City Council - Regular Meeting

We are now live. [clears throat] want to call this meeting to order. For all the care to please stand for an opening prayer and a pledge of allegiance. Let us pray. We come before you today with grateful hearts, thankful for the opportunity to serve the people of Republic. We ask for your guidance and wisdom as we make decisions that affect our community. Please grant us clarity, unity, and integrity in all that we do. Help us to lead with compassion, humility, and a spirit of cooperation. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Well, thank you everyone for being here this evening. We're going to start off this evening with a proclamation. We have a Veterans Day proclamation. Do I have any veterans in attendance this evening in the audience? Got one veteran in the audience. And do we have any veterans on city council? See one, two, and we're missing one. So, three total. So, I have a proclamation for Veterans Day. [laughter] And [clears throat] if I could, is would there be a way for all of us to come front with a picture with the proclamation afterwards?

Would that be okay, Mr. Copelan? Sir, would you mind coming up with a picture for us after the proclamation? No pressure. [laughter]

Sounds like a guest. So, we appreciate that very much. So our proclamation for Veterans Day. Whereas Veterans Day stands as a solemn reminder of the courage, sacrifice, and unwavering dedication of the men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces. And whereas on November the 11th, we pause as a community to honor those who have worn the uniform of our nation, defending liberty and preserving peace with valor and integrity. And whereas the veterans of Republic Missouri have not only served our country with distinction, but have also enriched our city with their leadership, resilience, and commitment to civic life. And whereas their stories of service, whether told publicly or carried in silence, are woven into the fabric of our community and serve as an enduring example of honor, duty, and patriotism. And whereas we recognize that our freedoms are safeguarded by the selfless acts of our veterans and we reaffirm our responsibility to ensure they receive the respect, care, and recognition they have earned. And whereas the city of Republic proudly stands with our veterans, not just on Veterans Day, but every day, committed to fostering a community where their legacy is honored and their contributions are never forgotten. Now therefore, I, Eric Franklin, mayor of the city of Republic, Missouri, do hereby proclaim November the 11th, 2025 as Veterans Day in the city of Republic, Missouri. And I call upon all citizens to join in recognizing and honoring the service of our veterans. Let us express our deepest gratitude and continue to build a city worthy of their sacrifice. and testimony whereof, I here unto set my hand and affix the seal of the city of republic this fourth day of November, 2025. So, if I could get the veterans to come up front real quick and get a quick picture.

We have one every year with the council. So, too bad Mr. Fields couldn't be here, but we'll have one for the the history books. How about right there in the corner so we can get the flag in the background. There we go. [laughter] Right where Bob's rolling. Bob got there pretty quick.

You're good. All right. Got it. Awesome. Thank you very much. No, thank you. We appreciate it.

All right. Thank you everyone for their patience and I appreciate all the veterans here tonight and all of our veterans in Republic. It's so wonderful to get to meet all the veterans and so I appreciate everyone and their service to our country. We're going to move on to citizens participation. This is an opportunity for citizens to speak directly to council on matters that are not listed on tonight's agenda. Do I have anyone in the audience tonight that would like to speak during citizens participation? Seeing that there is none, I'm going to close citizens participation. Moving on to the consent agenda. I welcome the council to ask any questions or comments about items number two and three on the agenda. If there are no questions, I need a motion and a second for the approval of the consent agenda.

Motion second. Got a motion and a second. All those in favor? I. All of those opposed?

One abstension. Motion carries. 61. Moving on to board, commission, and committee schedule. City council work session will be November the 18th, 2025 at 4:30. We have a city council meeting November the 18th, 2025. We the planning and zoning meeting for December the 1st, 2025 has been cancelled. The board of adjustment meeting on December the 4th, 2025 has been cancelled. And then we will have another city council meeting December the 9th, 2025. Moving on to old business and tabled items. Item number four, a public hearing of the city council regarding appropriating from the revenue of the city of Republic, Missouri expenditures in accordance with the fiscal year 2026 budget of the city of Republic Missouri and providing for adjustments there too. So, at this time, I'm going to open the public hearing. Do we have anyone here this evening that is here to speak on item number four? Seeing that there is none, I'm going to close the public hearing. Moving on to item number five. I need a motion and a second for the second reading of bill 25-33 by title only, please.

Motion. Second. Got a motion and a second. All those in favor? I. All of those opposed. Are there any abstensions? Motion carries. 700. Laurel, read the ordinance by title, please. An ordinance of the city council appropriating from the revenue of the city of Republic, Missouri, expenditures in accordance with fiscal year 2026 budget of the city of Republic, Missouri, and providing for adjustments there too.

Thank you, Laura. Does council have any questions, comments, discussion before moving forward? Seeing that there is none, we will move on to final passage. I now need a motion and a second for final passage of bill 25-33, please. Motion second.

