Street to Center Street. West Ninth Street from Jackson Street to Henderson Street. Sorry, I should have put a map together. Askey Lane from 10th Street to 11th Street. And as I've explained before, a lot of times, One of those side streets might not seem as important as other streets, but once the pavement itself starts to honeycomb, you have to top it or you're going to destroy the whole street and have to tear it all out and redo it. So the street department tries to stay on top of the streets that are just... blowing apart. And we're just happy about the purging. But anyway, so the bid for $426,797 came in. We had $120,000 allotted for this fiscal year. And then we were talking about the remaining $306,797 being a bigger push to get more paving done this next year. So this is... contingent on budget approval that we would approve this, and I think it would put a big dent in our bad streets.

They're going to be grinding off like the top part of it, I guess, and then putting the two-inch overlay through after they've grinded it down?

There's going to be substantial amount of milling, and that's where a lot of the costs come from, aside from the two-inch overlay.

Steve, what causes the honeycomb? Is that just age of the pavement or is there something?

Age. Brent has said sometimes when the base layers weren't put down right, it'll honeycomb like that. So maybe not built the best from the get-go.

Okay.

Because we've got some newer neighborhoods that have honeycombing, and it's, you know, not to throw anybody under the bus, but, you know, if your base layer is not appropriate, it'll crumble.

Okay. I appreciate that.

All right.

And if I may, I do want to make one note. When you make this, Steve brought out a good point. When you make this motion, whomever chooses to do so, I would include pending the fiscal year 27 budget approval because, as Steve noted, this is the current budget year's paving allotment plus next year's paving allotment approved all at once.

So if we make a motion, should we include that in the motion that is contingent on the approval of the 27 budget? Yes, I would. Thank you.

All right. Any discussion?

I have none, Catherine. No. All right. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion to approve the bid from Pierce Asphalt in the amount of $426,797, pending approval of next year's budget. Do I have a second?

I'll second the motion.

If there's no further discussion, I'll call for the vote. Alderman Letchworth? Yes. Alderman Whalen? Yes. Alderwoman Denton?

Yes.

All right. Thank you, Steve. Next up is the first readings for bill number, we'll start with bill number 3714.

Bill number 3714, an ordinance of the city of Salem, Missouri, authorizing the mayor to execute task order number five with Toth and Associates Incorporated for engineering services related to the Hickory Street Sanitary Sewer Improvements Project.

Is she saying something? I don't know. We're looking at what I talked to you about, the Grace Baptist Church.

Ah, okay. Any discussion on this for the first reading?

So, I'm sorry?

I was opening it up to see if they had any questions. Okay.

So this project, we've kind of had on the books for a little while. Funding for this project is out of the COP funds that were previously issued. We've had money set aside for this and one other project. And so this is just to get the task order with Toth and Associates underway so that they can get to work on designing it.

Okay. All right.

I'm good? Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Hearing right along, first reading next up is bill number 3715.

Bill number 3715, an ordinance of the city of Salem, Missouri, authorizing the mayor to execute task order number six with Toth and Associates Incorporated for professional land surveying services related to the Roosevelt Street sidewalk survey project.

So this project is also one we've talked about the last couple of years. This is for a survey of the street right of way along Roosevelt, West Roosevelt. So immediately to the west of Highway 19. We've talked about this intersection needing some improvements. And, you know, as a way to hopefully draw down funds through the state to upgrade that intersection and install a crosswalk, we, the city, need to have sidewalks on both sides of that intersection. Otherwise, MoDOT will not put a crosswalk on a state highway. Okay. So this is the first step, getting it surveyed so we know exactly what we have to work with if we need to take other steps from there. Okay.

All right.

Okay.

I just know from picking up grandchildren there at the school and the sheer number of kids and their excitement to be out, I think in the interest of public safety, we're on the right track there. Yeah. I have no more.

Anything else? All right. Next up, bill number 3716.

Bill number 3716, an ordinance authorizing the mayor to execute addendum number two to task order number 15 with CM Archer Group PC for engineering services related to the wastewater treatment facility improvement phase two project.

