City Council - Regular Meeting

We're live. Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call the regular session of the University City City Council to order on Monday, August the 10th at 631 p.m. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Council Member Dancy. Here. Council Member Tiemann.

Here.

Council Member Brenner. Present. Council Member Fuller.

Here.

Council Member Smotherson.

Here.

Mayor Crowe.

Here. Before you have the agenda during the study session, no one requested any changes. If there are no changes at this time, is there a motion to approve the agenda as presented? Motion made by Council Member Tiemann, seconded by Council Member Dancy. Is there a discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. You will see in your packet a proclamation for the 50th anniversary of the City of Life Christian Church. We congratulate them on their 50th anniversary. You have before you the June 22nd, 2026 regular meeting minutes. Is there a motion to approve? Motion made by Councilmember Fuller, seconded by Councilmember Brenner. Is there a discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. You have before you the July 13th, 2026 regular meeting minutes. Is there a motion to approve? Motion made by Council Member Smotherson. Is there a second? Seconded by Council Member Brenner. Is there a discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Council Member Brenner.

Thank you, Mayor Crowe. I would like to nominate Linda Cram to the Green Practices Commission.

Is there a second? Seconded by Council Member Tiemann. Is there a discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Council Member Fuller. Microphone, please. Thank you. Sorry. Technical, technical.

All right. I'd like to nominate Rebecca Holly for appointment to Stormwater Commission. Thank you very much. Is there a second?

Second by Council Member Brenner. Is there a discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it.

Council Member Fuller. I'd like to make the following reappointments to the Board of Appeals. John Douglas, Barry Nelson, Jack Breyer, Gunnar Johansson, and Todd Jacobs. Is there a second?

Seconded by Council Member Dancy. Is there a discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Council Member Tiemann.

Honorable Mayor, I would like to renominate to the Stormwater Commission, Susan Armstrong.

Is there a second? Seconded by Council Member Smotherson. Is there a discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Council Member Tiemann.

Honorable Mayor, I would like to nominate for a special third term to the Stormwater Commission, Mark Hawley.

Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Council Member Smotherson. Is there a discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Council Member Tiemann.

Honorable Mayor, I would like to renominate to the Green Practices Commission, Ken Sheckman.

