Board of Aldermen - Regular Meeting

Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. down. I feel down. Heat. Heat.

down. Down. Heat. Heat. N. I'd like to call this meeting to order and ask everyone to please rise for pledge of allegiance and prayer. I pledge algiance 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 lead us in a prayer, please. If you bow your heads, please. Heavenly Father, we come to you this day and we thank you. We thank you for this day that you've granted us. We just ask that everything we do and say would bring honor and glory to you tonight. And it's in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen.

All right. [snorts] Next up, roll call. I am present. Alderwoman Dent, present. Alderman McKenzie, here. Alderman Whan, present. Alderman Lechworth, present. City administrator Burbridge, present. Assistant city clerk sir present. City attorney Weber present. Public works director Payne pres. Finance director Stacy Houston. Economic development director Sutterfield. And I see we have Chris Mcgherk and Josh Hunt from water and wastewater and all the employees that I asked to show up tonight. Thank you guys. Uh next item up is approval of tonight's agenda. [sighs]

I make a motion to approve the agenda. I'll second the motion. I will call for the vote. Alderman McKenzie, yes. Alderman Whan, yes. Alderman Lewward, yes. Alder Dent, yes. Next up is the consent agenda. Do I have a motion for the consent agenda? I make I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Do I have a second? I'll second. I will call the vote. Alderman Ledgeworth, yes. Alderman McKenzie, yes. Alderwoman Dent, yes. And Alderman [snorts] Whan, yes.

See, we don't have anybody for public comment tonight. Uh so we'll move right along to the board and committee appointment. This is for the Salem Housing Authority. Uh, Miss Sue Woods was approved by their board to fill the unexpired terriyear term of Wanda Henson. Wanda's four four-year term was July the 25th to 2022 to July 24, 2026, leaving the remaining term to expire July 24th and 2026. Miss Hub stated that she would be gladly to accept the appointment. So at this time I would entertain a recommendate or an recommendation from this board or an approval for my recommendation.

I move that we approve the appointment of Sue Hubs to the housing authority. I'll second. There's no further discussion. I'll call for the vote. Alderwoman Dent, yes. Alderman Kinsey, yes. Alderman Whaner, yes. And Alderman Lechford, yes. All right. Next up is new and miscellaneous business. We have resolution number 2-2026. Can you read that by caption only?

Yes, please. [clears throat] A res a resolution authorizing the submission of a grant application to the Missouri Department of Transportation aviation section for airport improvements at the Salem Memorial Airport. Thank you. Would you like to touch up on this?

So, this grant application is for the construction of one to three box hangers. So, it kind of depends on how far the money goes. Um, it's designed with one box hanger and then two additional options for additional box hangers. It'll include the asphalt leading up to those box hangers as well. So, by box hangers, these are larger like 40x40 uh type size for the hangers. So, this was approved at the airport board meeting and recommended as part of their capital improvement plan, their 5-year plan, um, which I believe you all accepted as well. So, this is just moving that forward. this grant the total the total project would be 1.4 million with a city match of 140,500. Um any other questions? This is just the grant application.

I have none. I have none. Okay. None. All right. We have a motion. I'll make a motion to approve submitting the application uh uh to MODOT for the federal and state funding for construction of one to three new box hangers at the Salem Memorial Airport. Do I have a second? I second the motion. There's no further discussion. I'll call for the vote. Alder Mackenzie, yes. Alderwoman Dent, yes. Alderman Whan, yes. And Alderman Ledger, yes. Yeah. Next up, we have the first and second reading for bill number 36.99. What? No. No. All right.

We're not reading this one. No. No, it was pulled. It was pulled. Mhm. Okay. Oh, well, we'll skip right along there. So, move to bids. Well, she prepared that Friday left. So, yeah. It was on my It was on my Saturday outline as well. So, All right, we'll scratch that one for the record. What about bids for the control panel approval? Good evening, Mayor Alderman. Good morning.

