Board of Aldermen - Regular Meeting

meeting to order. If you would please join me in the pledge. I pledge algiance 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. Pam, would you do a roll call, please? Mayor K, here. Alderwoman Dobs here. Alderman Fe. Alderman Donovan here. Alderman Huey here. Alderman Idman here. Alderman Stiger here. Alderman Prince here. Alderman Ross. Mayor, we have a quorum. Thank you very much. At this time, I will look for approval of [clears throat] tonight's agenda. Motion to approve.

Second. Okay, I have a motion and a second. All in favor? Any opposed? Thank you very much. Uh we do have a couple personal appearances tonight. Looks like first up we have Jeff Arp with Murma [clears throat] Loss Control uh regarding uh the risk grant award. Yes, correct.

Mayor Council, thank you for your time. Like you said, my name is Jeff Arp. I'm one of the loss control consultants with Murma. Merma is a self- insurance pool that the city now is a member of. Uh we provide our members with a comprehensive coverage packet process and handle claims and we spend a great [clears throat] deal of time, money, and effort promoting the best practices and risk management. Uh we do that through our newsletter, annual meetings, seminars, my multiple on-site visits, and other ways. Uh you're also eligible to take advantage of our different reimbursement programs that we have. And one program in particular is this grant program that he just spoke about. U it was established several years ago to help our members to purchase equipment you identified a need for and it fits within that risk management mission statement that we have. This past year, we received two applications from the police department. The committee met and approved the following. uh four wearable cameras for $3,300 and a surveillance system for the police station for $9990.73 in total. Uh $4,290.73 was awarded to the police department to be used uh for their for this uh it is a reimbursement program mean you got to buy the equipment first and get it installed. It seems like the equipment's been purchased. We're getting close to getting the cameras put up. So, as soon as we can get the confirmation all that's been put in place, we'll send you the check. In the meantime, the best thing I can offer you is this I owe you that says we owe you uh $4,200. So, uh you got to June, end of June next year to get this all done. So, I'd like to thank the police department for taking advantage of this program and and I'll work with staff this next 12 months and hopefully be back this time next year and do this all over again.

Awesome. Thank you for your time. Yeah. Thank you. [applause]

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you guys. Thank you. Wonderful. Good way to start a meeting. And next up tonight, got Dena Kitler, the executive director of the St. Genevie Chamber of Commerce, going to give us an update on some license office and other goings on.

Yes, sir. So, since you just introduced me, I guess I don't have to say my name and title. [laughter] Um, so first of all, I just wanted to uh come here and say thank you guys for uh the continued support for 2026. Um, also to if you have not heard, I think it was in the newspaper today. We also did a ribbon cutting last week. Uh, the license office um the chamber of commerce now has the license office contract for another 5 years. [gasps] So, um, for those of you who maybe did not know, um, that contract was up in August of 2025 and, um, they it took them till December 1st to appoint it or award it. So, um, I will tell you that we did have some competition against us this year. We had three other entities that bid against us. Um, and so, uh, we we came out on top. So, that was a good thing. Um, but it was just more of an opportunity for you guys to ask me some questions if you have any questions in regards to that. Um, because I know that you if I just came up here normally without an agenda item, you can't you can't speak to me. So, um, it's your opportunity to ask me any questions if you if you feel that you need to. Um, if not, um, that's fine. But we, um, we secured license office funding uh, for another five years. So that means uh those tax tax dollars and um customers will stay in our community. Uh I will also just tell you too, we just did uh we had our audit auditor came in on Tuesday and um we had we passed with 100%. So that's great. Uh also too, um we started doing some zip codes just to kind of see where we're generating uh business from. And our Pville market, our Jefferson County, and our St. Louis market are extremely extremely high. Um, St. Louis is kind of it's it's higher than what I expected it to be. Um, so obviously

they check your is it through the credit card zip code or like how do you check your or their mailing address or what is based off of their registration when they come in and they read where they register the car at. Mhm. Okay.

Yeah. So, um, yeah, we see a lot of 63132 um, area code. Uh, but you know, Jefferson County as well, we see a lot of the Fesus, not so much Arnold, but it's more like Fesus, Deloge, that kind of area that comes down to us. Hillsboro, Herky, something like that. Pville. Um, Pville has an increase. Uh, Pville used to not be in our market at all. Um, they have a pretty good license office down there. I think that they still do. Um, I think the only difference is is we do not require you to have an appointment and a lot of the license offices around us are going to that and I'm not sure why. Uh, they don't have to, but Jefferson County, you can only go there if you're if you have an an appointment. So, I think maybe that's driving some business to us. So, uh, anyways, um, good news for us, good news for all of you. Um, you don't have to go anywhere else to get your stuff.

So, They don't do the we get a new governor, we get a new license office thing anymore. They do not. Um it used to be appointed based off of um if party. Yes. So you got it no matter what happens with the election. Well, that's cool. Yeah. They changed that process about eight years ago. Actually, that's that is actually one of the reasons why Joe Roger got rid of the license office when he did was for that reason. Um so now it's a it's a it's a lengthy process,

right? And and just uh I was going to ask you before you just said that about different uh communities coming here. Uh I see it at work all the time. You know, they say they'll stop in where where did the license office move to? And I I have to direct them down there. And uh I said, "Why are you coming up here to do that?" And they said, "Because it's in and out." And I remember back in the day uh you know, it was at least a half hour wait just to get up to your window. I've never, not your window, but um I've never had to wait hardly ever since the chamber took it over and it's actually not like going to the dentist like it used to be. And I just want to commend your team on Thank you.

what a good job they do. Well, um I appreciate that cuz uh those girls are great in the office and uh they do they have the understanding that uh they're not just a representation of the community but of also of our chamber. So um yeah, they do a really good job. So, thank you. Do you want to just give maybe an idea of how the process works and that amount of money that's now staying here locally versus

Well, I don't really know. I mean, I mean, as far as the amount of money that that stays here, I don't have the figure off the top of my head, but I would I would venture to say um so part of our contract is uh with the state, we are bound by it. We did this the first five years, and we're also doing it uh this contract round. 75% of our profit has to go into a chamber foundation and that foundation is earmarked for um community betterment uh scholarships um festivals or promotions things that typically a chamber doesn't really do um you know outside with their own general funds. Um and so over the last four years because it took us a year to get that established over the last four years we've been able to generate um and give back to St. Genevieve community in some form or fashion. $21,000. Um so that's uh promotions, that's festivals, that's scholarships, um community betterment type things. Um and so [clears throat] when I when I look at the profit for that, you know, 75% of whatever we profit will go into that foundation. Generally, it's about anywhere from 5 to $7,000 a year. So, you can kind of take that and you know, but I will tell you also too, August 28th, if you weren't aware, um, because if you haven't had your registration done lately, you wouldn't know. Um, but, uh, August 28th, the fees for us went up. So, instead of a $6 transaction on a one-year renewal, we get we now get $9. And on a two-year, instead of getting $12, we get $18. So, we are going to see an influx this year because our income has increased based off of our agent fees. So, in a rough in a rough day, um we generate somewhere between $850 to $1,50 a day in agent

fees. So, now end of the year is always a little different. Um December is heavyweight. Um, so we see a lot of our um our heavyweight trucks come in. They are are always due in December. Um, a lot of our fleets are also due in December. So we see a lot of like December is a really busy busy month for us. So is June. So [clears throat] Dana, you mentioned uh earlier and stuff about, you know, now that you've got that for the next 5 years that those tax dollars stay here. Um, kind of confused about that. I mean, is that not the fees state?

Yeah. I mean, their tax dollars are going to be here anyway because that's where their actual address is. They pay they pay their tax based off of whatever their zip [clears throat] code is. So, like the St. Louis people that come down, they're actually paying um you know, whatever rate that their their city that they live in is. I say our fees like our tax dollars, meaning our agent fees. Maybe tax dollars is not the right word, but our fees that we collect from them. Um, and so it's, you know, even online renewals, um, as well. We used to not get paid for online renewals. Uh, now we do get paid for online renewals. And we have, uh, we're bound by the city's contract that have those back into the customer's hands in 72 hours. So, from the time that you submit and you hit and you pay, we have 72 hours to get that to you in the mail.

