Board of Aldermen - Regular Meeting

City Administrator Berbers? Present. City Clerk Kohler? Present. City Attorney Weber is absent. Public Works Director Payne? Present. Chief of Police Chase? Present. Finance Director Steven Neiman? Present. And we've got all the other city staff that we have tonight. Next item up is the approval of the tonight's agenda. yes

for new miscellaneous business we have the lead line or the lead service line inventory grant amendment okay

You can go ahead if you want. Or are we not reading? OK. Apologies.

This is not. There we go.

Do you want me to talk about it?

Thank you, Stacey.

Good evening. So this is a grant that we currently have. It's the lead service line inventory. It's an ARPA grant. This is just to amend the project grant period from January 14, 2026 to December 31, 2026. And then it will have to be wrapped up by then to get all the ARPA projects submitted to the state. So anyway, this is just to amend that date.

All right.

Open it up for questions from the board. Any questions? All right. Do I have a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve the signed attached amendment for the financial assistance agreement in general terms and conditions.

Do I have a second?

I'll second that motion.

There's no further discussion. I will call for the vote. Alderman Kinsey? Yes. Alderman Letchworth?

Yes.

And Alderman Dent?

Yes.

All right. Next item up, we've got two bids. We'll start with new patrol cars for the police department.

So for this year, we're set to replace two of our patrol vehicles. We'll have two that are going out. One is an older one that's been used by the city for a little bit. We went through our same companies. There's only two companies in the state that provide state bid and meet the other qualifications. There's another one. I can't think of the term. So there was only two dealerships in Missouri. The next closest one is on the Kansas City, Kansas side and the lowest, the lowest bids we've got. And they've been the same. It's been from Bellman. And so our recommendation is going to be that we continue to use Bellman for our patrol car purchases, unless somebody has any questions about any of it.

Yeah, we bought from them before.

We have for the last It's maybe eight years, maybe longer than that. They're the only real volume dealer in the state that still participates in the state mid program. I don't really know why that is, because they move probably 400 or more cars a year to agencies and all that. Yeah.

I believe Corwin Auto, also out of Springfield, is on that same. There's three. I had to purchase a van.

OK. Well, so there's another part of that. And I can't remember what. There's another aspect to it. So there's state bid. But then there's, it's like an acronym. Stands for something. And it's a part of that process. And so our policy requires that we do the state bid plus that other. It's just escaping me right this second.

Gotcha. Yeah, I'm drawing a blank.

But it's another part to that program, and I wasn't aware of Corwin being a state bid dealer. They didn't pop up on that list. So it's like C-A-R-T or something like that, but that and state bid combined is what we've been going with. But I'll definitely check them because – the other the other place in independence their prices were about two thousand dollars per car higher i ran into that as well yeah i mean so we do our due diligence to try and find the best deals we can we also carry cheap we if i'm not mistaken we also carry all of our light stuff and everything from our other vehicles or try to transfer a lot of that over to the other the goal has been to buy uh equipment that is durable kind of hardy and we try and get 10 years out of our light bars uh control boxes radios repeaters like our trunking systems all that all the equipment we buy we've been getting about 10 years out of so if a so in theory if you buy equipment new one year for a car it will go through two cars before it's phased out and usually technology is kind of pushing it out but i mean the majority of it still works but i mean it and you can understand that it's It's working a lot of days out of the year. Radio goes on. It's on for minimum 10 hours a day. Radar is the same way. Scanner is the same way. The terminals, data terminals in the car, same way. Everything that's on is on for 10 hours straight minimum.

Well, it's not a bad idea. I mean, especially catching criminals. Yeah, well, there's that. If it helps, yeah.

But, yeah, so we try and be as fiscally responsible as we can and make sure that we get the most out of the equipment that we do purchase.

All right.

Well, I appreciate it.

Okay.

Any questions for Chief? Do I have a motion?

Thank you.

I move to approve the bids from Bellman Dodge for two 2026 Dodge Durango Pursuit SUVs.

Do we have a second? I'll second.

There's no further discussion. I will call for the vote. Alderman Dent.

Yes.

Alderman Kinsey. Yes. And Alderman Letchworth.

Yes.

Next item up is new firearms for the police department.

Yeah.

Joe Dermenoff.

