Planning and Parks Committee - Regular Meeting

Hung updates. Well, gentlemen, we're being conversative. What are you here for? I'm here for to answer any and all questions about schedule on village green and um to talk about the Essen log. Oh, good. Cool. And we are live. We are live. All right. Well, welcome everybody to the uh City of Wildwood Planning and Parks Committee meeting for today, Monday, April 21st, 2025. And I want to just thank the committee for being agreeable to change the uh date the meeting so that we could accommodate um all the necessary um things we were trying to do for scheduling purposes this month. So, I'm glad we can get this in and um I will start off with a motion looking for a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting on Tuesday, March 18th. Roll. That would be helpful. Let's do a roll call. Sounds good. Uh Chair Galani here. Council member Preston here. Council member Mabry here. Council member Dodo here. Council member Atenberg here. Council member McCutchen here. Council member Rambo, Council Member Cray here. Right, we have a quorum. All right, we're good. All right, now I will entertain a motion to approve the minutes from the meeting on Tuesday, March 18th, 2025. Council member Roberg, and I found an error in the minutes. All right. Well, it's under um Rock Hollow Bridge repairs. The page four, number four. Number four, it says a motion was made by council member Rambo, seconded by council member Rambo. Kempy. I saw.

Um the chair's permission, we'll review the video and make the change. Okay. So, it would be a motion to approve as amended. Say that again. A motion to approve as amended. All right. Um, so we're just going to do the motion to approve as amended right now. So, do we is it okay with Council Rodberg, Councelor Dadwell to amend the motion? Um, we'll make that amendment. And all in favor of the motion amended, please say I. I. I. I'm going to have to abstain. I wasn't here. So, okay. One abstension. Any uh nos? Okay, good. Uh, all right. We got one extension from Council Mccrants. Okay. Do we have any uh public input from anybody here? You guys are here on a specific thing. Okay. Anybody online? We do have a speaker if he wants to speak now. Okay. Or you can wait. Would you like to speak now or I can speak whenever. I was just made aware that uh we were so we were one of the three or two low bidders on the Essen log cabin and Joe and I are working together on the village green job and basically I got told that we're they are going to recommend the other contractor who is higher than my number. um once again that they're going to recommend him though because of schedule ongoing schedule complications with Village Green and I guess I just don't understand it. Um, so not only am I here to answer any and all questions on the Village Green schedule that I'm happy to talk over that are uh outside of our control and if there are any inside of our control, I own the company and I can change anything and everything that needs to be changed. But

uh I uh guess I don't understand. So, so looking at the Essen log cabin, um, I put in a lot of bidding and a lot of forethought into it and everything and I was kind of looking at it as an add-on project to the village green job that we're currently doing. And we're going way outside of our schedule based upon multiple complications due to plans being redrawn, electric lines being moved, um just multiple different things that have changed. And I my schedule's been pushed so far that I have I have a large amount of swip recovery and general conditions. And I was kind of looking at this Essen log cabin as something that I I was kind of like, ah, well, I do the log cabin. I I'll just kind of eat the general conditions and all that stuff. And I'm not trying to say that I'm holding anybody hostage here or anything, but if I'm not going to do it, and it's going to go to the other contractor, which is fine. It's not my decision to make whatsoever, I I got to work something out with the schedule on the job and figure something out about general conditions and swip attributes and everything else. Um, so I guess I guess the I guess it kind of leads in from the Essen lock cabin into the village green project because I keep hearing that there's there's people upset about the schedule and everything. And so I guess I just kind of want to lead into I'm here to discuss any schedule questions that anybody has here. I'm happy to go over it with you and explain what's going on um as far as the project. Yes, sir. Council Rottenberg. Uh would it be appropriate to have the gentleman maybe just um give a little bit more detail on some of the challenges that he has he feels he has run into on the project so far? Yeah. I mean he kind of gave us a brief absolutely absolutely I I come up and

speak with you. So basically it's been a difficult project to say the least. Um the power was a huge the the electrical was a huge uh complication on the job the underground electric. Um I believe we're still trying to come up with a solution uh that we're we're still Joe have you had any update from Amron on the solution idea? Um they are working on the switch gear. They are they have a preliminary design. They're still refining that. We hope to have that as soon as possible. When we met and decided to consider the switch gear, representative from Amry, Missouri said it'd probably be a couple of months. And I provided that namely my updates to the city council. But the switch gear, at least as best as we can tell, would be a 40 to $50,000 savings on the overall change order. That's about $190,000 which is a great idea. I'm not I'm not argu It's a great idea to try and save money. I live in Wwood off of Inken Road or not off Inc. I'm sorry. I own property off in I live off of Hart Road. Um I own property off of Inken Road. I have lived here for 15 years I think. Um, I I guess I don't understand the whole complications due to schedule for multiple reasons with the with the whole asen log cabin thing. And so anyway, I'm sorry I have ADHD really bad, so I apologize. But so the complication was when we first started doing the project, it was originally planned that our electricians were going to underground the lines and put them to to bury all these power lines that are overhead out here. At the last

minute, the couple days before the job bid, there was a note sent out from the civil contractor that or civil engineer after he talked it over with Amarron, I guess, and his engineer that all the biders should eliminate the electric completely, the undergrounding electric portion of the job completely. So, we did that cuz all the contractors did. So, it doesn't matter if you picked me, if you picked Billy Bob Contracting Company, they're all going to not have it included in their number. Um, that electric running through that entire area of the site. The problem is is if you guys want to walk out with me and you and you drive along the front of this site right here, it looks like nothing's getting done because we excavated really fast for everything, which I probably shouldn't have done, but I was doing it to try and help sweep. So, the idea is that if you have that ledge right there along the pavement and everything, then you're eliminating any um runoff that could run down and run over that pavement and run out into the street and everything. So, that was a on purpose idea by me to make it so that the mud would stay on the site. Then, we ran into the problem with the electrical. Um, and we've been we've spent a very long time trying to fix that. Um, Amarind is not exactly a company. It's Amarind MSD and and and Spire. You're not going to tell them what to do. And this is how long it takes to get something done with that. Well, in the meantime, I've tried like heck to get things going on that site. Um there's times that we we have a representative hired. His name is Ken Keitell. He's with Terrespect and he's working with us. I I absolutely can't tell you how beneficial he is to the

project. Uh he told me I was insane. There was weeks that um so we had so much weather, it rained so bad that there was no working on this site. Well, for instance, the the things that we were trying to do to pick up schedule time was I knew that during January it was going to be really frozen in. Do you guys remember when it was like two degrees outside? Okay, Brier here told me I was insane and everybody else did, including Kaitel. But every day I was coming up here with a trailer. We were loading up all the equipment and we were bringing it to my shop in Eureka, pulling it into a pole barn, un hooking, leaving it all on the trailer and then overnight I was running this big giant wood burning heater to keep that entire part of the pole barn up to well above 50. It was about 65 degrees in there at night. And then in the morning, I would start that skid loader up and I'd hook up to that truck and I'd drive at two degrees. I'd drive all the way up 109 here with the skate loader running on the because you can't let that equipment freeze up. If you let it freeze up, you're not working. That's not happening. But I did that every day that week and imported clean rock. And I ended up getting the entire drainage system all up and running, which has I know that it seems like not that big of a deal, but it's made it so that we can have we've made leaps and bounds of of strides on getting the the pavers all installed inside the oval area. We're about twothirds of the way done with the pavers. By the end of this week, we anticipate we'll be about 80% finished up with the pavers. We're doing all the mass install and then we're going to install all of the outside banding that requires all

