Board of Aldermen - Regular Meeting

There he is. He likes to make an entrance.

Yeah.

I didn't either. On the freeze. Present. On Turner. Here. On Hill. Here.

Can I get a motion for approval of July 7th, 2026 meeting minutes? So moved. Second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Before we move on to tonight's agenda, we're going to make a small amendment under special items. We'll let Mr. Jeff Hancock speak on the employment history or employment change. Can I get a motion to approve tonight's agenda? So moved. Can I get a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Mr. Hancock? Would you please come to the podium, say your name.

Okay, you got me on first.

You're on very first thing.

Thank you, thank you. So, I want to report a couple things. One is, I'm moving Steve off the plate here for a reason. overwhelmed, and he's building a house, and he's driving back and forth, and he lives over in my neighborhood, and he's just mowing his yard and stuff. So I'm pulling him off, and if you recall, Mayor, when I met at the very beginning with the staff and you to talk about the deal, and at that time I presented some other people And one of those is Marty Corcoran. He and I have information on him. Marty works in our company. And interesting enough, he's got some land, I guess, just in Randolph County. He wanted the job anyway because it was close by. And so he's planning on coming Wednesday. And he'll do a great job. He's got, I don't know how many years I've presented here. I've got a copy of his resume if you'd like. He's done the interim in Normandy, and he's just a great guy. I've known him for 40 years. Concerning the search, if you recall at the last meeting, you approved the job announcement.

And the job announcement, but we hadn't done the brochure yet.

And I know that you all are anxious on moving ahead. So we have started to move ahead. We placed the ad on the city website. And we moved it just because it takes about four weeks, four or five weeks just to give people time. And I think I've talked to you before where we're going to advertise and all of that. I could be happy to talk about that, but I've got to get that going. Then the guy that does our brochure, who does a great job, he had a baby. He lives in Ohio. And I was concerned about him getting a draft.

Well, the baby's fine. And so this is the profile.

we he has developed it's a draft and what I need from the city is to look that over there is a chain I told you mentioned the change you know this was the old one the deadline for applicants is Friday September the fourth we just moved it one week out because of this delay that we get so anyway he does good work and be happy to answer any questions that you might have. But I would like you all look at that and get that back ASAP so we can use that in the web page and people, because as we've talked before, they aren't necessarily, I mean, they're selling themselves, but you're selling your community and this brochure helps you sell the community. I want to give you a heads up, too, and I think I mentioned this before. This is kind of a side note. They aren't moving, city administrators. We just had the deadline for a city of Clinton, and I've learned not to use Indeed, not to use another one, because you get, I could come here and say, well, you've got a lot of resumes, you know, but city of Clinton only. We had 12, but out of the 12, we've got four finalists, and they're doing the background right now, and then we'll move into interviews. So, be happy to answer any questions you might have. So, but please, I don't know the process, Mayor, of, you know, giving this. We can look at it tonight. Oh, that'd be great. And then we'll get an answer back to you tomorrow. Okay, that'd be great. You know, talk about that and And keep in mind that the date has been pushed out a little bit, but that's all I have.

One quick comment. On the posting and on the flyer, I think we misspelled personal leave. We spelled it personnel leave. I don't know what. So under minimum benefits. Okay. Yeah, minimum benefits, does 32 hours of personnel leave? I believe it's supposed to be personal leave. Personal. I think so, yeah. Yeah, thank you.

I'm hiring other people and I'm not a detailed guy like you are, Mr. Attorney. So yeah, if you could just write that down and any changes that you want to be made. Move along and then look forward to getting some applicants and then in September you all will get to interview. Thank you.

We're going to deployments and boards of commissioners. Tony Ashe, Ward 1. I see Mr. Ashe is in the audience. Would you like to approach the podium, state your name? Good evening.

Mr. Mayor, Council, thanks for having me again for around here, like I said. Appreciate your time just to hear me and give me a chance to to show you that, hey, I want to be here, be part of our community and do our part. Looks like I've been up here since 2022 with my wife. We've been down in Long Island, Martin. It's a pleasant way of life. I work with Ivy Security now and my wife's a villager and we have lots of kids. My wife grew up here, so that's kind of me in a nutshell right there. Looks like any questions in regards to

I've got a few things I'd like to say before we vote. I've been part of this board for over a decade now. And in that time, we've had to fill several vacancies. In fact, that's how I got on with someone who moved out of the district and out of the ward, and that's how I got appointed. But in all of the votes that we've had, we've never had a negative vote on someone that's willing to step in. This board has always been a very diverse one. Gender, race, sexual orientation, and politics. and I don't think we should turn away anyone that is willing to serve based on a few negative comments by people not willing to serve themselves or if there's any kind of personal vendetta going on. And the excuse of not knowing them really is an excuse I didn't know any of you before you got on the board, or very, not well. Steve a little bit, yeah. Yes. This board should only have one agenda, and that's to do what's best for the city. So unless you've got some kind of evidence that this candidate would go against that agenda, I think we should welcome anyone that's willing to take the job. Especially since we're probably going to have to go through this again since Alderman Beal has moved out of his board. So, you know, it's an important job. It's a thankless job. And if Mr. Ash is willing to do it, I think we should welcome them. As you know, we've probably had to cancel more meetings in the last few months than in the 10 years that I've been, or 11 years that I've been on the board, simply because of a lack of quorum. So, you know, I would put any personal biases aside and Let's get this position filled.