So currently the department fields a SIG 320 firearm. Over the last few years, there have been some issues with sympathetic detonations. Gun goes off by itself as a claim. That's not been validated independently. But we're running into issues like with the training academies and certain officer trainings that if you carry a 320, they won't allow you onto the range with it. And so we were forced with our last academy student to purchase another handgun standalone. so that they would have a gun to go with. The ones we have are currently eight years old and change. And, uh, they've been qualified with probably the tune of 1000 rounds a year. So they're, they're pretty well used, uh, that the safety issues that have become more prevalent. We opted to look at another another program. So we met with representatives from Smith and Wesson. We met with representatives from Springfield arms and also met with and i think sig and uh what we came up with was an all steel framed gun instead of just a steel top polymer bottom which seems to produce a lot of the issues is anytime you made the polymer and the steel and so the guns we looked at from smith and wesson were an all-steel frame. We did tests in the field with the weapons, proficiency tests, basically torture tests, trying to get a misfire, trying to get a malfunction out of the weapon. And so what we came up with was the Smith & Wesson system seemed to work the best. The officers were more readily accurate with those pistols. And so it's not one of those things where If you decide to go with Smith & Wesson, you can be like, well, I'm going to go purchase in Kansas because it's cheaper. They assign dealers to regions of the United States. And so in that regard, the central U.S. territory is who we bid through. And so it's not like open for competitive. It's just that's who you get. It'll cost you the same no matter where. It just costs you more to ship it if you bought it from the East Coast or West Coast.

Well, this is something probably they're switching out across, not just here, just across the state or maybe across the nationwide.

Yeah, there's been a – I mean, and the values of the guns have dropped tremendously. There are departments that are – a lot of departments that are phasing them out because of the safety issues, the discharge issues.

That's not a bad thing, though. I mean, you know.

No. And the new guns are – so far are proven, and they don't have any of those same issues.

OK. This time, does the board have any questions? No. All right. He might be OK now.

All right.

This time, do I have a motion?

I'll make a motion to move forward with the purchase of the handguns and trade-in of the current duty weapons.

Do I have a second?

I'll second that motion.

There's no further discussion. I'll call for the vote. Alderman McKenzie? Yes. Alderman Letchworth? Yes. Alderman Wooden?

Yes. All right.

Next up, we have reports. I'll keep mine brief and short. I just wanted to thank the city electric and water crews for still on the pole replacement. I mean, a lot of changes going on around town. It was kind of nice to see a lot of these older poles getting switched out. Appreciate the guys over there taking care of the main break over the weekend, especially during all this hot weather that we have out there. And appreciate the police department for the patrols over, especially at the city park and around town, you know, the increased patrols that we have, you know. trying to help a lot more on our public safety issues around here in Salem. So that's all I have for tonight. Next up would be Ms. Burbridge.

So you do all have a written report in your packet. I won't go over all the details. We did have a RAS pump go out at the sewer treatment plant. I don't know if you'll recall, last year we had to replace one completely. And that was in the ballpark of $32,000 to completely buy one. So this one is under warranty. They do plan to pull it, rebuild it. And so the emergency purchase was for a rental one to lease on that in that interim until we get this one back up and going so so was it the one we purchased last year that got damaged no it's the other one at this point though i'm wondering if we need to just budget to replace one a year i i don't yeah And again, part of the concerns were with flooding that has happened around us. And they were calling from some pretty bad storms last weekend, that if that hit and we were down to one pump, it would overflow the plant.

All right.

That's it.

Jamie, you got anything? All right. Stacy? Nothing for financial. All right. Steve, your turn to Shawn.

Good evening, Mayor Alderman.

Good evening.