Is there a second? Seconded by Council Member Smotherson. Is there a discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. You'll note in the agenda that Matt Bellows was sworn into the Economic Development Retail Sales Tax Board on July 29th in the clerk's office. We'll now go to our first section of citizens' comments. This is limited to 15 minutes on non-agenda items. By the way, a couple of you signed up to speak on items that are on consent agenda. So you may want to speak on those during the conference. citizen participation because consent agenda means that they're all on a consent agenda. And so there's really not speaking that goes on, just giving you a heads up. So those who had requested to speak on consent agenda items may want to speak ahead of time on that. When you get to the microphone, please give your name and address. Please limit your comments to five minutes. First request to speak is Michael Reed.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm Michael Reed. I live at 829 Barclay Square, which is two houses up from the last house that was discussed about the Amherst project. I had an opportunity just a little while ago to sit with the MSD folks, and I greatly appreciate them coming. being open to listening to us. Some of the stuff I'm going to say just quickly now is a little bit of a repeat of some of that, but I wanted to go on the record with some of the things that we discussed. And again, I really appreciate the time that you took. Since the last time that I spoke with you all, which was about six months ago, I had hope at that time that maybe we would derail this project. It's clearly not going to be derailed. Two of the five houses are slated for demolition and are sitting empty right now, and the other three are in progress. This thing is obviously moving forward. So I'm not here to ask, can we stop this? I'm here to talk about what happens to the rest of us residents on the block while it does. The homeowners on this block are no longer just bystanders to this project. We are, I would say, participants. I think we are now considered stakeholders in this huge billion-dollar undertaking. And our financial health, our property values, our quality of life for the next decade, all of it now kind of hangs on how well this project is executed, including all of these early stages now. Because our future kind of hangs in the balance by that. And as stakeholders, we deserve to be treated like stakeholders, which I think brings me to my main point, which is communication. So about a month ago, I sent an email to you, Mayor Crow, to some council members, to our state representative, giving an update on what I knew had been happening on our block, finding out what had been happening and letting you know and asking to be kept informed. I didn't hear back from anyone. I heard nothing. And it wasn't until I found out about this meeting tonight from our neighbor and council member, John Dean, that we are lucky enough to be able to be here tonight and to meet with the MSD folks. That wouldn't have happened if two neighbors hadn't passed. So this is what we're asking for. We just need to know what's happening, just like you all were asking for tonight. We just need to know what's happening. When will digging commence? When are trees going to fall? When are explosives going to be used? Will our block be closed to traffic during construction? All of these things. Our homes are not expensive big homes. All of our houses on this block are under $500,000, right? And if that value gets cut in half, which that's not hyperbole. Anyone trying to sell their house right now next to a massive project like this is going to be a problem. And now it sounds like it's going to be a problem for 15 years. 15 years. We didn't choose this. The woes of us who have remained whose houses were not bought out, we did not choose to participate in this, but we are deeply now ingrained. We are joined at the hip with MSD. This is a sacrifice we're being told to make for the greater good. We're being asked to give up 10 years, now maybe 15 years of peace, of quiet, of our trees, our property values. And I guess what we're asking for and what I tried to explain earlier was, can you guys just acknowledge it and see us, please? If there's no plan to protect the people who are staying, then I have to ask honestly, why is not MSD just buying the whole block? To be clear, I don't want to move, none of us do, but if what's left for us is a decade of construction with no support and no acknowledgement, it's just kind of death by a thousand cuts. So here's something that we can do tonight and we discussed with MSD. Give us a dedicated point of contact, one person at the city or at MSD whose job it is to keep us residents informed. not a general hotline, not a website that's going to get updated twice a year, a real person who's going to tell us what's coming before it happens, not after. I just found out by a right of information act that this project, these houses were slated for destruction in September of 2024 as approved by the council, as approved by the city. You all have known about this since 2024. The fact that we didn't know about that That's scary stuff. If you need somebody to help coordinate this, they now have my information. I will happily gather questions, pass along updates, make sure that information reaches the people. I've been texting Pat. I've been texting all the people, the neighbors that I have. Let us know what this is going to look like. Give us a realistic picture of years 1 through 10. I think the idea of us sitting down with MSD is a great idea because right now we don't have anything to go on. And it's really scary. It's really scary. I was walking down my block today and I'm looking at all the trees and I'm like, these all trees are going to go down. And those two houses are going to go down. And I'm going to be living to an empty lot for six years before a big hole is built. So just involve us and inform us and see us as the stakeholders we are in this project. That's all we're asking. See us as the stakeholders, the people that have the actual skin in the game more than anyone else in the room. The people who are remaining, who were not bought out are the people who who are the stakeholders here, who are most at risk. Thanks for the time. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Our next request to speak is Tom Sullivan.

Tom Sullivan, 751 Syracuse, 63130. The street light at Olive and Kingsland is out, as it has been for nearly 10 months. This is what's called a pedestrian or streetscape light. There are three more out on Kingsland, immediately north of Olive. As I've been saying for some time, the North Loop area needs some attention. There are various dumpster lids that need replacing, utility wires hanging down all over, and there's an occasional street light out. In one block-long alley, there are five wires hanging down, a street light that's out, and one dumpster with a lid that needs to be replaced. The city needs to contact the utility companies and have them take care of the wires. And there are branches down from the big storm about two weeks ago. Some are on the Eckerd Walkway, some are on the Loop North Median, and some are on the Leland Median. There's still the matter of missing covers at the bottom of streetlight poles. I reported one last week that was unusual and that was clearly tampered with and the wire connections were pulled out a bit. The cover was removed and set on the ground. I don't know why anyone would want to mess with these connections as a good way to electrocute yourself. These are high voltage wires. As I mentioned before, the city cut out the shrubs surrounding a big rock and a small patch of greenery across from All Saints Church. A plaque was installed in the rock in appreciation of University City police officers, firefighters, and EMS personnel. In place of the shrubbery, wood chips were placed. This considerably diminished the display. It's puzzling why this was done. This is across the street from Eckerd Park, which could also use some attention. Four trees planted in a park died due to a lack of care. Thank you for listening to my comments.

Thank you very much. Our next request to speak is Hannah Brick.

