City Council - Regular Meeting

This is a regular meeting of the city council of the city of Cape Gerardo. Welcome to you all here. Thank you for being here. As always, we will begin with the invocation and the pledge of allegiance. Tonight's invocation is by uh being conducted by Pastor Phil Phil RP of Bethl Assembly of God Church here in Cape. Is Pastor RP here?

Well, there's several p several pastors I see sitting. All right, Pastor Johnson, come on up, sir. Amen. Amen. You shouldn't have sat in the front row. Thank you. Thank you.

Amen. Let us pray. Almighty God, on tonight, we just want to say thank you. Thank you for allowing us to be here. And I lift up everybody in this room. Lord, on tonight, let us be the example of unity and love because after we make decisions for our city and our community, we're still somebody's father. We're still somebody's mother. We're still brothers and sisters. And no matter what our titles are in this city, let us love and not judge one another. Let us encourage and not discourage one another. And when we get on track, GOD, YOU BREATHE ON US AND PUT US back on track. Let us be the example of unity with so much divide going on in our world. Let the city of Cape Gerard continue to be an example. Let us be a solution. Bless the entire council. Bless all of the first responders. Bless anyone that has a title, anyone living in this city. You kept us from danger seen AND UNSEEN. YOU'VE ALLOWED STORMS TO BLOW RIGHT OVER OUR CITY AND OUR COMMUNITY. AND WE KNOW THAT YOU LOVE US, LORD. LET US work together like we always have. Let Kate Dorado be the example following who you are. And we love you and we thank you Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Amen. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Pastor Scotty. That was wonderful.

Okay. Okay. All right. We do not have any study sessions or presentations tonight. We'll move to communications and reports from council. I'm just going to jump in and wish everybody a happy new year and hope everyone had an excellent holiday season. It's uh nice to be a part of the city of Cape Gerardo in 2026.

I echo Dan on that. And this is how boring our New Year's Eve was. We started talking about the guys sat around talked about our uh you know our our colons and our and our cataract surgeries and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's exciting. But we also had a great discussion about the city manager report that just came out that day. And if you haven't looked at that, if you don't get it, go to the city of Cape Dorado website and it'll pop up. I just did it. I don't know how I got signed up, but I did. And it just pops up and just put your cell phone information in there. They're not going to solicit stuff or anything, but they will send you his many things. But one thing that you'll get every month at the end of the month is a city manager's report. And it talks about everything the police did, everything the fire did, park and wrecks, schedules, things that are coming up you might want to be able to take your kids to. Just great. It's a wealth of information. And Kenny, I want to thank you for taking the time because it's it's a pretty indepth report and I appreciate you taking the time to do that and and the fact that that was a great topic of discussion in our New Year's get together uh is is pretty funny. But uh anyway, I echo Dan's comments. Merry Christmas, belated, and I hope 2026 is an amazing year for all of us. I know it can be. Let's make it so.

Anyone else council? All right. Thank you all. We uh have several items for discussion as always. Is there anyone here in the audience who wishes to appear as an advisory board applicant? If so, you may come to the podium and introduce yourself. No. All right. Seeing none, we'll move to the consent agenda review. Dr. Haskin.

Thank you, Mayor Council. We added D4 for your review tonight. Um basically it's a LNI request um agreement with Arm Brewster Management for the installation of a sign uh in the right ofway adjacent to 117 and 119 Theman Street. Mayor, that concludes the review. All right. Thank you. We will move into regular session then beginning uh with the roll call vote. Miss Davis. Mr. Bliss here. Mr. Control here. Mr. Johnson here. Mayor Kinder here. Mr. Preston here. Miss Randall here. Mr. Thomas here.

All right. Thank you, council. We have an agenda before us. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? So move. Second. All right. Any discussion? All in favor then of the agenda as stated, please say I. I. Anyone opposed?

The agenda carries. We have one public hearing tonight. I'll open this public hearing um to consider the proposed voluntary annexation and zoning of property located adjacent to the Cape Gerardo Regional Airport. Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to speak to this public hearing? If so, you may come forward. Nope. All right. I will close this public hearing and we'll move to the consent agenda. Mr. Young, would you please read that? Bill 25119, an ordinance authorizing the city manager to exceed cooperative agreement with the county of Scott, clerk of the county commission, the county collector for tax collection services in the city of Cape Tart, Missouri. Bill 25119, an ordinance authorizing the city manager ex cooperative agreement with the county of Scott, clerk of the county commission, and the county collector for tax collection services in the city of Cape Turtle, Missouri. Bill 25120, an ordinance approving the record plat of stone and story subdivision. Bill 25120, an ordinance approving the record plat of stone and story subdivision. Bill 2601, a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a license indeinity agreement with Arm Brewster Management LLC for the installation of a sign in the rightway adjacent to 117 and 119 the street in the city of Cape Charle, Missouri.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Young. Council, we have a a consent agenda before us. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Any further discussion? All in favor then of the consent agenda as stated, please say I. I. Anyone opposed?

