Board of Aldermen - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

and the person might be right at all exactly the first thing that i do when i wake up

I call this meeting to order and ask everyone to please rise for Pledge of Allegiance and Prayer.

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,

You want me to pray? Yes, please. Heavenly Father, we come to you now, Lord, and we thank you. We thank you for your son and for his work on the cross, Lord. We thank you for this community, and we thank you for all that have shown tonight. Father, I ask that everything we say and do in this meeting brings honor and glory to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you.

I can't multitask.

All right, next up, roll call. I am present. Alderman Dent.

Present.

Alderman Kinsey. Present. Alderman Whalen. Present. Alderman Ledgeworth. Present. City Administrator Burbridge.

Present.

City Clerk Kohler.

Present.

City Attorney Weber.

Present.

Public Works Director Payne still out. Chief of Police Chase is absent. We've got a couple good officers back here from the love day. Finance Director Stacey Houston. Present. She's out tonight also. She's out. And we have Economic Development Director Carrie Sutterfield, other city staff. We have Kyle Wofford. Not too sure what that gentleman's name in the background is there. Chris?

Chris Price.

All right, Chris. Thanks. Thank you to staff. We're going to call you out.

And Mandy Roberts.

And Mandy Roberts. The future, hopefully. All right. Assistant city clerk. All right. So I need approval for tonight's agenda.

No.

No.

I make a motion to approve the agenda with the removal of the wastewater treatment plant fire suppression water line good removal.

Do I have a second?

I'll second the motion.

All right. At this time, I will call for the vote. Alderman Kinsey. Yes. Alderman Dent. Yes. Alderman Whalen.

Yes.

And Alderman Letchworth. Yes. Next up is the consent agenda.

I'll make a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda.

Do I have a second? I'll second that motion. At this time, I'll call for the vote. Alderman Whalen. Yes. Alderman Letchworth.

Yes.

Alderman Dent. Yes. And Alderman Kinsey. Yes. All right. Next up, we've got two folks up tonight for public comment. We'll start with Mr. Dave Davidson first.

Good evening. I'm David Davison. We've met before. We made some notes so we don't forget what we want to say. And we sort of timed our notes to three minutes to find out when we got here. We're down to two minutes, so we'll do the best we can. Tonight I'm representing myself and citizens of Salem with a written proposal which can be more easily incorporated into the board's minutes. I will give you a copy when we're done. We are here to present public input and ideas for banning of data centers in Salem, Missouri. And we would like for you to have some consideration in your processes with and for the people of Salem. The speed with which data centers are being built has resulted in less regulations and transparency. One result is that it causes negative issues with their construction and functioning. but magnifies these issues when they actually go online. These are small concerns for the community. No small concerns for the community. Some of the negatives are electricity and water consumption that now only strains grids, not only strains grids, but raises utility bills for residents. Noise pollution from cooling fans of which produces 24-7 noise. Noise pollution. Light pollution. Lack of transparency in tax negotiations. Lacks of transparency in tax negotiations. Plummeting adjacent property values. And that's one that is important to me. Plummeting adjacent property values. If you bring a data center into the industrial district or anywhere else around here, every value of every home in this community will suffer. Disrupted. rural environments, wildlife, water, rivers, all that stuff. Our suggestion is to ban data centers for Salem, period. Thank you for this time and attention and your consideration. We will be back at your next meeting to ask for a response from you. We would like to hear a response from your voices sitting at that table. We're not interested in any more canned editorials. We want to hear from you folks that are elected by the people of Salem. I would view this as an opportunity To speak very candidly.

Your time is up currently, Mr. Davidson. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time and your input. All right. Next up, Ms. Lena Grove. Subject matter NDAS. It says NDAS. Abbreviations. Oh, OK. Thank you.

I thought you were referring to my name.

No, no, no, no. I'm just trying to figure out. I see all these abbreviations from the kids these days, so I'm trying to figure it out.

And I think there's a little slip here that we have to fill out. It's got two minutes on there.

Okay, well, you're being allocated three minutes. Okay, thank you. We'll see if we can get that changed, all right?