Okay. So this item, the reason it's an addendum, this is actually for the work The emerging contaminants grant that we've been told were awarded, this is to do that work. Archer was our engineering firm at the time when we were applying for this grant. And so because of that, they're kind of the one on record for this. So that's why it's an addendum to phase two, because it's removal of those solids, the sludge at the wastewater treatment plant. It'll all be occurring at the same time. same job site. So that's why it's an addendum to the preexisting for phase two. Again, this is for removal of those solids, the sludge at the wastewater treatment plant. And in order for them to start the agreements for the grant itself, they need an agreement with the engineer for doing the work.

I take it they'll be testing for PFAS?

I'm sorry?

They'll be testing some of this?

Well, I mean, we have already tested it. I mean, it's, yeah, we've already got those test results. Okay. That was part of the application.

I didn't know if they had any guidelines to what they were looking for as far as PFAS is concerned.

No, they've still not established official guidelines.

Okay.

Any discussion? No, I think I've discussed it.

All right. Next up, bill number 3717. Oh, that was removed. We skipped that one. We skipped that one? Yep. Okay. So it will be 3718. Mm-hmm.

Bill number 3718, an ordinance approving change order number four for the Salem Water System Improvements Contract C pitless well project and authorizing the mayor to execute the same.

Some of the equipment's taking a little more time to get here, unfortunately, so... We were winning, the towers painted, the logos on, go team. And they were like, this part for the pump house is running behind.

Any expected timeline on it? They're hoping to finalize by the 30th of June.

We're getting there. Okay.

I just, you know. Being optimistic. I got you.

We're super excited because we want to see the rehabilitation start on the industrial park tower. I mean, that's just, the visible changes around Salem are just, I'm ecstatic. Yep. Making some headway.

Yep.

So this is a timeline extension only. There's no additional cost. We're just waiting for the park to come in.

Yeah. Okay. Okay.

I don't think there's any discussion, is there? No. Oh. All right. Extend it until it gets here. What else can you do? You've got to have it.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right. Thank you, Steve. Thank you, Steve. Moving right along, we'll move up to bill number 3719.

Bill number 3719, an ordinance amending Chapter 115, Article 9 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Salem, Missouri, relating to the director of engineering or qualified engineering firm.

Okay. So the next set, there's one, two, three, four, five ordinances. This is to update our code. In our codes currently, or our ordinances, It lists out all of the appointed positions, one of those being a director of engineering. In our code, there's currently no provision for us contracting those services out. So this updates that section of codes to allow for that. So that's what, yeah, the next, like I said, how many did I say? One, two, five ordinance changes all deal with that.

Okay. Okay.

And each one, of course, it's a different section of it. So as Tammy reads them, you'll catch the very, like, last couple of words explain what that section of code deals with.

Okay? Any discussion?

I have none.

Good. All right. Remember how long we'll start with? We'll go up to bill number 3720. Okay.

Bill number 3720, an ordinance amending Chapter 115, Article 9 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Salem, Missouri, relating to the director of engineering or a qualified engineering firm and their appointment and tenure.

Discussion? No. And then here. Bill number 3721.

Bill number 3721, an ordinance amending Chapter 115, Article 9 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Salem, Missouri, relating to the director of engineering or qualified engineering firm and qualifications.

Discussion? No. No. Next up, bill number 3722. Bill number 3722, an ordinance...

amending chapter 115, article nine of the code of ordinances of the city of Salem, Missouri relating to the director of engineering or qualified engineering firm and compensation.

Discussion? None. None. All right. Last but not least, bill number 3723.

Bill number 3723, an ordinance amending chapter 115, article nine of the code of ordinances of the city of Salem, Missouri relating to the director of engineering or a qualified engineering firm and their appointment and duties.

Discussion? None.

All right.

And we got left is reports. We'll start with you, Sally.

No, we have a second read. Second? Yeah.

That's the one that you removed? No. No, that's 1713 is the second reading.

I thought that was the one that you removed. No, that was 17. All right, we'll do the second reading for bill number 3713.

Bill number 3713, an ordinance amending the code of ordinances related to section 700.190 water rates by the city of Salem, Missouri.

Open it up for discussion. Any discussion? I have none. I have none. Do I have a motion for bill number 3713?

I'll make a motion to approve bill number 3713. Do I have a second?

I'll second the motion.

There's no further discussion. I'll call for the vote. Alderman Letchworth. Yes. Alderman Weld. Yes. Alderman Dent.

No.