That agenda carries. We had one item removed from the consent agenda. It is bill 2602, a resolution approving the purchase of a fire apparatus from Sentinel Emergency Solutions LLC. Um I guess uh Miss Mills, do you want to come forward on that? Thank you. Good evening. Excuse me. So, the this resolution is um complies with our internal procedures regarding purchasing. Uh, so it's a resolution to purchase and it'll authorize us um to be able to get a PO out there to Sentinel, which is the dealer that's going to sell the uh fire apparatus to the city. So we did this with um looking through a purchase agreement through a purchasing agreement a cooperative agreement called source well that allowed the city a 15% discount from the man manufacturers retail um Rosenbower America is the uh brand of of apparatus that we'll be purchasing. Um, excuse me. Sentinel Emergency uh, Solutions has also provided service for much of the current fire department fleet. So, when we looked at the the different proposals that were out there, um, it made sense that this was the one that we went to. We coordinated the decision with the fire department and um, it was conferred that this was the the best solution for us. Um as a background, the city has um six frontline pieces of apparatus. Uh three of those um there are also then three reserve pieces of apparatus. So what we're planning to do here um in accordance with our every year planning,

we look at the age and the condition of the apparatus and what needs to be done. Um we do that during the capital improvement process. And so planning consideration for this particular acquisition was done back in the spring of last year when we approved budgets for 2026. We had accommodated some of the spend and the expense for that. At that time we didn't know the entire cost of the equipment hadn't been quoted yet. So we didn't um put that in the budget last year. We held those reservations for this year so we could appropriate the money this year appropriately. Um the capital investment is a total of $1.4 million. Um it is going to um replace a old 2005 uh pumper truck that has 175,000 miles on it and has $153,000 in repairs and maintenance. So it's time for it to be retired. It'll be retired. the front line, a frontline pumper will be moved down into reserves and this piece of equipment will be placed brand new in our frontline service of apparatus. Um the fire equipment replacement has been extremely difficult. It's a national problem right now. Um every fire department's been impacted by this rapidly increasing cost. Just as additional background for you, the pumper we're moving into the reserves was purchased in 2017 for $550,000. Um the current replacement cost is 1,389451. So the price of this equipment has doubled in the past eight years. It's a a huge investment. all fire departments across the nation are dealing with this and um so we're working our way through

it along with the rest of us of the of the world. Um it's um also notable that this is a huge spend for our fire department for this year. Um we had already appropriated and budgeted for a $ 1.5 million uh renovation to fire station 1. Now that we're able to get this done and receive the the quotes and everything timely, we'll add that. So, the spend for um the fire department this year will be $3.2 million. Um the time to deliver the apparatus is also problematic. It's a 22-month delivery to build this customuilt firet truck for the city. Uh, with that, the financial impact is $1,389,000 and it'll be funded from public safety trust 2 and the casino funds and staff recommends that the council pass the resolution.

All right. Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience wishing to comment? Question.

Yes, sir. Excuse me. Good evening. My name is Andrew Juden. I'm the president of the Cape Troto Local 1084. I'm here tonight to express my disappointment and concern regarding the finances director refusal to to meet with the app appointed apparatus committee. The appointed apparatus committee oversees the replacement of our fire apparatus. The committee has done its job. We reviewed costs, timelines, and purchasing options, and the conclusion is clear. Purchasing all of five apparatus that we have front line together would save the city significant money both upfront and overtime. Even using the conservative 5% annual increases, delaying these purchases, this purchase would cost the citizens over $500,000 over the next 5 years. And I want to emphasize that's conservative because the last time we purchased the current fleet, fire apparatus have increased in cost 9.8% annually. That means the true cost of this is actually probably going to be more than 5% annually. and it could be more than five $500,000 at the end of the term. Um, in addition to purchase, the purchasing savings, buying all five apparatus would allow the citerve apparatus, which would also net the city around $500,000. So, we're talking a million dollars at this point if we were to purchase all the equipment at one time. So, you've basically got one fire apparatus for free. When it comes to build timelines, these purchases are not immediate. It's not like going to Ford Motor Company and buying your own vehicle. Uh it takes 20 to 30 months to build and deliver a pumper. It takes between 36 and 50