Got a motion and a second. Now going to take a roll call vote on our computers. Motion carries 700. Moving on to item number six. I need a motion and a second for the second reading of bill 25-34 by title only, please. Motion second. Got a motion and a second. All of those in favor? I.

All of those opposed. Are there any abstensions? Motion carries 700. Laura will read the ordinance by title, please. An ordinance of the city council amending title 8 fees, chapter 805 fee schedule of municipal code of the city of Republic, Missouri. Thank you, Laura. And Mr. Ford has an update with our proposed substitute bill.

Yes. Good evening. Uh Bob Ford, uh chief financial officer. Uh to keep the city's electronic payment processing fees consistent with credit card processing network rules, we are modifying the language uh specifically around credit card fees for both utility billing and community development to reflect the following actual costs not to exceed 3%. So the goal here is to ensure that we cover our costs, but that we're not uh putting in place a structure that would in fact generate a passive income and it and that this rate will not exceed 3%.

Thank you, Mr. Ford. Have any questions, comments from city council? Seeing that there is none, I need a motion and a second to replace bill 25-34 with the substitute bill 25-34A. Motion second. Got a motion and a second. All of those in favor? I.

All of those opposed. Are there any abstensions? Motion carries. 700. We will now move on to final passage. I now need a motion and a second for final passage of bill 25-34 as amended. Motion. Second.

Got a motion and a second. We're now going to take a roll call vote on our computers. Motion carries 70. Moving on to item number seven. I need a motion and a second for the second reading of bill 25-35 by title only. Please. Motion [clears throat] second. Got a motion and a second. All of those in favor? I.

All of those opposed. Are there any abstensions? Motion carries. 700. Laura will read the ordinance by title, please. An ordinance of the city council amending title 6, business and occupation. Chapter 600, alcoholic beverages. Chapter 605, business licenses and regulations. Chapter 610, solicitors and canvasers. Chapter 615, massage establishments. Chapter 630, pawn shops and pond brokers. And chapter 631, regulations on businesses purchasing precious metals, precious or semi-precious stones, and or jewelry of the municipal code of the city of Republic, Missouri. Thank you, Laura. Does council have any questions or discussion? [clears throat] Seeing that there is none, we will move on to final passage. I now need a motion and a second for the final passage of Bill 25-35. Please.

Motion. Second. Got a motion and a second. We're now going to take a vote on our computers.

[snorts]

Council member Neil, I don't have yours showing up. Mine. Yeah. Thank you. Motion carries. 700. [clears throat] Moving on to item number nine. I need a motion and a second for the second reading of Bill 25-37 by title only. Please, my apologies. I totally skipped over a whole number eight. Let me back up a little bit. [clears throat] We're moving on to item number 825-36. I need a motion and a second for the second reading of bill 25-36 by title only, please.

Motion. Second. Got a motion and a second. All those in favor? I. All of those opposed. Are there any abstensions? Motion carries. 700. Laurel, read the ordinance by title, please. An ordinance of the city council amending title 2, public health, safety, and welfare, chapter 207, false alarms, by repealing [snorts] section 207.070, permit, and application therefore of the municipal code of the city of Republic, Missouri. Thank you, Laura. Does city council have any questions, comments, discussion before moving forward? Bless you. Thank you.

Seeing that there is none, we will move on to final passage. I now need a motion and a second for the final passage of Bill 25-36. Please. Motion. Second. Got a motion and a second. We're now going to take a roll call vote on our computer. [snorts]

Motion carries. 7 0. Moving on to item number nine. I need a motion and a second for the second reading of bill 25-37 by title only. Please motion. Second. Got a motion and a second. All of those in favor? All those opposed. Are there any abstensions? Motion carries. 700 Laurel read the ordinance by title, please. An ordinance of the city council amending the employee handbook. Thank you, Laura. Does city council have any questions, comments, discussion before moving on, Mr. Harter?

Yeah. Um, so reading through this, it was talking about essential workers, correct? Um, that what's the definition of essential workers? So essential worker would be somebody who needs to be on the premise or on in the city executing uh their function um even if the the administrative officer closed. So police, fire, uh public works in the event of a breakage or a leak or something that needs to be re be repaired. Um or it could be uh the initiation of service for somebody who's purchased a home and and they're in um the closing process during the period of time that the that the city is officially closed.

Okay. So, how will those people be contacted then? So, um they won't be contacted directly. They'll need to let us know as they normally do that they're requesting service to be turned on. Uh we'll have a voicemail on the phone. Um, and we will treat each one of those individually and make sure that if somebody were to request service during the period of the December 26th, 29th, 30th, or 31st that we have a crew that will go out and accommodate them. Okay. And um how how is the public going to be aware made aware of this?

