City Council - Regular Meeting

Seven o'clock. It is seven o'clock. I'd like to call the meeting to order for the Olivet City Council here at the Olivet City Hall. Can we please have the roll call?

Mayor Lewis?

Here.

Chairman Pro Tem Pashaun Hellman? Here. Councilmember Solomanov?

Here.

Councilmember Jurgel?

Here.

And Councilmember Clark is absent with an excuse.

Thank you very much. Do we have any communications?

I do. I have one letter here. It's from Dr. Maya Ganapathy, and it goes as follows. I am a resident of Kenneth Place in Olivet and wanted to respectfully raise concerns regarding pedestrian and traffic safety in the Kenneth Place Dolores Avenue area. Over the past several years, the neighborhood has experienced substantial residential redevelopment, with many newer family homes replacing older properties. As a result, there has been a noticeable increase in pedestrian activity, including children walking to bus stops and families walking throughout the neighborhood. At the same time, the streets in this area remain very narrow and lack sidewalks, which often results in children and pedestrians walking directly on the roadway, particularly during school drop-off and pick-up periods. Vehicles turning onto Dolores from Olive Boulevard and navigating parked cars and pedestrian traffic can create challenging visibility and safety concerns. I understand the city must balance many priorities and that infrastructure improvements require significant planning and expense. I am not requesting any immediate or specific project at this time. Rather, I simply wanted to respectfully ask that the city keep this area in mind for future pedestrian safety, traffic calming, sidewalk, and infrastructure discussions as redevelopment in the area continues. I would also appreciate this correspondence being retained in the public record and shared with the city council for awareness regarding the ongoing neighborhood safety concerns. Thank you for your time and service to the community. And that's the only written communication I have.

The second communication on the agenda is a notice from essentially Mr. Trejo regarding action that the planning commission took recently. I'm going to share my screen here. I'm not going to read you his whole memo because it is 17 pages, but it is very thorough and you are welcome to read to read it. There is a link on the agenda. But the gist of it is that Taco Bell at 9339 Olive Boulevard came before the Planning Commission, the PCDC, to request an extension of their operating hours. They previously were only allowed to operate from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and they wanted to extend their operating hours until 2.30 in the morning. They operate under a special use permit, and the city code does allow the Planning and Zoning Commission to make a modification of that nature to a special use permit. And so... Staff asked the police department if there were any concerns about expanding those hours, and the police department did not have any concerns for that. And the Planning Commission did look at other Taco Bells that are nearby. And as you can see on the screen, many of them went much longer. They're down here at the bottom. A number of them go until four in the morning and the one on St. Charles Rock Road goes until 24 hours. So the Planning Commission agreed to extend Taco Bell's hours until 2.30. And so this is as required by the code notification of the City Council that that action was taken. And so there's no need for action by the Council.

All right, thank you for sharing those communications we'll move on to item number three city managers report.

We have a number of things this evening. First is we would like to congratulate Tropical Smoothie Cafe. They cut their ribbon since we last met. And as I have been told, it is very popular. So we would encourage everybody to go and check them out. And as you can see, there's the photos from the ribbon cutting. We also continue to seek individuals in the community who have a desire to serve on one of our commissions. We are looking for individuals who are interested in Parks and Rec, Planning and Community Design, Zoning Board of Adjustment and the Economic Development Commission. You are welcome to follow the QR code to get to the very short application. It's more of telling us why you're interested in being on one of these commissions. And we'll leave this open till likely middle to towards the end of June so that there is time to gather all of those and for the council to do the interviews of interested applicants at your July work session. There is a blood drive this week on Thursday here at City Center from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. So we would encourage anybody who is able to donate blood and would like to donate blood to stop by and donate to the Red Cross. And then if you enjoy camping, but you maybe don't wanna go all that far from home, the Parks and Recreation Department is hosting a family overnight in Stacy Park. It starts Saturday, June 13th at 5 p.m. and it will go until Sunday, June 14th at 8 a.m. Please bring your own tents and your own sleeping bags, but registration includes dinner, family activities, stargazing, campfire activities, And breakfast. So there's a QR code, which will take you to the link to register.

Have we ever done that before? Or is that something new?

Nope, it's not something new. We have done it before. The last couple of years, rain has caused us to cancel. So this year, we are hopeful, though, that the weather will be nice and people will come out. And then, of course, COVID.

Yeah, yeah.

you know, but yes, I'm told it was very popular when we did it.

So did it once when my kids were younger and we loved it. Yeah. Yes. Right. Yes.