All right. Now we'll do reports. All right. Sally, would you like to start us off? Or would you want me to start while you get your stuff?

It doesn't matter.

OK.

So in your packet is the MPUA's 2025 annual report. I just wanted to share that with you. I'm not going to go over it page by page with you for your reading pleasure. Then also on the table there for you all this evening was an update from Toth and Associates Engineering about projects, updates on all our various projects that we have with them already. Two of those task orders, we did the first read this evening. So second read should be next meeting. to get them going on those. If you have any questions, please let me know. And yeah, at any time, if we would like an update from them in person, we just need to let them know in advance, and they'll be here to give us an update. I was very happy with getting that update. It was just easy to, hey, here's where each one is. Of course, we're at the beginning of all of those projects right now. So one other item that I want to visit with you all about, also on your table this evening, I provided a copy of the UFS electric utility rate study that was performed a couple of years ago. Last year with the electric rates, Um, utility committee recommended you all approved going with the year one recommendation. So that's actually the last three pages of that document. Um, it is double-sided, so, um, it lays out their proposed rates. Um, it's a separate page, one for residential. and near the top, up here, it has year one, year two, year three. Then the next page is commercial, and the last page is industrial with their recommendation for electric rates. Of course, if you remember, they took a deep dive into all of our finances, into our capital improvement plan, really looked at our utility financially to see where they thought we should be. So based on that, it looks like we will not have a quorum for utility committee tomorrow night. And so I wanted to talk about this with you all and then also share as a reminder, our code right now, our ordinance is state that if no action is taken, that the electric rates automatically adjust by the percentage that the cost of electricity to the city changed from the prior year. So given that we had winter storm firm, which was a huge amount in January, that would be a 10% increase in rates. if no action is taken. What staff would have proposed to the Utility Committee and what we're going to recommend to you all at the next meeting is that we follow and go into year two of the recommended plan from UFS. So that actually equates to a decrease in residential rates. So it increases the service availability fee from $8 to $10.50. but it drops the kilowatt hour rate for residential from 0.1276 cents per kilowatt hour to 0.1248 cents per kilowatt hour. So overall, it's a 0.2% drop in residential rates. Commercial rates increase by 0.8%, and industrial rates decrease, same as residential, 0.2%. That's their recommended rate. If you remember right, kind of their determination was that residential was subsidizing commercial rates at that time. And so this plan follows kind of making that adjustment to get us where they thought we needed to be.

Okay.

So, okay.

Would I be wrong by saying that service availability fee is because of the fixed cost that does not go away? Right.

It is for fixed costs of the utility. And so their proposal, like I said, has them going up this year and next year. But again, that kilowatt hour rate decreases again next year. So we follow this plan for all three years. That'll be three years in a row that overall residential rates will come down. Okay. All right. And then I'd stand for any questions. No?

Chair Greg Musil No questions? Chair Greg Musil I have none. Chair Greg Musil None. Chair Greg Musil Okay. Chair Greg Musil Thank you.

Chair Greg Musil Thank you.

Chair Greg Musil Carrie, do you have anything tonight? Stacey, would you like to update us on some financials and some numbers? It's always fun.

It's slow tonight.

Okay, so this is our monthly update on our sales tax revenue. This is what we have collected through May. The city continues to show strong financial performance through the first 11 months of the fiscal year. Sales tax revenue remains ahead of the prior fiscal year and is tracking close to what we have budgeted. For general fund sales tax, we have generated 3.1 million. Parks and Rec sales tax has brought in 589,000, with capital improvement sales tax bringing in 786,000. And then again, that graph just shows a year to year comparison for the past three years. Any questions on sales tax? Not, we'll move on to the next slide. Okay, this is an overall look at the utility usage and revenues, and again, this is through end of May. Utility revenues are generally performing near budget despite some decreases in consumption. Year to date of this fiscal year, we have billed around 46 million kilowatt hours. That is up slightly compared to the same timeframe as last year. generating $6.3 million in sales revenue. On our purchase of power, this is what the city pays to MPUA to provide power to us. We paid out $4.6 million, and as Sally kind of touched on this, that's about 10.62% more than what we paid last year. On water consumption, we have billed around 113 million gallons. That is down slightly compared to last year. On water revenues generated is around 1.1 million. While sewer consumption, we've billed around 106 million. Sewer revenues billed is around 1.4 million. Any questions on utilities? Good. Okay. Next slide. Somebody have a question?