So, we uh are preparing a number of communications. there will be a kind of a major communication that'll go out either late November, early December talking not only about the the office hours during the holiday season, but also a number of changes that are coming up uh with regards to process and payment, electronic payment, electronic billing, etc. So, a lot of utility billing activity based on a new software solution that's coming online in January. So, there will be that communication going out early uh early December. We'll give you we'll give council a sneak pre preview before it goes out and then there'll be reminders going out in most likely the month of January and then again in February as these changes are coming online.

Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Harter. Do we have any Thank you, Mr. Ford. Do we have any additional questions, comments, discussion from city council? [snorts] Okay, seeing that there is none, we will move on to final passage. I now need a motion and a second for final passage of bill 25-37, please. Motion. Second.

Got a motion and a second. We're now going to take a roll call vote on our computers. Motion carries 700. Moving on to new business and first reading of ordinances. I need a motion and a second for the first reading of bill 25-38 by title only, please. Motion. Second. Got a motion and a second. All those in favor? I.

All of those opposed. Are there any abstensions? Motion carries. 700. Laurel will read the ordinance by title, please. An ordinance of the city council approving amendment of the zoning classification of approximately 5.08 acres located at the 900 block of Colorado Avenue from amended Frisco Square Plan Development District, PDD, to amended Frisco Square Plan Development District Phase 2. Thank you, Laura. And we've got Mr. Taber here this evening to give us an overview.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening. Chris Taver, principal planner. Modern Tractor and Supply, Inc. has applied to change the zoning classification of approximately 5.08 acres of property located at the 900 block of Colorado Avenue from Planned Development District, PDD, to Frisco Square amended phase 2 Planned Development District, PDD. The subject site is again 5.08 acres of existing parcel currently undeveloped. It is also zoned at this time as part of the existing original Frisco Square plan development district. The existing PDD for this area of land allows for 4.36 acres of local commercial C1 zone development and 0.7 acres of agricultural zone development intended as green space. The applicant's request would amend the zoning to allow for two unique land use types. The first is area one as noted on the plat. Area 1 is a total area of 3.06 acres and is intended for attached single family residential effectively patio homes with one shared wall. The density would be 6.5 54 dwelling units per acre at 20 lots over the three over the 3.06 acres. The setbacks required as the required distance from the building's footprints to the property lines would be front 25 ft, rear 25 ft, sideyard of 10 ft on the unshared property line. And on the shared property line where they connect obviously a setback of zero. The lot size would be a minimum of 5,000 square ft. The minimum width is 35 ft and the minimum depth 115 ft. Area two, which is the two spots at the end of the horseshoe shape there, uh, represents a multif family residential area with 2.01 acres. The density would be 7.96 dwelling units per acre for a total of 16 units on um over the over both of those two spots. So roughly eight on each. The permitted

uses again would be multif family residential. The setbacks would be front 15t, rear 15t, and side 15t. The proposed development plan is consistent with the city of Republic's adopted ordinances as well as the goals and objectives of the currently adopted comprehensive plan, land use plan, [snorts] and other city ordinances. The subject site is surrounded by vacant commercial zone properties, vacant residential zone subpropies, and the Republic police station. Staff consulted the Republic police chief regarding the development. He presented no objections to the proposed plan. The development plan will be provided will be required to provide screening um between multif family and other uses. The water system, the existing lift stations and the wastewater treatment facility have sufficient capacity to serve the proposed development at full buildout. A traffic impact study was conducted for the project. The results of the TIS indicate that the proposed full buildout of the development does not warrant any traffic improvements. The design and precise placements of the streets, sidewalks, water, and sanitary sewer system, as well as storm water detention would be reviewed and permitted during the infrastructure permitting phase. The subject contains no special flood hazard area or flood plane. It contains no identified sink holes. The next step in the process of development of the subject parcel upon a favorable reszoning outcome would be the development, review, and approval of an infrastructure permit for the construction of utility services and roads. The item was unanimously recommended for approval last night by the planning and zoning commission. Staff has received no public comment or interest in this project. Staff is recommending approval.

Thank you, Mr. Taber. Do we have any questions from city council? Mr. Mayor, Mr. Gerie. Um, so this is a amendment to a previous PDD. Correct. So there was a previous PDD, the same one that created the zoning that the police station is. Um, a very a very old PDD. Yes. and like uh density wise compared to that PDD less dense similar different uses so it's moving from um what was um about 4.3 acres of commercial use to these residential uses thank you

and if you remember we did previously um approve an adjacent to the southeast uh phase one of a of the residential which was single family Thank you, Mr. Taber. Thank you, Mr. Gerky. Any additional questions from city council. So, we do have one speaker this evening in the audience that wants to speak in favor. Mr. Wyn.