months to build and deliver an aerial apparatus. Through negotiations with the manufacturer, it can be agreed contractually that all apparatus are delivered at the same time, which just like our last fleet ensures during the build, each unit follows the other down the line, which in institutes consistency when it comes to the apparatus, when it comes to the parts that are used to build that apparatus. Um, one thing that everyone needs to understand is none of these apparatus have to be paid for until they're delivered. So if we are allowed to purchase the apparatus today and we agree with the manufacturer that they won't deliver them for another three and a half years, the city does not have to write a check until they are delivered here in Cape Verado. So I say that so you can understand that the city has about four budget cycles to prepare for this this year and three more. Um the cost of this would be about $7 million. Um there's also the use of potential use and any shortfalls of the unreserved fund that the city has which is about $16 million. But instead of being able to have these discussions with the finance director, she's refused to meet with the committee. This is both disappointing and disrespectful to the committee members and the citizens of this great community. Time and time again, this administration fails to come to engage in transparency, compl collaboration, personal feelings, and egos too often get involved and take a priority of responsible leadership. It's not the fault of the firefighters of the city, the citizens, that poor financial decisions were made in the past and promises to voters were broken before the first ballot was cast. While those issues originated under a

prior administration, the responsibility now lies with the current administration. Leadership means addressing the problems directly and not dismissing them or making them more expensive over time. Continued lack of responsibility and leadership for forces both firefighters and citizens to bear the consequence. Therefore, I'm respectfully asking this council to delay tonight's vote, direct the finance director to meet with the apparatus committee to discuss the financial and operational benefits of purchasing all five apparatus together so that the council can make a fully informed decision that protects both public safety and taxpayer dollars. We understand this might be a foreign concept, but I promise you it works. Thank you. Anyone else in the audience wishing to comment? Okay. Um well then we will move council. Is there a motion to u approve bill 2602?

So moved. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Discussion council. I do have a question, Lisa, if you could. So, last year we've put a certain amount uh designated dollars amount for fire, right? It didn't determine exactly what was needed. It was based off what was in the budget and also making sure other departments are in the right of taking care of too based on what things cost. Is that correct? Absolutely.

And typically when we make decisions as a city and the decision we decide to make is what's been assessed of what needs to be immediately done to continue to protect our city. Is that correct? Mhm. Um and I I don't want to go back and forth with that, but the request is additional for more, but as the city assessed or we worked on, the other areas does not have immediate concern as what we if we decide to vote on today, what needs to be done today. Now, if we want to do another budget next year and the year after that, we can assess it at that time based on the city's budget and based on other city and department needs. Is that correct?

We budget annually. Our budgets are done annually and that spend is done annually. So everything we plan for and balance out which we implement zero budgeting right. So revenues come in equals expenditures go out is done on an annual basis. Um so that gives an opportunity yes for each department or the fire department to revisit any other necessary needs for that department any other department as we continue to.

Right. And the capital improvement program looks at future spend and plans for future spend moving out. Although those funds aren't immediately appropriated in an annual budget, it's an opportunity for the entire city to see the plan and the needs for all of the departments and all the spend necessary over the the future. That's usually a five to a 10 year look. Thank you. Mhm. I just have a quick question is and I heard when you were first presenting this I thought I heard you say that along with the fire department representative because I'm surely you're not going to go buy a apparatus without their input.

Absolutely not. I had input from uh Chief Morris, Deputy Chief and the maintenance. Was anything at that time brought up that we need to replace seven. So, I've heard many over the years of my tenure, I've heard many requests that we replace the entire fleet at once. That replacement at today's prices is going to be would be a um 8.99 million spend.

It's just money we don't have. Well, it it the replacement of the equipment needs to be done as based on the equipment's condition, not necessarily based on its age. And those are standards that I've learned about and been taught, right, via the fire department um and FPA. Age is a big part of of how you replace. Um, right now the condition of this reserve piece of of of this reserve pumper is such that has been told to me by the fire department, it's time to replace that reserve piece. The other pieces of equipment in the front line are 2017 model Rosenbowers. They were purchased in 2017, so they're 9 years old. And equipment, fire equipment lasts anywhere. It depends on the condition of use and and how they're used. Um, but NFPA those standards and Chief Morris can correct me um if I'm wrong here, but those standards are um 15 years to 25 years and based on the condition of the apparatus. I can't emphasize that enough. So when we looked at these when we i.e. fire department management and myself and we looked during CIP process at what it needed to be replaced. This was the truck that was identified.