Any other comments or questions? Call the vote. Auburn frees. Nay. All in bill? No. All in Dean? Nay. All in Turner? No. And all in Lewis? Aye. Sorry, sir. Thank you. Schedule public comments. Becky Brewer will not be here tonight. So Mark Aaronoff and Susan Opperman. Mr. Susan Opperman, would you please approach the podium, state your name and your address.

Thank you, Mr. Slinker, for inviting me. His son and I had the same Chevy Avalanche truck, which is how we met at the fair. So we got to talking. Suzanne Opperman, I'm actually in Boone County. I'm not in the city of Columbia, but I am in District 44. And so if you have questions for Becky, I can also do that. But my whole thing is to educate people about the very sad state of Missouri health care. I'm a nurse practitioner. I cannot practice in the state without having to pay a physician for a contract. Anywhere from $12,000 to $54,000 a year. And they can have six of us. So this has been a big battle and Missouri has, The lowest amount of privileges for those of us with master's degrees, doctorate degrees, tons of certifications, we specialize. So glad you got your blood pressure checked today. I bet your wife was happy about that. Yeah. But Missouri is number 39 out of the 50 states in healthcare outcomes. And it's really bad. It's very bad. St. Louis is the highest mother, infant, child death rate in the country. So places like Boone County, where it can be a long ways from Hartsburg all the way up to get healthcare in Columbia, makes it a very difficult situation. We have three counties in the state that are not healthcare deserts, which means it takes people too long to get to healthcare. We've had ten hospitals close in the last, 10 years, 28 are on the brink of having to close. So our healthcare situation is in a really bad state. And what I do is, during legislation, I'm in Jeff City almost every week, educating legislators about what it is that we do and why we need to be allowed to practice. All the states around us, nurse practitioners can be independent, all the states. So we have several thousand nurse practitioners every day that cross the state lines to practice to their full ability. And it's really sad. I feel very bad that this has gotten the situation. Questions?

Thanks, my man. Thank you very much.

I just wanted to educate. That's all. From the first day of nursing school, that's what we're taught. Educate, educate, educate.

Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Is there current legislation pending that will rectify that?

Some of us have gotten together with a legal foundation and are suing the state for the status of where we are because it's unfair labor practice. But the physicians have the money to put into campaign funds, we can't begin to touch. There's a guy in Springfield making $300,000 a year from his six nurse practitioners. And he's retired. I don't know if any of you have been to clinics where there's a nurse practitioner. We are taught to teach. We are taught to say, hey, what have you got going on? What are your symptoms? I worked at the VA for 27 years in Columbia. I had a liver clinic. I can't tell you how many people I've cured from their heartburn, even though they were taking one of the medications for that, because they simply took it with all their other meds in the morning. And it doesn't work that way. You have to take it on an empty stomach. And they come back and go, I can't believe it. I'm cured. It's instructions. It's education. Why is it you need to do this? Why do you take your thyroid medication in the morning before anything else? So that's what we're about, is helping people learn how to manage with what they've got going on. I'm a psych nurse practitioner, and I had a client tonight that if I could prescribe, I would prescribe her something right then and there because she desperately needed it, but I can't. I have to send them to a primary care person or a psychiatrist. Psychiatry takes almost a year to get an appointment, and if we were able to work, it would not be the case. As you can tell, this is like my dating subject to go on. My family's like, okay, I tell them, hang on, I gotta do my bid here.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Moving on to public hearing. At this time, we will open up to the floor for a public hearing on the Proposal Tax Rate for 2026. Property tax rate, I'm sorry. Who's taking this?

Right now it's just public hearing to hear from the public. Do you want to talk about the tax break today?

I was just asking.

It's a property tax rate for the city of Ashland for 2026. It's set every year in August, has to be set by September 1st. The state of Missouri auditor sends us the information. It's already set for us. It's not something that, yeah. Point, this year it's a .1754.

Last year it was a .1739. So two, basically, One tenth, two tenths.

It's just for the city only. It's not for the school, library, none of those. It's just for the city.