All right. As you guys know, my name is Lana Grove, and I'm here tonight to represent myself and citizens in Salem who are concerned about nondisclosure agreements. As you guys probably know, this is a way a lot of the... Corporations get their foot in the door and then they do the non-disclosures, they work out their things behind closed doors. A lot of times in a lot of communities, the first that the citizens know of it is when they hear the bulldozers. We don't want that here in Salem, guys. So anyway, I'm going to, because of brevity here, I'm going to just hit my bullet points. Signing an NDA is a conflict of interest for the elected officials. Number one, an NDA is an act of hiding information from your constituents. Number two, NDAs totally defeat the reality of transparency of government. Number three, NDAs represent the interests of a corporation but no longer represents the concerns of citizens. And number four, NDAs can interfere with the Sunshine Law in Missouri when it has a direct impact on people. So what we are suggesting as citizens is that you create an ordinance to just completely nullify an NDA if it is signed by an elected official or a non-elected official. I think that's a great thing. I don't think NDAs need to be anywhere in our government. There are two positive benefits. of putting this ordinance in place. It's going to serve the community in two ways. Number one, it's going to provide protection to you guys if there's an ordinance. You can't sign an NDA and you can't be pressured to sign one because it's an ordinance. So that lets you off the hook if you're approached. Number two, the transparency that results from that establishes trust between you guys and the voters and that's one thing you want and one thing we don't want are ndas so anyway i appreciate your time and listening We're going to be back on the 22nd, and hopefully you have some sort of an answer for us and respectfully submitted. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Lana.

Thank you, Lana.

All right.

Next item up is the appointment of our assistant city clerk. I'm just going to bring her up here.

Sorry.

Guys, we're not being rude. We're leaving because we have another meeting. I'm sorry. Okay?

As prescribed by law, that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Missouri. That I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Missouri. The provisions of all laws of this state affecting cities of this class. The provisions of all laws of this state affecting the cities of this class. And the ordinances of the city of Salem, Missouri. And the ordinances of the city of Salem, Missouri. I faithfully demean myself in office, so help me God. And faithfully demean myself in office, so help me God.

All right.

We're moving right along. We've got new miscellaneous business. We have Resolution 20-2026 is up next. But I'll wait for you ladies to finish paperwork over there.

You ready? Yes. OK. So this item, excuse me, this is a renewal. It's an annual contract with Laser Fish. This is the software that we purchased as we started a couple of years ago to electronically store our records and files as we get them scanned in. So this is the annual renewal for this software. It's $6,500 for the year. And again, we have basically unlimited storage in this cloud-based software. So I'd stand for any questions if anyone has any.

I don't have any. I don't either. We're all familiar with Laserfish, I think, by now. Yeah. All right. This time, do I have a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve the contract between Summer One and the city to provide software and services.

Do I have a second? I'll second the motion. If there's no further discussion, I will call for the vote. Alderman Kinsey. Yes. Alderman Whalen. Yes. Alderman Lutchworth. Yes. Alderman Dent.

Yes.

Next item up is resolution number 21-2026. We didn't read the resolutions.

Okay. Apologies, Mayor. We kind of skipped over a step. Okay. Can we go back to that previous item so that Tammy can actually read the resolutions for you all to vote on? Sorry. We just jumped right into it.

All right. Well, you know, we try to be overachievers. All right.

I'm trying to zip through the meeting tonight.

All right. Tammy, it's your turn to shine. Okay.

Resolution number 20-2026, a resolution authorizing the city of Salem, Missouri, to renew an annual laser fish cloud subscription agreement with Sumner 1 and authorizing the mayor to execute the agreement.

All right.

Do you need me to explain again?

No.

Okay.

Let's go back to the vote again to make sure that we've got this since we've now read the resolution.

Apologies and thank you.

Do I have a motion for resolution 20-2026?

I'll make a motion to approve the contract between Summer One and the city to provide software and services.