So, you mentioned St. Louis people coming down here. I thought the policy before was only in a you can only go to an adjoining county. You can you can have your license renewed or your plates renewed in any DMV in the state of Missouri. Okay. Yep. But the fee for that stays here. Yes. So the the office, you know, the license office here and stuff, but the tax wherever you go comes back to here,

right? That's correct. Yeah. And what you're probably thinking about, Bob, with the joining is that if you do an online renewal, you can only go 50 miles away from your address. So, like if you're in St. Louis, you can only choose a an office to um I guess process your renewal, online renewal within 50 miles of your address. [snorts] Okay. Thanks. Mhm. Any other questions, comments? [clears throat] Keep up the good work. Yeah. Thanks, Sam.

And if you guys haven't been to our new office, I encourage you to stop in and see uh see what we have done with the place. Uh merging the license office and the chamber office into the same building has been a game changer. Uh for me personally, cuz I don't have to split my time across town um and lock a door uh in the middle of the day. So, it works out really good for us. Thought parking would be a hassle. It was at first. Um, I think people weren't, you know, familiar with the parking lot right behind the old brick, but now we're trying to direct that that, you know, traffic to that area. So, I think it's going to be fine. So, is there have you heard what they're going to do with your old space?

Um, the county that was a county owned building. So, I'm not real sure what they're going to do with it. I do know that they are out of space themselves in the courthouse. So, I would assume that they're probably going to utilize it for something. I'd heard a few things kicked around, but I just didn't know if there's any Yeah, I don't think they can make it a public uh open to the public office because it's not handicap accessible. I think that's the that's where they ran into an issue. So, they might just use it for like maybe private meetings and file storage maybe. I I don't I have not heard. Sure. I was just curious more than anything. It's a cool building. It's a great building. small. [clears throat]

Heating and cooling will run you out of town, but that's okay. Um, you know, and and actually we outgrew that building. It's only about 900 square foot. So, we we went to a building that's over 2,000 square foot, and it's uh it's like I said, it's been a game changer for our organization. So, yeah, if you haven't been, please check it out. It's wonderful. They did a great job. Okay. All right. Well, merry Christmas and happy new year. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Dina. At this time, we will move along to our city administrators report. Uh the report you have in front of you, I have a few additions on uh number one, if you haven't been over to International, Austin Street is now paved. Uh paving on the rose will start tomorrow. Um once they finish that, besides some punch list items, that will wrap up most of the substantial work on our 2025 props streets. Um, on number four, we had a bid opening on Wednesday. Yesterday, we had two biders. Um, the low budget, I'm sorry, the low bid did come in under what we budgeted, so that was good. Um, we'll uh kind of check that low bidder out and proceed with uh uh that contract. That'll probably come to you in January. Number six, uh I wanted to add that uh Spire did uh mobilize, but they also went ahead and moved the gas line. Um was that Monday? Yeah. Uh move the gas line on Monday. So now it'll be up to Joker to come and do their part of the work there.

And then I want to jump down to the bottom. Just to remind everyone, City Hall will be closed Wednesday and Thursday, December 24th and 25th for the Christmas holiday. Thursday, January 1st for the New Year's holiday. Um, and then a few additions. I want to I put it we put it out there on uh our news and on Facebook, but uh want to recognize um Vern Bowman, who was the Levy District 3 president for 40 years. Uh he's still going to be on the levy district, but he decided to step down as president this week and Tom Oakenfuss took that position. um the city, the community owe him a lot of uh congratulations and um thanks and uh uh also congratulations to Alderman Huey who stepped onto that board. So he took a 2-year

Oh, the levy. Mhm. Yeah.

Yeah. Two-year role. Uh last but not least, just want to thank everyone who was involved with the Christmas holiday festival. It was a great event. Uh public works put a lot in. Uh Alderman Huey does a lot of work for that event. and of course the Rolves. Um it was a beautiful day and it seemed to go off without much of a hitch. So thanks to everyone. Also thanks to Chief Hock and all the officers who got to uh watch the parade. I might add to that, Dave. Yeah. Thank you to our street department also. They came and cleaned up the desert for us and uh that that was a real help to keep us faced with the with the church. That was very much appreciated. That's all I have unless you have questions.

Uh Dave, I want to go back to item number three with Cochran and stuff. Uh just want to make sure that um we approach 26 a little differently than we did in 25. That we can have some ear marks in these contracts and stuff so that we have u you know uh better control so we don't end up with some of the situations like we did you know u with these contractors and stuff. I just want to make sure we have those built into the contracts and stuff so we can do this a little more seamlessly and a little more organized for the public.

Yeah, we're just surveying and cing at this point, but when we get to the contract piece, I'll definitely bring that up.

Anything else uh regarding the city administrator report? Okay, thank you, David. keep it right here on you uh and your your other hat you're wearing uh community development. So you have that report in front of you. Um I don't have much. Just want to reiterate uh heritage commission meets next week. Um the grant for the mobile app walking tour that uh they're currently going through. There'll be a public meeting. uh look for that in either January or February where we'll get some feedback on u the properties that'll be featured on that tour. Uh underneath comprehensive plan, we'll get the annexation committee back together tentatively in February. I'll get more information to you on that as we get closer. Uh on the back page, I wanted to just give you an update um on the ferry. Just the only update is with the level of the river. It is not operating as of tomorrow. Uh the river is down to about three uh above uh river stage at uh Chester. So it is very low. That's really all I have unless you have questions on those things. Um on the back side of the page, the improvements to the fairy landing. Um we haven't ever paid a lease up there, have we? So that was all it's it the improvements that the Rotary was looking at and that I was helping them work through for the past 18 months. Um [clears throat] it is not going to be able to happen. Yeah. So I continued that kind of chain of information there because we supplied them with some funds. So I just wanted to keep you updated on that. But the improvements to the parking lot, um perhaps some landscaping, it never got past getting approved by Union Pacific.

Big surprise. Having dealt with them before? Yeah.

Any other questions regarding community development? Um, [clears throat] one other thing, Dave, under code enforcements, um, hopefully next year we can, uh, reress, you know, a couple of the issues of a, uh, some properties around town that are, they don't look like everybody else's houses and stuff around. So, I'd really like to have some new emphasis on uh, coming up with some stricter guidelines or something. And I mean, even if it comes down to the fact of we have to take on the general public like we did a few years ago, [clears throat] uh have a meeting and uh uh you know, with the new streets and stuff like that that we've done, uh the improvements over the whole town, I mean, I think it's time to take a harder look at those things.

And uh I don't mind if ours are the the most uh strictest in the state. Okay. That's here.

Also on that note there, Dave, possibly next year talking about the inspections, demolitions from Rich and so forth. Is there something we can do modified or change to get these dilapidated structures and these burn structures to get those people motivated to correct the problem? I think we all know what I'm talking about here. Yeah, there's a a property on Market Street that I've Jean and I actually Jean more so very recently have been working with that uh property owner. Um he's been through some trauma the past few months and uh we're trying to work with them to get it done. Um we do a lot of that. So, I know there that all of you probably get calls at some points frustrating uh with from frustrated citizens about [clears throat] code enforcement. You know, I I would tell you I think we get more accomplished trying to work with that person, but there comes a point when we need to issue a citation and we're approaching that point with that property on Market Street.

I mean, do we have a definitive timeline that we give them from the whatever happens to have it? We do and in some instances they'll take a step in the right direction and so we'll extend that time. Um you know when we I I've I've shared this before when we issue a citation we start with a notice but when we get to a citation all that does is end up in court and then there's a fine it still doesn't solve the problem sometimes. So I'm trying well we're trying to solve that problem. Um if it comes down to it you know if it's a dangerous building what is a dangerous building? We have a code that tells us the exact descriptions of what that means. [clears throat] That was my next question and separate.