All right, so we've got the control panel improvements. We've discussed this one before. Uh RI raising the control panels uh up out of the flood zone because they were hit during the November flood. Um find it here. I got a few. Okay. So, we'd put out um a request for bid and we got three bids in uh for moving these control panels up out flood zone and building platforms to reach the panels once they're raised. Vanderventor Engineering came in at roughly $34,000. Midstate pipeline came in at $169,000 and Aesthetics Electric came in at 138. uh Midstate Pipelines bid stated there would be a potential for discounts due to their crew currently working on our phase 2A improvements out there. Um so I I reached out to them and they they stated after doing uh another number crunch they'd be $8,200 less on their bid. So putting them closer to aesthetics bid. um my recommendation, we've had experience with aesthetics and um on another project that drug out and then the end result we had to we had to kind of work on that. It didn't quite do what we needed it to do. So, uh my recommendation given the timeline and the uh on this project there's a FEMA timeline has to be done. Um, and then you've already got Midstate out there working on phase 2A, which has a crunch time. My recommendation would be to go with the Midstate pipeline bid. Even though with the difference of roughly $24,000 or so, um, I think we would have

less issues pop up. Um, we we just can't with us being in the crunch time on the phase 2A. I I just highly recommend that we not throw a wrench into things and put a another contractor in the mix. So, okay. Yeah. Well, this time I'll open it up for discussion. I have discussion from the board. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion to approve the bid for Midstate Pipeline. Do I have a second? I'll second the motion. [snorts]

This time, I'll call for the vote. Alderman Lechworth, yes. Alderman Whan, yes. Alderman Mckenzie, yes. All woman Dent, yes.

Next up is the utility pole bid. Okay. Uh we put out a request for bid for utility poles. Um we got three bids in. Technology International came in at roughly 19,000. Fletcher Reinhardt came in at 18,000 roughly and Bridgewell came in at $18,000. Uh just below Fletcher. Uh Huxford Pole and Timber was the lowest bidder at $17,400. And we're just making the recommendation that we go with u with the lowest bidder on this one, Huxford Pole and Timber. We gave specifications for class 3 poles and and they should meet that and deliver. So we have not purchased from them. So this is a new thing. Usually, uh, Bridgewell comes in as lowest bidder, but So,

all right. No discussion. Okay. No. All right. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion to approve the bid from Huxford Paul and Timber in the amount of $17,400 for 1740 ft and 1830 foot class 3 poles. Do I have a second? I'll second the motion. At this time, I will call for the vote. Alderman McKenzie, yes. Alderman Whan, yes. Alder Dent, yes. And Alderman Leworth,

yes. Last but not least, the tree trim and truck repair.

Okay, so this is our 70footer truck, our our best reach that we use for uh varied projects, but mainly for tree trimming. Uh it's an '06. It's got about 6,000 hours on it, and um our electric superintendent said typically you can get a good 10,000 hours out of a truck like that. So, we'd like to keep it. and it had a valve uh a pretty expensive valve that failed. And we went to instead of calling and having vendors come down and tear it apart in the parking lot, we took it over to a local vendor in Licking and he had to do some disassembly, uh found that the valve was old enough you couldn't uh rebuild it. So he could order a new one for what was it? 80 88 4417. So, um, shipping a couple hundred, labor $1,000. So, for a total of $10,44.17. Uh, that's the reason why I'm explaining that is that makes him a sole source uh versus getting bids on that. He's already got it apart and uh reput reputable guy. So, we we'd like to get that fixed and back into the mix. We're using a shorter truck right now, but um as Lonnie and his guys move across town, we're we're getting a lot of bang for our buck out of the tree trimming crew. I I I mean, we've had I don't want to jinx it, but uh we we're not having the call outs we used to have,

right? I mean, these guys are So, you're cutting back on overtime. Anyway, that long story long or we we you know, this is a a really great asset for us. So, good. All right. This time I'll open it up for discussion. No, I have none. All right. This time, do I have a motion? I make a motion based off the recommendation that we approve the bid for Mag Enterprises and Licking, Missouri. Do I have a second? I'll second. This time I'll call for the vote. Alderman Whan, yes. Yes. Alderman Mackenzie. Yes. Alderman Lechford. Yes.

And Alderwoman Dent. Yes. Thank you, Steve. Thanks. Let you take a short break. All right. Next up is reports of city officials, boards, and committees. I'll start with you first, Sally.