So we encourage everybody to sign up. And then lastly, as with all things, I suggest everybody sign up for this week and all of it comes out every Monday and keeps you up to date on things that are happening in the city. And then your next set of meetings, your City Council work session will be June 2nd. We're going to do a couple of things at that meeting. First is the survey results from Hicks Carter Hicks. Then we're also going to talk about the NIDS, the Neighborhood Improvement District. This is a policy the council started working on earlier this year and then um holidays and the budget um has pushed it to to june but we're going to bring it back for your consideration um on june 2nd to kind of hopefully get it to a point that you are happy about it and then we will start doing some um community outreach to get feedback from the community. So that's the plan for June 2nd. And then we will do the last budget work session meeting. And as noted earlier, June 4th, the PCDC meeting is canceled. And then you have the city council meeting and the park commission meeting on June 17th. And that's all I have unless you have something question for me.

No.

All right. Thank you for that report. Now moving on to item number four, staff reports.

Okay, staff reports. Starting off with the fire department. The Olivet firefighters gave a ride to one lucky winner the firefighters offered this ride as a prize and so first grader Elliot Carter won and he had his friend who's a kindergartner Walter O'Brien join him on the fire truck and they got to come to school ride to school in the truck lights going showed up at Old Bonham and they were very very happy set of kids. We should be a great partnership. Yeah. And then the parks and rec department has been very busy. This past month, they had a number of volunteers come and help them work in Stacy Park. kids from Ladue High School on their community working day, and then volunteers from Planting Shade. In the photo here, they are working on the Cottonwood Trail, planting young trees and perennials. And then Despite the fact that the weather was not super hot, the splash pads are open. They opened this past weekend over Memorial Day. So as the weather warms up this summer, people can go and enjoy the splash pads. And then if you have driven west on Olive or along... Old worst and you will see that the split rail fences up the chain link fence was taken down by staff and the split rail fence really does make a very nice improvement to Stacy Park there.

So looks fabulous. Yeah.

planning department a couple of things so the irvington place apartments are open and as of our last bit of information 40 of the units are currently occupied they are having a grand opening this week on thursday the council should have gotten an invitation for that grand opening and then the pinnacle townhouses which are across the street here um they're building seven which is the one furthest north um they are slated for their final inspections this week i know that there are a couple of units that have already sold and so there are folks that are ready to get in there and the developer is working hard to make that happen and uh as well as working on building six which is the next building that's up and then he wants to start on buildings one three and five which will be those closest um to Olive just a question on the just curious on the numberings there one three and five is there a building two and four there is um he's gonna start one three and five and then he will do two and four I think Some of the buildings mirror each other. And so I think one, three and five are probably all the same building. Put all those building permit building plans in together and then he will do buildings two and four. OK, so, yes. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. The police department. If you remember at the beginning of May, they did a Hounds for Heroes event up at Five Oaks. They did it in conjunction with the fire department. So you can see they took some photos with some very cute canines. They had about 30 adoptable dogs from the St. Louis County Animal Shelter that were available. The event had 20 adoptions that had been sponsored and paid for, so they had 20 basically free adoptions available. Um, there were a handful of adoptions that day, and there may have been some adoptions, um, after the event, a number of times, you know, individuals come, they come see the dogs and then they have to go home and they have to think about it. And then they circle back, um, to the animal shelter. So, um, and then. May 11th through 15th was national police week. And there is a dispatcher Patty Bratcher. Um, she's actually one of the dispatchers at ECDC, which is where Olivet, um, has its dispatching. She comes every year and she does what is called a pipe and dash tour of all the local police departments. So she plays the bagpipes. And so she comes and she plays for about five minutes, uh, outside and, uh, for national police week. And so it's kind of nice. Um, it also happened to be during a staff meeting. So we went out to enjoy the, the music. in honor of Police Week.

Very cool.

And then lastly, Public Works. So I have some good news. You may remember that the city submitted an STP application to redo the portion of North Price between Old Bonham and Del Mar. That, so far, that application is on the recommended for approval list to East West Gateway. They got that list at their meeting that's either this week or was last week. It's sort of their first look at here are the projects that staff recommend for approval. East West Gateway has the ultimate say in which projects get approved, but the fact that we are Karen Hollweg, squarely on the list bodes well and then East was gateway, they will vote on the projects that actually get funded. Karen Hollweg, In the fall, so we should hear probably in September, October, whether or not we get it, yes, sir.

Dave Kuntz, there's the fact that amaranth doing all their repair work as well, and the condition of the roads help us.