And so those are those are defined in code. If it reaches that definition, then we'll deem it a dangerous building and that will certainly start a clock.

Any other questions? Okay. Thank you, David. Uh next up tonight we have Chief How Police Department. Good evening. Everybody's got my report. I don't really have much to talk about. We just been closing out grants, doing our purchases, and that's about it. What's up,

Since we did the project out here on the building? I mean, do we still have a mold problem or has that been taken care of? What project? What building? out here in this little building. Before your arrival, the garage had mold. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Well, it doesn't now. So, right. Well, that's a good sign.

Have we figured out a solution for a aggressive dogs? Well, we've been working on that. So, cuz I got Yeah. quite a few people making complaints. Mhm. that are getting majorly harassed by dogs. Yeah. Well, we've we've also addressed that pretty good. So, there shouldn't be some issu some issues should already be taken care of. Can you keep me informed on what's going on with that so I can inform them, too? I can talk to them. I'll let you some know some of it.

I appreciate [clears throat] it. I know we have a cart policy here in in the city limits and stuff of the 2-year thing and stuff, but um I see a few of those coming through town here that I don't see, you know, the slow moving thing or I try to find the little tag, the triangle, pardon me, the orange triangle. Well, the the slow moving, you know, horns triangle or the cart tags and stuff. I mean, do you ever check any of those?

They if a violation ever occurs, they mess with it, but mostly they've been dealing with some other stuff. We've been pretty busy actually back there. So, the cards we've we've addressed it. Um, they've actually slowed down a lot more cuz it's getting to be winter time now. But, um, that is something they've been kind of looking at doing anyways. They've they've messed with a few of them already. So, cuz I know isn't the county no longer requiring Yeah, that's seems like contradictory to Yeah. safety and all of those things and stuff, but I just noticed a few of them, you know, no turn signals, you know, things like that.

Some of them don't have turn signals on them. So, Right. But we require them to if they are the make model that have them. Right. Yeah. If you like some golf carts don't have you're not required to have one. Nope. Tail lights or brake lights and headlights but not turn signals. You got your arms. Yeah, that's what hand signals are for. The ones I've seen that don't have them use the hand signals. I mean I I've seen them at least. I don't know. Maybe you've had a different experience, but I I've been follow I've fallen behind them and Yeah. So, Chief, where we at on homeless encampments in town?

Get rid of one, you find another one. So, I mean, do we have [clears throat] They've We've been dealing with a couple of the locals that have been bouncing around everywhere. We haven't seen them in a while. So, um if there's more that we don't know about, um that's something that we need to address to us so that way we know so we can go take care of it. I see a couple people at times and just because they have backpacks, they come down Chadwell, they cut across the back of the Union Hall, they follow the creek down somewhere, but I don't Mhm. say I don't know where they're going, but somewhere down they wander and we I mean, we can't just stop them from walking down by the creek, you know.

So, if it if they end up in a parking lot or on someone's property or something like that, then we get notified and then we go address it and take care of it the way we need to. But if there's something that we don't know, if someone's hiding somewhere, got a tent stab or stuck somewhere, we don't know about it until someone lets us know. So, any other questions for Chief?

All right. Thank you, sir. Next up tonight, we have our tourism director, Aaron Smith. Hello. Hello, everyone. Uh, I want to start off by talking about the holiday Christmas festival. I thought what a wonderful event. I was out all Saturday. Uh, so got there, you know, an hour before the parade and then stayed out until 7:30. Didn't go home. Um, and yeah, that's one of those events that kind of renews your faith in humanity. It was great to see. I want to start [clears throat] by thanking Annette Rolf uh for the monumental work she does throughout the year to get that going. And then, you know, it takes a village. So you look and you see, you know, Alderman Hueie is out there [clears throat] running the parade, you know, getting everybody lined up. I see Joe Stiger at Lion's Club ringing the bell so kids will look at uh at at him to take photos. Um, you know, Corey is running up and down the street uh taking care of things and uh yeah, I think there's a lot of unsung heroes of that. And like I said, I stayed out all day, so you know, kind of was the tourist for the day. And you know, you all that action during the day and then you get to night and you know, Brock Gibson has uh um these little carriages running up and down the street and you know, we have the Christmas tree lighting which is always so so charming. And so it was just a a full packed day of stuff to do. And I can't see um how tourists didn't love that. We had 3,000 visitors. Uh they stayed for an average of 122 minutes. Um [snorts] so yeah, a little bit uh like right at two hours. 768 people of that 3,000 people stayed more than 2 and 1/2 hours. So that could be overnight stays and and all of that. So that's a it's a good portion. Um bigger than we see for a lot of events. Um last week I went to Travel South

International Showcase. This is one of those uh uh events that the state gives you a scholarship to attend so they pay for your um hotel and for the conference. Um I partnered with Hannibal to uh talk with uh mostly French and German tour operators. Uh good bit of Danish and Dutch thrown in there, which is great because uh the Dutch will be uh playing in the World Cup in Kansas City. Uh so they'll be within striking distance of of here. Um and I know that there's the state is going to be pushing people, you know, tours around the entire state. So it was great to get out there uh for this. And of course I like to stack functions when I'm out there. So uh uh I met with a lot of the Louisiana sites um to talk about uh them helping us with our French heritage uh events and uh uh bringing people up here. Uh St. Martin Parish talking about bringing up a Cajun band for the French Heritage Festival. Uh and then also bringing us down there to uh table and to uh crossromote. Um and I I think that makes a lot of sense. You know, I look at the stuff that we do with McDaniels, um, and and the overnight markets that we're going to, you know, Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Omaha, Nebraska, and you go, what sort of tie or what what's the interest that's going to bring them them here? You know what I mean? Um, but then when you look at a place like the New Orleans metro area, you go, oh, you know, if you can say, hey, here's this little gem of French heritage that you didn't know existed. And there, that's a big interest for people. And I think, you know, we could maybe get more bang for our buck in those areas. Um, so yeah, it was overall it was very good. I also learned that visitation uh nationwide is down uh 7%. That's that's not just international visitation, but our visitation in St. Jen, as you saw the numbers uh last month, is up 4.5%. So uh

that's very good. Um been working on the Missouri Main Street Connection, forming that board. Um, basically we have a steering committee that TTC has appointed. Uh, we'll be working through forming that board and then what'll happen is Missouri Main Street once we have the board formed will come in, train that board uh, on their methods and then uh, they will build an economic development plan for um, St. Genevieve. And then I meet with Jasper Jasper Paul uh the uh, [snorts] uh, the agency I picked out of uh, St. Louis that'll be running our UGC PR campaign. And that'll be on January 7th. So, we'll get all that. A lot of good stuff coming down the pipe. Any questions, concerns. Um, a little tough to ask this, but I have to. Uh, with all the success we had of the Christmas festival, um, and all of the questions beforehand that came up, um, what can we do to prevent that? I mean, how can we get this this is this is a big deal. Um how can we make this more seamless and uh that's you know to think that that might not have happened.