Hi, Mr. Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Hannah Brick, and my husband, Liam, and I reside at 409 Westgate Avenue. We are also the owners of 1079 Wilson Avenue. We are encouraged that the offer for our property was on last month's council agenda. This step makes the process feel more concrete than ever and came just a few days before the four-year anniversary of the 2022 flood that started this. We are happy to have found a new residence within University City, but the weight of this process and property still hang heavy and have slowed our enjoyment and ease of settling into our new home. The past several months have seen a lot of rain, some of which has led to near flood events on Wilson Avenue. We are concerned about the safety of our neighbors who have not yet secured new residences. Additionally, we still carry the responsibility for the maintenance of 1079 Wilson, meaning these rains and near-flood events continue to add a great deal of stress to our lives. Adding to our recent frustration, we have received two citations this season regarding yard maintenance. In the years since the flood, we have maintained our home at 1079, whether or not we were able to safely live there. Our neighboring home, 1083 Wilson, particularly has had years of deferred maintenance and yard overgrowth, which we reported to the city on many occasions, including eight foot weeds the last three summers and a downed tree filling the backyard for several months following the 2025 tornado. We have certainly not abandoned 1079 Wilson and have worked to maintain the yard biweekly this summer, but you can imagine that maintaining the yard while moving and preparing to welcome a child has been burdensome. We imagine that our closing would be scheduled by now and that we could reasonably turn yard maintenance over to the city to maintain over to the city. We are committed to partnering with the city to maintain the high quality neighborhoods and excellent community environment. And I hope that the city can match our commitment and consider the entirety of our situation when enforcing codes. We are so grateful to have a light at the end of this tunnel. However, we are feeling some frustration and discouragement about the unclear timelines as the city awaits bids for demolition. We have based our plans on the information shared with us. In May, the HMGP homeowners were told that closing would be scheduled approximately 30 days after accepting the offer on our homes. Demolition we were told would follow within 90 days of closing. At this point, most closings are still unscheduled, even for the homeowners who accepted their offers in May. We understand that coordinating and scheduling the acquisition and demolition of these homes is complex. However, not knowing when to expect closing means that we on Wilson Avenue cannot reasonably make plans about what comes next for us. We are hopeful that the city will continue moving through the necessary processes as quickly as possible to make plans for demolition since SEMA is requiring that in order for closings to be scheduled. We have experienced many life events and family milestones in the four years since the flood, including the deaths of a sibling, parent, and grandparent, a marriage, and now the anticipation of a child. Each event has been colored by our experiences on Wilson, and the weight of this lengthy process has added to the stress of each life event. We know the members of the City Council and those city employees working on this project want to see it completed as much as we do. Please keep in mind that the uncertainty and delays create additional challenges for us, your neighbors, who want and need to make plans for our future after this buyout. Your continued support and dedication to the project is so valuable, and we remain grateful and hopeful that this process will continue toward completion. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Our next request to speak is Gerald Teers.

Gerald Teers, 7345 Chamberlain. Honorable Mayor, members of council, some time ago, former Mayor Welsh gave you what seems to be rather good advice. As things stand, it appears that the city will have to find about $1.8 million every year, in addition to any other expenses, to service the debt for the new police station court facility for the next 25 years. Well, that's what I'm told. There's no dedicated revenue stream that I'm aware of to support that expenditure. So it'll have to come out of money that would otherwise pay for current city services or out of cash reserves that may be needed later. I understand the city's financial position may be a bit different now than previously believed. The budget for 2027 shows cuts in many expenditures relative to the last several years. What other cuts might be needed later is not known now. Meanwhile, debt service, which was essentially nothing in 2024, is now shown as a bit over $1.8 million. The all of development will not help, although many think it will, because, of course, we are a county sales tax pool city, and therefore we give away approximately 95% of the sales tax income from all sources. The dedicated taxes such as parks and stormwater mostly do not contribute to the pool, but for those that can legally have transfers of funds to general revenue, doing a transfer simply starves those services. That solution is no better. For the long term, neither is using the fund balance. A bond issue, if successful, would provide a specific revenue stream to take care of the debt. without constraining the regular budget, excuse me. There's of course no guarantee that it would pass, but I think you owe it to the residents to put it to a vote. If you explain the choice and consequences well, you may be surprised at how well you city residents respond. It does not appear that the tax would be particularly heavy. It looks like it would be considerably less than the annual solid waste bill. Not nothing, but not prohibitive. I understand the reluctance to do what might be considered a flip-flopping on past promises of no added burden on taxpayers. However, absent some magical new revenue source, the citizens may be burdened by the annual lack of $1.1 million worth of city services for 25 years, amounting to a total of nearly $50 million. That is a less visible but quite real tax, one that residents were not given any choice about. Taxes in general, as you may know, are currently under attack from the state and others with looming national economic uncertainty. There may be even less revenue available in the future. Assuring a dedicated revenue source for retiring this debt appears to be a prudent approach and best for the city in the long run. A bond issue therefore deserves a good look. Putting the matter to a vote. allow the citizens an informed chance a choice as to what they're willing to do then whether it passes or fails is the choice of the citizens as it should be thank you i'd like to have this in the record thank you very much our next request to speak is grace brace kennedy