Okay. It's 25 years old, 175,000 miles. The reserve is Yeah, it's a 2005 model. Now, the one thing I do, do we have a reserve backing up the present operational water truck? Is there a reserve to in the in the ready five position if this if the one that we're replacing goes down? So again, the reserve equipment consists two pumpers and one aerial platform. Okay, that's what's in the reserve.

Cuz my point was if if it's not necessary to keep it in reserve and the expense of maintenance, u I don't disagree with Mr. Juden on that that that would be something we could sell possibly and and have that money for the next apparatus piece. Well, I I expect that when we take this piece of equipment out of service, we'll place it out there to sell it. I mean, what else would I thought you said we're going to put it in in the reserves after replacement.

Okay. Okay. So, let me do this again. All right. So, um, the 2017 Rosenbower that is a frontline pumper is going to be moved to reserve status. It replaces a 2005. Okay. The 2005 pumper will sell. There's no need for us to to keep it. And whatever we can get out of it, of course, and I agree with that. I mean, you want the proceeds to come back in right back into the funds. We can earn interest on those. And then when the next piece of apparatus is determined is necessary to be replaced, we'll have more money in order to do that with. Absolutely. Thank you. Appreciate the clarification. Yeah. Yeah.

Was there any other apparatus identified anywhere close to needing reser needing to be replaced? So at the time we quoted, we also quoted ladder. We looked at another because the ladder platform um is also an older model, the one that's in reserve. Um but it was determined at the time that this piece was the piece that needed to be done. Okay. I'm wondering uh I have a question and Chief Morris, would you mind coming forward um just to clarify a few things? Thank you. Good evening.

Hi, thanks. Um, I I think there's been a lot of discussion uh recently about our different fire apparatus and what needs replacing and what people want replaced. Um, if you could speak to us, it's been mentioned um the process that the fire department and city administration go through to determine how these things get get to the point we're at tonight. um because we we we need to know we need to have confidence um in in the process and and know that you know before we appropriate millions of dollars for things that it's been thoroughly vetted. If you could just talk about the appropriation committee within the fire department and how that works with uh this process.

Okay. I'll start. Several months ago, we put to together an apparatus committee that uh Captain Judin has um talked about um that was a collective effort to get um some input from various ranks within the fire department. Um along with our maintenance officer, um Jason Garmms, he's um pretty intricate piece to this because he he works on the apparatus. He he knows the ins and outs, the costs, um the hours spent on certain apparatus and which so to speak are worse off than the others. Right.

We take into account several things. The cost, the downtime, um, which is a a big one for for us and the, uh, fire services, keeping those apparatus on the road and keeping that downtime to a minimum because every time we jump into a reserve apparatus, it is an older piece. It's more likely to break down. It's not saying it's unreliable, but it's it's just an older piece. Um,

so we look at that. uh we look at the mileage, we look at all kinds of things. The NFPA standard that Lisa mentioned as well and that is true that that's one of the things we look at is NFPA standard is um suggest 15 years um front line with not keeping the apparatus longer than 25 years uh for a total. So, um, once we collect all that information, um, the apparatus committee, I applaud them, um, all day today because they've, uh, they've done great work. They've reached out to vendors. They've, um, sat down at the table, drawn specs of things that we could enhance on this apparatus um, that we would order tonight um, that, uh, just make our operation better. So, a lot that input, then we come back and we meet with um management with with Lisa um and sit down and we talked all this over in our capital improvement meeting uh including the ladder trick that she just mentioned of of what will probably be to come. Um, and we know, I think we all know sitting here that the 2005 apparatus are probably the things we need to phase out within our department because of the build times of the new apparatus exceed or right around that 2-year mark. It exceeds almost 3 years with the ladder truck.

Mhm. So, it's just a long build time and those are circumstance out circumstances out of our control um that um we're trying to plan this out periodically that we can have those replaced in a timely fashion before we turn around we realize that these 2005 apparatus are exceeding that NFPA standard and maybe they're 27 or 28 years old. So, so

there was a mention of of to the total fleet perhaps being replaced all at one time. Has that process been taken with every vehicle in the fleet or and especially have we have did the department get uh bids on on all of those or was it just the pumper and the ladder truck that you all focused on this earlier this year?