No. Exa Exactly. No. And we can't we can't have that happen and talks are already uh you know we plan to get together after the new year the chamber uh tourism uh the city administrator get together with the Ralphs and kind of talk next steps. Uh because yeah, it's all about communication and getting out in front of it. Um it's [clears throat] not something that we're going to let die. I'll say that. Um so no, we're just going to get out as early as possible and talk about it. And that's but we had such a good year. I mean, I think Annette's already renewed in her um [snorts] sort of zeal for doing it. Um and yeah, I mean I I don't know if it was because of the stress. There was it was the day was brighter and of course the weather um helped but there was there was just something about it was like man you just wanted to be out there supporting it. So and the shops were packed all day. What was interesting we we we talked kind of philosophically about uh was interesting. You know our our most successful festival but there's vendors lining the streets. you know, may you know, I know the shops do well, but what was interesting is this is one of those festivals where there's no vendors on the street, so all of the people that are there packing the stores and and buying locally. And I interesting thing, you know,

you know, it's it's not so much for the adults, but you know, all of the kids and seeing their faces and stuff. I mean, I just hate to lose this uh over insurance something. Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, for what I know Dave stepped in and you did and and the Ralphs what you know she does throughout the year. I mean takes a lot of time but it uh we just we need to do something to make this more seamless. Yeah. No. And we hopefully we won't uh have this conversation again next year. You know, we're going to work to make sure that that doesn't happen. Yeah. There's a lot of stress created. Yeah. Coming down to the last minute like that.

Yeah. Agreed. [clears throat] Yeah. And you know what? It was because we switched to Merma. Is that was that the reason or just we had I don't know. [clears throat] I mean Murma required insurance for the parade. Yeah. The event itself should also be insured. Okay. And that was part of the stress I believe. Yeah. And I think that that being kind of we switched over what we learned kind of last minute. So again, you know, now we we had to do some triage there. But this if we have to do triage again, it's it's on us. You know, it's the second time around. So, I don't think that's going to happen at all.

I know I brought you some information from Farmington and stuff where uh uh independent business uh had their name on it sponsored by the the Farmington or the St. Francis Regional Chamber and stuff, but uh I don't know how that all works and stuff, but yeah, it'd be nice to get our heads together and get this thing seamless. Sure. And and you know, us bringing in a new organization like uh Missouri Main Street, that's the kind of stuff that's right in their wheelhouse as well. Sure.

Um so, um you know, you'll have just one more organization that hopefully we'll we'll get a really uh enthused board behind that's ready to take on these challenges. And that would probably be one of the first ones that that gets talked about, you know. [snorts] All right. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Aaron. Last but certainly not least, Got Cory Literus with Alliance Water.

Good evening. You got a copy of my report in front of you. Couple things touched on. [clears throat] We were out doing crack sealing uh Tuesday and Wednesday. well cooperated. So we were able to get four street um Cedar and fire district department over there could talk with Dave and he gave us okay to go ahead and seal that for this year. Um we're do a load of hot mix next week permitting [clears throat] is supposed to pour or do a finished layer on Wednesday. So we're going to get a load from them. Uh close up all of our water leaks. uh raise a manhole on Ninth Street and work on them grates on Washington Street that we put cones in for now. So um Spire has a gas line moved [clears throat] on Fourth Street. They did not disconnect yet. They're supposed to be that today. I don't know what the hold up was. So hoping tomorrow then Jokers will have the go ahead on that. and SIC concrete will be doing concrete test on their cylinder tomorrow. Possibly open up the three panels at the head of report at at Point Basin and Roger and then on Brentwood. If not, it'll be Monday and then that should wrap up that project.

You said you were going to be doing some hot mix next Wednesday. Yes. Right. U talked to about on Virginia Street. Yep. It's [laughter] on the list that one. And then what about the one on South Gabri is getting or Chadwell right off the concrete is getting Y. That's I'll touch base with you and care center truck schedule and everything. I guess them are getting cut out. I think your work with the street lights have made downtown much more festive the best it's looked uh since the snowflakes came down. Thank you. Looks up that cylinder goes on a crack ceiling. Is there a temperature that you can't do that in 40°? 40.

Yeah. Yeah. We did it yesterday morning and it started dropping out. So we went and pulled also. [clears throat] Also, we have the check for $16,588 for the repair account to get back to the city for more. Don't spend it all in one place. First couple years it all [clears throat] and then smoke. Yeah. Any other questions for Corey? Uh, street sweeper. Is that all resolved? the heavy duty bearings.

It's still got medium duty in there. Some people getting price on the heavy duty, but that that [laughter] medium duty's been in there for a few years. So, I mean, it's not like it's going to last only 30 days or so. And it'll it'll continue to be out and to Cory, I want to publicly thank you for coming up [clears throat] and taking care of the straw. Oh, no problem. I have to pray that that was very generous. No problem. Thank you very much, Corey. Appreciate all your merry Christmas. Mayor, yes, sir. I think Chief Hick needs to come back up. He's got to tell us a couple things. [laughter] You forgot to tell us.

Oh, okay. I So, I forgot to let you guys know we did get this uh side by side purchased. Uh once we get our triangle on it and [laughter] we're looking at getting some lettering put on it that you guys will probably start seeing it on the roads kind of mess around downtown when they check businesses and stuff like that at night. And then we did get our six MDT computers and those were actually put on the road yesterday. So I did forget that. Thank you. Very cool. Thank you, Chief.

And that concludes our staff reports for tonight. So, we will open up the floor to public comment. Okay. I don't think we're going to have any public comment tonight. So, we'll move along to tonight's consent agenda. That'll one uh item on there, the resolution 2026-07. I'd like to just an explanation of that. You want to pull it out? Uh, sure. Okay. You want um you want to approve a consent agenda with the resolution 20 2607 p. Okay.

Second. There we go. Okay. So, I have a motion and a second to approve tonight's consent agenda with the exception of resolution 2026-07. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay. Let's talk about resolution 2026-07. This is a resolution of the city of St. Genevieve, Missouri, authorizing the write off of uncollectible water sewer bills from the city's account uh accounts receivable. There's only one

there's only one and it, you know, if it works its way to here, we've tried all that we can to collect it. This is a property where there's two meters, one to the main residence, one to a secondary residence that's no longer in use. Uh there was a water pipe bust. Um the owner refuses to pay it. Uh I contacted uh [clears throat and cough] legal to ask if we could just attach it to the primary residence. Um and together we decided this was the best path. You said it was a water line bus. So, this was a private water line past the meter. It was a service line. Yeah. But it was on their side of the meter.

It's not our water. It was their water, right? Yeah. And how long has that been going on? When you say that the leak or this Well, that they've refused to pay this. Um, April 2nd, 2025. Guess my question, Dave, is is looking at that, why was that meter left active on on an abandoned line? When the owner took over that property, that individual changed both meters into their name and asked for it to stay live. Okay. So, they still have service.

No. When the bill wasn't paid, we uh turned the surface off and we took the deposit that we had [laughter] off. Okay. So, if we write this off and they ever want to turn back on, what happens?

That home is being demolished. So, it won't be it's not really a home, it's a trailer. So, there's a home on the property and then a trailer. The trailer had a separate line run to it. Um, so we we have this individual's name and there are I mean if you don't know you know there are other accounts and a rears and we keep track of those and when those folks move away and come back we get that money back. This one I don't know that you know this individual still lives here so we just don't have a way to collect it and there'll not be another trailer there'll not be another [clears throat] trailer put there then in the future. it. Right. Zoning would prevent that. Okay. So, you said the house is being demolished. It's not

the trailer. Oh, the trailer. Yeah. So, the house is just empty. No, the individual lives in the house. [clears throat]

It It's a It's a unique situation and uh I mean this is could have been discussed prior to the meeting. I mean, it it involves litigation. We want I don't want to get too far into the weeds, but but I was consulted with it. It's a very extremely unique situation where you have two parcels, one owner, but they're separate, a change ownership, a leak. Uh and and so it was just such a unique situation. Um, you know, you can either either pass this resolution tonight or we can have discussions uh or you can have discussions with D. I don't really want to go necessarily too far into because I don't want to say bad things about people when there's a dispute about whether this bill is really an appropriate bill. The decision is either to write off this this uh this amount now or maybe you can get some information and put it back on the agenda next meeting or something. or approve it tonight.

And this pertains to this particular case right here. Yeah, it's very specific, very unique. There's about five variables. I've never seen this type of situation before. We discussed it. We thought it was appropriate to write it off and um and that's why it's before you as a as a consent agenda item. What's the amount? $830.92. Move to approve. [clears throat] Second. Okay. I have a motion and a second for approval of resolution 2026-07. All in favor?