Mr. Mayor, Council, ladies, gentlemen, my name is Bryce Kennedy. I live at 1527 Quindo Avenue in Raby Park. The Third Ward Task Force has submitted recommendations and funding proposals aimed at revitalizing the Third Ward and addressing the needs of its residents. What is the timeline, if any, for the city to review and implement the funding proposals submitted by the Third Ward Task Force. Additionally, when can residents expect University City to provide a comprehensive plan outlining its commitments, resources, and partnership in carrying out the Third Ward revitalization efforts? We would be happy to provide any and all contact information to receive your response. Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much. Our next request to speak is Charles Price.

Mr. Mayor. Ms. Reese. Council members, friends. First of all, we're going to leave this with you, Mayor Crow. This is an invitation for you and your family and anybody else you'd like to invite to our Rabie Park Community Block Party. I heard the musicians that'll be there will be really lively and fun. And my name is Charles Price. I live at 1565 Quindo University City in the Rabie Park area. And Ms. Reese, you are able to come also with supervision. Keep it light, right? I'd like to talk about the Olive Corridor Plan. And I say this because the plan that's in place, some of us might not be around before we receive any benefits. So here are some of the things that we think that are important in the Raby Park area. The Olive Corridor plan established a goal of generating approximately $10 million in funding to support improvements and revitalization efforts in the third ward. It is our understanding that more than $4 million may have already been collected or generated through this plan. Number one. We're asking, can the city provide an update on the total amount of funds collected to the date under the Olive Corridor Plan? Number two, of the funds collected so far, what portion is currently available for investment or distribution within the Third Ward? Number three, does the city have a distribution plan, a capital improvement plan, or a project schedule identifying how and when these funds will be spent within the third ward? Number four, if such a plan exists, when will it be made available to the residents and the neighborhood associations within the third ward?

and also the council members so that they can bring that information to us.

Number five, who is responsible for determining the amount of funds available for distribution each year? Is there a designated city accountant, a financial director, an administrator, or oversight committee responsible for this information? If not, the Raby Park Association, neighborhood association would like to be part of that and helping out with figuring out how to distribute this funds and how it should work in the third ward. We'd almost volunteered to be a test cycle. Number six, what criteria are used to determine how much funding is released and how does that business performance within the olive corridor affect those decisions? Number seven, what is the anticipated timeline for the first distribution of funds to the third ward? Finally, number eight, will the city commit to providing regular public record on the amount collected, the amount distributed, and the status of projects funded through this Olive Corridor plan? The residents of the third ward would appreciate clear timeline transparent accounting of the funds collected and a detailed explanation of how decisions regarding these distributions of these resources are being made to the third ward. I thank you for your time. And can I leave a copy of this for you?

Thank you very much. Though our time has expired, the only two speakers we've got left want to speak on consent agenda items that will come up afterwards. So I think it would be behoove us to let those folks come up and get their comments in now, because as I said, the consent agenda just moves right through normally. Next request to speak is Ravi Patel.