I think that's the only question we have. One more minute. All right, we'll go ahead and close public hearing. Moving on to the introduction of the first readings. Council Bill number 2026-32, an ordinance establishing the property tax rate for the City of Asheville, Missouri, for the year 2026. As Darla said, this is a set rate by Boone County, so do we have any questions? If you, no, I don't, I'm just, I don't know if anybody else, let's go ahead. All right, can we get a motion to approve in council bill number 2026-32, an ordinance establishing the property tax rate for the city of Asheville, Missouri, 2026. Have a second? Second. Alderman Lewis? Aye. Alderman Turner? Aye. Alderman Freese? Aye. Alderman Dean? Aye. Alderman Bill? Aye. Moving on to old business. Ordinance number 1566, an ordinance amending chapter two, pursuant to meetings and procedure.

Clear. I hate to interrupt. Excuse me, I can't talk. I hate to interrupt, but do you want to maybe do a second reading on that? Kinding is very short, but I don't think we can really wait until the next two weeks to do it.

You want to do it under O business? All right, we'll tag it under O business. Is that fine? All right. So we'll go back to chapter two real quick. We'll get that one knocked out, and then we'll dig it back. We're asking 1566 and Lawrence to amend chapter two in the pursuant of meetings and procedures. Second read on the changing of the meeting time from 7 o'clock to 6.30. Any questions? That's all right. Can I get a motion to approve Orders Number 1566 and Orders to Amend Chapter 2 as to pursuant to meetings and procedures? So moved. Any second? Second. Alderman Friess? Aye. Alderman Turner? Aye. Alderman Dean? Aye. Alderman Lewis? Aye. Alderman Gill? Aye. All right, we'll do a second read on Council Bill number 2026-32, an ordinance establishing the property tax rate for the City of Asheville, Missouri for 2026. Can I get a motion to approve? Second. Can I have a second? Second. Alderman Friese? Aye. Alderman Bill? Aye. Alderman Turner?

Aye.

Alderman Dean? Aye. Alderman Lutz? Aye. All right. Ordinance number 1567, an ordinance of the Board of Aldermen from the City of Nashville, Missouri, authorizing the mayor to sign the MPUA Mutual Aid Agreement. I'm trying to remember what this one was.

It was Kevin's.

Kevin's report, I'm sorry.

Would you like me to do a full rundown of the second reading? If you could, please. Okay, any questions about the MPUA Mutual Agreement?

This is just the public utilities where from all around the state, they come in if we have disaster, right? Yes, sir.

And also we go out. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely, yeah. And about that, just real quick, there's a, in the event of a call, again, the assistance response is voluntary from City of Ashland. But if we do respond, we would be reimbursed through this program from the city who passes for help. So we're not, it's a zero loss kind of thing. And likewise, it would be the same if we asked for help.

Any questions for Kevin? Can I get a motion to approve Orders Number 1567, Orders of the Board of Aldermen of the City of Asheville, Missouri, authorizing the Mayor to sign the MPUA Mutual Aid Agreement. So moved. Can I have a second? Second. I'm going to freeze. Aye. I'm going to ding.

Aye.

I'm going to do this. Aye. I'm going to turn. Aye. I'm going to move. Aye. Ordinance number 1568, and the ordinance of Asheville, Missouri, amending the city code regarding parking on Main Street.

Staff report. Once again, I'll just give you a quick run through. As specified points of the Broadway, as it was in your packets, the map represents the area we want to identify as no parking zones. Due to the fact that the road does not meet criteria, which is 30 feet or wider to have parking on two sides of the street. So, again, on the map represents where we're going to post no parking signs. I don't believe no parking signs are necessary south of Johnson Street. Going south, so we're talking about three signs, basically. And that's to address the issue of parking in front of the cafe on both sides of the street, where it narrows down and becomes unsafe where cars have to be right to the ceremony.

Thanks. Any questions for staff? As soon as we pass this, how soon will the signs go up?

We haven't. I would say this week.

Thank you, sir. Can I get a motion to approve ordinance number 1568, an ordinance for the City of Asheville, Missouri, amending a city code regarding parking on Main Street. I have a second. Second. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

On several roads in town, to prolong the lifespan, we identified asphalt, because it's just asphalt roadways. Oftentimes in the past, asphalt roadways have been left to basically degrade to the point where they have to be milled and overlaid, which is exorbitantly expensive. So this is an effort to prolong the lifespan of the roadways. This proposal includes two types of asphalt preservation. One is micro steel, Very thin emulsion layer of polymer and a mineral filler. And the second one is a cape seal. It's known as a cape seal, which is a thicker and more of a cracked sealing product. The streets slated for micro seal are as follows. Martha Crump, Redwood Drive, Collins Lane, Meadowmere Drive, Circle Drive, and Parkview. You should have this map in your packet. The cape seal streets include Justin Lane, West Oaks Drive, Meadowmere, View and Eastside Drive. This is funded from FY26 Street Capital Improvement Fund, and we've talked about this in the workshops prior to. So this is the second, the second hand. The first is the known overlay project, which is scheduled to begin, we hope, next month. And then this would be, also happen this year, we hope. It's been a little, kind of a little late getting this thing passed, but It utilizes cooperative purchasing from Platt County Public Works bid, which makes it so we don't have to go through steel bid and all the bid process. So it's a piggyback bidding we're utilizing from Platt County Public Works. Any questions about this? Yes, sir.