Any opposed? Okay. Thank you very much. I don't believe we have any old business to discuss tonight. So, we'll move along to some new business. First up, we have a uh resolution 2026-08. This is a resolution reappointing David Bova to the St. Genevieve Housing Authority Board to approve. Second. Have a motion and a second. All in favor? Any opposed?

Okay. Thank you very much. Uh then next up tonight we have a first reading of bill number 4702. This is an ordinance authorizing the mayor to execute a proposal for professional services with Taylor Engineering to provide construction engineering services for a project to expand Creston Cemetery. We put this out for bid. I guess we did. Oh, we're going to put it out for bid. This is the services. Well, they're going to the scope of work and correct. Motion to approve. Second. Okay. Have a motion and a second. All in favor? I any opposed? Okay. Thank you very much.

And then next up tonight, we have a first street. Yes, sir. Um, so Taylor um is going to put out uh the bid specs for this project. Um, and they're charging us five grand to do that. Um, is Taylor allowed to bid on this project? there. I mean, I don't think they I don't think they have I don't think they do those services. Okay. So, I didn't know if they could Taylor's similar to Cochran. Yeah. Right. I didn't know if they could uh do the engineering work for the project if they set it up in such a way. I was just curious how that worked.

Okay. So they'll do all the engineering work and we're just hiring the contractor from this uh bid project to their in to the specs that they designed for this project. Right? So they've already designed the project. Now they're going to put it out to bid and then once we take those bids, select a contractor, they'll do the construction services and inspection. They have designed this already. Yes.

So now they're going to design the bid specs. So, you know what I'm They got back to us on what the cemetery specs, the road, the depth, the amount of uh back fill, and now they're going to come and put it out to bid. We'll select a contractor. When that contractor does the work, uh Taylor, not unlike Cochran does with the roads, will be there to inspect the work for $11,000 more dollars. Yes, sir. And this all come seems like a lot to fill a hole in. Yes. This was part of uh a project we passed in the budget. We Yes.

Okay. We passed the funding for the engineer, but we didn't pass the funding for the actual project itself. Correct. No, the whole entire project was in the budget. And what was that dollar amount? I don't know off the top of my head. Okay. Yep. Okay. $100,000. All right. Everybody good to proceed? Okay. Um, first reading, bill number 4703. This is an ordinance of the city of St. Genevieve authorizing the mayor to enter into a first amendment to the purchase agreement with McBride Land Growth LLC. Move to approve. Second. Have a motion and a second. All in favor?

Any opposed? Mayor, we do have another meeting before the contingency period uh expires, do you? No. Is it December 31st or January 31st? It's the end of December. I think it's actually January 1st. Yeah. It's a 60-day. Is that when that was July 1st? So, right around there when we signed [clears throat] that contract. What was their uh for two more months this January and February?

I think that's them, you know, hoping encouraging us to find that solution within the next two months. Sewer. That's the motion for a second reading. I'll second. Okay. I have a motion and a second for a second reading of bill number 4703. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? Okay. This will be a second reading of bill number 4703. This is an ordinance of the city of St. Genevieve authorizing the mayor to enter into a first amendment to the purchase agreement with McBride Land Growth LLC. Motion to approve. Second. Okay. I have a motion and a second. Pam, would you do a roll call, please? Alderman Stiger, yes. Alderman Prince, yes. Alderman, yes. Alderman Huie, yes. Alderman Donovan, yes. Alderman Fe, yes. Alderman Dobs, yes. [clears throat] Seven yes, zero nos, one absent. Bill number 4703 now becomes ordinance 4623.

Thank you very much. That will conclude our schedule of business. Is there anything to discuss? Yes.

Um I this question kind of came up and stuff and I'm not sure I might be I'm not asking to rehash something we've already decided but um just kind of curious and maybe this is a legal opinion. We ask um we ask our new administrator to resign uh from a school board uh president and the school board. Um just wondering how far that carries. I mean there's numerous other boards around that that person could be uh with and stuff. Are we saying no boards? Are we saying? And and why was the school board different than maybe the ambulance board or um some of the other numerous boards that are in our tax uh realm?

Are you asking for my legal opinion? Yes. I'm not going to give it to you in a public meeting. Uh I've I've submitted a written memorandum with regard to the legal opinion on that issue and um it could be shared if you haven't shared it with the board. They they can certainly get that and I can follow up with any further inquiries, but I'm not going to address it at a public meeting.

I think you probably have that still, right? I did. I shared it with the mayor and then uh I sent you all an email not long after that explaining everything [snorts] that uh Mr. Bishop stated. Any other business to discuss right now? Um, Alderman Huey, I did talk with David just just briefly prior to the meeting and uh the PPE stuff that you mentioned to me the other day. If you'd like to just put that on the record, I think that's not a bad

Okay. [clears throat] I guess we haven't heard anything if that's possible, doable, whatever. the the re repurposing I guess of that stuff. It's I think it's a great idea if we can get it to go through. Yeah. So to summarize and you can there's a group that takes expired uh PPE from fire districts etc. and then they are able to repurpose them. Okay. Is that is that what they do? Yeah, that's what they do in third world countries. Okay. This person asked me she asked me what they do and I don't I'll [clears throat] relay the message which I've obviously done. Yeah. So, I I will tell her that there's already somebody that picks him up and does that. Oh, there's not. Oh, there's not. There's not.

I don't know. I I was going to ask Chief Stiger. Have you talked to Chief Stiger? No, I haven't had a chance. Okay. And I have the contact information you gave me, so I'll give it to David and he'll probably talk with Chief and then we'll circle. I think it's someone we need to look into instead of just throwing them in dumpster. Yeah, it's a neat idea. Okay. Very good. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Alderman Hughes.

All right. Anything else to discuss at this time? Okay. If not, uh, merry Christmas and we will see you all in January. So, thank you very much. We'll journ the regular meeting and we are going to move into work session. Tonight's work session to order. At this time, I will look for approval of tonight's work session agenda. Motion approval. Second. Okay. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I. [cough] [clears throat] Huh? Uh, I'm approving the agenda or you all are approving the agenda. All in favor of approval of tonight's agenda. All right. Any opposed?

Okay. Thank you all. Uh, first and only item up tonight is a discussion regarding the u new the job posting and for the and the position for the assistant CA or community development uh administrator position. So a few weeks ago you all asked to kind of have this conversation. I have a staff report there kind of explains that both jobs are job grade 8. They fall into the same salary range. However, the assistant CA requires a little more experience or a degree. So would be placed higher on the uh salary schedule. Um the assistant CA's job description is a little more lengthy than the community development, but it's basically the same one with added duties. Uh we've budgeted for a second part-time building inspector once our new subdivision goes into place. Uh so that will certainly help with that workload. Uh so my recommendation is to post and hire a community development administrator as soon as possible. Um and then depending upon quality and quantity of applications if we don't get what we want, we can post for an assistant CA.

Why don't we post for both at the same time? Well, I can certainly I mean, we're going to hire one person, but yeah, [clears throat] we can post for assistant CAL community development. Yes, sir. So, we're just two different ads. I don't I mean, a lot of them I don't know if they indeed um website and see what we get from there. Probably Yeah. What's the other one? Okay. We didn't have your hands. I didn't know this was a class.