Greetings, Ravi Patel, 1542 Raby Drive. I'll speak on the consent agenda item first. That's Bill 9586 related to revised park hours. I was here on March 9th talking about revised park hours and just openly just looked around at our other municipal neighbors and realized that we were a little bit out of lockstep. I was pleasantly surprised after all those months of going to the park commission meetings that I eventually found an ally. I don't know if Reggie's here, but he also agreed. And as working with the group, coming to all those meetings over that time period, I think the commission has come to a consensus, which I believe you're going to be reading about today, but not voting. But I'm completely for it. My neighbor's completely for it. I don't like going... to any government place, especially a park, and it's dark and there's people just hanging out there. I don't think that it's appropriate for anyone to be on city property in unlit areas. I think it's a great idea. I think it's going to help curb crime. Maybe it'll keep the weird people that hang out in the park over by me out of the park. I look forward to it. But I did want to say the police department's great. I mean, I check my cameras every night and I see them at least patrolling three times in our neighborhood. I freaking love it. I love the police department. Whenever we call, they're there right away. Love it. Huge support of the police department and just the other departments as well. And the parks department's been great. And working with the directors and such, when we're trying to do our block parties and such, the city government, in general, I do like speaking with the employees. My non-agenda item is related to 7346 Lynn. It's an abandoned property in the middle of the Raby Park neighborhood. It's in between Lynn, Raby, Hawthorne, and Jackson. We're starting to see this, I think two months ago I came and when I congratulated the city manager that we chopped it down, things started looking really up. Man, it's already overgrown. And the rodents are back. The raccoons are back. And the snakes, oh my goodness, the snakes. I found at least two dead snakes in my backyard already. So it's becoming a nuisance again. And what I wanted to talk, well, I'm not going to talk about it, but a recommendation that I think would be good is to roll something to do with that land into the revitalization plan. It's dead land. There's nothing on it. I mean, there's plenty of opportunity to build new houses in the neighborhood, just like that's in the revitalization plan. I think it'd be good. It would resolve some drainage issues that we currently have in the neighborhood. Impacts me quite a bit. And it would also, if new houses are built, it could add some new homes into the tax block, which I think would be pretty great, and get rid of some of that nuisance around there. I don't have anything else to say. I just wanted to thank everyone for their time.

Thank you very much. Our final request to speak is Patrick Fox.

My name is Patrick Fox. I live at 1309 Purdue Avenue. I'm here to talk about the Facade Improvement Program that is on your consent agenda. As many of you know, that program is funded by the EDRST, which is a retail sales tax. That fund balance is nowhere near what the Third Ward Balance Fund is. Yet, we have three presentations that are recommended for approval that I view as problematic. First... One of them has already received funding before, albeit for a different property. I suppose it's okay if we were allowing people to sell property at a profit and not roll that into their new property because we'll continue to fund them for facade improvement. One of the other properties on Purging Avenue is also a mixed use. They have three apartments in it that charge $3,000 a month for rent. That doesn't really spark economic development for me other than for the landlord not having to pay to maintain the property. As you know, the Third Ward Housing Task Force made recommendations after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a consultant to do that. Those recommendations were then edited before it was presented to this body to add qualifiers such as income restrictions. Why isn't there an income restriction on EDRST funds? Profitable businesses gets $15,000 to improve their facade when there's limited funds available, yet we can't seem to find a plan for what to do for the third ward housing task force funds. It is very disappointing, it is very frustrating, and it is not equitable at all. If you are going to have rules and processes in place for putting dedicated funds out to the public, please be consistent in your application. I also would like to add that The gentleman that spoke about changing the park hours. Now, I was on the Park Commission previously, and I will have to say I am vehemently opposed to this, and here is why. Number one, people should not get a pass to change the community's standards when they come in and did not do their due diligence on the hours of the parks that their property is near. That's called poor planning. Second, the bill as presented does not seem to have any carve outs for things like the dog park, which frequently is used after dark. So I would consider you to at least amend that to allow for some more reasonable exceptions than as presented. But I view it as a way to prevent people from actually enjoying the parts after dark and from the police department to actually have to go through those. In the recommendation, it mentions public safety. And this body all too frequently takes the word of just public safety. Anything can be public safety. Giving them machine guns can be public safety. If they kill someone who is a murderer, that doesn't make it right. Please make better decisions. Thank you.

Thank you very much. That concludes our citizen participation. I will now move forward to council comments. Are there any council comments at this time? Council Member Tiemann.