Have we been able to do any of this type of work previously in the last five years or so?

We have not. Okay, that's what I thought. It has not been done. And just to be clear, it's not a chip seal. Right. If you're familiar with a chip seal, I'm not a fan. Most people aren't.

And the chip seal is what we had on Henry Clay a couple years ago.

Yeah, it's really aggressive. It sheds the chips off over and over. This is not that.

And the passing of our most recent ballot issue where we got more funding for street projects is a big reason why we're able to do this.

That's exactly right, yeah. Where in the past we only could have done a mill and overlay, whereas now we can be proactive and start doing preservation and not just replacement. Okay, thank you.

Yes, sir. I know that we wouldn't know this specifically, but ballpark, how much longer do we expect it to last once we do this?

Yeah, this will buy at least seven years. Okay. And there's a lot of lane miles here. So that's seven years that we can kick that down the road. It creates a good look. I mean, it's a bad analogy, but like seal coating the driveway, it's similar to that. It's a much more resilient product than that, but it's the same sort of analogy where it's preserved that.

I know that you also necessarily specifically, but what do you think the cost would be if we didn't do this?

That is a good question. These roads, we've had them looked at, and they're prime for each product for the Cape Seal and for the Micro Seal. These are great candid roads. We looked at all the roads in town and with contractors and It's tough to quantify a negative, but I would say easily seven or eight times that amount. Obviously, petroleum and labor keeps going up every year. It's tough to quantify, but it's a win-win at the time. You're able to do preservation rather than replacement.

And this follows along with what was recommended for our street master plan as well. So it's kind of sticking with that. Absolutely, it does.

Any other questions? All right, can I get a motion to approve it? I get a motion to approve it in 2026-31, a resolution for the Board of Alderman of National Missouri accepting a proposal from Vance Brothers LLC for pavement preservation. So moved. Second? Second. Alderman Lewis? Aye. Alderman Dean? Aye. Alderman Turner? Aye. Alderman Freed? Aye. Alderman Rill? Aye. Orders number 20, new business under 2026-32, a resolution for the city of Ashland, Missouri, officially designating the name of the dog park area within the city Ashlands Community Park as Tuff Memorial Park. Staff report, please. This is basically just name the dog park.

It's never been done.

No, it's never been done. Any questions for staff? I get a motion. Proving 2026-32, a resolution of the City of Asheville, Missouri, officially designate the name of the dog park to Tuff Memorial Park. So moved. I have a second. Second. Alderman Freese? Aye. Alderman Turner?

Aye.

Alderman Beal? Aye. Alderman Lewis? Aye. Alderman Daniels? Aye. Resolution 2026-33, a resolution accepting the proposal for the influent WWTF pumping system replacement for the municipal equipment.

Mayor and Board, got a lot of history on this one, dating back to last year when these pumps first failed the water treatment plant. So this is a proposed resolution for the award of a bid for the wastewater treatment plant Headworks Pump Improvement Project from Municipal Pump Company, Perth City, Missouri. Remember, these were the Archimedes screw pumps, just if you're keeping track at home. In an effort to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant headworks away from the troublesome screw pumps, a bid package was prepared and posted by Bartlett and West at the behest of the city. The three proposals were received and evaluated. Those total costs are summarized below in the packet. We had, again, three returns on the bids. One was Municipal Pump Company, its lowest bid. The $15,150 you're seeing there is an adder. I'll explain in just a second. Second was Enviroline, and third was Vandiver Engineering. Each of those proposals were very similar. Bid packets were issued so that you couldn't stray very far from the specifications. The only major difference was the pumps, the brand of pumps, for instance. a Cadillac, a Chevy, you know, a Tesla, that kind of thing. So the big difference between these quotes is Markup and the pump brand. So Municipal Pump Company, they rep a pump called a Sulzer or an ABS. It's a good quality pump. There are more expensive pumps, but between Bartlett and West and I, we've determined that it is the most bang for the buck. It's a quality, they're quality pumps. Basically, we are recommending the lowest bidder in this case. Any questions on this process?