Um, [laughter] we had previously uh talked in close session on on that and then we got no note. But uh how many times Dave when you were in that position? Um I I can I know of one over in St. Jude where you went you and uh it may have been Jean. I don't know who was before that. may have been Jimmy, I'm not sure. Um, went to a residence in an unmarked car, which we have marked cars now. Uh, and the homeowner was kind of startled that you were walking around their prop, or maybe it wasn't even you, but uh, that the building person was walking around their property. Uh, most municipalities have code enforcement officers. And I brought this up the last time um about having a code enforcement officer that is actually able to write citations based off city code rather than uh and they would be commissioned through the police department but work in city hall. Um that way the police department is not having to task that or as you alluded to earlier that we send out violation letters which they're kind of citations but they're not. They kind of pose as citations but they're not. and just to clean up the waters would having more of a community de development slash enforcement or code enforcement officer. Uh, you know, I'm not necessarily for the assistant CA. We created that position, you know, for the way for the reason we did to get you into that position. Um, we've never had any

assistant CA position before and I just I'm not sure that we need it going forward. I' I'd rather see a code or code officer/ community development position and go that route because I think some of the letters we send out posing as citation letters when they I mean they that person doesn't really have the authority to write a citation without being a commissioned officer. Correct. And I think it muddies the waters that you know and I've seen some of the wording of them. You know they they're effective. Uh but [laughter] [clears throat] when's the next time or you know the the at lower part of St. Jude you know I think you know who it was. Uh he come out with his weapon. It wasn't pointed but he came out with his weapon because they didn't know who it was. I don't want whoever we put into that position to go knocking on doors, to go doing this or that. Uh I think that's a huge liability. I think it needs to be a commissioned officer that is doing some of this stuff. And we've been lucky so far. I mean, kudos to the job you and and Jean do do al do whatever. Uh anyway, uh but you know, I I think it's time that we need to [clears throat and cough] streamline that and have a code enforcement officer slash community de development position.

So, I've talked to a couple of communities that have similar to what you're talking about, a part-time code enforcement officer. Uh I've talked to five communities. A position is typically hard to fill and hard to keep filled. Uh there's another community out there that has a postcertified um officer who What is postcertified? So they can issue citations. It's basically an officer. It's a police law enforcement officer.

Um and he does code enforcement and then in the winter some some road uh patrol um and answers to the kind of a chief of police and the city administrator based on what work he's doing at that point. Um, that's a whole new position that we'd have to create. Um, and uh, budget the salary for. Um, I know that we've talked tonight about, you know, there are some dilapidated properties out there. I think those properties are in every community. Um, and I think what we do works for a 5,000 population community, but if you all want to create a position, whether it be, you know, a postcertified officer or simply it would have to be if you if like you're mentioning, you want them to issue tickets, uh, then we need to maybe extend this conversation, you know, to a different conversation.

I don't think the position would be very hard to fill. uh you know, somebody that is retiring from, you know, the the day-to-day road work and wants to still be involved. I mean, you're probably not going to get anybody out of the academy young and wanting to do the patrolling and stuff, but somebody that's, you know, ending the near or coming to the end of their career as full-time status, I I don't think it'd be that hard to

I jump in on this. So, [clears throat] I I like the idea to a certain degree. Um, I've actually mentioned it a while back to Dave and Happy. Um, it would kind of help take the workload off of him a little bit as far as sending out these letters, everything like that, cuz we keep track of everything on our end. So, if we were to do say a code enforcement officer, when we send out letters or talk to them about their stuff, we have a report audit. like we do reports on it and take pictures like pretty much on everything we do. So if that was the case instead of somebody else doing it and then coming back trying to find us to go get a ticket issued, we're already doing it. Like we're already ahead of the game and we're just out there doing it. It it would it would give somebody somebody to go out there and do it. As far as filling it, I I don't know. It's you guys would have to decide what you'd want to do if it's going to be a Monday through Friday gig. if you're doing two days a week, whatever. Um, most cops don't want to do just code enforcement. Most of them kind of want to still go play a little bit and do that kind of stuff. So, that one, I mean, that'd be almost an experiment just to advertise that part of it with the post license cuz they would be commissioned through us so they can write the tickets. Uh, but I can tell you if we were to do it, they would be in a uniform and wearing a vest just like they're a cop. If they're going to be carrying guns and stuff like that and doing all that because [clears throat] they're going to be identified. So if someone does come out there and try to shoot them, well, now you're messing with a cop. So

So your opinion is it needs to be a separate person than than this person? And it in my opinion, yes. It helps take that workload off a lot because there's I've been over there with Dave and he's been doing a bunch of things and we've called him personally for a lot of stuff cuz we go in these houses frequently. We're always in these houses. We've been in one that it smelled so bad before we walked into the house that we did. We had to go get him so we can do the paperwork on it versus just having our own person like, "Hey, here you go." Yeah.

And they can start handling doing everything. So it's it's almost like a double-edged sword here where you want to go with it. Um but you know if that is going to be a position that is going to be something that has to be decided like what hours you guys want them work are they going to work Monday through Friday now with the building only working 3 days a week you know and I know it's pretty good you know you can kind of fill in for them but it's still try not to do that you know you want to try to schedule on Monday or Tuesday and and like well can I wait till Wednesday and and it always works out but it's you know so if you had I mean I don't think this would be a full-time position and by any means. So, it was like So, how do you

I will tell you and and Chief can chime in on this. The couple of city administrators I spoke to where it is uh a postcertified officer, they have other duties obviously. Um and this city administrator has been a city administrator a long time and you know his words were you know whereas we're going out currently and working with property owners to try and get things resolved and it it's not a perfect system by any means. um this individual is is more charged with going out and talk to this person, but then if they don't get some sort of immediate resolution, there's a ticket, there's a citation. That can be good. It can also generate a lot of phone calls for each of you and city hall. And I'm not saying that's good or bad. I'm just arming you with the information. On a slightly different, what do other cities call their community development [clears throat] administrator? Are there other titles for this?

Most of them call same thing. Yeah. Okay. I didn't know if there's other ro titles for that position or not. Okay. Didn't you once say Dave that eight out of 10 n out of 10 issues that come up with this are reasonably handled without somebody showing I would say anywhere [clears throat] from 9 to 9.5 out of 10 issues. you never hear about and that's the way we'd like it. Yeah.

You I mean Alderman Fehee, you're very aware you all hear about that.5 and usually you hear a lot about it and we try to work on those. Um [clears throat] but I I don't know that having a quote enforcement officer is going to fix the issue that I know comes to your mind. I agree. the 0.5. I think you're in the unique position of knowing what you think would work best for the city, right? You've done it, you worked it, now you're administrating it. How do you think it would best play out?

I think we go forward with hiring a community development administrator. We see who that individual is because, you know, and I it it takes a special this makes it sound like it takes a certain kind of talent to do this job. And I think that's why, you know, one of the cities I talked to was Pville and they've been through five people in three years because it's not enjoyable whatsoever. Sometimes dangerous, sometimes um uh confrontational. Uh and you have to have that piece where you know I just want to work with you to get this done. That means that sometimes it takes longer, but that also leads to the 9 to 9.5 out of 10 that get taken care of, whether it's mowed or repaired or cleaned up. But I know that you all hear about the.5 to one that don't get taken care of, and we do work on those. Um, so you know, I would suggest we hire this person, keep code uh enforcement in this person's job description, and we can come back to this in 6 months if we need to.

Could this new part-time building inspector, I mean, it's two different job skills, right? I mean, try to be a code enforcement officer and a building inspector for I mean, is there overlap there where I mean that you could I think you could look for a person. I mean, obviously there's code enforcement from a nuisance standpoint, there's code enforcement from a building standpoint. It'd be a special person who has both. The the five that you don't always get resolved via administration. Mhm. Does that then get turned over to a police department for code enforcement? Then

it gets turned over to the police department to issue a citation. Yeah. And then that person goes to court. And I, you know, I'm I'm not in any way condemning the court system or anything that I'm talking [clears throat] about tonight, but keep in mind that if we worked and worked and worked and then a citation is issued, usually that court date is 2 to 3 months away and then a fine is issued and then in some instances probably 2, I'll be there again in two months issuing another notice of violation that leads to another citation that leads to another fine. How come you don't want to criticize the courts in this situation? Why do you think

self-preservation? Now, if I was going to go out in a dangerous situation like that, I'd rather have a police car, known police car there with a full-fledged armored, you know, body armor, the whole nine yards. That would be more of a deterrent to me to do something that I don't know. Somebody pulls up in a city car and it's not properly, you know, doesn't look like a real threat. U I don't know. I' I'd rather have a full-fledged, you know, just like the one we had down by the union hall with where they ended up getting a ticket.