the cuts on the pavers. The pavers weren't the original option on the plan. they were an additive option that that I think personally is an absolute benefit for everybody, but it does affect schedule to do something different. The light poles that are on the job, we've argued back and forth with the landscape architects. How many times, Joe? Four times. How many times have we've moved these light poles? Uh, we've moved them four times because they just keep moving them all around on the plans. And I keep telling you guys, we can't do this. We can't keep moving. It's like building a house and moving your sinks all around while you're building your house. You can't you just can't keep doing that. And those are the complications that we've dealt with. I do I do understand once or twice it's been empty out there due to I have a emergency on another job or something. I'll pull my guys, I'll send them over, have them work for a day to fix up some SWIP on another job or something. But I do have them back. Um, today we poured the stairs. Unfortunately, the stairs that we poured, they're fantastic out there. They're not complete because I can't pour any of the lower tier of the stairs whatsoever because we don't know where Amron's going to run this electric through this whole area. So, I just want to be very upfront with everybody that I am willing to do whatever it takes to get this job done on time as best closely on any kind of a schedule as possible. But then going and I just so I guess since I own the company and I started Bombshell, I I do think take things a little bit too personal, but it is a little bit of a slap in the face when I'm working my butt off to try and get everything done.

And then I get told, "Oh, well, you're behind schedule on this, so we're going to go ahead and give the SNL log cabin to somebody else." when I was sitting there thinking to myself, well, this will give me time to go ahead and get this done and get this dirt moved out over here and then I can I was working it into my plans. Um, trying to figure out how to make it work out the best. And truly, I'm a little blown away. Like, it's so much easier to use the guys that are on site doing the concrete and doing the masonry block and doing all the work. And then as far as my guys building the log cabin, we're we have carpenters building them. These are laborers out here building these the there's no overlap that's slowing anything down. It's it's you have carpenters doing that. Um so it's a completely different group of guys that I got right now. They just finished up. It's actually talking about historic things. It's really fantastic. Today is the day that we just finished and opened a uh 1902 square dancing hall for the Union, city of Union. We just completely, we literally kept the roof on the building and lifted the roof up and replaced all of the beams that were holding the entire roof up and then put the roof back down, put all new metal roofing on it, and put a huge square dancing hall floor on underneath this thing. I'm not big into square dancing, but in the city of Union, they are. I'm going to tell you something. They are into it. So, and we we actually just finished it right on time. Um, so anyway, I hope in a roundabout way I kind of answered some of your questions, but I hope that you guys do have more because I I want to I'm an open book and I've had nothing but success at all of my projects and I know that this one is going to be successful and absolutely beautiful, but I need everybody to understand that there that I'm trying to work with you all on all the

complications that we're having on this site and I'm fine with it. But I need everybody to understand that this stuff isn't bombshell just being a bunch of contractors not showing up doing anything. We're we're clearly trying to work as much as possible out there. If you guys have seen something different, let me know. Yeah, I thank you very much for coming and speaking. I just wanted on a point of order can we had we did this under public participation but in the interest of the fact that it's supposed to be five minute cap per person obviously we went I went way over no it's not your fault we told you to do it but what I was going to say is can we just um amend the agenda to go straight to the village green update which is what all this will fall under and then we can have a discussion on that and then I think that would be more appropriate than keeping it Okay. Council member Dodwell, council cran second. So the motion and the second is to move the amend the agenda to bring village green up to the top of the topic so we can then have a discussion with but in log isn't it? That's what we're talking about. We got two it's kind of two items. The the log is something look if you guys don't feel I'm the right contractor to do it. I I want to ask you some questions about Yeah. But we absolutely village green first. It's Yeah, the Village Green is I think what is encompassing the whole thing and then we can discuss um all of these things under the same deal, right? I have allergies really bad. This is the first time I'm ever going to do this. Joe offers me a water every time, but I'm going to grab a water real quick. Go ahead. Got one here for you. Thanks. Is everybody Okay, so we got a motion on the floor five village green up to number one. Um and let me see here. I don't see a separate SN law cabin. It's down under planning matters. A little further down

though. It's under section B, planning matters. Why item two? I don't see section B item two. No, my section B number two says storm water management. Oh, you know what? [Laughter] I can read. I don't see it on here. Well, it's under I appreciate I appreciate that suck hero call. Yeah. Yeah. No, I appreciate it. Thank you. I was like, you're talking about and I'm like, I don't see it here and I approved it, but I don't memorize it. Let me approve it. Well, Village Green's under I mean and Long is also under Village Green. There's two separate I mean, it's in two different places. Well, it's on my iPad. It is. I know, but I'm using the I can also tell you guys get that. I can also tell you guys everything you ever want to know about pickle ball courts, too. If you guys want Yeah. All right, so let's get back to the motion. We got the motion on the floor and a second to move the village green discussion up to number one. All in favor of the motion, please say I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Okay, so now we're in the village green. And before we go into discussion, let me have director Vunich give his little his, you know, talk on it that he always does in the beginning and then we'll go into discussion and we can start asking questions and stuff. All right, director. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair and members of the committee, just so you know, I did send Mr. Dob a notice about tonight's meeting. I sent it first thing this morning because I think it's only fair that he has a chance to speak to the issues that I think from the department of planning and parks perspective are issues that need to be addressed. Mr. Dob was enthusiastic about the project. He talked about at one point having it ready for Celebrate

Wildwood 2024. Obviously, I'm concerned about Celebrate Wildwood 2025. And so from that perspective, we're working very hard together to get Village Green completed. And then there's the component of best law of cabin. I can probably address both of those at the same time, but I I'll honor the agenda as best as possible. So from the department's perspective, since the site is next door to city hall, I see it on a regular basis and since the first of the year and obviously weather has played a role in that, there is very there has been seldom times when there are more than one or two laborers or employees out at the site. given the time frames that are in the contract agreement and what's been promised previously. It's just again it's frustrating to see what I consider a lack of progress. Now saying that I recognize weather. I recognize the undergrounding of the lines is a major issue and we have had some problems with the plan sheets. Some of the dimensions, some of the designs just won't work. And as a good general contractor, Bombshell Construction has advised us of that and we've made those changes. We've been doing it more so in the field of late instead of going back to CDI, human nature, and then working it all around because that takes time. It takes days, if not weeks, to get those plans turned around. And so you tried to simplify the process as best as possible. However, you have a concert in less than a month. It's not going to be a village green. We have a concert in two months.