I hear none. All right, I get a motion approving 2026-33, a resolution accepting the pull for the WWTF pump system replacement. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. All in favor? Aye. All in favor? Aye. All in favor? Aye. All in favor? Aye. All in favor? Aye. All in favor? Aye. All in favor? Aye. All in favor? Aye. All in favor? Aye. All in favor? Aye.

in the amount of $10,971.62. Ultraviolet light is used at the plant to kill disease-causing pathogens in lieu of chlorine. Chlorine has negative byproducts called DHMs. I don't want to lose you, but basically the plant utilizes UV light to kill pathogens. It has a complicated control panel that has been in fault for over a year now. We've had electricians look at it, take cracks at it. We cannot get it out of fault mode. It does operate. The plant is in compliance, but it is not operating the way it's supposed to. So it's been determined that a specialist from the manufacturer is required to do a site visit, which is where most of this cost is coming from here, along with the three listed parts in the quote. The quote also includes on-site staff training for the city for for the plant staff, which is fantastic, because we've never had it. This is funded from the sewer and water treatment repairs and supplies budget line. That budget line is currently funded around $60,000. Short-term impact of this purchase is $10,971.62. And it shows in your packet, it outlines the parts that we know we're gonna need, and then the field visit, and also on-site training. for this panel, which is a little in the weeds for us. It involves ladder logic and coding. And I recommend approval. Any questions?

Can I get a motion approving 2026-34 resolution for the Board of Aldermen to accept a quote from the, what did you call it, the OLA? And this bill equipment, or water technologies. So moved. I have a second. Second. Alderman Dean? Aye. Alderman Turner? Aye. Alderman Lewis? Aye. Alderman Freese? Aye. Alderman Bill? Aye. All right. 2026-35, a resolution accepting a quote on East Lloyd Martin Road culvert replacement staff report.

Mr. Mayor and the board. So again, a resolution for the approval of a quote from CL Richardson for the installation of a culvert in the amount of $30,793.55. As you remember, the replacement culvert for Euler Martin was previously board approved and purchased. The installation for this culvert went up for bid, and only one bid was submitted in the amount of $155,272.75. The bid was determined to be too costly and city staff rejected that bid. A lower qualified open market quote that was obtained from city staff from CL Richardson is being forwarded for recommendation for approval in the amount of $30,795.55. I do have an update on scheduling, which is kind of important on this one, too. So I've reached out to both entities, the higher quote and the lower quote here locally at Seal Richardson. Seal Richardson states they can perform the install sometime in late August or early September. Now, the higher quote, the much higher quote, I'm going to add, they can do within five business days. Isn't that fun? Presumably, if the board felt like we needed to spend that extra money, you could reject this bid and make a proposal to accept the much higher bid. I just wanted to throw that out because scheduling has been an issue, but it's a big difference, not a small one, for sure. So again, the amount I'm recommending from Seal Richardson is $30,795. And the higher, the only seal bid we got back in return, was $155,272.75. So I just wanted to throw that out for your information. But again, I'm recommending the much lower quote that was obtained through open market. In other words, I just got the quote for $30,000. And again, scheduling sometime late this month or early next month. But it's a terrible time to try and schedule people. Everybody's booked out and it is the busy season for sure. So that is the issue at hand. Is there any other questions?

How come you didn't talk to me, Mr. Garrett? Just ask a question.

Anyway. So CLs will be that late. CLs will be that late.

And I would imagine it would be that way for anybody. But again, we only got the one bid back. No one's looking for any work. No one's looking for work. So there wasn't a lot of interest. And scheduling is tight. They anticipate the job to only be a day and a half to two days. If they get a lapse in their schedule or cancellation, they will do what they can do, but they can't make any promises other than regular scheduling, which is what we've heard late this month. So we're only talking three to four weeks. Exactly. Yeah. I realize it's destruction locally in the area. But I don't think we're losing as much commerce. as we would at the parent clinic or something like that, I would make other recommendations. But because it is a rural area and the number, the traffic going that goes through it, I don't recommend it, honestly.

So I guess my question is, part of the discussion that we had, or at least that I had with Steve, metal culvert was going to be $15,000 to $20,000 all in, versus like a box culvert being like $100,000 to $200,000. We bought the culvert itself for what, like $15,000 or something? So we're at like $40,000 all in. Now that we know it's going to be this expensive to install, what's the actual difference in cost between this and doing the big box culvert that was talked about in the beginning?

So the box culvert, I've done one Just about, I did one in 2021. That took over a year. The engineering took two months. There's way, way, way more into it. Box culverts, this is obviously the opposite of that. It's replacing what was there. We wouldn't, I don't think we'd be done with the engineering drawings and the submittals yet if we were to do a box culvert. One was not called for. We did go through our stormwater consultant, and it was determined there'd be no net benefit to a box culvert. I know that had been done in the past, and maybe that was the case in the Angel Lane instance that maybe we needed more capacity, we needed more resilience there. It was looked at in detail in this case, and it was decided that you can if you want to, but there's no real reason to do that. not definitely be installed this year. More like a bridge. Any other questions on over-install?