So it's been a bit. So I've got a little bit of a list here. The wastewater treatment plants, testing continues and the plant's healthy. The oxidation ditch, since the last time we talked, is now operational. And the oxygen levels are a lot better with the new rotors in there. So it's a huge improvement. So everybody's really happy out there with that. Josh Hunt put in his notice as lead man out the wastewater plant. So we will be putting that position out for interviews and see who we can net. Right now we have Two plant operators that both have their A-level certification to cover the plant. So I've got Donnie Moore Jr. stepping up because he used to run the plant. So he's out there checking up on it daily and making sure the crew is good to go. Water service line repairs have been conducted new sewer and water lines installed and we had did have the main break. Thank you for the Kudos to the crew. I'll pass that along Anytime there's a water main break like that Once it's reported to us through the appropriate channels or however, we get it Our guys go out assess And then they have to enter the emergency locates. And that gives all of the locators two hours to get out there and actually get on scene and mark off stuff to make sure we don't dig up something we shouldn't. So the water's running at that time. We don't shut off a whole water main because we have a leak like that. Because if you shut off a water main, the pressure drops below 20 psi then we would have to shut down and do a boil notice across the city so we keep the line pressurized and we there is some water loss and and i know that doesn't look pretty at times but i would much rather not have us out of water for a substantial amount of time until we clear up a boil notice so The hydrant contractors were out painting hydrants last week in an attempt to wrap that project up, but the rain, some weather set in and stopped them, so they'll be back to finish up 25 more. The new water tower has been filled, chlorinated, drained, refilled, tested, and test results will be sent to us tomorrow. So fingers crossed that that goes well and the tower will be online. The well has been shocked with 10,000 gallons of chlorinated water and is currently being flushed out so that we can test it as well. So we're hoping, and I don't want to jinx it, but hopefully be online within 48 hours. As you can see, if you've been out near the industrial park, Viking has already started their sandblasting project out there, and they're halfway down the tower already. Looking forward to seeing that getting stripped and painted. They will not be spraying that. They will actually roll that on so there won't be any paint residue blowing around. I asked the contractor and he said if I sprayed it, he said it wouldn't be a one mile radius. He said you'd have paint for three miles that could carry in the breeze. they'll once the the new towers up and running they'll will drain down the industrial park tower and they'll start on the inside of that as well so that tower I think has been out there since 1986 something like that Yeah, DNR will be happy. We'll be happy. And yeah, new shiny tower. The lighting crew, they're putting the lighting package on the new water tower out by the airport. So that'll be lit up hopefully within a week. Also putting the lightning rod package on it. I was a little surprised that that came so late in the setup, but that's how I think. With those water tower crews, I think they have a hard time. They've got to fit everything in a schedule and follow kind of the weather patterns and stuff so they can get it in and get jobs done when they can. So I'm just happy to have it. The electric crew, thank you for the kudos, the electric crew has replaced. They went ahead and did a count. They've replaced 60 poles since January. which is huge. More street lights being replaced. As I've said before, if anybody has a street light out that's having major problems, to contact the admin office and we can get those guys out to take care of it. They've worked to continue to keep the AMI system reading despite storms and summer foliage. We've got a plan moving forward. We're going to keep working it. that bit by bit to get it up and as far ahead as possible and closer to no rereads. At this time we're We're working on it. We're just short-manned, so we don't have extra crew members to run out. We lose Chris McGirt on Friday. It will be his last day. I asked him to come out to the next alderman meeting so we could say a thank you for his service. So with him and Josh being out, we're low on crew members. We'll do what we can. We'll keep the lights and the power on and the water. Construction. Finished a large run of sidewalk at the Four Rivers facility that had been originally in the original plans. They'd taken out the old sidewalk because it was in shambles. So they replaced that. They finished a large concrete corner at the park. If you ever drove in into the entrance at the armory, you know, Dane County Health Center there, and you go to go down to the T-ball or the ball fields there, there was that rock retaining wall. It was cinder block retaining wall, but then with all the rock there. The kids didn't only like to throw it in the road. They liked to flush those down the toilets inside the public bathroom. So we took that out, dropped it down, concreted that, and it looks nice. Kudos of those guys. Replaced various missing pieces of sidewalks and curbs across citywide. Repaired a smashed window at the armory. Apparently if your kid's going out to do their driver's test and they pull forward too far and hit a handicap sign, it'll smash a window just perfectly. I don't know if you passed your test at that point or if it's just, I don't know. Street department. The street department, this is important, just a reminder to the public. The reason for the driveway widening around the armory wasn't just because people were pulling forward on the west side and parking in the mud. It was to make that so that an ambulance could get through that area. So we widened it. put the curb in, and any time you go over there, if you hit it right, the cars are all butted out and it's still a tight situation. Not to mention kids running from the cars across the parking lot, so that will become, on the west side, the far street side there will become parallel parking. So we extended the curb down to the point where we only lose three parking places. We'll paint off lines up on top of the road on the west side there where we put the stairs in, and we'll put parking lines up there. And worst case scenario, three people are going to have to walk across the road from the parking lot across the street. Trust me when I say it'll make it safer for ambulances getting in and out of there, and that's what's important.

You could probably use that back lot back there, too.

Yes. Right, right. And I've been told this. Sherry Lee told me that it's a wild west over there when it comes to T-ball time, and people will park on the east side of the building up on the sidewalks. So I'm probably going to have my guys paint that off. I mean, we have signs that say don't park here, but... We'll just have to, we're going to work with the public. We want everybody to be able to park and get in close, but safety first. They patched asphalt digouts across the city, continued to maintain the yard waste lot, conducted large-scale mowing and sweeping in the industrial park in preparation for aerial footage to document the certified site. So usually we don't mow that until the fall, you know, and so they got out there and knocked that out, made it look as best they can so that prospective businesses, when they do look at our site, it'll be online and they can look at it from the aerial view and it'll look nice. Mowing continues citywide to include the airport and cemetery. Mechanic, once again, Brandon's doing a great job taking care of equipment citywide. They're really happy with him, as I've said before. Cemetery crew, they're out there still knocking it out, and that's what I've got. Do we have any questions this evening? Okay, thank you for your time.

Thank you, Steve. Moving right along to the board reports.

The community choir has partnered with pastors, ministers in the area to provide a community Thanksgiving service in November. And that will be held here. So there we go.

That's it.

No report tonight. Nothing to report.

All right, well, I think the only thing left is a motion to go into closed session for real estate.

I move that we go into closed session for real estate.

Do I have a second? I'll second. At this time, I will call for the vote. Alderman Dent?

Yes. Alderman Kinsey?

Yes. And Alderman Letchworth? Yes. Thank you all for attending tonight.