So, we have just focused on the pumper truck. So, that's all we have focused on. We had at one time discuss had discussions about doing the the entire fleet. There's advantages as as Captain Jud mentioned with uh maintenance. So um Jason um talks to me about this a lot. He said, "Hey, if I have a brake pad that fits engine one, it's also going to fit engine 3. It's also going to fit engine 4. So I don't have to wait around where, you know, if we order one in 2025 and 2027, it might just be a smidge different that we have to order that part in that we don't have that in stock.

So it lengthens our are out of service time, so to speak. But is it fair to say that all of the vehicles aren't in such bad condition that they need to be replaced?

No. I I think our 2017 teams and and this is the reason that we were very fond of Rosenbower and um have had really good luck with them is that they they have a good apparatus. Our apparatus right now um have has served us well. Um they're getting close to the 100,000 mark uh probably in mileage. Um but we don't want to see it um later on down the road to where we have been um you know when I hired in over 20 years ago where we were running out of 30 year old trucks and just you know really creeping it creeping along trying to keep those things in service and we just don't want to return there um because we want to be able to provide that service to our citizens with the the best equipment the best people and so forth. you. Well, yeah, and I think we all probably are in agreement with that, but the the I think the big question um there's been, like I said, a lot of discussion about the ladder truck. Um uh I was under the impression that maybe somebody said it earlier that there were there were bids or or that that was seriously looked into as being replaced as well.

So, I believe we're looking at that in a a future budget cycle. Correct. um for looking at the ladder truck which again would replace our 2005 ladder platform that we have. Right. But according to to you and the and the process you've gone through and and the members of the fire department, the priority the the the vehicle right now that needs the the most urgent replacement is the pumper truck.

Yes. I I think personally I think equally they're they're about equal. The ladder and the uh they're both 2005 miles. They're both high mileage mile uh mileage trucks. Um the ladder that we currently have was a used piece that we bought from St. Charles um through a broker of used firet truck broker. So it ran front line up in St. Charles City for uh 10 or 11 years I believe. Sorry. Yeah. 10 or 11 years. So, it was it was well used when we received it and it was intended to be kind of a stop gap measure because at the time we were running out of an 86 Grman um and it was much needed. Same same thing. We needed to replace that ladder back then with this current piece and the stop gap measure is just we've we've kept it for a long time.

Uh but again, it's a reserve piece. We haven't we don't re we don't use it every day until uh here recently. It's it's been in frontline service for several months. No. So, but I guess I'm trying to um offer my perspective or I don't want to speak for anybody else, but we're we're we rely on your advice as to how we um okay these expenditures and and you're you're you're telling us though that the priority right now for the spend is for the a new pumper truck. Yes. Okay. And but as we've been talking about these annual these these discussions and evaluations happen annually

um in terms of evaluating uh I mean not just in the fire department but AC across all of our departments um and so correct the plan that planning is is always happening every year and sounds to me like you know in the future the fire the the ladder truck will be yes it's a very complicated process, especially when you have two-year build times, threeear build times to stage these out and again make sure we have enough funding. If we could buy all the apparatus at one time, we we would have we would save a lot a lot of money,

but they've doubled and and then some uh in price. Um so it's a it's it's a significant financial commitment to do that. um one I don't know where where we're at and I think that's kind of where we've I think it's fair to say we don't have the money to replace all of the fire apparatus. That's yeah that's so that's where we've landed with with this right here is probably the most pressing piece that needs to be replaced right now. So how do can I have one question? Um I don't know if it's 2017 or 2018. How many did we purchase at that time? apparatus fleets at that times like or did we or we

we ordered four pumpers. Okay. A ladder truck and a rescue truck. Okay. And a rescue truck our rescue truck right now would not be something that we would be looking at replacing in the near to probably mid future at all. It's it's very low mileage. Um it's a heavy rescue truck that doesn't um roll out every day. I don't know if that's what you were referring to as a as a frontline apparatus. It's not staffed. It's cross staffed with um individuals working at that station. Yeah.

And so it it sounds like within the fire department, you all are constantly evaluating not just your vehicles, but all of your equipment and for good reason, right? I mean, this that's it's essential. There's a challenge to work through. Sure. Especially with the old time. So the ladder truck is the only other is the other oldest piece of apparatus you have. We the reserve the reserve ladder truck.