probably not going to be a village green. I don't know what the schedule is quite frankly. I get a schedule. It was for a few weeks, but I will tell you on Thursday, Brier, we have a third meeting on Thursdays. Not every Thursday, but every other Thursday and occasionally a little longer interval, said that the steps would be poured on Thursday. I mean, excuse me, Friday. I pull up on Friday, there's nobody there. I contact Brier. said, "Well, they need to be tested." We talked on Thursday that SCI is submitting bills for testing. What are they testing if they're not testing that? What are we paying for? So, it was a disappointment on Friday obviously when I saw nobody at the site. And so from my perspective, the topper was I went out on Thursday, young man named Tyler was out there and I was asking him about the project and he said, "Yeah, it'll probably take us another week, week and a half to finish the oval and then we'll come back and do the cuts." We said, "Yeah, we'll be getting pulled off." That's his words, not mine. And so from my perspective, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Why are you pulling off people? I don't care if Union has a square dance hall. I don't care if you have another project. This is a 2.2 million project. We've paid out $1.2 million, if not more. I need the attention here. And anything that draws attention away from Village Green as in Log Cabin, I think is unacceptable. And that's my feeling. Bombshell, they'll finish the project. we'll get it done. But quite frankly, any distractions, anything that would pull off anybody, if it's Brier as the project manager, superintendent being over at the SMON

cabin when he should be over here doing something, that's not acceptable to me. It may be acceptable to the committee and city council. That's fine. We'll work within the parameters, but we've reached a point where this is going to affect what we do for the rest of 2025. and my job and my promise to you is we'll have a facility for our events this summer and that's not the case. So from my perspective, I have to tell the committee that we're not meeting our deadlines and it's my responsibility to do that. I'll take the blame from all of you, but it's not a sole blame. We hired a contractor and paying him over $2 million. I expect not to hear from the laborer or the paving gentleman that he's getting pulled off site. I don't expect to hear that we're going to be out here tomorrow pouring because the testing's already been done because we're getting build for it and nothing happens. So that's the rationale. We're behind schedule. There's a lot of reasons for it. But when I look at the site, and this is the final thing I'll say, the undergrounding of the utilities is a big issue. We don't know how it's all going to fit. But if you work from west to east, there's a whole lot of the site that can be built, flat work, pavers, etc. And so why is it now almost the end of April and we have a concrete oval and twothirds of the pavers I don't know. So, I would love to answer you. You I'm sure they'll give you the opportunity, but I sit here and what I see and what you describe, I think are two um opposites right now. Okay. So, if there any questions of the department, I'll be

glad to try. Let's do this. Let's have Bob Shell just answer what director Vish just said and then I got Katie first and then we'll go to Go ahead. Okay. The reason why there's only a concrete opening and so, okay, so let's let's address a couple things. Number one, I agree with you that the stairs should have been poured on Friday. I lost my mind when I found out that the stairs were not being poured on Friday because I had my concrete contractor back out on me. Those stairs are poured today. on Monday. I uh they were not relying on testing. They relying on a rebar inspection that they should have gotten and in my opinion they should have got it a lot quicker. Uh they got it from SCI, but there's some confusion as far as the concrete company was going because they were contacting Cochran because who was the first testing company that we had on the job? Cochran. Okay. We stopped using Cochran because there's an entire area over here by the dumpster pad that we could have already had poured in concrete and everything. And it took over four weeks to get an answer on just a simple thing as far as far as undercutting underneath that area and putting down geogrid and and fixing it because it was a soft spot. And I kept saying, "Listen, these guys are not calling us back. They're not calling us back to your to I agree with you 100%. You you did the right thing. You got rid of Cochran and you got SEI out here. Ever since we've had SCI out here, we're getting we're getting the answers that we need and we got the undercut is done. It's complete. Um today we had SCI out here. They were originally Cochran was

demanding that we dig test holes in the amphitheater. That's all it's ready for concrete. The amphitheater is sat there. It's ready for concrete and has been ready for concrete since we had the the the problem with the ribbon curve around it that the civil engineer did. Uh they wanted test holes dug. We got with SCI. We got it all worked out that all they got to do is compaction test. The compaction test today did not pass, but you guys got to understand the moisture was extremely high. Tomorrow they're coming back at 9:00 a.m. I anticipate they'll pass. they you just got to let some of the moisture come out of the rock. Uh, unfortunately, Joe, I understand where you're coming from completely. I'm just going to say two things. Number one, placing blame on the contractor when the engineer has made multiple multiple problems for this job is not fair. And number two, if like Tyler out there speaking to a laborer about me pulling him off the site, uh I mean, I'm just going to tell you every single union worker that you talk to, I'll go out there right now and I'll talk to them and I'll say, "Hey, what's bothering you?" And they'll come up with a million reasons and tell you what's wrong with the world. They I mean, yeah, I had to pull them off a site to fix a SWIP problem. I understand completely that you don't care about union and all that other stuff. And I agree with you 100%. I had to get a SWIP problem fixed. I was running short. I had to get him to do it. He did it real quick and he's back now. And we're putting the papavers in now. Um I'm manning up this job tomorrow with how many guys we got coming tomorrow? Five out here. we were manning it up with five guys because now we've gotten to the point where we're coming around with the papavers where

we're going to need the more guys to make all the cuts because before you only need a couple guys to place all the blocks but when you're making the cuts you got to have a whole bunch of skilled artisans here as far as law cabin if you don't feel that I'm the right guy whatever I don't understand how we go I'm low and we're doing that fine what it's whatever I I just want to do a good job for you guys, but but I don't think it's fair, but a lot of people can have opinions and I can tell you what opinions are. They're, you know, this ain't. So, like I'm saying, I understand where you're coming from. I understand the frustration. I have you. You have to understand that when I bid a job that is a $1.9 million job to start with, you what you do is you figure in so much overhead into that job and supervision and swift time to keep to control everything. Okay? If you think that I'm not extremely upset that a job has gone for months and months and months due to things outside of my control. I'm not the one who came up with the electrical issues. The engineer did. I'm not the one that came up with the different patterns of the papers. The engineers did. I'm not the one that came up with the light light locations. The engineers did. I haven't come up with any of the problems to make to make the delays. I'm eating it bad, too. So, so it's in my best interest to get this job done as insanely fast as possible. What my worry is is bringing another group of contractors out here to go do

that in log cabin in the middle of when we're trying to knock this thing out. I I I that scares me to load it up even more and start to uh what do they call that? Blur the lines of who's doing what. And then the other thing is I mean sometimes like with the stairs having them come on a on a they say they're going to come on a Thursday or a Friday and they don't come until Monday. I guarantee you they weren't planning on coming here today to do that. Um, I just so you understand, I found out about it on Thursday that they weren't coming on Friday or no, I found out on Friday morning that they weren't coming on Friday morning. I was out of town. My daughter's selecting a college to go to and I had to go to a college with her. I flew back into town on Sunday. I got here at 3:00 in the afternoon. The owner of that concrete company, his name is Charlie Vitali, and he lives in South St. Louis, I was on his doorstep by 4:00 yesterday. That's what I'm talking about. I was knocking on his door and he can vouch for it and he will tell you. I told him that you better have guys there tomorrow. I don't care if there's been a exploitive tornado. You're pouring that concrete tomorrow. And it's poured. So, every once in a while as a general contractor, you guys, it's kind of like hurting cats, okay? But when it comes to uh schedule items that are outside of my control, you're saying that you were supposed to have a concert in a month that you can't have. You're 100% correct. Amron is not going to have even the drawings to you, according to them, for another month. You're saying that