Do I have a second? I'll second the motion 20-2026. If there's no further discussions, I will call for the vote. Alderman McKenzie. Yes. Alderman Whalen. Yes. Alderman Ledgeworth. Yes. And Alderman Dent.

Yes.

Glad none of you guys changed your mind. I'm weird. All right. Moving right along. Resolution number 21-2026.

Resolution number 21-2026, a resolution approving workplace solutions cooperative acceptance agreement between the city of Salem, Missouri and Centos Corporation number two for uniform rental services and authorizing the mayor to execute the agreement.

All right.

OK.

So obviously this is for uniforms. Not every department uses them, but some of them, especially those exposed to oils, contaminants, dirt, mud, make it impractical to launder. uniforms at home. So we do have departments that use this service. So this is just, again, the annual renewal of our contract with Centos. They are a member of Omnia 1, which is a government procurement, one of those cooperative procurement situations. So we don't have to go out to bid because the contracts themselves have been pre-negotiated. So the new pricing, it actually goes down. It shows a savings of about $700 a year.

All right. Well, at this time, do I have a motion? I make a motion to approve resolution number 21-2026, allowing the mayor to execute an agreement with a uniform rental. Do I have a second?

I'll second that motion.

If there's no further discussion, I will call for the vote. Alderman Whalen? Yes. Alderman Lefkowitz? Yes. Alderman Dent? Yes. Alderman Kinsey? Yes. Next up, we've got bids. Bids. Wastewater treatment, fire suppression water line extension.

We removed that one.

Let me cross that one out off my checklist over here. All right. Well number six, pump replacement repair bid approval.

OK. So I'll introduce this. Kyle Wofford is, of course, here this evening. And so he'll kind of help out if you guys have any specific questions about this. Chris McGirt, you all may remember, had mentioned that well six was going out. We were hoping it would make it to the new budget year. Fortunately, it's lasted a little longer than that. It's still going. for that upgrade and well replacement. We also have Art right here with Flynn, who's here also in case you guys have questions. Kyle and I were kind of looking at the math again, again with Steve out this last week. And we were all kind of scrambling to make sure we had all the staff summaries together. So Kyle and I were kind of re-looking at the math again. And we're actually recommending approval without number 11. And let me see. Let me show you that breakdown. If I remember the page number, I got it. So number 11. is a soft start starter for the well. So a soft start, I don't know if you guys are familiar with what that does, especially for electric engines or motors. It softens. Whenever you start an electric engine, we talk about this in demand, it hits the system hard. kind of like water lines when you turn them on in an old house and you can hear them hit. A soft start helps alleviate that so you don't have that hard hit of electric draw when you're starting it up. A few months back, we had actually contracted, is it Vandevinner? Kyle? Yes. To come and put a soft start in the mobilization, because we weren't sure if we wanted to purchase it or if it was just to be a short term, they put that in at the cost of $2,000. So I had approved that for Chris to move forward with that. To go ahead and purchase that soft start that's already on the well would be an additional $5,000. So we would remove on- Line 11, excuse me, from this proposal, because we already have the soft start. OK. So that actually brings the total. And again, these costs, some of them are each. Some of them are by foot. So the total cost will really depend on what happens when they pull the well and see exactly what condition the casing's in, all of those things. So we had originally anticipated a total cost as listed in your staff summary. Just a second. of $120,201.55. We do have budgeted $120,000 for this project with removing that soft start and then adding up what we anticipate to be the footages if we had to replace the entire well casing as well as all of the electrical lines. It comes to $121,788.60. So again, that's if we have to replace everything. Correct. And so, again, if anyone has questions, we have both Kyle and Art here. Gentlemen, do either of you have something you'd like to add to that?

I just want to say thank you. We appreciate it. And we can get here probably the week after next.

Gotcha. Week after next.

All right. I have a question. Open it up for the board.

Is that fine?

That's fine.

She's fine.

All right. Do I have a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve the bid for the Flynn water in the amount of $120,201.55.

Can I ask for an addition to that motion? Sure. Just that... Oh, I see. Yeah, because we don't know exactly what it'll end up being. So if you'll just approve the bid from Flynn Drilling for repairs to well number six.