No, I'm thinking of one, but I can't.

Okay. Were you good, Alderman Whalen? I saw you were studying the numbers. Are you good to go? I'm good. Okay.

Okay, and then this next slide is a list of all of the city's funds, their beginning balances at the beginning of the fiscal year. And then all the revenues, expenditures, transfers, in and outs that's occurred throughout the year. That last column shows the fund balances as of May 31st. So if you see, we started the fiscal year at $14.3 million, and we're looking to end at $17.3 million.

Oh, sorry. Yeah, we're at the bottom. Yeah. My computer has a delayed response this evening, so it's a little... So here's what she was talking about, the 14 million, it'll stop beginning, and the 17 million ending over here.

Okay, and then the next slide. This slide shows the total fund revenues and expenditures compared to what we have budgeted. The city has collected 76% of the budgeted revenues while expenditures total 68% of the budgeted expenditures. Both revenues and expenditures are trending behind what we would have expected for this point of the year, primarily due to grant related revenues and expenditures coming in later than originally anticipated. But overall, the city remains in a strong financial position with sales tax collections continuing to outperform prior year levels. Utility revenues meeting expectations and expenditures remain lower than budgeted for 11 months of the fiscal year. And that's all I have. Do you have any questions? Are we good?

I think we're good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Susie.

All right.

I'll move right along to my report. So they're holding a fundraiser for Zach Mosher at the Community Center on June the 19th from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. They're doing... This fundraiser, because Zach is battling sarcoma, we're hoping that you would join him for the evening. They're having auctions, desserts, food, drinks. If you have any questions, you can reach them at 573-739-1127. Or you can email suzy at salemcommunitycenter.org. And next up, they have the registrations are open from the Chamber of Converts for the 4th of July parade, the annual America's 250th celebration. You can sign up or register there at their building at 1201 South Main, or you can register online at salemareachamberofcommerce.com. forward slash forms uh also i would like to thank uh all of our electric crews i've noticed all the new utility poles being put up and the street lights being replaced uh water department out fixing some water leaks i noticed that over there on center street and just to get a kind of a head start summer's already like kicking in full force this week if you've noticed that the temperatures are going to raise the heat index I'd hopefully that we could probably post cooling centers on our city website. Also, just a reminder of electric consumption. Before they start, I noticed that Rolla puts out a lot of peak alerts. NPUA kind of, you know, we're kind of like the stepchild. They don't send us a whole lot of peak alerts, but just remember that trying to keep it below our demand so we're not reaching a new peak demand that we have to carry because that carries on for another year. Other than that, I have nothing else. And I'll move right along to Steve Payne from Public Works. I noticed she was getting too comfortable over there, so I figured I'd let you do some walking, Steve.