you might not have one in two months. I'm going to tell you that if Amron gets you those drawings tomorrow, I'll you you guys don't know Andy Dob very well because I will make sure it happens. I'll get you that concert up and running. That's how I push. That's that's my number one thing is being pushy. And this man right here came with us to kind of explain to you just how hard I do push. We're What do we switch to this morning? And I said, I got out here or I did it on Friday. I said, I'm just done with all this. Everybody's working tens. So now we're going 10 hours a day out here. Um, anything and everything that I can do to get ahead of the weather and ahead of everything, I'm 100% allin. Um, as far as schedule goes with weather, we've had a crappy year. It's been a crappy year. My wife sent me a a news article which I still don't know where C's Creek is or what what the mayor was talking about. The Cats Creek. Oh, Hawks Creek. Yeah. So, it's apparently like taking people's land away. Um go down to Clayton and Strucker. It's down there. Down in Oh, down in that. That's where I get the homegrown tomatoes. It's that guy. The nursery down there. Yeah, that's how I know it. But I mean, I just kind of brought up I mean, there's news articles being released at how incredibly powerful these reigns have been. And like I said before, I knew that this was coming. So that's why I I had people and we can call Ken Kitel and ask him. I had people out here, Tyler was one of them, working in the rain, putting into the storm sewer line and putting in the drainage field around the the pavers just so that we could keep going.

Uh I I guys, if there's anything else I can do, I'll do it. I'll do it 100%. I I can't I can't stand If someone doesn't like Andy Dob, that's perfectly fine. I have absolutely no problem with that whatsoever. But if someone tells me they don't like a job that Bombshell did, I will lose my mind. It It will not I cannot let that happen. I won't let it happen. All right. Thank you very much for that, Katie. Number one, um it sounds like we've had we've been talking about Amarind since last fall. Yes, ma'am. And so I want to make sure that we're not putting blame on the wrong people here. Um what can we do as a city to light a fire under Amron? And is there something that we did to them in the past that is making them wait so freaking long to give us an answer on their qu our question? Um I would to answer your second question first. Um, actually they turned around the draft design within a week, which was a complete surprise to me because they had originally said that it may take a month or more. And so that was real positive. When did we get that? Uh, probably a week and a half ago or so, two weeks. And so it's it's been reviewed. The gentleman at Amron, Missouri that's in charge of the project now is still working on some refinements to it, but I think we're going to be ahead of schedule there. But as Mr. Dob mentioned, Emmy, Missouri is its own

entity and they move at a different pace than most. Okay. So if Amaran you say will be finished with this in a week? Well, I'm hopeful that it's a couple of weeks, if not less, but I can't guarantee that either. And that's what's holding up Bombshell at this point. Well, we need an approved plan from Emry, Missouri, so Bombshell can have that then have Ryhold Electric bid it. Yeah. Then we have to price it up with our electrician to get the to get the the remaining price. And then you have to purchase Do we have to purchase equipment to install? Yeah. No. So Amron provides the equipment. Basically, we It's so ridiculous how the power company does things. So we have to put the plastic conduit in and then they come in and they pull the wire in and they they wire it all up. Okay. So that could be another. So we to be clear, we did have an approved deal with AR, which is the way that they look at it, but we're trying to look for a cost alternative to save the city money. So, we kind of went back to the drawing board, which is guys, it's it's if you can save 40 to $50,000, I would say absolutely as a taxpayer, I would say yes, let's do that. Absolutely. But that did that is Amron's schedule. Like they they don't just look at it like they looked at it like case closed. Here's your answer. And then we looked at them and say, hey, case not closed, this is crazy expensive. So they actually out of which this is very rare for them out of their own they sent their people here and they sat with us and they did come up with an alternative suggestion that I think we'll save some money. Uh so it's not I don't think that Amron's doing anything to be facitious. I think it's kind of like the cogs of the Amron wheels turning. That's just the way that they move.

So second question is we have the power lines running right now. We know that's not our long-term goal. What is that preluding from the pavers being finished, the grass being installed, the stairs being finished. Granted, there's going to be some finishing work all along that stretch that'll have to be delayed until the poles come down, but what can we do west of where the poles are out to where we're supposed to have a project completed by this summer or this spring or never? That's my point. And so that's why I'm asking you two guys is so currently currently the problem is there's all these walls that go I wish I had a plan with me. I could run out and grab one. Do we have any here? There's there's uh there's all these walls going along these stairways. And ultimately it started out with everybody trying to save money for the city because like like I said these stairs all the way out to the entrance way is one pour. That's one big pour that is supposed to be done in one day. Now I have to meet with next level tomorrow because since we cut it off at the one stair and we're holding back so far now that's an added $5,000 mo right out right out the gate. they just well that's we have to remmobilize everybody out here. We have to redo all this again. It's an added mobilization. So there was people trying to save money by holding back far enough that we weren't trying to cost the city a whole bunch of money in extra mobilizations. Yeah. But I do agree with you. I to my to my

understanding I know that it it kind of in the in the layman's terms it really sucks because a lot of the stuff that's on the west side is done. There's underground retaining pond that's completely installed and ready to be put online. The oval as far as we could get it poured is poured. The amphitheater like I said we had a whole lot of problems with some design difficulties there. They're solved now. And we're trying to go ahead and get that poured out. Um, I'm actually trying now that I got this undercut done up here in my little area that I've tried to keep as my boneyard. I'm going to go ahead and just pour I'm I'm done. I'm just going to go ahead and pour it out now. I'm going to get everything and I'm just going to close it into an envelope right along the area where the the electrical is is needing to be installed at. Mhm. The problem is is you get to an area where you have walls that you can't install any of the wall cuz when you when you install a wall, you have to put in your base layer all the way along the entire thing. So, you can't do that. Um, I had a cut film map I had recently performed on the job. Everything from the stairs this way is on grade. The oval's completely on grade and ready for sod. Ryan Holt's coming this week to put in the power underground conduits and everything in the oval because I'm planning on I got to get that oval saw it. I'm just going to sold it and then we're trying to work it out with our irrigation guy where we could put in an isolation valve. It'd be one extra isolation valve. But if we did that, we could put the sod in and go ahead and let that get irrigated and watered because you put sod down, it has to be watered. Um we can't rely on this rain all the time. But we're we're gonna go ahead and get that completed and we're just gonna I'm just kind of looking at it like we're just going to work our way towards the electrical until we have the