Good evening, city council. My name is Chris W. I'm a civil engineer with CJW Transportation Consultants located at 5051 South National Avenue, Sweet 7A, Springfield, Missouri. um representing the developer and owner of this property. Um I think um staff has done a good job covering everything here. Really more or less here to answer any questions that uh city council could have. I will I will add on to the question that um one of the council members had. Um obviously different use here. We're going from commercial to residential but in the previous phase we went all single family residential whereas that phase also allowed for apartment complex. So, I think the overall density [clears throat] of what this developer is looking to do here on this property in the grand scheme of things is quite a bit less than what was previously approved in the previous PD. So, any other questions you guys have? I'd be happy to answer them.

Any questions for Mr. Win? Well, Mr. Win, thank you for being available tonight. No problem. Thank you. One last time. Do we have any additional questions, comments, discussion before moving on from city council? Okay, seeing that there is none, remember this is a first read, so make sure that we get with staff if we have any questions prior to the next meeting. Moving on to item number 11. I need a motion and a second for the first reading of bill 25-39 by title only, please. Motion second. Got a motion and a second. All those in favor? I.

All of those opposed. Are there any abstension? Motion carries. 700. Laurel, read the ordinance by title, please. an ordinance of the city council amending ordinance number 2463 to reflect a change in the terms for the Farm Road 93 community Improvement District CI. Thank you, Laura. And we've got Miss Haynes here this evening to give us an overview.

Good evening, city council mayor. Karen Haynes, community development director. The Farm Road 93 Community um improvement district, also known as CID, has requested an extension of the term of the expiration of the approved CID aligning with the stat a statutory term of 27 years from the date of approval in late 2024. Um they are also requesting the removal of the requirement for the execution of a developer agreement andor cooperative agreement with the city. Um the original CI was presented and approved by council on December 10th, 2024. Uh which essentially created the district. Um at that time there was a requirement uh for the execution of a developers agreement with the city. Um since that time we did um another request for um extension that was in June of this last year which effectively extended the CD term um with the requirement for the execution of a developers agreement until December 31st of this year. At this time we are removing language referencing the expiration of the CI um with the execution of a developers agreement with the city. Upon approval of the request, the CD may move forward with the required preliminary plotting, essentially setting out the utility and street infrastructure required for actual construction of the development. Um staff is recommending approval.

Thank you, Miss Haynes. Do we have any questions, comments? Mr. Abd, so this is the they want an extension from the December vote or the the June vote. It was uh the June 2025 vote did extend the term of the CI with the requirement of a developers agreement to December 31st of this year. Um this request would be effectively removing uh the expiration date and falling back to the statutory term of 27 years. Thank you, Mr. Haynes. Thank you, Mr. Eddike. Do we have any additional

Why did we have the expiration dates in there to begin with if we already had like a 27-year default? The expiration dates uh were put in place to allow enough time to effectively um negotiate the terms of a developer agreement with the city. Um they have since decided um this last year to um delay the project um and effectively remove any type of cooperative agreement with the city.

So what would that mean if you know 6 months later they decide to come back and do this? Do they start that process over or would they just do it without the city's cooperation at that point? Um, if this is approved, they will uh develop the subdivision without any type of cooperative agreement or partnership with the city. [clears throat] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Needle. Do we have any additional questions, Mr. Kirk? What's I guess what's the what what does that what's that change do? I guess I'm kind of confused on what that changes from the previous agreement. What is that?

It really doesn't change anything in terms of the CID structure itself other than eliminating any opportunity for partnership with the city um in the form of a developers agreement. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gerky. Do we have any additional questions from city council? Questions or discussion? Okay. Thank you, Miss Haynes. And remember, if we have any additional questions, this is a first read, so make sure that we go to the staff prior to the next meeting. Moving on to item number 12. I need a motion and a second for the first reading of bill 25-40 by title only, please. Motion.

Second. Got a motion and a second. All those in favor? I. All those opposed? Are there any abstensions? Motion carries. 700. Laurel, read the ordinance by title, please. An ordinance of the city council approving execution of a developer agreement with MM Land Holdings LLC for commercial use of the property located at 1192 South State Highway MM utilizing existing well and septic pending municipal water and sewer connection availability. Thank you, Laura. And we've got Miss Haynes here again this evening.