Yeah. So we have a reserve 2005 platform ladder truck and we also have another 2005 engine. That one has semi been refurbished um after a um accident that we've had with it. So it's some of the components have been rebuilt on that truck. Um, so would it be a discussion than the others?

Sorry to interrupt you. Would it be a discussion because I know we got money slated for one of the stations, fire stations. I don't know how u impactful, how necessary or if it's safety or whatever that that might be, but is it be a possible discussion to divert that money to the ladder truck if that could wait? I'm I'm more than willing to have that conversation. I mean, because you're looking about the same cost from what we have set aside for for the fire station and what the new ladder well ladder truck would cost. Yeah. I I don't want to dismiss the the need, you know, there there is

Yeah. No, I'm just saying if it's not a safety concern, if it's if it's impeding your operations, that's one thing. But if it's just outdated, you know, um maybe maybe the the necessary item is the ladder truck and not whatever the renovation of the station is. Chief, what just wanted to add? Well, can I just follow hop on what you're you're you are bringing up the different funds. Yeah. Um which complicates this conversation, right? Um because the the the remodel of station one, is that correct?

Um is that's slated to begin is it comes out of funding from the capital improvement sales tax. Yes. Uh that's been planned for quite a while. Yes. Um obviously it it was designated as a as a need in the in the fire department. Um what we're what we're going to get to in our ordinance coming up is is funding coming from u the public safety trust fund as well as the casino fund for which is generally seen as more appropriate for vehicles or apparatus. Right. I I mean this is

yeah this is getting into you know kind of a bigger uh when you start talking about the CIST that that kind of becomes a a different an enlarged conversation I guess. Um but I I just had a question about about the ladder truck. What percentage of fires do you actually use the ladder truck on? Is it used on every fire? Yes. Okay.

Um, I won't say that the, you know, probably in the news you wouldn't see the aerial part of it being used on every single fire, but I guarantee you that ladders or other equipment are coming off of that truck along with the people on every fire. So this is this resolution is is um just to enter into the agreement with um Sentinel to purchase, right? And then we have an ordinance that appropriates that gets into the funding of the the specific funds. We'll tackle that in a minute, but I'm sorry. Any other questions, council?

I was just going to say first first of all the um I guess I don't have a question, but uh first of all, when you say 2017, I was like, "Oh, that's just a couple years ago. when you say it's nine years, I'm like, "Oh, yeah, dang."

Um, but yeah, it's there's a need for that. The other thing that I wanted to point out, um, that we kind of mentioned, um, and Miss Mills mentioned it and the chief mentioned it is really the process that as the city as a whole has to go through annually for our budgeting. Um, and that every department has, you know, they live in their silo, if they will. So every every whether it's a large a corporation or a large business or a municipality such as this, they have they're broken up into departments that oversee special functional areas. Um so that leadership of each department. So whether that's the the street repair department or development services or parks and wreck. Um, poor Lisa. I mean, she has a breadth of knowledge that I I could only um imagine having of of all of those different functional areas, whether it be pool chemicals or um police, public safety, you know, crime fighting um um apparatus or whether it be fleet services for maintenance for street maintenance. And so it is then the duty of the leadership of the department meets every year with her um to establish just like common budgeting practices of here's what we have what we have determined as our department of what our priorities and needs are. Here's our wants to haves. Here's our new need to have. Here's what our wish list is if there's some sort of money that we found lying around. Then the department the the chief then or the heads then advocate for or compromise on or they have a discussion as a group as a leadership from the forest view from the trees

where you got to step back and say yeah it would be great to have a whole fleet or it'd be great to have two apparatus but there's also lead lines that need to be replaced. There's other thing you know there's all kinds of needs across the city and you have that and you bring it to the table. So, it's not necessarily groups of individual employees meeting with them. It's the charge of the leadership and the and the and the uh department heads. And I think they do a wonderful job of it. And that's I think just the insinuation that in in any way that Miss Mills was negligent in that duty and oversight, I think is is misstated. Um, but they that but the process is in place so that the expertise whether that's the person who works on every street sweeper or it's people that know your apparatus within your department or it's people who know pool chemicals.