Thank you, Honorable Mayor. Yeah, it was kind of the heavy during the study session. So I wrote something for all of you. And so I think I'd like to take a minute and have a more perhaps a better term uplifting vision. So let me take a minute. And this is for not only my colleagues up here on the dais, but for all of you out there as well. Honorable mayor, I'm an old hippie and an old poet. I'm also a city council member and a Vietnam war veteran. So it is out of these facets that I ask a simple question about politics and about our town. When did we stop talking about love? be it national, state, county, or local, I don't see a lot of uplifting visions. I do see negativity, narcissism, cynicism. Our town, we get so lost in the minutia of government, so swept up in the cynicism of the occasional narcissist that we lose sight of the beauty of our home. I don't want to gloss over our problems, which are many. I do want to take a minute, however, and simply point out why this town works. And the answer is love. We love our town. We love our neighbors. We are a diverse community. Just yesterday, two women walked by my house. They were laughing. They were speaking Chinese. I couldn't help but smile. 12% of our community speaks at home a language other than English. Half of our community is made of people of color. About one in five of our citizens are Jewish. We welcome and support our LGBTQ plus neighbors. Many would say a town like this shouldn't work, but we're having a building boom. Businesses choose to locate here. University City, Missouri prospers because of love. Honorable Mayor, we live in a time of appalling xenophobia, racism, homophobia, and sexism. Our nation has become uglier. Our nation has become crueler. We need look no further than Overland, a town we can see from these council chambers. Two of our neighbors were murdered. Their children orphaned. Why? Because they were brown. Because of xenophobia. Because this man and this woman were immigrants from Guatemala. Love is many things. Easy is not one of them. That difficulty notwithstanding, love is what binds us. We must never lose sight of the beauty of University City. With all the threats to the Democratic Republic, we are a symbol of pluralism at its finest. The voice of the cynic must never deafen us to the laughter and the language of two Chinese women, our neighbors, walking down the street. Thank you.

Any other comments at this time? Hearing none, we'll move forward with the public hearing. I will open the public hearing at 7.07 p.m. Madam Clerk, do we have any requests to speak?

There are none.

Madam Clerk, do we have any written comments prior to noon today received by you regarding the public hearing?

There were none.

Therefore, the public hearing will be closed at 7.07 p.m. To my colleagues, you have before you consent agenda K1, 2, 3, and 4. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? Motion made by Councilmember Brenner. Is there a second? Seconded by Councilmember Fuller. Is there a discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Ms. Sharpe.

Honorable Mayor Crowe, members of the city council, before hopping into the business items, I would like to introduce you all to our new finance director. Jeffrey Joyce joined us last Monday. So this is the beginning of week two. And I'll just ask Jeff to step up for a second so that you all can see him. And he'll tell you a little bit about himself before we hop into the business items.

Hi, my name is Jeff Joyce. And as she just said, I'm the new financial director of finance for you. I have been, I'm a CPA. I have CPA credentials. I've Well, I have a master's in account accountancy. I worked for Deloitte and Touche. I worked for Citi for about fifteen years. I've done my focus has been in financial reporting and regulatory compliance and technical accounting and compilation of financial statements. I also taught at UMSL and at Lindenwood, governmental accounting and financial accounting and auditing. I have a vast background across many, many industries and specifically in banking. I was formerly at Paramount Bank as a CFO. until Brooke recruited me here. So I'm here to hopefully establish, not hopefully, to establish a foundation, a strong financial foundation with clear transparency, with strong internal controls and reporting to support you in your decision-making and in your strategic decisions. decision-making for the city. Any questions about my background? That's a little bit about me. I do have Five kids. My wife has five kids. And we have 12 grandkids. So we are busy with kids, grandkids. And I need this job to support my grandkids. Not my kids. They're all adults. Now it's turned to my grandkids. It definitely has turned to my grandkids. And they ask for money all the time. And they're only 10 and 12 years old. But I'm so excited to be here. I'm so excited to work with Brooke and to really... One of my specialties is going in and fixing things. That's my internal background and my risk background. I just got off of a bank that I pretty much went in and had to fix it. And so I'm really excited. You know, some people I think don't like that. I like that. I want to fix things. I want to make things better. I want to make a difference. And that's one reason I'm here, too, is because of the community that I'm able to serve, not the profit makers I've served a lot of times in my past. But any questions about my background or me?

Welcome.

Thank you so much, Jeff. All right. Thank you.