So, just a few quick updates just to kind of give you guys a where things are at. Um, so we had a request for proposals out. We had talked at length in the past about trying to update our software, our encode software. So request for proposals closed at 5:00 today. I believe we have um we had four paper and three electronic. So seven different companies who submitted proposals. So staff will start the process of reviewing those as we move forward. So, I don't expect it'll be something that's really quick because as we've talked about before, this this is an all-in-one software. It does everything just about that the city does. So, I mean, it's our utility billing, it's our business licensing, cemetery, financial, budgeting, all of it. So, um like I said, don't expect it to be terribly fast, but we'll start that process moving forward. Um engineering contract, hopefully that'll be before you all at the next meeting. Um [clears throat] so, we do have that. We're reviewing that now. Um the um water tower maintenance contract. Um we have that draft from the company now. Um utility committee wanted it to go back before them, but I' I'd like James and I to get a chance to review that completely before we do and before we submit it to the utility committee because I know that'll be one of their questions is has has the attorney reviewed it. So then that will be coming before you all. Um, we are going to reissue, we had issued a request for bids for plaster work here in city hall in the lobby in the stairwells to repair plaster that years ago leaks had damaged and um paint won't stick to it. It doesn't matter how you prime it. It just doesn't doesn't adhere to it. So, we had issued that back in November with a closing in December with no official bids received. So, we're going to try resubmitting that out there

and see if we can't gather some bids for that work. Um, I think that's it that I have for this evening. So, just a few updates, please. All right. Thank you, Zach.

No questions. [clears throat] Never hurts to ask. Well, now's my time to shine. So, I prepared a speech tonight for a presentation for our water department. So tonight is a night of genuine pride for our community. We are here to recognize a group of city employees who work as rarely in the spotlight, but whose service touches every home, every business, and every family in Salem. It's our water department team. Every time you turn on a faucet, you're relying on a system that works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. [snorts] That kind of reliability does not happen by accident. It takes skill planning and deep sense of responsibility. Our water employees respond to the main breaks in the middle of the night and in the worst weather. They monitor process and ensure we meet strict uh state and federal standards, plan improvements so that our system can serve Salem, not just today, but for decades to come. Much of what they do is never seen by the public, but for all of us to benefit from it every day. This year, their dedication has been recognized in a powerful way. The city of Salem has been awarded the the 2025 water system of the year. This is not just a plaque for a wall or a trophy on a shelf. It is a statewide acknowledgement that the people in this room. Our operators, maintenance crews, supervisors, engineers, and support staff are among the very best of what they do. This honor belongs to each of you who have answered that late night call, who have stayed until the job was done, who have kept learning new regulations, new technologies, and who has taken professional pride in the quality of Salem's drinking water. You have represented our city with professionalism and excellence. And you have given our citizens something that

they can truly trust, safe, reliable water. On behalf of myself and the board of alderman, I want to say thank you. Thank you for the hard work. Thank you for your expertise and your commitment to public service. You have earned this recognition and have made Salem proud. This time, would everybody please join me as I present you this proclamation for your service. Are you going down on the floor? Okay. [laughter] Oh my

goofball.

Carrie Stacy, will one of you take a picture? What I'd like to do is uh introduce these this team that is so deserving of this. To say I'm proud of them would be a a drastic understatement.

These guys make me proud every day. This is a little plaque I brought with me that I keep in the office over at the water department. And it's the definition of a team. It says, "An amazing group of talented people who work together to attain incredibly awesome results." These guys right here, this is the this crew that's here now, this team. No matter what the circumstances, the weather is or everything getting called out in the middle of the night, freezing weather, snowing, or sleeping, I have never ever heard this group right here moan, complain, or anything. This group right here is strives on accomplishment. They were very resultoriented and take pride in what they do. And like I said, I couldn't be more prouder of them. And I'd like to introduce each and everyone to you. Right over here next to Steve is Josh Hunt, which you all know. Josh won the uh wastewater operator of the year, but John Josh lends his talents when it's needed to the water department. Then next [clears throat] to him is Jeremy Jeremy Steelman who is a v vital part. He runs our heavy equipment. He runs our backho most of the time. Next to him over this way is Kyle Wford. He is our lead man. He is in charge of the crew and keeps them going out on the job sites. Next to him is our newest employee, Dustin Shepard. Yes, sir. Then next to him is Christopher Price as we call Chris P since there's two of us with Chris in the department who is a a vital part and just a demonstration of of a workhorse. That that guy sometimes bugs me to death because he's always wanting something to do. And then next to him is Will Malone. Will is our service tech. Will has probably seen more out and about and and probably hears more complaints than the rest of