They can then gather that as a department those needs and present them um through the leadership to um the the finance director and the city manager's office and ultimately to us as council. And so that's the processes in place. Not that anybody was negligent or not meeting with anybody is because we go through that process by design, you know, and and that's where we're able to take and balance because I know we get calls whether it's from a pothole to whatever it might be. um that uh or a new building project or a police call and and I'm like oo thank God for staff because they're able and you and the chief because you're able to, you know, give us the information that we need to convey or we're just connect you to our constituents. Um but I praise you guys for that because it's a process. It works. Um you have to balance I mean whether it's in your own home or whether it's in your business of what you able to spend on and what is of the highest need. And I think that's the the questions. I mean, granted, there's some unique aspects of having different funding mechan funding sources, but um that's the process and you guys have done a wonderful job of it recently and I just wanted to to bring that up and and just call it to light for everybody and if you have any questions, direct it to him or her. No, I'm just getting direct. You can ask us at any time. Any other council questions or comments?

Chief, thank you for allowing yourself to be put on the spot. Appreciate the the background and information. All right. If there are no other questions, then um all in favor of bill 2602, please. Well, no. We Oh, I I thought you meant from us. Oh, no. I No. address the council. Well, I on this you no uh no that time was earlier. Um we do have the next bill um that that is very closely related. If you Okay. Thank you. I'll make sure to point that out. Um council, uh all in favor of bill 2602, please say I. I.

Anyone opposed? That motion carries. Okay. So, next bill 2603 is we're moving to new ordinances. is an ordinance appropriating funds for the purchase of the fire apparatus. Miss Mills and I'll

So, this is the ordinance that does appropriate the funds to purchase this piece of equipment. Um the U agenda of course has the resolution that's going to allow us to issue the purchase order and encumber the appropriated money that we're about to approve. The appro appropriation will be for $1.4 million and it's funded $500,000 from the casino fund balance and $900,000 from the public safety trust fund to fund balance. Um staff recommends approval of the ordinance. Thank you. Now, is there anyone in the public who wishes to comment? Yes.

I don't really have a question. And I just could Cindy Mayor uh 633 Highland Drive, Cape Gerardo, Missouri, 63701. And I have um

just kind of been following this for the last six weeks. Uh I've spoken with Dr. H. Haskins. I've spoken with Mr. Judin. And uh you know, as a Cape Dorado citizen, I am concerned. And I do think that one of the things that really bothers me the most maybe in coming to these meetings when the firefighters are present, these men and women do a lot. They put their lives on the line for us. And I'm picking up a lot of uh when Mr. Jud was speaking, some of you weren't even making eye contact with them. Um, so I I I kind of I can there's a lot of animosity and as a citizen of Cape Gerardo, uh, I would hope that you would take their input. I know that you explained the process, but it sounds like you would take and all they're asking for is for you to sit down and Dr. Haskins, have you actually sat down with the them actually yourself? Um, I'm just as a citizen, I think three years of this is enough. And I know we're talking about the apparatus. Uh again, you're asking them to put their lives on the line and I would think that their opinions of the apparatus and the safety um and their ability to do their jobs would be top priority. And what I'm seeing is a lot of animosity from the city and from the the fire department from talking to both sides. uh and as a citizen I just wish that uh this could be resolved in a respectful courteous manner. That's all. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else in the in the audience wishing to comment on this ordinance? No. All right. Then council, is there a motion to approve bill 2603?

So moved. Second. Thank you. Comments. Council questions. I do have a question. Uh, Lisa, when will we have to actually spend the money? The the money till I get up here. The money is spent upon delivery of the apparatus, not to Okay. The important thing for council and the whole process, the reason why we're doing what we're doing today is to make sure that we have appropriated the funds and that we can issue this purchase order because by doing so, we commit the city to spend the money when the apparatus is delivered and that is held in a

reserve. It's encumbered. So, it is committed to spend and it will stay that way for the next two years as we go through our budget cycles. I hope it delivers faster than 22 months, but who knows, right? Right. So, it stays in that encumbered status. Okay. Thank you. Mhm. Got it. Can I say something, ma'am?