answer. And then the minute we have the answer with the electrical, I know it sounds crazy, but you wouldn't believe how fast that area will open up because it's kind of like I've been on cons. Yes. You you manpower up for the size project of what you're doing. Yeah. And and right now when I tell next level you can do half the stairs. They go okay and they come cost them more because they've got to come back. I understand all of that. Makes complete sense. Okay that's one question. Joe, [Music] um you guys talked about Brier and Brier getting pulled and now we've got another company in. Explain that to us as to what happened there. Brier is behind you. He's the project superintendent. Okay, Tyler is the gentleman that I met out at the west end of the oval who was working on the pavers and actually Marty Ule was with me from go green because we're going ahead and starting to basically maintain the area around the construction zone so we're ready to go when the oval's ready to go so to speak. Okay. And that's when we asked, "How's it going?" And he said, "Well, if we were, as I said, we were here probably a week, but we keep getting pulled off. That's when it's like getting pulled off in mine." Well, because we have monumental rainstorms that are washing out creeks. I understand. We got to fix slip problem. So, I I understand. But is it communication then? Are you two talking? Uh I I brought Ken Keitel on because I can I can I can converse. Okay. But also we have N38, we have the reserve, we have the mixeduse development, we have I know right now about a 100 complaints on every kind of stom water problem. I don't want to rush

this either, you know. No. So I guess what I'm saying is I brought Ken Kite on back at the beginning of the year. So they have a contact person, okay, that can they can call immediately and he can get them an answer. And they're not communicating with you then. They are communicating with Ken and Ken communicates with me when he needs to. None of the decisions he can make without necessarily me providing input. But it seems like you don't get updated like you should. Is that what you're I wouldn't necessarily say that. It's just it's an ongoing issue of we've asked for construction schedules. Okay. I got one recently. It was for a few weeks. You know, most projects they give out a construction schedule and update it occasionally, but all I'm saying is from the perspective of the department is there's a whole lot of work that can be done out there. Okay. I think that's a simple request of the general contractor who made promises to all of you when you decided that he would be the contractor for the project. I don't disagree with that. I just want to make sure we're all understanding where we have um some communication issues. And so I I think I'm going to recommend at this point you two get together and put together a timeline based on what your goals are, but then it has to be dealt with in reality terms because weather will impact things. Yes. Um, and he's got to get together with here's what I can do before we can get the power implemented. That's our biggest problem is the schedule. I can't provide a good schedule without knowing which option we're going to take for power. Switch gear. Yeah, switch gear. I thought so. We're definitely go with

switch gear. Yeah, we voted on that last month. Yeah, and that's where we've been working from since the meeting with Sean from Man, Missouri. Once I see the plans showing me exactly how that's going to go. I don't have those yet. I I can provide all the schedules everybody could ever want. I don't have those. I'm waiting on Missouri. So, we're waiting on Amaran then. And again, I think they are working at a breakback speed relative to Missouri. Factor in the tornado on the beginning of March. I mean, I'm sure that they've been pulled every which way other than a village green versus getting power back. They're designed folks don't necessarily have to jump and run when the power gets blown over. Is there a I guess is there a way that we can have like a because this is you know maybe for future reference and we're going to do a project this big I think would be helpful because we've got the council we've got the committee we've got contra general contractor we've got Amarind we've got all these moving parts and of course we had the curveball with the with the underground versus the overhead that that came out of left field and then we had to deal with that um like almost like a flowchart that kind of lets us be able to that that we can maintain in real time, right? That whether it's a living document on the website or which I think would be important because residents could look at it too, but that would show like hey these are the different components that are remaining to be done and these are triggers. So somebody can go on there, like I could go on there and look and see, okay, well Amaran's got to do this in order for Bombshell to trigger this and this and this is the timeline that this and this is going to take. And I'm just saying from a project management perspective because right now I feel like we're all just sitting here and there's, you know, everyone's pointing in different directions like they should be doing this, he should be doing this and and meanwhile, you know, it's not like we just have the city and one contractor involved. We've got

Amron, we've got the, you know, all these different companies and all these different things. So, and I'm just speaking from a lay person that has no background in construction or building things or managing these kinds of projects. Um, just from listening to all of this go on for me, I'm a visual person. if I could kind of see that and therefore I know if like the schedule's been delayed here. Well, this this thing changed over here which created a a stop and we're waiting for X to be completed here which opens the door for this to then become part. In the meantime, we can go around project manager on this subject. Anyway, council member Rammo. Yeah, I was I'm sorry I got in here uh late. I' I've spaced on the meeting time, but um yeah, what what you're describing, Mike, is exactly what every sizable project in my world has always had. You have a project manager and you have you figure out um the critical path and what the slack is and how you can move that around given weather conditions or just whatever the the parameters happen to be if you're building a computer room versus a a park. Uh and um you can pick out a Gant chart, a per chart, visual things that would help you just look at it and say, "Okay, here's the timeline. Here's some slack. Here's this is the critical path, but they can be working on all these ancillary, um uh issues, uh while if they have if they get hung up on the critical path." And so, um, it's the the question that Katie was trying to ask, uh, a second ago was, um, uh, who's the project manager and why don't we have these documents because we should already have them in my opinion. That's just, that's just my my opinion. And I've done this. I'm project manager. It is Brier. We have we have supplied Gant charts in the past completely. I cannot supply a Gant chart with a with a 50 foot wide line of easement running through the project telling me that I can't do

anything in this area until we get this all this solved from Ammer. So, you're you're back on the point and I understand I and I I agree. Uh you have a problem. Um but you're contending that we would have had all that stuff and you do have it. It's just useless for now because of the problem with the Yeah. Until then, we're Until then, we're trying to give three-week look aheads to say what we're doing on the west side. Sure. Which is kind of a it's kind of a Gant chart. It's a little bit more rudimentary, but at least it's kind of saying this is what we're working on until we get this answer for the for from Amarind on what on how we're going to handle this whole area through here. So, so you would you would have that for everything except for the um that 50 foot strip. I mean, because you Well, I don't I was just saying a 50 foot. I don't know how the strip is. That's okay. That's what we're providing. We're trying to provide three-week look aheads as best we can with weather and Amarind. It's been a very difficult task to do right now. Okay. Visual that we're looking for though. But yes, you are correct. It's a Gant chart and that's what you're looking at. Council Rodberg, you mentioned um Ryan Hole coming out to do some work. Correct. What are they going to be doing? Uh they're trenching in the electrical and connecting up all the So, we have all the light poles poured in the in the oval area where we're placing the pavers and they have to go inside of that oval and put all the conduit in and then run it outside the oval and get it all ready to go so that they can run the power to all those light holes in that area. So, when we talk about the switch gear that's going to be used on this project, how are you going to connect up to that? Who's going to make that connection? Ryan will eventually, but then then you're running out of that oval. You're running down along the stairs. You're running over to where the switch gear is going to be that I don't know where it is. So, I can't go any further outside the oval.