us do about a lot of things, but Will does a tremendous job. He uh communicates more. He's a more resident than most of us are. So, uh my hats just off to to every one of these guys in the job that they do. But with a lot of this Mr. mayor in the board. This like any kind of team, those that are in the field usually get the recognition, they get the congratulations. But when this uh interview when we found out this interview process was taking place, I didn't really know and I don't think Steve knew exactly what it entailed. And uh we were surprised. This interview started at 1:00 one evening right after lunch. There were four panelists from Missouri Royal Water showed up. Each one of them an expert in every field that has anything that touches, relates to or anything with water. When this interview started, it was just Stephen, myself, and then Sally had to come into the interview. Stacy, the finance director, had to come into the view, Tammy, the city clerk. And each one of these members had a questionnaire and they would ask their questions and everything and we would give our answers and we were were scored on them answers and boxes were checked. And this thing got so critical and so to the point that they even checked the office hours posted on the utility office. That's how critical this interview was.

Yep. And I was told at the uh conference by a Missouri Grill Water member that the cream rose to the crop or the the cream always rises to the top and we were the cream of the crop. We checked every box and then some. And I know at one point in this in the interview process there was a question asked and they were surprised that we had beyond that question. And uh Steve said, "Did we get extra points for that?" and the comment was made from them. Y'all are not going to need it. Yeah, it did.

So to say this this reward just doesn't involve this group here if it wasn't for this administration to make sure that all the tees are crossed, eyes are dotted, and we have what we need to do our job and to do it in the manner we do. This award is just as much theirs as it is ours. So, uh, on behalf of the water department and everything, we'd like to present this award, not only to to these guys, but to our administration staff and everything. And and I'd like to say I work under Steve. We all work under Steve. Steve and I both work under Sally, but never once have I ever felt like I work under them. Never have they uh propelled that notion or anything that it's always that you're working with them and we always work work together and to get those things accomplished that we need to to accomplish and I know no I think this is being recorded but I'd like to say that those on these social media platforms that congratulated us and support us and everything we thank you from the bottom of our heart. And for those naysayers that are on these platforms, I just like to say it's easy to be an armchair quarterback. It's a whole different perspective when you're in that game and there's a whole different outlook on it. I can tell you this administration, according to this interview and all those boxes are checked, they are doing it completely right. And I don't know how this imaginary line got drawn with us and them or them and us. But the thing I want them to remember at the end

of this, we don't do this for us. We do this for them. And after all, we are neighbors. So with that, I'd like to to present this award with pleasure. to everybody with the city of Salem that it encompasses. We'd like to give this award to the city. [applause]

[applause]

Mary looks like he's in a mug shot. What do you think, Rick? [clears throat] Yeah. Get that out there. [applause]

[applause]

Now we have all the fingerprints. [panting]

[laughter] better give it to Sally. Yeah, [snorts] [laughter] appreciate each and every one of you. We do. Man, that's like uh two water awards and a 12 month cycle. We got your fingerprints too and the mirrors. [laughter]

One on water quality and now water system.

All right. Well done. Me and my mug shot. Yes. Thank you for your support. All right. Well, Carrie has nothing for us tonight. So, Stacy, it's going to be your time to shine with our financials.

Good evening everyone. Good evening. Stacy,

do you want me to go to graphs? Uh, next next slide. Okay. So taking a look at our sales tax revenue and this is what we have collected through February. So revenues continue to come in strong year to date. We are up 2.7% over last year with general fund sales tax bringing in 2.3 mill. An overall look at the utility usage and revenues and this is through February. Year to date of this fiscal year we have build around 36 million kilowatt hours. That is up around 3% compared to same time frame as last year. generating 4.8 million in sales revenues. Purchase of power is what the city pays to MPUA to provide power to us. We paid out 3.6 million. That is 15% more than the same time frame as last year and that is due mainly due to winter storm fern.

Water consumption we have built around 85 million gallons. That's slightly down compared to last year. Water revenues generated is around 782,000 and then the sewer consumption we build around 79 million million gallons with sewer revenues build at 1.1 million. Any questions on the utilities? Okay, we can move on. Okay. And then this slide shows all the funds that the city has. It shows the beginning balance of this fiscal year. Then revenues and expenditures and any transfers between funds that's happened through the end of February. Then the very last column the end shows the ending balance in each fund. And then if you look at the very bottom it shows that um total funds comes to just under 17 million. Okay. Next slide. Okay. Then this last slide shows the total fund revenues and expenditures compared to what has been budgeted. Um through eight months of the fiscal year, the city has brought in 58% of budgeted revenues and 50% of budgeted expenditures. Both revenues and expenditures are trending behind what we would have anticipated for this point in the year and that is primarily due to grants grant related revenues and expenditures occurring later than originally anticipated. That's all I have. If anyone has any questions.

No. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Let's hear from public works. Come on up, Steve. Okay, I'll make it quick here. Uh, thanks again to the crew. You guys are really appreciate all the work you do. And, uh, Chris had mentioned Dustin. Dustin being our newest guy. Dustin's working on his CDL. He's a a great team player and he's we're trying to train these guys that our newer guys and make sure that they learn equipment use as well and stuff. Chris just had his knee operated on. He made it in here which is impressive. We appreciate having him here. Okay. Wastewater treatment plant. Your daily testing continues. Your plant is healthy. Thanks to Josh and his crew. Uh Matt's out there and James doing great work and Jeremy helping out as well. Uh let's see. the water department. Uh we've already went over the the award. Uh that was that was good stuff. Several water service lines were repaired, water main repair was made and uh new taps were conducted. So uh you guys are doing great work. Electric department, the crew continues to replace poles across town. Um can't say enough good things about Brandon Schmidt uh and and our electric crew. They are just getting it done. We are making gains on a system that's been um I hate to say it, but that we've been lagging on maintenance stuff that um they're they're they're playing catch-up and they're really stabbing a lot of poles. So, uh construction crew finished the pole bunks at the electric yard. Uh major cleanup job on the electric yard over there. New concrete pole bunks that uh you guys approved. uh put put it them in a safer position when they offload poles and made it nice and organized out there just like it it looks just like uh inner counties. Uh Brandon brings that knowledge over and we appreciate it. Uh construction started on the T-ball parking lot over there uh pulling out

the old pavement and doing the the concrete. So we're looking forward to seeing that done. They're they're making great strides on it. streets. Did some damage clean up at Craig PLA at Craig Plaza. Uh hauled rock in for the electric department, patched multiple pavement cutouts across town and continue to work on cleaning out ditches and dropins during our rainstorm season here. So, they're trucking along. Uh the mechanic's been staying busy. Did a major two-day repair on the city's loader. That was a big lift. Uh keeping multiple departments in business by maintaining their equipment. cemetery crew. Uh Paul and those guys are doing great out there taking care of business and uh making the cemetery, you know, getting it prepped for grass mowing season. So, do you have any questions? That was kind of

a fast [clears throat] rattle. Okay. I don't think so. All right. Thank you, Steve. Thank you, Steve. All right. Last but not least, our board reports. Start with you, Alderwoman Dent. Aha. I got [laughter] guard. Yeah, that's what you get for changing things around. There's a party Thursday night 7:00 at the Wilson Family Center for people who live in the West Ward.

Will, I just like to remind everybody that this weekend we had the uh rally and to uh advise everyone that the bridge on B highway is closed. So, allow yourself some additional time to drive around the detour. Have a great weekend. Alderman Leworth. Uh a quick mention. I've been mentioning uh Good Dads which uh has started here in Den County and March 24th the classes start and so if you know someone uh young fathers or someone that that could use it extra hand um you can go to the good dad's website and you can actually enroll them pretty simple and get them started. It's a really good program. So anyway,

thank you all Mackenzie. So, I want to say thank you to the city for getting that map available for all the projects that we have coming up with the 5-year plan. Um, that project getting getting pushed out to the public so that if they're not available for a meeting or they don't know which packet or agenda that those items were in, there's a centralized location and instead of digging through a 250 page document, you guys can just go out to the website and see what the future projects are. This is a living document. So I mean things will adjust as emergencies happen andor uh budget changes or grants change but I want to say thank you guys for providing that. Yes.

Thank you. Um if I may a quick comment on that there are a few projects that don't have years don't have times on it because those are so far out. We we've kind of got them on our list but they're they're off the end of the fiveyear plan. So that far out, it's really hard to predict exactly when something's going to happen. And we know there will be changes that happen as we move forward. So there are some projects on there that we've identified as kind of next in line, but they don't have time frames and years on them yet. And and they won't until we get closer to those. So thank you.

Well, that's all. No last minute notes. I'll ask for a motion to go into close session for attorney client privilege. I move that we go into close session for attorney client privilege. Almost done. Do I have a second? I'll second the motion. [snorts] This time I'll call for the vote. Alderwoman Dent, yes. Alderman Whan, yes. Alderman Lechworth, yes. And Alderman McKenzie, yes. And thank you all for attending tonight. Thank