Of course. You know, it's been a lot of agreements and disagreements, but far as myself and city council and the city, our our utmost is to have the best interest of the city. Um, and respecting and trusting the city staff to do their due diligence in the process. Um, hey, I wish we could turn a lot of corners and do everything all at once. It's just not feasible right now. Now, can we do it? Every year we do a budget. Every year we do a review. Every year we work on things that's needed. Not just from one department, every department, every employee, every staff, every department. Um, and so I never have no ill will about anybody to agree to disagree. And we try to do our best to work together for that. And that is our job as city council members and staff. And maybe we didn't get everything turning the corner, the first corner, but let's go to the next block and turn. So if there's other needs or things that need to be met that they address as they need to be addressed as we as a city have the capacity and resources to do that. I would say in my council, my term is up in April, chance to be reelected again. And I've been proud to serve and do my due diligence as a city council member and be representative with these council members and the mayor. um everything doesn't go as planned, but we always have plan in progress and get people of expertise such as Dr. Hask and Elisa in place to make sure this city is ran a certain way. So, let's focus on certain solutions. If social solution one don't come out this year, hey, let's try next year for solution two and see what we need to do next. So, I hope you all know that whatever we do, we have the best interest for the city. Um and so, and that's why we're here and that's why I serve. So, thank you. Um, I just wanted to make a mention, um, since this this ordinance is focused on

appropriating the the funds. Um, back uh, when the public safety trust fund 2 was voted and approved by the public, this is this is what people approved this for. Um, we are going to be allocating almost a million dollars from that for this piece of equipment for the fire department. We are also um using more than 20% of the casino fund annual revenue for this single piece of equipment. Um the casino fund seems to be everybody's favorite uh idea of what to what to use for all sorts of things, but um we we always try to maintain and remind people that a large part of our casino fund expenditures every year goes to public safety um expenses. And this is this is a very important one. Um so $1.4 four million dollars is for for a single piece of equipment or multiple pieces of equipment. That's a that's an important um and it's a very big deal and we take it seriously. Um I like Nate um I applaud everyone and I know the fire department members and and Chief Morris and our administration has has spent a good bit of time um in the going back more than a year um to get to this point today. And so we're we're thankful that we have the funding um to make it happen. So I think it's an appropriate use of of those two funds for this for this uh equipment. Any other comments?

I and I don't I'm not going to beat the dead horse regarding the process, but it sounds to me like the process works. Um if if there's something that's unsafe that the fire department can't do their job, I think we would know that. Um I think if we knew that there was equipment that was nonoperational, the ladder wouldn't work, truck wouldn't pump, I think chief would let us know and we would fix that. There has to be a budget and there has to be a timeline of things that are bought, repaired, and replaced. And in the discussion that chief had with Chief had with Miss Mo uh Miss Mills, I don't think that was discussed. I think the replacement of the truck of the pump truck was was discussed and it was agreed upon. on it needs to be replaced and we identified the ladder truck was next and I think that's that's the process of of a budget whether it's in your house or whether it's in the city and if there's and I don't really take offense to what you said but I am concerned about the animosity I'm telling you it's like uncomfortable coming to a meeting right now trust me I want this gone I want this done but we are bound to certain restrictions and you know what in 2024 the reason I ran for this ward was because that safety tax didn't pass and I was like what the heck I'm engaging because if we don't think if our citizens don't think public safety is a

is a is a primary you know uh priority then Then what are we what are we doing? We're not doing something right. And and so now, you know, it kind of falls back on that, you know, why didn't we raise it a quarter of a cent and and have more money to purchase things? Well, we just didn't do it. It it didn't pass. So, we're left with what we have. And I think there's a plan in place. sounds to me like and um uh I'd love for the dissension and the hostility to go away as well, but uh until until we uh figure it out. I mean, it's it's a we're trying to do the job, we're citizens just like you all and we love our police and our fire. Who doesn't? And that's why it's so such a difficult thing to to have this animosity. I I don't really call it animosity. It's just uncomfortable because I love these guys and gals and so I mean I'm not I don't have any animosity but uh I do wish this tension would would would go away but uh I appreciate you getting up you know and I know I know where that's coming from your heart and it's like it's like we don't care but we do care you know we want everyone to be happy. We want everyone to be safe and we're trying our best to make that happen. Thank you. All right. Well, regarding bill 2603, all in favor, please say I. I.

Anyone opposed? That motion carries. We had one appointment tonight that is for the golf course advisory board. Uh that person selected is Mr. Timothy Kelly. He's the incumbent and he will he has been selected to continue to serve there. So, thank you to him. like to make a motion. Thank you. Thank you. I'll second that. Thank you. All in favor of Mr. Timothy Kelly being selected for the golf course advisory board, please say I. Anyone opposed? That motion carries. Thank you. Um, we did not have anyone sign up to speak on anything not on the agenda tonight. So, with that, I would uh accept a motion to adjurnn. So, move.

Second. Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor of adjournment, then please say I. I Anyone opposed?