Thank you. Uh, the builds department is requesting approval authorizing the city administrator to enter into a developer agreement with MM Land Holdings LLC for the interim use of an existing well and septic system for the proposed construction of a new commercial building for a lawn and landscaping company. Uh, the proposed building will house the company's offices and garage style uh storage for lawn and landscaping equipment used in uh the business. The existing well and septic have the capacity to serve the proposed use until city water and sewer services are in proximity to the parcel. Um at that time the property owner will be responsible for the design and connection at their own expense uh to city water and sewer service. The interim condition was uh considered and reviewed by previous administration due to the low volume of utility usage associated with that particular use um and the expected expansion of city water and sewer through the development process along the north mm um corridor. Staff is recommending approval.

Thank you, Miss Haynes. Do we have any questions, comments from city council? Mr. Mayor, Mr. means do they have a certain time frame after the city utilities are through there to connect? Yes, they will. They will have 12 months to make the actual connection to city services once they are adjacent and in proximity. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Mr. Mr. Gerky,

cl so once it's available, they are required to or they have the option? No, they will be required to um connect to those services and that is um the the particulars of that are what is included with the developers agreement um which effectively allows us to issue a building permit. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gerky. We have any additional questions? Dan, are there buildings there? Now,

there is a residence um currently on site along with a a well and a like a garage barn/shop building u that was used for residential purposes. Um the property was reszoned M2 a couple of years ago and can no longer be utilized for any type of residential purposes. Okay. So, this will have to apply with all building code compi issues that we have in the city as far as what type of buildings and the looks and the

uh not the looks, but they will have to um meet all of the requirements for um commercial building codes um which specifically do not address how a structure looks. Um but that will be the case for the new commercial building. and if at any point they decide to use the residence and change that to a commercial space that they will be required to um upgrade to uh the commercial building code for that particular structure. Thank you. Thank [snorts] you, Mr. Harter. Do we have any additional questions, comments from city council?

Okay. Thank you, Miss Haynes. Um, and remember if there are any further questions, please get with staff before the next meeting. Moving on to other business and resolutions. Item number 13, 25-R-42, a resolution of the city council authorizing the city to apply for the land and water conservation fund program for construction of a new playground features at JR Martin Park. I need a motion and a second to take up resolution 25-R42, please. Motion. Second.

Got a motion and a second. We've got Mr. Parks to give us an overview this evening. Thank you. Good evening. Chris Parks, parks and recreation director. So, this resolution will be part of the application process for the land and water conservation fund grant that we are looking to apply for. Um, we will be requesting $500,000 for that grant. uh the two and this will be for portions of phase two of the loop project at Martin. Obviously, we have um that project going on right now. So, this would be an addition um of things that we had in phase two that we would look to do with this grant. The two main parts of that would be um replacing the current playground uh structure at Martin to um to upgrade that. And then there would be an addition to the plaza area that's currently being built. um that would again um it would add some playground features to that uh plaza area as well. So those would be the two main things that we would do with this grant. Uh there are there is a 100% ma match to this. So we would be required to match $500,000 and we would use those funds from our uh the park cyst um uh tax that we have currently. we will have some surplus over the next couple of years that we won't be using and then we would um make any adjustments to the current 10-year plan that we have to um to um any additional funds that we need for that match. Um staff does recommend approval and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Mr. Parks. Do we have any questions, comments, discussion from city council? Mr. Gerky, Mr. park. So besides the matching of the funds, any any additional cost to apply for this? Not to apply for it? No. Yeah. And then we just required we have to spend matching funds. Correct. Yeah. So any anything that we got from it, we would have to match at 100%. Thank you. Up to up to the 500,000. Thank you, Mr. Gerky. Any additional questions, comments, discussion from city council? Okay, seeing that there is none and as this is a resolution, we can call this immediately to a vote. All those in favor? I.

All of those opposed. Are there any abstensions? Motion carries. 700. Moving on to item number 14 25-R43. a resolution of the city council authorizing the fire department to purchase an international water tender fire apparatus from Midwest Fire Equipment and Repair Company. I need a motion and a second to take up resolution 25-R3, please. Motion. Second. Got a motion and a second. We've got Chief Compton here to get give us an overview.

Good evening. Dwayne Compton, a fire chief of the City Republic. Um it was April 2nd, 2013. and we went to the voters and this was the actual flyer that was included in the water bill that we mailed out to pass the 18 cent fire sales tax. There are eight high ticket or high priority items that were on here of replacing fire apparatus. The last one to check off is number five and that's this truck. Uh once we have done this, this fulfills our promise to the voters. So, this truck is funded through the 18 cent fire sales tax. It is manufactured by Midwest Fire Equipment in Leverne, Minnesota. It replaces a 1994 water tender that we currently have that's approaching 200,000 miles and is at the end of life. Uh, it has developed a serious mechanical problem and we'll probably surplus it out in the next month or so. Uh, the truck has a price not to exceed of 366,284. There's a contingency fund there of $5,000. And basically that contingency fund is there's some cost savings for us to have the lettering and the striping done locally. They were going to charge us about $2,000. They're going to have that done in spring for about a th000. So there's some cost savings there. We're buying this through a cooperative purchase through Sourcewell. So, it's already pre-bid and there's a cost savings there of $13,53 going through that cooperative purchase pro uh vendor. The truck has a delivery date of mid January of next year and the price was uh or this was included in the budget that you just passed. Any questions?