I don't have any questions. I think that the frustration with the public was this happened on June 7th. this year and get fixed at the end of August. Like you said, if it would have happened on Henry Clay, it would be a very different story. I just feel like, as a board, I'm not putting any blame on city staff at all. It's just that I realize that government moves slowly. It's just, I wish there was a way that we could speed it up.

I'm not sticking pins here at all. I would just add that the lack of quorum Slow this down a couple times, just throwing it out there.

We could look at increasing our limits that we allow staff to spend without our approval. This is a lot of money. It's not normally done. I don't know, I wouldn't even recommend it, it's a lot of money. May I ask a question of one of the members of the audience at all, is that possible? Mr. Garrett?

Yeah. Paul, you wanna come to the podium, state your name and address? Pardon me? Would you like to come to the podium? I got a question for you. He's got a question for you. You just stand. You don't have to.

I guess my question is, when I talked to you, you were cutting through your land to get around. Yes. Are you still doing that since it's been fairly dry?

I'm riding around it every day.

OK. So you have, I'm not sure what adjective you, but you have access to your land without having to drive all the way around miles.

But when it comes to moving equipment, It's pretty hard to go around. Okay. We're about to go down the highway. Okay, thank you.

Any other questions on the Colbert consultant?

Can I get a motion approving 2026-35 resolution accepting a quote on East Lloyd Martin Colbert replacement. So moved. I have a second. Second. Alderman Freese? Aye. Alderman Turner? Aye. Alderman Bill?

Aye.

Alderman Lewis? Aye. Alderman Nolte? Aye. Moving on to reports. Just two things. We still have problems with e-bikes as far as traffic concerns. I had a post on that I once heard a child the other night because the child was driving too late at night and it was dark and no lights. So Chief Young and I have talked about this. And we are going to do a e-bike scooter training for the kids. Since people don't want to listen, might as well do it. So we'll offer that training and have them come and sign up for that. And the only other thing I have, Darla, if you would post Ward 1 Alderman position again, I would appreciate that. Thank you. That's my input. We do not have a city ministry report tonight, city attorney report. Nothing to report. Public works directors. Sorry, sir? Public works report.

Thank you. No problem. A week, a full week of landscaping activities were done recently in the park. This is under streets and parks maintenance section. Street maintenance two position is open and posted. We're going through applicants now. That opening was due to an internal transfer from the streets department to the wastewater treatment plant. Under stormwater, the stormwater mapping GIS inventory RFQs have all come in, and we're evaluating those proposals and making a selection. From that point on, we'll have to negotiate a contract within our budget of what we can get done, so that's gonna take a little bit. Again, we just went through the installation approved through the installation for the Hedberg's pump projects. The installation for that project is out for bid right now, similar to the culvert. We bought materials. The installation bid is out. We've gotten two bids back already. Bartlett and West is throwing that back out in an effort to try and get more bids for the install. Quick update on the plant. We got one last month on the damage that happened due to the storm. A structural engineer was on site July 29th to inspect the digester tank interior. They have identified some hairline cracks throughout the structure that were not of major concern. They're similar to shrinkage cracks. A similar course of action will follow for the inspection of other tanks when they're drained down and cleaned. And again, that's getting further and further away from the damaged area. So far, it's pretty good. The damage to be identified looks like that's the only damage. Other work that the plant is going on is progressing as normal. The influence structure itself is largely complete and cleanup has already gone down there, which is great, which means they're going to leave someday. And the water department, the well four, the well five, which is the tower near Henry Clay, chlorine booster, The pump failed in July. A replacement was obtained from Consolidated Water. We worked closely together with them. We got a pump from them. We're still waiting on what we own, so we'll find out. But they were Johnny on the spot. We appreciate those guys. And a leak detection water audit is being priced out in an effort to lower unaccounted for water percentage in our water distribution center. It's a little high. We got leaks out there. And we need to find them. So we're looking for quotes for an official water audit, leak detection audit. And speaking of which, a water main leak detection is scheduled tonight at midnight on Oak Street. It'll be up from about midnight to maybe 1 a.m. If you've noticed, you've gone down Oak Street. Water is always emitting from that area. It comes and it goes. We're trying to basically shut that street down. To do that, we have to shut also parts of Johnson off, and then from Casey's to Oak. We have to isolate McDonald's, so we have to do this after 11 p.m. at least, 11.30. Casey's closes at midnight, so that's why we lended up at midnight. What we're basically doing is shutting all the mains off in the entire area to see if that area stops pushing water out of the cracks on Oak Street. Again, Oak Street is on our mill and overlay list. for next month, so if we can't get it to dry, we're gonna have to skip it. We just can't lay a asphalt on a wet road, so we'll see what happens to it. That's all I got, thank you.

Did you combine public works and water together? Sir? Did you combine public works?

Yes, sir, yeah. Jeff Miller from Water, Farm, and Resilient.