Karen Hollweg, No, we had to submit long before amaran ever yeah. said that they were going to do their work. The condition of the road, the fact that it is a collector, so it's highly trafficked, help us. We have tried to pare down the project so that it is between about a million to a million and a half That seems to be the sweet spot for municipalities to actually get funded because we are also competing with St. Louis County, MoDOT, and then of course larger cities with larger streets. So it's all just, we try and put in the best application you can. We had to put it in early in 2026. We put it in last year as well, and we were very close, but didn't make the final cut. So we, you know, refamped it. But the fact that the condition is worse now, does that, can we somehow get that into the... Yeah, I mean, we, you know, documented that, but we can't change the application now that it's in. Yeah. Better Ameren is here now than, you know, four years from now when the project is finished and the asphalt is down and then they tear up the brand new street.

Absolutely.

Yeah. And so that's all I have. And oh, other than Glenmary, Glenmary was a very, excuse me, short project and really was about widening this cul-de-sac, this circle. Previously, it was more teardrop shaped and it was difficult for vehicles to get around, particularly a trash truck or Delivery trucks. So Public Works came through and within the right of way, widened it, give it a better radius, curbs and paved it. They did not pave the length of Glenmary, but they paved the circle and then up to where there is some relatively new asphalt that had been part of a previous repair. The entire street of Glen Mary or, you know, the rest of it is slated in fiscal year 28. So that is all I have, unless you have any questions.

All right. Are there any questions from the council?

No.

All right. Then we'll move on to item number six, city council liaison reports. Council member Solomanoff, do you have anything to report?

I think we skipped five. Oh, yeah.

Thank you. we'll go back to item number five. Thank you. Our monthly financial report.

Good evening, Mayor from Afar and Council. We have in front of us our financial report up through April, which leaves us at 10 months and nothing really to report here. A small chart we can take a look at, but as we enter our budgeting, we'll have a Talk about a lot of this stuff ad nauseum in the next couple weeks, but nothing really here to report. Everything, the revenues are shaping up really well. Expenditures are right where we kind of budgeted them to be. So that's all good news. Utility tax is doing very well. Sales tax is propped up. We did give a little ground back on our sales taxes, but nothing that would adjust our budgets. Use taxes are strong. Let's go down and see what our chart of the month is. This is, again, looking at our use tax for 2020. in that classic kind of seven-year stack. And you can see there April was kind of gave out, then you see it make up in May. And so that's, as you're kind of doing these budgeting, one year does not a month, oh, sorry, one month is not a year make. But as we look at that orange line, you can see it pretty steadily went up if you kind of imagine what those trend lines would look like. And then if you take a look at the second, the year before us, which is that light beige color, It ends, yeah, real high right there. You can also see, kind of put those in your head, see a good trend forming. And that's what we talked about a couple weeks ago. And then we'll continue that kind of upward trend into our budgeting, which helps out a lot. So I don't really have anything else, but more than happy to answer any questions.

For the monthly use tax, so are we saying that for May it's going to be even higher because May is not even over yet?

May, we have received. So those are collections we get. We get our May collections like the 9th or 10th of the month. And those are what the state got in April, by the 20th of April. The retailers had, those are actually representing March sales. March sales that they collected, put together, got the money to the state by the 20th of April, give it to us within 10 days, I think, the beginning of the next month.

So about two months behind.

Yes, that's right. OK. So you see these charts and we kind of see it's interesting what you can do is in a broad economic sense, you'll see these things kind of like mirror, but it doesn't. It's really fuzzy until you hear the real data and you're like, oh, yeah, I'm seeing that, too.

Yeah.

And it happens very frequently in a lot of different places. If it's kind of real hot and then you see like this utility tax kind of go up or you see something in the newspaper, 6% increases, you know, and then you see it kind of jump up here. Again, it's really fuzzy. And if you could have a good crystal ball, you could put some things together. But it's just too fuzzy. It helps us with our budgeting going forward. You kind of track it like this. So any other questions?

No, not for me. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Now we'll go on to item number six. City Council Liaison Reports. Council Member Solomanov, do you have anything?

I don't have anything to report at this time. The EDC meeting got rescheduled to later in June.

Okay.

They'll lose the EDC meeting.

Yes. Council Member Chagall.

Yes, I attended my first Parks Commission, and it was great. It's great to see a different commission that I wasn't familiar with. We went over a lot. It was a long meeting that went over a number of different things, including the um review of the party in the parks you know which was a huge success and i do think it's amazing how well they uh relocated you know in short notice and got things uh you know going as well and And it's also amazing to hear how much effort staff actually put into it. I mean, it really went off without a hitch, I thought. And I really was excited about it. I was excited to have it at in Warson Park or, you know, kind of at the new community center. So I think it would be a neat place to have it for in the future. Yeah. Then we also went over kind of their reports and all the different activities that they're going, ideas. I'm still digesting it all, but I think it's moving in the right direction, which is great. Lots of great new ideas.