Give us a picture. Huh? Huh? You didn't give us a picture. It's not built yet. [laughter] They didn't have a picture of it in 2013. If you would like to go to Minnesota in January to look at it, I'll take that. [laughter] It's not a great environment for water. Yeah. Do we have any questions for Chief, Mr. Neil? And they're saying they can have it by the end of this coming January. Yeah, they have the chassis already there. Um, so it's just a matter of them building the the body and the pump and the tank and all that that goes with it, but the chassis setting on their lot. Got

Thank you, Mr. Neil. Any additional questions, comments, discussion from city council. Okay, as this is a resolution, we can call this immediately for a vote. All those in favor? I.

All those opposed. Are there any abstensions? Motion carries 700. Thank you, Chief. Moving on to item number 15, 25-R-44, a resolution of the city council authorizing the city administrator to enter into an agreement with Empire District Industries Incorporated to provide internet services to city-owned properties and install new service to the JR Martin Park. I need a motion and a second to take up resolution 25-R44, please. Motion, second.

Got a motion and a second, and he's on his way. We've got Mr. Ce here this evening to give [clears throat] us an overview.

Uh good evening. Michael Cel, IT manager. Uh we've been negotiating with uh Liberty on updating our uh internet and interconnect contract for the city of Republic and we've addressed some sites that were over served by the speed they were offered such as like animal control. It's a very low use facility. Save some money there. Uh overall the price would increase from uh $5,800 a month to about 6,400. Uh part of this is they are migrating the connection from Aurora to the Republic interconnect. We are bringing internet connection to JR Martin Park to uh better serve them with their project there. Uh it's moving fiber connection at the wastewater utility uh wastewater plant sorry to the new administrator building and providing them their own internet connection there to segment it from the rest of city networks. We've also increasing the speed of overall for the city and saving about $50,000 out of pocket because they're eating the fiber cost to J.R. Martin and the wastewater plant. Uh we recommending approval.

Thank you, Mr. Ce. Do we have any questions from city council? Mr. Gerie, is there maybe I missed it here? So, I'm guessing we have a contract for a period of time to Yes, it's a 5-year contract. Sorry, on that. Uh this is a reup on a 2009 contract uh working with legal. We rewarded it slightly on some of the stuff and cleaned up some stuff there and then just adjusted to what we our current needs are. Is that is the the rates is it locked for that five year? Cool. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gerky. Do we have any additional questions from city council? Questions, comments, or discussion?

Thank you, Mr. Ce. Seeing that there is none and as this is a resolution, we can call this immediately to a vote. All of those in favor? I. All of those opposed. Are there any abstensions? Motion carries 70. We're already there. Reports from staff. Mr. Ford,

good evening. Uh, with the passage of the fiscal year 2026 budget this evening, I'd like to give you a bit of an update on a number of projects that will be completing either later this year or into the early part of next year. Number one is project Genesis, which is the upgrade of our software support systems is nearing completion. Uh, Sage Intact will go live December 1 of this year. We will retain access to Tyler throughout all of 26 primarily for our auditors so they can complete the audit, but also in case some of the some of the access to the historical data that did not come across appropriately, we have the ability to go back in and retrieve the data. uh ADP, our HRP payroll solution, will go live with the last payroll cycle of this year, December 21 through January 3rd. Uh that's paid on January the 8th of 2026. And the utility billing platform will go live most likely early February to midFebruary. Um, this project actually began eight about 18 months ago when HR and finance sat down at the old 204 building and started sketching out what we thought we needed with a new ERP solution. So, we're pretty thrilled about getting close to the end of the project and actually getting it implemented. Um, also talking about being thrilled, the new administration building, staff will move in to the new administration building before the Christmas break and we will hold our first city council meeting in the new city council chambers in January. Uh, I think some of you have stopped by and taken tours. It the building's coming along great. It it's going to be a wonderful facility. Um, Hines and Zezy intersection evaluation. The city has contracted with Olsson Engineering to begin surveying work for the intersection evaluation at Hines and