And with the switch gear, unless they know the design of the switch gear and the dimensions of the switch gear, they don't know where to put the piping and so on in order to properly connect up to the switch. That's correct. I was involved in electrical construction for about 40 years. So we can install we can install the irrigation inside the oval. We can install the electrical inside the oval and do what? Rough end. The rough end conduits and everything. And then we we're going around and I have my surveyor coming out. I'm trying to figure out where else I can maybe get some light pole standards done that's not going to be affected by anything going through there that we could still connect up. That's the that's the extent of where I can go with all the electric. Okay. Mr. Statenburg. What I will tell you is the switch gear and the duck bank connection are generally in the same location at Main Street and Market Avenue. So we're not moving the switch gear down the street across the access drive on the city hall still at the end of Main Street. And so, as I say, from the perspective of the department, if we're in the general area, you can get a conduit near it if it's not moving to a radically different place. Maj. Yeah. So, you're working on the west side even though it looks like nothing has been done in the main section. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. Um, my son's a contractor. Yes. And everything I hear you say, I've heard him say because all these parts have to fit together. And if this guy over here doesn't do his job, then this whole thing gets thrown all off. So, I understand that. I also

understand that you made a promise and you think you made a promise. Um, I didn't know you made one, but if you did, if you say that, I believe it. Um, but we're we're spending a a lot of money on this and I I understand why you're frustrated. I understand why you're frustrated. So I mean, how I I don't know how to phrase this. Um, yeah, you you made a promise. You think it's important that we have our concert, our next our first concert in the Village Green. Okay. But a as a constituent, I would say, let's get it done correctly. We've had our concerts elsewhere. And I, you know, given all of this, we could have our our concert, our first or second one, somewhere else. I don't think anybody will be upset as long as we have the concerts, you know. Um, it seems like this is causing a lot of stress on especially the two of you. And maybe if we widen our time frame a little bit, even though you don't want to, it would be nice to have it all done, but it's not going to be all done. Let's face it. So, let's kind of move things around a little bit. Go ahead and have our concerts. We've always had them. You know, is it imperative that the Essen log cabin be placed before we open the rest of the village green? I mean, what what importance is that that the residents are going to complain about if that cabin's not up there when we get the rest of the village green done? I totally understand where you're coming from. I totally understand why you're frustrated because I would be frustrated if I were in your place, but you know, let's be I don't know. Let's be a little bit more fluid and and do you know some creative things so that this gets done the way you think it should be done and

it be done correctly because we are spending a lot of money on this. But does it all have to be fully complete as long as it's safe and we can use part of it at a time? I mean I don't understand why we can't have our concerts where we've always had them until this gets finished. And and honestly, I don't know that the residents know you've made a promise. I really don't. I know you did and you feel like it and you're responsible. I get that, Joe. You do a super job. Take a look out there. Yeah. Well, I haven't been over there, granted. Okay. But I mean, is it what I'm trying to say is can we do some kind of compromise here that that you know you know I hope you Mr. D, you're going to have, in my opinion, you have to have step up your guys. And I understand the rain and all of that. So, I think I don't know. I think maybe we should I don't know if you already talked to the other contractor for the Essen House. Is that already in place? No. Had a meeting today and I asked him some questions because I am concerned too about having two contractors, two separate contractors working at the same site for all intents and purposes. There are some problems with that. Wanted to get the impression of the other bidder that was a workable solution or not. Um I guess matching what you're telling me is don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Basically, it's like let's get the project done. Let's get it done according to plan and have quality product. Maybe rushing in isn't the solution. Exactly. Exactly. Council crayons. Uh, Mr. Dob, uh, yes, sir. When do you think you're going to be done with the project? Realistically, I think we're looking at if if let's say Amron comes in tomorrow and says here, or let's say that Amron takes one more

month. Okay, I think we'll be done end of July. And I think this is what Joe is looking for, too. Some some certainty. I want to be clear that that I'm not trying to cut you off in any way, but I want to be clear about a couple things here. Okay? I am not being argumentative towards Joe about this project. I understand the frustration, the situation that he has been put in with the plans. I have tried everything I can. I hope you feel that I've tried everything I can to 100% help out in any way that we can help out. I I understand that. And I'm not frustrated with Joe. I'm frustrated with the situation, but this is we're we're a little frustrated with you, I guess. I get it. and and and that concerns me a little bit, but but I think you can you can can uh uh just stay with it and go as Oh, we will not as quickly, but we want to we want a quality job, which I know you can do, but but you know, Joe's our man we go to. And when he sees uh nobody out there working, that adds stress, not to only him, but we feel the same stress, too, because we'd like to see it done. and I'm realistic about it wi with the the the weather and that just goes with it. As long as he he gets a good idea of when you think you're going to get it done, uh that helps everybody and uh and we appreciate you. So, I don't think we're we just want to No, no, I don't I don't I don't my my main reason for coming here tonight is to answer any of your questions that you guys might have about the project. Um, and hopefully translate that the dirty contractor is not always the villain. We're not always the bad guy. Um, you're at the mercy of a lot of people. We We are We are at the mercy of

a lot of people. And I'm not saying that I'm a perfect person and that Bombshell is a perfect company, but I'm not. And as far as as as having stress and everything, that's my life. I'm a contractor. I'm fine with it. Um, but I I do I'm I'm voicing my frustration about this whole bringing another contractor onto the site when we're already got all this stuff going on. But, you know, that's a separate issue. We're not sure we're going to do that yet. We're going to discuss that. That that's nothing's been decided on that yet. Yeah. And that's totally different. Thank you foring Don't feel left out, you know. Yeah. And then as far as uh as far as the schedule goes and all this stuff, Ma'am, I'm sorry. I don't know your name, but you said man up and get your guys. I literally tomorrow I got five guys coming out to start working on the uh Well, I didn't mean you weren't. What I meant was let's let's see how many people we can get out there and how much can we get done. No, I agree with you. I'm saying I agree with you. It would be a good thing for you guys to sit down and Joe would say, "Okay, within two weeks, this is what I expect." With all due respect, I think that Joe's extremely busy and I think Ken Kaitel is doing it. You guys are paying him to do a good job and I think he's absolutely wonderful and I think that the line of communication as far as it goes with me and Ken is is phenomenal. I love the guy. I was going to suggest to you guys that maybe it's a good idea to to to maybe look at him as maybe uh some sort of an outside construction manager to help out help Joe out when things start getting really overloaded. I think he's I I can't say enough good things about that guy. I I love Ken. I He's a great guy. Yes. Um I want you guys to all understand that I'll be I will make sure that this job follows through properly and that um I I I don't have frustrations with all you

guys. I just want you guys to understand that if you have frustrations, it's okay to yell at me some. I'm I'm good with it. I I It's It happens all the time. I'm confident. You can take I can handle it. I'm not going to yell at you. I can handle it just fine. Um and then as far as I said but the the the other the only other reason that I'm here is the S and log cabin thing. I I have a concern about that. But like you said, about all the time being on the council. Maybe I ought to be a counsel. I live a while. Maybe I ought to be a counselor. Oh, there you go. There you go. Be careful what you wish for. Council member Aabry. Um it'll just be piloting on. Thanks for thanking me. Okay. Council Rodenberg, just a real quick question. If um we are uh getting delayed at all due to Amron, we just gave a number of people from Amron a u special recognition at the last city council meeting and I know Mayor Garitano has some good relationships there. the people he has relationships with may be totally different from the people that might possibly get involved with with our project here, but maybe he can call in a favor and somebody can talk to somebody else to just help speed things along. I think Tom's been working on that angle. All right. Well, then I'm probably taking the words right out of uh proclamation back. We have we have been doing that and that's that's actually kind of what got the ball rolling on the first place about getting a new kind of getting a reinvigorated effort to um to get a new design out there. So I can give him another call but we do have close relationship with Aaron. We thought of that almost immediately. Okay, perfect. I didn't but did. So, so just to clarify, we've had good discussion here and thank you very much for coming. Absolutely. I'll have come every month if you guys like