Just related to parks, I just want to give you guys a quick shout out old bottom had their fourth grade celebration today. Right and bright early in the morning after a holiday weekend so very much appreciate everything was super clean in great shape, and I know that's challenging with parties every day at the pavilion Stacey park so much appreciate it.

Very good, thank you, Mayor Lewis do you have anything to report.

Yeah, a couple things. I'll echo Councilman Solomanov because actually walking the dogs in the morning, I saw the parks group out there cleaning up after a party where people had left a lot of like balloons and things like that on the ground. So big shout out. Two things, Tropical Smoothie, as was mentioned by City Manager, was exciting. The owners are very happy to be here. It's been going great. And then last Friday or Thursday, sorry, I had the privilege of attending the Chamber of Commerce for Olivet and Creve Coeur on the business awards. It was at the Drury in Creve Coeur. And so I was there with a lot of staff and our business award winners. So I was able to kind of speak to that, speak to their accomplishments. So Aldi obviously was the business of the year and they've had representation there to accept. And the Brass Tap was the committee choice award, I guess, selected there. Oh, I'm not Brashtap. I apologize. I apologize. Plant Haven was the Committee Choice Award. Brashtap was Restaurant of the Year. Nope. Sorry. Why am I switching these around?

Great Heart Brewing.

Oh, why did I say that? Brashtap. I apologize. I was thinking breweries. Great Heart. My apologies. Thank you very much. So Great Heart was there, and Plant Haven was there as well. So it was good, and I got it right at the time, believe it or not. So, yeah. No, but it was great. I was glad they were there. It was good networking for everyone as well. And so it was good to see everyone. And then I attended PCDC, but no major updates to report for that.

All right. Thank you. And I do not have any commission comments. meetings to report on. But thank you to Mayor Lewis for subbing in for me for PCDC. And then just an invitation extended to the council for tomorrow from nine to noon. We are hosting a Cool Cities event on plastic reduction and plastic pollution reduction for municipalities. So if you are available and able to attend, that's tomorrow from nine to noon at Five Oaks on Worson. And then I will be attending the opening of Irvington Place Apartments this Thursday. So look forward to that.

What time is that on Thursday?

That's six to eight. Yeah. Yeah. So if any other council members are able to join, you're more than welcome. All right. We'll move on then to item number seven, hearing from citizens. So this is the portion of the agenda where anyone present, whether in person or virtually, may address the City Council regarding any topic, including those items later on in the agenda. Each speaker is allowed up to three minutes to address the mayor and council. We'll take speakers in person first, followed by any who are online. If you are in person, please complete a speaker card and give it to Ms. Conrad, the clerk. If you've already, well, we don't, no one has submitted a card at this time. If you are online and wish to speak, please use the raise your hand feature and you will be added as a speaker. We ask that any one giving public comment would please state your name and address for the record, prior to delivering your remarks and also just a general reminder that this is not really a question and answer period, but a time for the Council to listen to the comments of the public. So is there anyone present. In the audience. And anyone online, if you'd like to raise your hand, if you are interested in speaking. Right. Seeing none, we will move on to item number eight. Bill number 3 0 6 2.

Could we please have the bill read bill 3 0 6 2 and ordinance approving an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Clayton for a fire authority feasibility study. Second reading.

Is there any questions from the council or any briefing on this item that the city manager would like to present?

I don't have anything new from the last time other than I can confirm that the city of Brentwood has elected not to participate, but that... that was anticipated we suspected that at the last time so as of right now I still think it's six to seven cities that would participate in this study to see if it is feasible and financially feasible to do a fire authority with the participating cities and so just once again if you choose to approve this ordinance it It allows the city of Olivet to participate in the study. It does not obligate the city of Olivet to then participate in the authority should that move forward. So the only thing this obligates us to is participating in the study.

Are there any questions from the council?

No.

All right, seeing none, could I have a motion?

I'd like to make a motion to approve Bill number 3062, an ordinance approving the Intergovernmental Agreement with the City of Klain for a Fire Authority Feasibility Study. Second.

Could you please pull the council?

Councilmember Drago?

Approved.

Councilmember Solomonov?

Yes.

Councilmember, uh, Chairman Pro Tem Hellman, Pashaun Hellman?

Yes.

Mayor Lewis?

Yes.