Thank you. As usual, wastewater treatment plants, healthy. Testing's going as normal. Public notice on the transfer of liquids from the retention basin to the repair oxidation ditch for the repair on the oxidation ditch. It's a little spicy. The smell out there has turned up a notch, but they're making great progress on that work, and when the new oxidation ditch rotors are put into operation, full go mode, it should really be better. So I'm getting pretty excited about that getting done. Progress is being made and hopefully we'll be back to normal soon. The water department, as you said, has done several line repairs over the past two weeks and they worked with the wastewater treatment plant lead and myself this morning. We're researching a cost savings plan for a We're hopeful that for Phase 2B there was a process out there that was going to call for heavy water flow for fire prevention in the new filtration building that will come in Phase 2B. And Josh came up with the idea of let's branch off of Water Main that's just over the railroad trail and bore underneath that bring that water main in and use that so we don't have to have a tank system and pumps sitting on idle that you know where over time or uh you know could fail so um we went out and met a vendor to take a look at it and just give us a guesstimate and stuff so we're working on that and hoping to you know save save a substantial chunk of money for the city so it was good on josh for coming up with that The electric department removed the old Christmas lights off of City Hall here. I love the crews. They do good at staying busy. I kind of chase them around town. I follow up on a lot of projects just to make sure we're staying on it. The electric crew are just everywhere. So I really appreciate them pulling those lights off of City Hall here. They've set over 40 poles at this point, 40 new poles. They've got new Bachelites in, so they're taking care of some of those that were out. I noticed a dead spot at the end of Mildred where it turns into Roosevelt down there. That's just kind of an awkward little three-way. of sorts so I had them put a light up there if You see anything or your residents are talking about an area that they're worried about let us know and we'll make sure that happens They made repairs on the new light poles downtown We ensured that the light pole banner brackets were going to be of a height that nobody could hit but apparently they can hit them so we've had to repair a couple of those construction crew finished framing the walls inside the old alderman chambers excuse me poured a couple of new approaches for new homes replaced various missing pieces of sidewalk citywide and we are at the end of the concrete budget pretty much so i think they were down to less than two thousand dollars in concrete so we're pumping the brakes a little bit so I'm still working on trying to find some projects for them. They may eke out the sidewalk across the front of Four Rivers' new facility that didn't get put in. Street department, patched asphalt, digouts across town, conducted more street sweeping, maintained the yard waste lot. The yard waste lot is a great benefit to our residents and the residents of the county. We have a lot of people that drag trees in, brush. But just every once in a while, someone will throw tires out there, trash, construction debris. So we put it out on social media, like here's the do's and don'ts, and then I'm going to have some new signage made that's not from the 70s and just in hopes that that catches some attention. Yeah. We're fine-tuning the pavement around Dent County Health Center, the armory. After they finished paving, they had a couple ripples in there that held some water, so they're troubleshooting that to make sure all the water runs off so we don't have an ice rink in the winter. The mechanic, all of our crew members are really impressed with Brandon Hunter so far. He's been a great add to the team. He's got a positive attitude. He's just grinning ear to ear while he's out there wrenching on stuff and really impressing the guys. Happy to have them. Cemetery crews working hard and keeping the cemetery in tip-top shape. Obviously, weather permitting, you know, rain-wise, some of the mowing slows down, but there's not a moment in the day that I don't go drive by checking on projects, and the three of them are out there just going to town, you know. It's good stuff, so... That's what I've got. We'll make sure that the fireworks committee gets their Edison twinkle lights and things blockaded off as needed for the fireworks show. That's what I've got, unless I'm missing anything. So, yeah, that's the highlights. Do you have any questions?

I'm kind of busy, huh? Listen, Ted.

Yeah, we're getting after it.

All right. Thank you. Thank you, Steve. All right. We'll move right along to the board reports. We'll start with you, Elder Roman Dent.

The community choir will be putting on the second year of a patriotic spectacular on the 4th of July. Two performances, 2 o'clock, 4 o'clock, so that you can come to those performances. Quilt raffle follows the 4 o'clock performance. Then you can go to the parade, and then you can head over to the park. So make it a day. And that's all.

All right.

Alderman Whalen.

No report.

Alderman Letchworth. My report looks a little different tonight. I wanted to talk about an incident that occurred at the last meeting, and I've typed up a formal letter here. And the incident I'm talking about was between Alderman Dent and Economic Development. Kerry Sutterfield. So this letter serves as formal censure regarding your conduct during the meeting on May 26. During that meeting, you openly rebuked an appointed employee in response to the placement of a fundraiser for a member of the community who is facing a terminal cancer diagnosis. Your remarks and the tone of exchange were inappropriate and harmful to a professional working relationship. Such conduct does not reflect the standard of respect and professionalism that should guide automatic meetings. As an elected official, we are trusted to serve and support our community with support of city staff, and it undermines our relationship with staff when they are belittled publicly. Fundraisers that support members of our community, especially families facing serious hardship, should be treated with compassion and thoughtful discussion. These matters deserve respectful consideration, not public criticism directed at staff. Section 106.040 tells us that the professional and personal conduct of public officials shall be above reproach and shall avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Public officials shall refrain from abusive conduct, personal charges, or verbal attacks upon the character or motives of the mayor, other members of the board or aldermen, boards, commissions, committees, city staff, and the public. And that's my report.

I have a response to that, please.

I think it's point of order. I don't think you have a response to that. No response? That's fine.

I'll put it in writing.

All right.

That's all that we have for tonight. Do I have a motion for adjournment?

I make a motion to adjourn.

Do I have a second? I second. At this time, I will call for the vote. Alderman Whalen.

Yes.

Alderman Letchworth. Yes. And Alderman Denton.

Yes.

Thank you all for attending.