Thank you. All right, moving on to the Board of Aldermen.

um how much report we've got a car wash coming along quite a bit we've got some new houses that have gone up in board one which are uh good um i had shared the email previously but i had a constituent reach out about uh some city or some street confusion over in columbino i think it's a meadowmere drive and uh meadowmere view the intersect and so they're going to be able to make sure that it's been a recurring issue for quite a while so we want to know if we can maybe look at changing part of the names of the roads, and I don't know what we can actually do for that, but just bring it up so that we can address it. Outside of that, I have not much else to report.

Probably have to initiate that talk with the post office. Yeah. Okay. I was gonna say, if, darling, we could reach out to them and talk to the post office about those two intersections as far as the naming or how we- They don't name those. I mean, I know, but they would have to, they would do something with the mail as far as, or is it just the post person not paying attention?

So we could change the name of one of those streets as long as we get a significant...

It's very complicated to change the name of the streets because that changes their deeds. It changes a lot of stuff.

You've got to get pretty close to unanimous approval.

Those streets have been in there for a long, long time to change them now.

Yeah, and she said that it's been an ongoing issue for a long time, and I'm sure it has because they've been there. I don't think there's an easy fix for it.

There is a process. There's a process. Yeah. All right, thanks, sir.

On the turn.

Yeah, I just want to address a couple things that were said earlier. I don't think that anyone that voted no tonight has any personal vendetta against Mr. Ash. when you say that the only thing this board should be interested in doing is pushing the city forward, I think that you're insinuating that by voting no, that we weren't pushing the city forward. And that's just simply not the case. Obviously, there was concerns brought and we have to take that into account. You say you didn't know any of us when we came onto the board. Well, we were elected by our peers. We're trying to make a decision and we're having to vote for 5,000 people. I just think that I don't know how things have been done in the last 10 years that you've been on the board, but moving forward, we want to make sure that we're dotting our I's and crossing our T's. Because it's led to a lot of lawsuits against the city in the last 10 years for not doing those things. I think this board has the future of Ashland number one on its priority list, but that's just my opinion.

Mr. Public Works, a couple questions for you. The RFQ you mentioned about stormwater, that you're getting bids and things like that. Will that come back to us for approval to approve that contract or has that already been agreed in the budget?

It's been budgeted, yeah, and we're going to basically negotiate a contract with a selected engineering firm or GIS firm in this case. We have a fixed budget.

And there's no limits on what you guys can, what staff can agree to without board approval?

It will come back to the board. All contracts come back to the board.

Second, great job on whoever got the sidewalk covered with the falling bricks this week. You guys worked very, very fast on that. Thank you very much. Gravel. As people talk to me about gravel, I don't know anything about gravel. Besides, I've driven gravel roads for a long time in my life and they always suck. Sorry for the language error. As far as the gravel roads that we have, and I understand you do have a grader, do we have the skill set that can do crowns and ditches and all that stuff? And how often does that stuff need to be with the amount of traffic that our gravel roads inside of city limits?

Yes, so on the gravel roads we've had probably in the last year, we've added about $12,000 in gravel on. We can certainly crown them. Like everything in public works, it comes down to hours. So for instance, right now we've got three street department employees. They do all the parks, all the roads, and that would also include the dirt roads. Ditching is another matter altogether. Those roads do need to be ditched, and that does affect the road, preserving the dirt road. The ditching project itself would take about three weeks of everyone we have. We just haven't been able to commit that kind of labor between all the mowing and everything else needs to be done with the three employees we have that do that work. I absolutely agree it needs to be ditched. And it's part of the problem, but not all of it. Again, some of it is just labor and the division of that labor. But we have added gravel. twice in the last year to the tune of, I think it's $12,000 worth of gravel. Could it be maintained to a higher level? Absolutely. Would it take more labor? Absolutely. Like everything else, it's a job.

I remember that comment tomorrow night in our discussion on . Last question for you on the Optimist drive. I'm sure you probably saw Ernie's comment about how they're gonna redo their drive. They wanna see if we can't. you know, if we do have a really bad pothole, I'm assuming it's our responsibility. I know that whole stretch there is owned by like six different people and it's totally messed up, but just that section from the end of Henry Clay toward the Optimist property starts. Have you or anyone talked to Optimist Club at this point to kind of see if it, because they're going to redo their drive all the way up to the property line, which of course is through the road there about possibly getting our little small section there, because like I said, there's a pretty big pothole there, and that is a pretty well-traveled road, and now we just seem to do quite a bit. I don't know if they're going to be able to get it done before the road here.

There was a monster pothole there last Friday when I was brought to my attention. I think it's filled. Okay. That was not today? No. Dude, I hit it so hard going home. Today? Okay. Okay. About bottom line. Maybe tomorrow. I know we got it. We were on Sarah. I didn't get over that one yet. That was big.