Gotcha. Okay. So we'll scratch that motion.

Amend that.

I make a motion to approve the bid from Flynn Drilling Company for the replacement repairs of well number six.

Do I have a second?

I'll second.

There's no further discussion. I will call for the vote. Alderman Letchworth? Yes. Alderman McKenzie? Yes. Alderman Whalen? Yes. And Alderman Dent?

Yes. Art, thank you for coming this evening.

Yeah, I always love listening to the advertisement on KZN.

If you're not drinking Flynn water, you ought to. Thank you. Next up, we've got the first and second readings of Bill number 3738.

Bill number 3738, an ordinance approving project change order number four to the contract with Mid-State Pipeline Maintenance, LLC, for the City of Salem Wastewater Treatment Facility Phase 2A improvements and authorize the mayor to execute change order number four. Permission to read bill number 3738? Yes, please. By caption only. Bill number 3738, an ordinance approving project change order number four to the contract with Mid-State Pipeline Maintenance, LLC, for the City of Salem Wastewater Treatment Facility Phase 2A improvements and authorize the mayor to execute change order number four.

Thank you.

Okay, so this one I don't know as much about. We do have Mr. Jeff Meadows here with Archer Elgin this evening to address any questions that you all may have.

All right. Come on up, Jeff.

Good evening. Great to be here. Good evening, Jeff.

Do you need me to go to any images or anything?

I don't think so. I'm just going to give a brief overview. The wastewater plant phase 2A, which was primarily funded with the ARPA dollars, is substantially complete. This is kind of a cleanup at the very end of the project. a couple items that were identified after kind of start up and make operations a little easier. The first one was addition of some bar grading and some short concrete curbs to protect some of the motors and the grading being to allow easier access for maintenance and so forth on the rotors and the oxidation ditch. The second item is related to the sludge dewatering system. So there's these large containers where the sludge is taken and the sludge is like 2% solids, 98% water when it comes into those basins. The purpose of it is to get rid of the majority of that water so the solids can be disposed of accordingly. So we don't want to dispose of too much water. It would cost more money. So we've tried to get as much water out of those. Those containers have drains in them and the water comes out at a pretty good pace. So we have the way it was designed and built, the sludge pad is sloped to a drain on one side. These containers are draining at such velocity that it's moving across that slope and actually getting to the end of the concrete pad instead of getting into those drains off to the side. So there's drawings in there that I can refer to, but that's, I think, essentially what it is. So what we're proposing are the little rubber speed bumps that you sometimes see in parking lots and so forth can be installed on top of the concrete so that basically provides a diversion for that water to head over to those side drains. We believe when we place those, we'd like to schedule that after we can get a truck. So those containers will be lifted by trash trucks and picked up. So I'd like to schedule that such that the truck backs up to the point where we pick them up. And we'll use those bumper pads essentially as a stop bar for those trucks. They'll know where to back up to pick up those containers. Other than that, those are the two items in the change order. Again, we're nearing completion. Everything is in operation. We're just kind of going through some punch list items on that project. That's Phase 2A. Phase 2B, we had a final review with staff of the construction documents. We're looking at an advertisement for bid, hopefully being in next week's paper. So we'll be looking at bid openings in about the third week in October for that project. Good. Any questions? I don't have any. Good. Anything more?

I was trying to make sense out of, so the change order is in total amount of 20,000, but the rubber stop plates, those, you're pouring concrete into those things, and then the, I was trying to figure out where you're getting the 20,000. Sure, the...

The $14,000 was for all the grading and the curving. The rubber pads, the stop pads are about $5,000 installed. So the concrete's there, so they're just attached to the concrete like you would on a concrete driveway or something.

And this was just something we couldn't see during, like, the drafting process of this in the beginning, and this is just something here at the end that... Yeah, so, you know, frankly, this is a different technology that we had not used before.

Frankly, we didn't anticipate the... the velocity that's coming out of those. If we had known what that velocity was, yeah, we probably could have done something a little bit different. But now seeing how that's coming out, this is the best solution that we believe fits the situation.