The motion is passed. Bill 3062 becomes Ordinance 2832.

All right, thank you we'll move on to item number nine the approval of a temporary liquor license and do we have a presentation.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members, Beverly Tucker Knight, Parks and Recreation Director. I'm here this evening requesting approval for a picnic license for the St. Louis Columbian Society for their annual picnic at Stacy Park. They have completed the appropriate paperwork and the police chief has run a background check and sees no reason or found no reason to prevent them having their picnic license. They are following through with their paperwork for the state in order to sell alcoholic beverages. From the St. Louis Columbian Society, I have Angelica Gutierrez here this evening. If you have any questions, some of you may recognize Angelica because in her day job, she's a project manager for Great Rivers Greenway. and she's responsible for the centennial greenway projects that have come through all of that so she's very familiar with our park system as well so and i'm happy to answer any questions on the process or what everything entails none of this specifically just in general how many requests do we get for liquor licenses at stacy on a given year you know Typically for a group events, maybe one, the city, we do our own licensing for our large events, like for the Holy Festival, but for outside groups, very few.

Okay. No questions.

Any questions online, Mayor Lewis?

I assume they only need a permit because they might be selling. Is that a fair statement versus like, obviously, if someone rents out Stacy, they can bring liquor themselves. Is that fair?

That's correct. Yes, you can serve alcohol at your event in the park. But to sell beverages, then it does require licensing and it's set up to be a specific picnic license a one day license that's managed through the state, the county. and the local jurisdiction, which we are. If groups are giving away alcohol, then they do not need the permit. If you have hired a company that has a catering license, they do not need a picnic license. It's an interesting part of the law.

Thank you.

All right. If there are no more questions from the council, can I have a motion?

I'd like to make a motion to approve the St. Louis Columbian Society Picnic Liquor License for July 12th, 2026 at Stacy Park. Second.

Will you please poll the council?

Council Member Jurgel? Yes. Council Member Solomanov? Yes. Chairman Pro Tem Pashaun-Hellman? Yes. Mayor Lewis?

Yes.

Motion is passed.

Thank you very much. And on behalf of Angelica Gutierrez, I encourage you all to stop by and visit the festival. Thank you.

Very good. Thank you. All right. Item number 10, hearing from citizens, part two. Uh, the standards and guidelines are the same as hearing from citizens part one. And I don't see anyone new in the audience or online, but offer the opportunity again, if anyone wishes to speak.

Okay.

Seeing none, we'll move to item number 11 review and acceptance of minutes. Were there any corrections to the minutes or questions about the minutes?

No.

No. All right. Seeing none. Can I please have a motion?

I'd like to make a motion to approve the council minutes from May 12 2026. And the work session minutes from May 5 2026. Seconded.

Thank you. Can you please pull the council?

Councilmember Jurgel? Yes. Councilmember Solomanov? Yes. Chairman Pro Temp Sean Hellman? Yes. Mayor Lewis? Yes. Motion is passed.

And thank you.

Item number 12, city attorney's report. Good evening. I don't have any formal report for this evening. However, I believe that the council will need to take a recess from the formal meeting that started at 7 in order to meet as the Park Foundation and then reconvene after that in order to go into closed session. Okay.

And in order to go into a recess, is that something that needs to be motioned, seconded?

No, the chairman can just announce it, or the mayor can just announce it.

Okay. All right. Well, then the council will now move into a recess in order to call to order the Parks Foundation meeting. Okay. Just give staff just a second.

We will...

HAB-Juliette Boone, resume switch gears and resume back into the City Council meeting.

HAB-Jacques Juilland, adjournment. HAB-Juliette Boone, Is there.

HAB-Jacques Juilland, Okay. Is there anything I need to say officially to bring us back into the city council meeting?

No, you did very well in saying that you're now resuming the city council meeting.

Okay.

And then so we would just need a motion to go into closed.

Okay, very good.

Could I have a motion for us to go into a closed session, please? And we're going into close under 610.021 subsection one to discuss or to have confidential communications with the city attorney. And then also 610.021.3 and 13 regarding personnel issues.

I'd like to make a motion to adjourn and go to closed session. Seconded.

Do we need a poll of counsel? Yes, please. Sure.

Council member Dragal? Yes. Council member Solomanov? Yes. Council member, our chairman pro tem, Pashaun Hellman? Yes. Mayor Lewis?

Yes.

Motion is passed.

Okay. Okay, the Olivet City Council has come out of executive session at 8.33. And we would now like to have a motion to adjourn.

I'd like to make a motion to adjourn. Seconded.

We are adjourned. Thank you.