It's been full of water, so it kind of looks like water pools like the rest of them, but it's going to probably be- Does anybody here ever probably been least discussing about possibly working with them to see what the cost would be to fix that? Because it's a small section, right? Yeah, it's a couple, six feet. Yeah, it's only six feet. So in theory, it'd be pretty expensive for us to just fix it, but I'd say-

Do you know the timing of that? I don't know.

It's pretty easy to reach out to you, so. A good optimist. I'm sure Dorise or I could have them reach out to you. We'll have them reach out to you. That's so easy. You could lose a small kid in that thing. It's pretty bad. Yeah, it's bad. Yeah, I'm surprised it's not . Yes, sir. And then I have another question, but not for Kevin. That's the landlord utility thing that was on our agenda a couple Is that gonna come back to us, or what's the status of that? The one that was tabled last time?

Yes, it will come back to you.

It will come back, okay.

That was all I have. All in the bill? I just echo what Sam said and say, I think everybody on the board has the best interest of Ashland at heart. We all care about the city and we're responsible for voting for our voters, not just voting yes all the time.

I was contacted by a constituent about good old speed bumps. I know we've probably opened a can of worms by putting the one in. The one that I was approached about, though, was for a red tail. Years and years ago, that was the original speed bump that was placed. And we did vote to put that in. One of your predecessors decided to have it removed when it started aging. I think that original one was supposed to be temporary, and they were supposed to get the permanent one put in. It never happened, so this constituent that contacted me was asking if we would have to vote on it to get that replaced. We never did rescind that.

I'd like to draw that up. These, like the two that are out now, like Redtail, were all temporary. So a concrete one can be put in. That is a tricky thing to do, and it's usually done by contractors. Sure. That can certainly be done if the board would so please, I can go out and get numbers to make Redtail permanent.

Well, I don't think he was that concerned about being a concrete one. Okay. He just wanted a temporary replacement.

Yeah, and you're right. I do have actually remnants of that. It's been absolutely torn apart. What gets them is trailer jacks that aren't jacked up high enough. They'll completely, they'll tear your trailer jack off, but it will also tear the hard rubber, you know, temporary sections of the speed hump. Right. I have only a few pieces of it. I'm not sure why we kept them, but I'm like, yeah, they're New York. They were heavily damaged. So far, we haven't had that luck with the ones we have here in town now.

I did mention this to Steve, but he may not have gotten it back to you. But just the fact that this person that called me is a former alderman, and so He was pretty aware of the things that we voted on. So we had approved it. We never approved to remove it.

If that's the case, then, yeah.

It would just be a maintenance item then to have it replaced.

Was it, I'm sorry to take up your time here, was it voted on to replace it with a temporary or permanent? Do you know? We could research that. Why don't we research that and get back to you on that. Right.

It was never voted on to replace it. It was voted on to install it originally, and it was never rescinded. So it should still be there. We never said we need to take it out.

I will revisit this. I can come back with proposals that will be above my spending limit. So we can talk about that again.

Are they about, what, $2,500?

For that narrower section, yeah, $2,500 if you tell me.

Mr. Mayor. Yes. So in the old days, we would just throw out a strip of asphalt, and that was the speed bump. And nobody's doing that anymore. Right. Because they're unsafe, and cities got sued over them. And so that's why they've kind of moved to the concrete ones like you see all over in Columbia. But they're a lot more expensive.

I think these are rubberized. that you're putting in.

Speed tables in Columbia now. Yeah, I know. Right at intersections. This is why. A crazy one. 30 by 30 feet. Usually right in the middle of intersections. We're talking like every three or four blocks in some neighborhoods in Columbia.

Those are the concrete where it goes up.

Well, these are asphalt.

It flattens out and goes back down. As opposed to just the bumps, which as you know, if you hit them and don't go, they're there, you know, and that's why, um, they're just even the rubber. I know, I know you're talking about the rubberized ones. Um, some cities have actually gone to even temporary ones that they pull it, put in and take out, but none of the, none of the little small ones really work very well or are very safe or last.

So, I mean, you just might want to look at the whole issue. Thanks, sir. All right, now we'll open up to the general public for comments.

Public? Yes. I have one question. Question or comment? You made a contract with Dave Richardson. Where are you going to put the dirt when you take the ditch, when you dig it out? You can't put it to the south side. So you're going to have to put it on the north side on my property. It's going to be put on the north side. Ain't the way I understood it. Have you talked- So when you do that, do you take the tree out? We have no plans to remove any trees. That tube was put in a long time before the tree was there. When you get into the bottom of the cover, I'm going to tell you what you're going to find. You're going to find two concrete embutments that held up the old bridge. It's holding the tube in its place. Why don't we talk offline, sir? You should have talked to me first. All right, this time no more open comments.

We do not have to go into closed session tonight, so can I get a motion to adjourn? So moved. I have a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. All in favor? Aye. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

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Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye Thanks.