ZZ. The work is anticipated to start mid November and Olsen will also be evaluating traffic volume at the same time. Our our one of our favorite topics, the wastewater treatment plant um will complete next year. Um right now we're drawing on the SRF to complete that last trunch of funding. Uh, as of today, there's $ 13.7 million of SRF money outstanding. By the end of this year, we'll have drawn that down to about $30.3 million, and the additional $19 million will fund the requirements early next year to complete that project. Um, J.R. Martin update. Um, as Chris said, uh, that project is moving along. The phase one component of that, uh, tennis courts and the parking lot have been demolished. Uh you'll remember in anticipation of the tennis courts going away, uh the city built eight proper pickle ball courts and two tennis courts at Miller Park last year. Um and and um the grading is complete. Curb and gutter have already been poured. The anticipation is by the end of November we'll see a parking lot in uh at J.R. Martin. Uh once they complete that, they'll focus on the new concession stand, market pavilion, the plaza area, and construction is currently on track for substantial completion by June 1. Because of the JR Martin project and and some of the press that it's receiving, Chris Parks and I have received a number of questions, sort of follow-on questions as to what is the status of the regional sports park. So, I thought I would give you an update. I'm going to take a few minutes to uh give you this update, but the bottom line is that the regional sports park is currently on hold until additional revenue can be

identified to fund the debt service on the incremental debt necessary to fund the project. In your package, I've given you kind of a detailed overview of what that entails, but I'm going to hit the high points here. So number one, in 2022, the city renewed two quarter cent sales taxes for parks. One for operations and one for capital. We've talked a bit about the park CIST uh over the last couple of weeks. Each one of these taxes is budgeted to generate about $1.1 million in 2025, and we have forecasted and therefore budgeted uh to generate the same in 2026. You'll also recall that in March of 2023, the city of Republic issued just under $10 million in debt as the series 2023 bond offering to fund two projects, the pool expansion and the J.R. Martin upgrade project. Additionally, if there were any funds left over from that offering, those residual funds were to be used for the initial planning and architectural work on the proposed regional sports park. But the pool expansion cost about $8 million. The J.R. Martin upgrade is going to cost us ultimately about $2.7 million plus 700,000 was spent last year to build the new pickle ball and tennis courts at Miller Park for a total of 3.4 million. So the pool expansion and the J.R. Martin upgrade have depleted all the bond funds um plus an additional $1.4 4 million of other city funding to get us to this point. So, the ability there there is no additional funding to be able to start any activity on the on the uh regional sports park. You'll also recall uh from 22 that the regional

sports park was proposed as a $40 million two-phaseed project. The original plan was to fund the debt service of the series 23 debt, which we just talked about, which is funding the pool expansion and the J.R. Martin upgrade, and the smaller capital projects that parks has on an ongoing need on an annual basis to fund that with the operating earnings. Therefore, leaving the park's cyst, which is a quarter cent sales tax, to fund the debt service on any debt issued to build the regional sports park. To give you a little more detail, the series 23 bond annual average debt service for the period 2026 next year through the end of that life of that bond offering 2044, the average debt service is going to be $788,000 a year. And you'll recall from two weeks ago, the 10-year CIP identified an average of $350,000 per year for parks for small capital and maintenance capital projects to be paid over the next 10 years. So, going back to the regional sports park, taking that data and going back to the regional sports park, phase one was forecast to cost around $15 million to build, which included baseball fields, soccer fields, and some the potential for other amenities. If you take that $15 million in debt, if it were issued today, that would result in an additional average debt service of $1.1 million a year for the next 23 years. Phase two is estimated to cost $25 million to complete. While in 2022, the funding for phase 2 wasn't specifically

identified. If we want to be consistent to compare apples to apples, if we issued $25 million in debt, say in two or three years to fund the remaining portion of this project, that average debt service would add an additional $2.1 million in debt service over the remaining life of the park CIST. So, I'm sure you're doing the math in your head. The phase one, the debt service would be $1.1 million. If we had to fund the the the phase 2 project with debt, that's an additional $2.1 million. So, we're talking $3.3 million of debt service of revenue of 1.1 million. Furthermore, the current parks operating earnings are insufficient to fund the series 23 bond offering service uh debt service and the smaller capital projects. So the original plan in 22 was for the operating budget to fund that debt service and those small capital projects. But the reality is tax revenues have grown slower than we forecasted in 22. Admission, concession, and event revenues have also grown slower than predicted. While operating expenses, specifically personnel expenses, have been higher than was forecast in 22. specifically more seasonal employees coupled with an increase in minimum wage have increased parks seasonal employee cost. Plus, the city's move from Logger's L3 to L6, the modification of the 457 plan, and the improvement of the health care benefits for families has increased the overall personnel cost for parks for full-time employees. So given that current revenue and expense trend in fiscal 22, parks operating earnings which originally was going to fund the debt service on the series 23 debt. So parks operating earnings is actually budgeted at a loss