Okay, Honorable Mayor Crowe, members of the City Council, this next item is a request for a capital improvement program budget transfer, transferring funds from the Pershing Improvement Project to the Street Maintenance Program. If you all recall, when we were preparing and ultimately when we adopted the budget, we had $0 budgeted for street improvements due to some necessary cuts. At that time, one of you did ask where we were with the Pershing Improvement Project as we had included funding to cover all the grants that we've committed to. At that time, I did not have that information. Since then, I have learned that we've paid about $1.4 million, and we only have about $200,000 left. We have already received one reimbursement for over $600,000. So with that, I consider our match met, and I am requesting to reallocate $548,565. to the street maintenance program. I've given you a list of the streets. If we are able to get this approved tonight, then we will be able to say that we've gotten streets done in all three wards when I didn't think we would be able to get any done. And we will, the total is street improvements will be $828,565 that we've been able to find essentially and allocate to street improvements for this fiscal year. And with that, I can take any questions.

Are there any questions of the city manager? Council Member Brenner.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm sure we're all pleased that we can do some streets and everything as we go forward with hopeful thinking and with hope. If there are other funds that come available, should we start talking about what... focuses we should have. Like, for instance, I know forestry budget was cut dramatically. I don't know if there are other things. And maybe it's just not taking as much out of reserves. but it's something to kind of think forward if we can be hopeful.

Honorable Mayor Crowe and Council Member Brenner, yes, we are looking at everything. As I stated, we were adopting the budget, but that was not the end for me. I am constantly reviewing what we are doing, what we're spending to see if we can allocate additional funds to some of those areas that were cut. We were able to include some funding for tree trimming and tree removal, we had $0 for streets and sidewalks. So that was the priority. Now that we've been able to identify some funds for that, we will start looking at some of those other areas where we could.

Council Member Smotherson.

Thank you, Mayor Crowe. Just a quick question addressing streets that are listed in Ward 1. We can look at that. If I'm correct, Blanca Drive, I don't know if I'm saying it right, but Swarthmore, Blanca, those streets, aren't they in the third ward?

I would defer to Director Mirella Solage. It looks like she's giving me a thumbs up. She has indicated that those are in the third ward. So they may have been placed on the wrong place on the spreadsheet. We did alter it because initially we came to you, I believe, last month to ask to reallocate those EV charging station funds to some street projects. So I wanted you all to have a complete list of all the streets we'll be able to get done in this fiscal year.

Okay. And then the last question I have is, are we still using community development block grant money in this process to improve streets? And what streets were identified to be used for that, those funds?

Thank you for that question. And yes, so there was a special round of CDBG application. That number was one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And that is how we were getting the streets listed under Ward three. We actually that was the first application that we submitted and we identified these streets. They were recommended by the director for the third ward. So that was actually the first application. 150,000 from the CDBG, then we got the 130 from the EV charging stations, and now we're requesting to reallocate these funds.

Thank you.

Mm-hmm.

Council Member Tiemann.

I just, Honorable Mayor, I just want to thank our city manager. and all those who are involved in here, including Drexel, on this list of streets to be taken care of. These people have been asking for years for this, and I just want to say on behalf of them, thank you.

If there are no further questions, is there a motion to approve? Motion made by Councilmember Thiem and seconded by Councilmember Fuller. Is there further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Ms. Sharp.

Honorable Mayor Crowe, members of the City Council, I will ask that Director Chandler step forward to present this next item to you all, which is a conditional use permit to modify restaurant use. And as you see, there are two different addresses there. Craig.

Thank you, City Manager. Good evening, City Council. Craig Chandler, AICP Planning and Zoning Director for the record. This agenda item is a conditional use permit. More precisely, it's an amendment of an existing conditional use permit that was originally obtained by the applicant in 2006 for Dewey's Restaurant. It's located at two properties, 551 559 North and South. Some background on the subject. Properties are located near the intersection of Del Mar and North and South. Zoning these properties is the limited commercial district where restaurant is a conditional use. Dewey's has operated since 2006. Then property owner later acquired the property adjacent at 551 North and South, which is a part of this application. And Dewey's recently acquired both properties from the prior property owner. The applicant's proposal is to combine the parking lots to improve internal and external traffic circulation, to construct a new trellis structure over existing outdoor dining area. Some other improvements involve changing the floor plan, which results in a reduction of two seats, the addition of bike parking to achieve compliance with the bike parking standard, and to supplement with new landscaping to achieve compliance with landscaping requirements for the interior and the perimeter of the parking lot. In regard to the proposed trellis, the applicant proposes a 20% reduction in the minimum required setback, reducing the proposed setback by three feet from the minimum required 15 feet to a proposed 12 feet. Neither staff nor planning commission have objections to the request. So we do support that request. Because the restaurant use is a conditional use in the limited commercial district, that's why these improvements could not be authorized administratively. Analysis, so staff's analysis and planning commission both found that the improvements would maintain compliance for the restaurant use with seven of the review criteria, as well as affirmations for five required findings of fact. A recommendation from staff and planning commission unanimously is approval with three conditions. Those three conditions relate to maintaining compliance with dimensional requirements for parking lots based on the striking plan submitted by the applicant, maintaining compliance with landscaping based on the landscape plan submitted by the applicant, and a reminder for the applicant to renew its outdoor dining application on a yearly basis. That concludes the staff report. I'll take any questions at this time.