to talk it over. I love to talk. Yeah. I mean, I think it's great and I think it, you know, um you're obviously passionate and dedicated and run a company and and uh it's great to hear from you and see you here caring about it because a lot of people would after hours to talk to us. So, I appreciate that. And yeah, I think with a lot of moving parts going on and obviously with these projects, you know, I coming from the the housing side of the business, I mean, whenever we're there's custom homes being built, they never ever ever ever finish when they're supposed to. It's just part of the thing because there's too many moving parts going on in there and it's just, you know, we got weather that's uncontrollable. There just there's so many variables. So I think obviously schedules are set from the front end to try to create a guiding principle to work towards but rarely if ever I mean we're seeing that with the charter internet thing. I mean we had that laid out and all the guarantees in the world and we're years out from from what they told us up front, right? So um and they're just one company we're dealing with versus having all these different players involved. So, I just think we have to my two cents on it is we just have to have a little bit I agree with what Council Member McCutchen said. Um, we want to get it done. We want to get it done yesterday, but at the same time, we're already committed at this point. We're building this thing. It's going to be the jewel of the city. It's if it takes an extra few months to make sure it gets done right and we don't miss out on anything or cut any corners or lose out on any of the value that's going to be there at the end, I think that's worth it. And um you know we got to have a few of the concerts over here in the field that um and Joe I know you once again it's been brought up already you work very hard and you care so much. So I know that the frustration boils up even more because you do care so much and and you do a good job. So um we see

that we understand that and um I think it's just somebody said it earlier just keep the communication going and just everybody's on the same team. Everybody's trying to get to the same endgame here and I think everybody we've got the right people involved. I don't feel like there's personally that anybody that's involved in this is is the wrong fit. So I think it's a matter of just keep pushing. Council Robert, I was just going to tag on to what you said chair about the communications. It's been my experience throughout the years that whenever there's misunderstanding on a particular project that it's usually due to uh poor communication. Now, poor communication may not be intentional because everybody's busy. Everybody's got a thousand things on their plate. But I guess I would just encourage everybody to keep the communication strong, keep it frequent, keep it going on both parties. Y again with Mr. Keitel on board now, Brier and Mr. Dob have a number, telephone number they can call pretty much any time during the day and he generally responds. if he doesn't, he certainly gets back to him as quickly as he can. And then um so that that was the purpose of the village green piece was related to just an update. So I think we just one more item on that. I kind of touched upon it very briefly, but I met with go green who is our park maintenance contractor. So, we're going to start cutting, finish cutting almost all the turf areas that have been kind of left alone due to the construction project. We're also going to be start taking down some of the construction fencing and silk silk control that isn't necessary because there's ground cover established. So, we're trying to push the envelope as best we can to get the rest of the site in an orderly manner. Thursday I asked Brier to kind of take a housekeeping of his site. We've got some

buckets of material things along those lines strewn along Crest View Drive. Gotten a couple calls from residents over there just about how it looks from their perspective. It's over a year now since we took down the trees. Kind of wondering when it's all going to kind of come to a close. So, there's a cleanup underway which should help things as well. And that'll include getting prepped for phase two in that in that regard. Council, I just had one other question. Um, this is a big area. We have residents that live around it. We also have a lot of activity here in Town Center. And once summer breaks, there's kids that are going to be riding bikes and looking for things to do. and boys will be boys and that kind of stuff. Are we going to be putting any fencing around the construction areas in order to ensure that things don't get stolen or things get damaged? We currently uh we currently have some construction fence up. If there's something that we need, we have temporary fence panels. We got to speak on that. We're taking down that fence now. Mhm. So your guys as contractor can mow that. Okay. Now I totally fine with running fence along the front right here. But some up taking everything down around back. Now we're super safe. All the nail pins that are out there, they're all capped with special caps from MOSA. So the site's safe if somebody was to wander on there. Okay. Uh yeah, it's still our police station is right over here. So you get the anticipation is that before they get out of school, we're going to have a lot of it poured. A lot of it closed in. I have the sod down. I have the area forward. That's my anticipation. My biggest fear is flat work with kids. Yeah. To see

their footprints or initial. They do. They love it. I know. I do. First get that in place. Well, that's why I'm trying to close in all the areas that I can close in, Joe. But yeah, I agree with you. I just kind of wanted to make sure. Okay, cool. All right, we good on that. And then what I was going to say is since Mr. Thank you. Well, since Mr. Dob's here and he had come to speak and and be a part of Nass having conversation, I would like to make a proposal that we go ahead and move that up to number two on the agenda and so we can have that conversation while he's still here so he doesn't have to wait for the rest of the meeting. So, I get a motion for that. Council Rottenberg, second by Council Member Godwell. Uh, any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all in favor, please say I. I any opposed? Any obstensions? All right. So, let's go into the SLO cabinet. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, members of the committee, as has been discussed in the roundabout way, relatively early screen to use the log Esen log cabin reconstruction project. This committee authorized via recommendation proceed forward with bidding until the completion of the architectural drawing. The bidding began at the end of last year and closed in late January of this year. We received four bids. Uh two of the bids um created immediate concerns. one from the fact that it was so low that none of the estimates over the last 10 year have even been close to that amount. Meaning that it just didn't seem to accurately reflect the design and engineered components of the cabin reassembly that were on the set of plans that were used for purposes. On the opposite end, one came in at $500,000 almost, which meant another

$280,000 toward the project, which obviously at this point we we just don't have. So that left the two middle bids, one of which was Bomb Bombshell Construction and the other being Sheret Contracting. The department has worked with Bombshell Construction and knows the individuals well and obviously you as well based upon our previous discussions both excuse me at the time of the village green phase one and now tonight. The department in its report does not criticize bombshell construction relative to the construction quality or capabilities. that in the report just simply says there's a lot to do in Village Green phase one and that any distraction whether it's an additional project here or elsewhere is just a distraction that would be unacceptable to the department Cher Contracting has done other log cabins it's in their wheelhouse discussion today they've done most of their work in the Herm Missouri area and they reference five different cabin reassemblies or constructions that they've worked upon. From that perspective, there's a greater level of experience than what bombshell construction has. And the bid difference is less than $5,000. So in a kind of different light, we talked about Billy Green phase one, it was almost $20,000 in difference. This is a less than $5,000 But just pulling that thread as tight as possible. It's just all about not distracting, not creating a potential problem by having another cond project. We were still not finished with the first and that is why the