If I may, that newer technology being the bags, the bag system, and the dewatering of those bags, as opposed to the raid beds.

Yeah.

I have no further questions. Is Archer Elgin prepared to pay any part of this?

For what reason, ma'am?

Because it's a change order and because it was not included in the first go round?

Sure. So we're up to about 100,000, a little over 100,000 in total change orders for this project. This is the first one that the rest of them were owner identified or owner requested items. elevating some of the items above the historic flood mark that occurred last November or November before. Certain items like that, the pumps that were pulled had additional repair that needed that was beyond what was originally in the scope, so that was an increase. So this, you know, of the $4.3 or $4 million project. We have about a $5,000 adder that you're referring to here. And honestly, I don't think that we ever promise that our plans are perfect. There's always going to be things that you can do better. And this may be one of them. So that represents less than a half a percent of the overall project. I think you can look at industry standards and see what A typical percentage of a project would be for a change order, and it's going to be well above that. It's going to be in the 3% or 4% or 5% range. So I think on that size of a project where you're going into an existing facility, where there's a lot of unknowns, you're digging underground and you don't know what you're going to encounter, I think the level of change order is superior to the industry standard for sure.

And Jeff, if I may, the 20,000, that's included in about 100,000, is that right?

Correct.

OK. And so that puts a total of change orders being about 2% for the whole project.

Right.

So that's really actually a really good number for a project of this size, yeah.

especially for a project of this type. Now, if you're going in and you're building a brand new building, starting from a green field, that's one thing. But to come into a wastewater treatment plant that's been constructed over the original plant was

57? Is that what it is?

Yeah. So you're 70, 80, 90 years old of different facilities out there that have been added on, eliminated, changed. So you can expect a certain amount of changes that are going to occur during the process.

And Jeff, forgive me, do you recall, was there a contingency built into this project, the pricing?

There was. So I think we went into the funding. DNR, we typically like to see a 15% contingency. The funding agency through ARPA allowed for a 10% contingency. Gotcha.

So is that where this extra comes from, that contingency line item?

Yeah, so the... When we bid this project, we had to make some modifications to the overall scope to bring it into the total budget. But certainly when you're in the design phase and before you go to bidding, you'll want to set aside at least 10% and preferably 15% for unforeseen circumstances and changes through the construction process.

All right. So this additional funding should come out of the ARPA funding then? Correct for the change order, or is this going to be something we have to do a budget adjustment to pay for the rest of this?

This would be coming out of the city's match. So the ARPA funding has been fully spent.

OK. So we have to do a budget adjustment, too? Or do we have this in our budget?

Forgive me. I don't have that answer. That would be a Stacey question, and I just don't have that.

OK. That's all I got.

Anything else from the board?

I don't have any. I have no further questions. All right. Thank you. Thank you. At this time, do I have a motion for bill number 3738?

I'll make a motion to approve bill number 3738. Do I have a second?

I'll second the motion for bill number 3738.

If there's no further discussion, I will call for the vote. Alderman Letchworth.

Yes.

Alderman Whalen. Yes. Alderman Dent.

Yes.

And Alderman Kinsey. Yes.

All right. Last but not least, reports.

I'm going to start with you, Ms. Sally.

OK, so kind of related to this item that we just discussed and you all voted on, I just wanted to share with the board. We did get, so you may recall, part of phase 2A was that it was going to help us alleviate. And Jeff may want to speak to this more once I kind of butcher it by talking about it. Part of phase 2A, part of the goal was to eliminate outfall 001. And that is what caused us to have an abatement on consent with DNR. And so that has been eliminated. And the official letter has been sent to DNR. And so we've received acknowledgment that they have received that. So that should wrap us up. There's not another step to that, is it? So just wanted to let you all know we are out from under the AOC at this point. So that is good news. Yes. So I wanted to share that. And so I don't have everyone here this evening, but I know at the last meeting Alderman Dent had kind of asked about could we have new employees attend meetings so that we could introduce them. So I think you guys know the ones who are here tonight, but I do want to kind of recognize a few folks. So obviously Kyle Wofford, who's with us this evening, is our new water and wastewater superintendent.