for this year before debt service and before small capital projects and for next year it's budgeted at a slight surplus about $265,000. Therefore, the funding for the series 23 bond debt service in the annual smaller capital projects are currently being met by the park cyst, not by park's operating earnings. Therefore, the park cyst is not available to fund the debt service on incremental debt that would be used to fund phase one of the regional sports park. So in summary, the regional sports park phase one is only viable if park's operating earnings would grow to the point where they were improved to a level that would fund the series 23 bond debt service and the annual smaller capital projects leaving the CIS to fund the debt service on any new debt issued to build the regional sports park phase one. Looking over the past couple of years, if we included the series 23 debt service and the smaller capital pro projects in the operating budget of parks as it exists today, the operating shortfall would have been somewhere between $625,000 to a million dollars a year. So over two years, we would have seen a shortfall of over $1.6 $6 million had we issued $15 million in debt to fund phase one of the of this project back in 24. Additionally, there is no funding plan for the $25 million of phase two of the project which needs to be identified in order to complete the $40 million project. Therefore, without a funding source, the project will remain on hold until we can solve some of these financial questions. questions.

Sounds like a good plan. Yeah. Can I just throw in this will be posted online and be sent out. It's a link in the admin report. So everything he just went over will be online for people to review tomorrow to all that information. Yes, Mr. G. Mr. Mayor, uh Mr. Ford and remind me the land we've that's been purchased and paid for. There's no debt associated with that. Correct. Correct. And so our cost that we maintain the land, I guess, would be our we will hold the land. Yes. So yeah, that's that's been bought bought, paid for, free and clear. Yeah. Yes. Thank you. We're actually making money on the land right now because we have a farming lease on

a little bit. [laughter] Every little bit helps.

Thank you, Mr. Gerky. And thank you, Mr. Ford. Very much appreciate that clarity. Moving on to reports from city council. Do I have any city council members that have anything to report for this evening? Seeing that there's none, we're on to the mayor. Uh just again, thank you, Mr. Ford. Thank you to staff for all that work that went into this year's budget and for having that in front of city council in such a great time. We just had such a such a great I don't want to call it a great opportunity. It's a budget, but yeah, thank you for giving it to us in a way that's that's easily presentable and in a way that we could share it with the public as well. Um, anyone that went to the chamber meeting today, it was kind of busy, so I didn't get to look around, but that was a wonderful chamber meeting today. I'd like to send a shout out to them. All of the great nonforprofits that were out here in Republic. Today was nonfor-profit day and so all of the nonforprofits were there in the chamber meeting and so I got a chance to meet a few more that I wasn't quite familiar with and then to see all the people that are in our community doing the great stuff. It it was just a great chamber meeting today. Another shout out to our veterans. I know it's not always easy. No one even knew I was a veteran until I ran for office. And so I completely understand the not wanting to not it's it's not not wanting it. I understand the feelings behind it. So thank you to all of our veterans. Thank you to our veterans that are serving our community, whether it's on planning and zoning, whether it's on city council or whether it's here at the city. So thank you to all of our veterans. And speaking of veterans, this weekend there's a big event going on. It's the Rucken Run. And when we're talking about veterans, we're talking about Republic. are talking about bringing people together. It brings together everyone from people from Republic, people from all around the Ozarks, people from all around our region. It's a it's been a this is their 11th year of doing it here in Republic. And if you've ever seen them out there, it's impressive. Um I like to watch them ruck and run, but uh yeah, if you get a chance to go out there, it's a it's a great opportunity even just to go there and visit. The community loves to see us

out there. So, anyone that gets a chance, ruck and run this Saturday. uh they always meet very early too. So yeah, it's a great experience and uh it's a very much appreciate having ruck and run and that experience here in Republic. The Salvation Army Harbor House had a groundbreaking this uh last week uh had an invitation to go and and see the groundbreaking for that new project and it's a project that uh even though it's in Springfield and it's Salvation Army Springfield, they still serve people in our area. uh they serve Green County and Christian County and so it's a wonderful time to be there with that groundbreaking and to see those services being expanded into our area and what the Salvation Army is capable of. And u I'm looking forward to hopefully making that trophy return for next year for the Salvation Army bell ringing mayor's challenge. Other than that, I did want to mention a thank you to PNZ for all of their hard work. Uh I heard during the meeting last night that they worked so hard that they didn't have to have a meeting in December. And so [clears throat] very much appreciated for all their hard work. Uh it's volunteering just like all of it. I know how difficult it is to come up with free time or any time anymore. It just seems like time is less and less. And so thank you to everyone. Thank you to staff for all the preparation in tonight's meeting. Thank you to city council for volunteering your time here tonight. And I will not keep any more of your time. So Mr. Ford, thank you for a great meeting tonight. And with that, thank you for being here and have a great evening. This meeting is adjourned. Sure.

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