I mean, you had contacted him. You went down there, but I don't know that you were ever threatened. No, I mean there have probably been three instances in eight years where I've asked an officer to go with me to a property. All right. So I I

Doesn't that seem like then the more reasonable way to do it than to have somebody in a vest packing a gun to go out when 85% of these reserve the police uh presence for when we've identified this could be a test to your situation. and then somebody who's got a little code violation to have somebody packing a gun come up and tell them, "Get your garbage cans off the street uh a day early." I mean, it seems like overkill to me to make a police that would that would be handled via regular letter or summons. I don't think there's going to be any knocking on the door for a trash can in the street. M

I mean, not as often, but the the incident that I was referring to, like I said, was back when you guys were using your own vehicles and they weren't marked or anything. You guys have marked vehicles now. And I I don't see that. I mean, as much of a problem because, you know, our our vehicles are marked now. Um, [clears throat] I guess [snorts] maybe if we're not going to go that route if there's an officer available, maybe he can, you know, go with you. I I don't know. I I just I don't like somebody without

That was prior to my arrival. We have marked cars now. I know the individual you're talking about that was prior to my arrival, but he then had another issue and even though he was very upset, we worked it out. It's it's another testament to I I think but it could have turned bad. It could have. It could have and any of them could but in that instance um he worked it out and we worked it together. I think Chief Hackus. Yeah.

I mean so some of these a lot of [clears throat] muties the cops have to enforce this stuff anyways. Like if you go to smaller towns they have like very limited people. The cops are the ones that have to do all this. So just because an officer has a vest and a gun come up saying move your trash can, they're not going up there banging on the door kicking it in full riot gear say hey you need to move your trash can usually they go up there and say hey you know ordinance you got to move your trash can you know it needs to be moved or I have to give you a ticket you know

that's having the officer in my opinion having an officer to do this one you have someone that can have if they're working part-time say they're working two days a you got someone that's riding around doing all this at these houses that you guys want to inrict all this stuff. So if you want somebody if you're wanting the town to be cleaned up or dealing with cars or dealing with whatever, if you hiring somebody that's attached to the department, that's their sole job. So they're going to be riding around doing all that all day long when they're working versus getting complaints. say I say they're coming in today, you get one complaint, then you got to go deal with it. And it it's probably been an issue for three weeks versus having someone riding around and they're already handling.

You guys know that the department's very proactive. So, what um would city hall still be able to send that code enforcement officer uh infractions or addresses or issue, you know, things to go check on? Would they would your officer be able to take direction from the community development administrator at CDA? if if it's involving your ordinances for your city. Yeah, they'll I think we'd have to write a job description, but

yeah. And so that situation it'd be more unique because it's an officer, but it's going to be working a lot with city hall. Like Yeah. I mean, that's going to be the primary focus of it. Well, it's different than the school resources.

Yeah. They're using our stuff, but they're working with the city because what they're going to have to do, yes, they're going to have to go through an FTO program to kind of learn the streets and know what's going on and how to use a report system, stuff like that, because we document everything. But primarily, they're going to be dealing with city hall, knowing all their city ordinances, and that's what they're doing. You know, if they get a call saying, "Hey, this needs to be taken care of." That's where they're going. and they're typing report, documenting everything because you guys send out letters

every so often, whatever. We don't see those letters when you guys send them out until it comes back to us, hey, we need to do a ticket versus we look at we can pull up the address and say, "Hey, we've been there six times already for this. It's time to give a ticket." So, it's it's [clears throat] more documented on our end. Chief, would you think that person would make what a starting road officer would make above that, below that? Yeah, it it would be it for that it would be start out pay for that. It's they're not they're not dedicated strictly to the road. So, you know, they could have several years of experience, but that's years of experience isn't helping me over here. It's helping you guys over there. Okay. So,

if they were part-time code enforcement only, probably still talking 40 grand. When you think of the overhead and the extra benefits and gears that are with salary, I mean, you're probably talking I mean, that was something I was going to bring up. If we pursue this, is this person have a vehicle? You know, we now have insurance on it. No, there's not going to be I can tell you there's not going to be a take-h home vehicle for a part-time. Absolutely not. But a vehicle nonetheless, there there will be a vehicle for them to use when they come in, but it is not going home. Yeah. My question to all this is we're a town of 4,000 over. Do we have that much problem to have to have somebody driving around 3 days a week looking for something to pick on somebody about?

I mean, I got a real problem. I gave you my opinion. It's up to you all to decide if you are you getting that many complaints.

That's I guess that's where I'm going with this. Is it worth it? We hired you what how many years ago as community development administrator. Then a few years ago we decided we needed an assistant city administrator. I mean that seemed to work very well. Um, I thought I mean I this code enforcement it'd be hard to justify that expense, you know, to have all of the things for that person to walk out looking like, you know, he means business and all the training and uh for the half handful of times over the past eight years that we've felt that would be hard to justify that expense. I think, you know, your decision is, you know, what I've done and what the person who replaces me will do means you're going to get some calls sometime. And it probably doesn't mean that we're out there being proactive as Chief has been to because we're not, it's not like we Gene and I drive past tall grass. we cight it or we drive past some um you know terribly messy uh yard, we sight it, but we don't go out and proactively um look for cars that are on the street that you know the plates are expired or broke down. Those are usually called in and reported and we react to it in that nature versus an officer and chief's given some great points if that's what you want to pursue. If you hired a part time, and I'm not saying to do this, but I'm just saying if you kind of turned over some of that responsibility to a part-time code enforcement officer, what would that free up the new CDA to do inside city hall?

So, that is an excellent question and I would think you could, this is just spur-of the- moment answer. um you could focus more on economic development for certain cuz that's a piece that if I had to sit down and put you know a percent of time that the CDA spends on items that are in the job description probably economic development's at the bottom has time for doing those yes sir extra you're dealing with putting out fires every day and you don't really get to the proactive type of thing. Yes. Another thing too, I you know, I'm going against chief here. You guys do a great job. What are you guys inside?

Well, what I'm saying is you guys are driving around all the time and you're obviously you got horse 10 ft high. You know, that's not supposed to be here. You could call Dave or have somebody contact Dave if they see that and not have to go report back cuz they're out there all the time. Abandoned vehicles and all stuff like that could, you know, could pass. I don't I'm I'm going to be honest. When my guys are out riding around, they're not looking for tall grass. They're they're looking for BWIs. They're looking for drugs. They're answering domestic calls. They're making sure people aren't breaking in houses. I can I will promise you they are not looking for tall grass or any of that stuff unless they get flagged down. Uh we have had now I will say we've had situations where we go to a wreck and they'll look down and see parked cars that are abandoned. They'll go handle it. Absolutely. But I I can tell you they're not going to drive around and say, "Hey, there's tall grass and get a hold of Dave or somebody and do it." I mean,

yeah. Whenever I It's just not Chief Alec. Be honest. Yeah. Chief Alec mentioned earlier that they come to me. That's when some sort of extreme case like they've been called to a house where there's maybe um abuse or a smell and they need someone to come do code enforcement. Usually it's very bad. Yeah. Yeah. Usually we ask for the code stuff cuz I mean in theory we don't care about the grass, you know? We care about are you going to fight us when we come over there? What's going on? Like we don't we don't we don't pay attention to all that stuff.