Any questions from members of council? Hearing none, is there a motion to approve? Motion made by council member Brenner, seconded by council member Fuller. Is there a discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you very much. We'll now move forward to unfinished business. Madam Clerk, may we have the second reading of bill number 9584.

Bill 9584, an ordinance amending Schedule 3, Table 3E of the Traffic Code of the University City Municipal Code relating to parking restrictions, parking prohibited on certain streets at all times by adding therein the east side of Trinity Avenue from the alley at 524 Trinity Avenue to the driveway at 510 Trinity Avenue.

Thank you very much. May we have the third reading?

Bill 9584, an ordinance amending Schedule 3, Table 3E of the Traffic Code of the University City Municipal Code relating to parking restrictions, parking prohibited on certain streets at all times by adding therein the east side of Trinity Avenue from the alley at 524 Trinity Avenue to the driveway at 510 Trinity Avenue.

Thank you very much. Is there a motion to approve? Motion made by Council Member Brenner. Is there a second? Seconded by Council Member Dancy. Is there discussion? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Council Member Tiemann?

Yes.

Council Member Brenner? Aye. Council Member Fuller?

Aye.

Council Member Smotherson?

Aye.

Council Member Dancy? Aye. Mayor Crowe?

Aye. The bill is passed. May we have the second reading of bill number 9585?

Bill 9585, an ordinance amending Schedule 7 of the Traffic Code of the University City Municipal Code relating to stop intersections by adding therein the intersection of Center Drive and Stanford Avenue.

We have the third reading.

Bill 9585, an ordinance amending Schedule 7 of the Traffic Code of the University City Municipal Code relating to stop intersections by adding therein the intersection at Center Drive and Stanford Avenue.

Thank you. Is there a motion to approve? Motion made by Council Member Fuller, seconded by Council Member Smotherson. Is there a discussion? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Council Member Brenner. Council Member Fuller. Council Member Smotherson. Council Member Dancy. Council Member Tiemann.

Aye. Mayor Crowe. Aye. The bill is passed. We now have Resolution 202607. Is there a motion to approve Resolution from Municipal Park Grant? I'm sorry, Council Member Dancy. Thank you. Motion made by Council Member Dancy, seconded by Council Member Smotherson. Is there a discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Who would like to introduce Bill No. 9586? Council Member Smotherson. Madam Clerk, may we have the first reading of Bill No. 9586?

Bill 9586, an ordinance amending section 115.20, I'm sorry, .260 of the University City Municipal Code relating to the closing time for parks by changing the closed time to between sunset to sunrise with exceptions.

Thank you very much. Are there any reports from the commissions to which our members are the liaison? Hearing none. Are there any more requests to speak, Madam Clerk? There are none. Are there any council comments this evening? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, I would welcome a motion to go into closed session according to the Missouri Vice Statute 610.021, legal actions, causes of action, or litigation involving a public governmental body and any confidential or privileged communication between a governmental body or its representatives or attorneys and individually identifiable personnel records, performance ratings, or records pertaining to employees. Is there such a motion? Motion made by Councilmember Tiemann. Is there a second? Seconded by Councilmember Fuller. Is there a discussion? Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Council Member Fuller?

Aye.

Council Member Smotherson? Aye. Council Member Dancy? Aye. Council Member Tiemann?

Aye.

Council Member Brenner? Aye. Mayor Crowe?

Aye. Thank you very much for joining us this evening.