I go. I go.

And so he moved into that from the water lead man role. So we appreciate him being here. Matt Hutzel, who has been working at our wastewater treatment plant for the last couple of years. is moving into the wastewater lead man role. So that was formerly Josh Hunt. So Matt is moving into that role. Of course, Miss Mandy moving into the assistant city clerk. So we're glad to have her on board. And again, not here this evening, but those of you who've maybe been into the office over the past month, we do have a new utility clerk, Rachel What is Rachel's last name?

I just laughed.

What? Harriman. Thank you, Mandy. So Rachel Harriman is our new city clerk. She's been with us just over a month at this point. Doing very well, huh? utility clerk what did i say city clerk i'm so sorry we get applications for new city clerks all the time so anyway so she's doing very well and we're actually going to start cross-training her with devon for payroll and accounts payable so with all of our utility clerks all of our utility staff in the office we're cross-training them on other things at this point so that they can, we kind of mentioned before, help relieve some of Tammy's, some of the things on Tammy's plate, and then also just provide some redundancy within the office. So it's good to get to that point where we're doing that. We've got a great group who are motivated and want to do things, and so it's really changed things there. So I just wanted to make note of those things for you all this evening, and that concludes my report for now.

It's kind of nice to meet Chris. I see him all the time in the office and once in a while. But it's kind of nice to know your name now. Not, hey, do you know who that guy is?

I know who that guy is.

He's a student.

So yeah, and kudos to Mandy's family for showing up to support her.

Yes, good.

Awesome. Thank you all.

She's not blushing at all since everybody's there cheering her on. Tonight, Kerry, do you have anything? No. And with Steve being absent, we know nothing for public works. So we'll move right along to my report. Tonight, I'm pleased to present a proclamation recognizing Missouri Good Neighbor Week to observe September 28 through October 4, 2026. This observance is more than a ceremonial date on the calendar. It's a reminder that a strong community begins to close to home. with the people living next door, across the street, and throughout our neighborhoods. Missouri's load designates September the 28th as National Good Neighbor Day and the following six days as Missouri Good Neighbor Week. The purpose is simple. It encourages Missourians to establish connections within their neighbors, take part in activities that make neighborhoods safe, friendlier, and more resilient. Being a good neighbor does not have to mean doing something large or complicated. It can mean introducing yourself to someone new in the neighborhood, checking on an older neighbor, offering help after a storm, sharing information, lending a hand with small tasks, or simply taking time to listen. In a community like Salem, neighborlessness is one of our greatest strengths. I think they put that wrong word in there. When people know one another and they look at one another, we reduce isolation, strengthen trust, and build the kind of community where people feel welcome and supported. Missouri's statute specifically recognizes that connection among neighbors contributed to a safer or more vibrant communities. During the week of September 28th through October the 4th, I would encourage every Salem resident to take one Intentional step to connect with a neighbor. A small act of kindness can have a long-lasting effect, not only for one person, but for an entire neighborhood. With that, it is my honor tonight to present a proclamation declaring September 28th through October 4th of 2026 as Missouri Good Neighbor Week in the City of Salem, Missouri.

Thank you, Mayor.

And that is it for my report. Moving right along to the board reports. Alderman Wedgeworth. No report tonight. Alderman McKenzie.

No report.

Alderman Whalen. No report. Other woman Denton.

But of course. All right. Advocates for Animals is growing. They will be doing a lot of fundraising in order to continue doing the TNR with Dr. Gabby Moore, which is working out well. And we also received a donation of about 300 tulip bulbs for the fountain area. And if you would like to give some tulip bulbs for the fountain area, let me know.

All right. Well, I think the only last thing on the checklist for tonight is adjournment. Do I have a motion to adjourn? I'll make a motion to adjourn. And do I have a second?

I'll second. Thank you, Kevin. I'll second.

This time I will call for the vote. Alderman Whalen? Yes. Alderman Kinsey? Yes. Alderman Dent?

Yes.

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