The grass is simpler because state statutes gives us the power to if you don't mow your grass, we'll mow it for you. And the same with most vegetation. The things that we can't necessarily take care of are those building code violations or um you know, can we tow cars away? Yes. Have we? Yes. But those are usually extreme situations where we're taking a piece of private property. Um so we try to work through those also. I don't care either way to be honest. Um I'm just saying long like to work with the city hall and lighten that load. We could take on that burden with it, but there will be certain stipulations with it. I mean, I'm going to have an officer doing it. They're going to look like an officer when they go there, write a ticket or do anything. It's just it's it's the job. I mean, uh it first of all, code enforcement is not very glorious. So, at least when they get to put on a badge and you feel kind of special, but uh but that's going to give you proactivity. You know, back to when you're saying you don't care if it's a the strictest one in the state on [clears throat] all this other stuff. Well, how do you think that's going to get done? I mean, it ultimately that's how it's going to have to get done is someone that's got the time, proactivity to go do it. And again, I don't care if we take it on. I'm just saying I could see the different aspects is we've done both ends of it. So,

right. So, so what I'm gathering from the discussion is that I think this being some sort of hybrid role is probably a pie in the sky um kind of concept. I think it's going to be hard to I don't think we want our community development administrator in full police gear uh 5 days a week, right? Well, I think that's why we've had pretty good success doing it because we are

cordial and we do handle. So just to just to kind of refocus then the conversation on the agenda item because I mean I think we can talk about code enforcement and I think that's okay to continue that conversation if we feel like it's a necessity and then but I feel like it's probably chief I I mean I assume you're you're thinking of this role as a dedicated role not as a hybrid role. No, it'd be it'd be a dedicated role to do that. If you got, like I said, if you're if you're wanting it as strict, you know, it to even bounce off like the dogs, like you're going to have somebody that's going to be handling all that stuff. So, if it's a dog call, which we've been dealing with, that's something they're going to have. They're going to be dealing with all the time. And so that one particular officer is going to be very familiar with every situation versus us dealing with it right now that you know one guy might be dealing with it. Another ship comes on they're like we don't really don't know what's going on with this.

That would be a good thing really. You know that that that's their that's going to be if if that was the direction you guys wanted to go. I mean that's their whole sole purpose. They're [clears throat] messing with all this the animals your extra 40 grand just laying around. I think it'd be awesome to hire a part-time code enforment officer, but do we have an extra 40? So, what if you guys want? Well, yeah, whatever. You're talking about just salary and stuff. Well, benefits and everything cost you 50% of that. So, I was thinking part-time person, you know, I figured maybe 40 with benefits. I don't plus a vehicle plus insurance. Bullets. Have bullets, too, don't

we? Give them one. Give one a rubber one. I have to shoot ball with it.

Okay. So, I think I mean I think we continue that discussion and and maybe situations or circumstances will dictate maybe the need for that role. Um and obviously a community development administrator could come in the new one and decide that they're really going to go after some of these things and maybe that necessitates a dedicated code enforcement officer. But if we're talking about specifically this, I think we too need to decide if we want to post this as a community development administrator or an assistant city administrator or both or I mean I I think it depends on how you want

I've got another question then. So the second parttime building inspector, what will be the kind of the management role? I mean this person will be in charge of both this new person and currently Jean [snorts] correct correct there'll be direct reports to the new CDA whichever one um what kind of um any help that the building inspector will be able to take off of this new person's plate so that they can do more community development activity incling including economic development

I think so when this happens but there'll also be right now as I think of it yes but if McBride starts building u you know 20 to 30 homes at a time then that workload is going to I mean quadruple what it is right now so that person will have more work to do but it's a possibility absolutely what are our inspection fees the pay for indoor from parttime and full-time Well, current building inspector is not interested in going full-time. No, but like this new person, if if Brad kept them busy enough, are there are the fees involved in inspection? The one we have now is just one time shot. And

well, about a year ago when we adopted new building codes, we adopted new permit fees. Okay. Yes. So, they are more. Why you looking? Cuz [laughter] you look like you had a question. Well, kind of. Uh obviously you know the job, you know what it entails. Do you know do you have anybody in mind that would be a good fit for whatever

either one? Some names have been given to me but um I don't I don't personally have anyone in mind. [clears throat] Okay. So what do we think? Do we want to go with CDA first? I mean that that candidate could most important. Yeah. I mean that's with what's coming I think. Yeah. But just just as a CDA position, I think so.

And then see what how what kind of candidates we attract from there and if we need to retool it kind of the Dave Bulba model, right, that we get somebody in as a community development officer, which is our most important thing and see if they got the talents and the skill set to say, well, we'd like you to do some helping in the administer of this or we want more code enforcement. We go another way. But I think we look for a somebody who's got a skill set similar to what Dave had and come in as the community development officer, primary responsibility, and then see if it develops into more. Okay. You know, with all the things we have going on. Yeah, that's why I'm asking. Why don't we why don't we go a little higher and advertise for both just to see what we get? That's why I mean,

well, is it going to be confusing? I mean, you're saying in one posting?

I'd say you just advertise either a slash or do two postings. I mean, we're not because we have we've got several issues coming up here in the next year or two. And so to have an assistant CA that has more experience that has um potentially could handle some of these bigger projects that we have coming up. I if we get a good candidate, I'd hate to it's if you have a a young or just slightly experienced assistant CA um they're not going to apply for the CDA spot, right? They're they're trying to move up the ladder and build. So, we won't get those candidates that are currently or they they're almost outgrown the CDA. If that's the the pecking order of, you know, you're a CDA for a few years, then maybe you get a job as an assistant CA and your your goal is to uh ruin your life become by becoming a CA. um [laughter] um do do you know are we are we missing out on the potential having a a young cheaper assistant CA that would be better for us and could do some economic development for the town and uh take advantage of this McBride opportunity that we have and start bringing in some retail and bringing in some commercial entities. So are we missing out by not going after a system?

I think it depends what is our priority. is a community development, which I think some people think community development is the primary responsibility. We got a full-time city administrator here doing that, but who doesn't have the time to develop the community? We're going to have a full-time city administrator and then we're going to have a guy sitting underneath him. They're going to say, "Oh, and by the way, do you know anything about community development?" No, I'm here trying to get a big job up in Fesus by next next one. I don't think it helps us to recruit another city administrator. I think it'd have to be a hybrid. I don't think we post for both. I think I think you could make it a hybrid role. I don't think we need to. The slash would be slash is probably more

Yeah, I like the combined. I think that would be our best opportunity to get the best candidate. You know, you'll get the you you'll get some of those people that you're you're talking about if you if you do a kind of a hybrid

cuz they'll see I mean that'll be in the title. But I look at the people you're talking about as being short-timers and they're going to bolt and go elsewhere up the ladder like you're saying and you know where we might go for somebody that's more tenure based. You you just you can't recruit in that mentality though. I mean you have to keep them here because we're doing a good job. I think we have a good culture inside city hall. So if they're using this as a stepping ster here three years then we got three good years out of them and they were really good you know. So, or do you want someone here that lingers for 8 years, you know? Um, so I I [laughter] don't [laughter] like yours,

but you know, I mean, that's you get that. I mean, do you want someone here as a [clears throat] CDA that's adequate or do you want for eight years or do you want someone that's an assistant CA that only stays three or four years and they're moving and they're doing things and they they really develop and help St. Jim while they were here for three or four years? I don't know. Okay. Look at hybrid. Hybrid hybrid. Okay. out there into the universe. Yes, sir. Okay. Any other business to discuss? I think a code enforcement thing could come along at a point, but

Well, I think you can continuously re-evaluate that to determine if that's a need. I mean, if we if we fast forward one year from now and we're sitting around here and chief said, man, we were we had a we had to go a lot of calls for this. I think maybe it's time to consider it. I think we do it or at least talk about it. 150 new homes to volunteer in a few years. That's true. That's very true. Okay. Anything else? Wish everybody a merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Thank you for all the work you do around here.

The community appreciate it. Merry Christmas. It's been a good year. Look forward to another good year coming up. Okay. All right. Ajourn.