department prepared a report with recommendation for the other bidder the higher bidder but again within the range of approximately $5,000. With that I'll close and if there are any questions or comments certainly I'll be glad to answer them. And to Miss McCutchen I'll conclude with just a response. We've had the log cabin the logs in the disassembled fashion for about 10 years since they were stolen taken to windill recovered and then basically stored. Does it all have to happen overnight? Certainly not for 10 years. There is some momentum caused by the Essen family and our historic preservation commission to move this forward eventually have it available for our 30th anniversary. That's drive that's been driving the discussion more so than I will tell you tonight if it were to be delayed a month or two or maybe even longer the project's still funded um partially funded for 2025. We've talked about allocating funds from other projects to cover the gap so we can meet the requirements of the two middle biders. But again, if you feel we're pressing the issue too much, I certainly understand. But we have two viable bids. Again, the primary difference between the two to the department is we need to get the first project done. Thank you, Councilwoman Rambo. Yeah, I um your your paperwork is is comprehensive as usual. Um, I'm confident you did the diligence on um, prior projects by Sheret Construction. Herman's a great area for them to be doing these kinds of things. the cost difference is meaningless and the expertise is quite likely um similar to Bombshell but Bombshell has its place

full from Wildwood's perspective right now and the added experience of several similar projects um sort of really tilts the decision to in Cherett's way and so whenever the discussion is done I'm ready to make a motion that we proceed with Cherrett but the question then becomes are we how how hard are we going to push on it because you you're alluding to the reality that it's costly, you know, it's more costly than we um than we intended and we've got budget constraints and we have to worry about that and um do we um is it appropriate to choose a contractor before, you know, if we're not even going to spend the money? So, it seems to me that maybe the discussion has to be are we going to do the are we going to do it this summer because we got a rough cost or are we going to kick it to next summer? Is that a reasonable way to look at this or no? Well, it's certainly a reasonable way to look at it, but we have a bid. So, it's not a rough cost. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Oh, okay. So, it's a solid Yeah. Anything would be a change or anything that would change that number would be a change order. That would be submitted to the committee. spoke as we do. Um the larger question I'd have to defer to Tom. He's the one that struggles with the budget day in and day out more so than say Rick or I. We have our struggles but Tom has to basically corral all of them. Thank you Mr. Brunish. With your permission chair. Yes. Oh thank you. Um sorry. Yeah. So these funds were encumbered in 2024 which we were were fine in that regard. That said, this year we we are running tight. So, end of the day, I mean it it is worth the discussion to to discuss here. I mean, the p there's two things to look at. We have quite a few projects that are going out the door right now,

especially trying to wrap up the village green. Adding this could add additional um stresses onto staff, but obviously we do have tools at our disposal like a Mr. Keitel um to assist with those different projects. But the other question is we've got, you know, we've got a lot of road projects that are going on this year, too. So there is there's just a lot going on, but if we were to wait, I can almost guarantee you those prices are going to skyrocket. We're going to see a very drastic increase next year, too. So we're it was budgeted. It we I can find it. Um that said, we already have cut a couple projects to push back into 2026 due to the increased cost uh that we had for the um route 100 left turns and J turns projects. So it is it is tight, but I will I think we could cover the spread is the bottom line if if the if the council wishes to proceed this year. Go ahead. Okay. I council member Mary. Yes. I want to be very mindful respectful of um the commission the council member's um statement that he wanted to make a motion after his question. So you me I just said that I'm prepared to make that make the motion if nobody else does. Oh well I I'll make a motion would be to sorry talking about it if you want to make a motion we can have a motion and all that then discussion or we can have discussion. I always thought a motion had to come first. just something that No, we're just having discussion right now. I'd like to motion that we um that we uh postpone a decision on this until not tonight that we don't make a decision. Uh I'm glad to hear there are so many contractors in the room. I didn't know there were so contractor rich. Um my creed for my whole career was you accept lowest responsive bidder. Uh to my mind all four biders were responsive biders. We have an obligation to be mindful of the that old credo.

Um, in addition to that, oh, I I imagine do I need a second or can I keep talking? What's that? Can I keep talking or Well, you got to make a motion. We need a second then we can have discussion and come back. Second is that somebody like to second the motion that he just made. That we that we not decide this this evening. Well, that means we need to delay it to a particular time next meeting. All right, we got a second on the motion to to postpone this vote to next meeting. Yes, we postpone any action. We got a second on the motion. Council member CR. Right now, we're in discussion on the motion. So, now you can say what you like. Yeah, keep it smart because I hope everybody's thinking about the same. Um, we heard we've heard about aotted budgeting, running a running a tight a tight tack right now with all the actions we're going on. Uh, we have a decision between a responsive bidder and a responsive bidder and it's decision whether to make the decision between a low responsive bidder and another one who's not. And uh I with respect to experience or qualifications u when you're when you're responsive uh it's beyond that. It's no longer whether you're qualified or experienced it's whether you're responsive and in order to have invited the contractor in the first place. They would have had to have been deemed to have been responsive if they provided responsive did. They met that obligation. So that's really the only reason why I started off saying this is not a decision for tonight. It's for more deliberation. Okay. Uh should I had Sorry, Scott's next. Thank you. I just had a question. You know, we're talking about I think two different types of projects here because the project at Village Green right now is basically involving a lot of what I would call general laborers. Is that the proper term? Yep. You know, involved with concrete type work and so

on, whereas the work at the log cabin, that's more carpentry type work. So, it doesn't appear to me, unless I'm missing something, that there would be a danger of people from the village green project being pulled off to work over on the log cabin because it's two separate projects. Two types of workers. It can't happen. It's union rules, okay, don't allow you. Carpenters work on carpentry. Laborers work on labor. So, we have a I I don't need to go on a sales pitch about bomb. So, I'm proud of my company and I'm but I will tell you that we are we are signatory to the carpenters union, I am a journeyman carpenter. He is a journeyman carpenter. the two carpenters that I had that I was going to really have lead the Essen log cabin, they've built multiple multiple log cabins in Branson, Missouri, uh they've they've helped out with uh Bass Pro Shop log cabins that were built and uh on the top of the rock area down in that area. So, as far as that goes, it's complete separate Yeah. work operations. But that's I'm sorry. I don't mean to. No, that's all right. Oh, thank you. That that's what I suspected. I just wanted to get confirmation of that. Mr. Chair, if I may. Yeah, go ahead. My concern wasn't with carpenters doing laborers work or laborers being carpenters. My concern is how many briars are there and how many Andes? The leadership that basically manages the project on their end is what I'm concerned about and I need their attention on village green phase one. Hold on. Okay. So, I've got So, Scott, you just went. So, now we got Jim. I think it's a lot of money. Uh

uh I I wish we could find another log cabin that somebody would donate. Um $300,000. Uh, you could probably do a replica. Um, it's a lot of money right now as Tom indicated. I like to just pause it for now and wait till our village green is completed and and then take another look at it and if it if it gets to the point where we can't afford it, it is what it is at this point. But we're talking $300 and some thousand dollars to reconstruct uh I guess it's a partial cabin now, right? You don't have all the pieces. You don't have the windows. You may have the door and there's no floor in it. Um I I think it was completely damaged when this guy tore it apart. So I It's sad. It's very very sad what happened here. But when I see $300,000 and and budgets are tight right now, uh it just falls a low on the priority list for me. And I'm only speaking myself and I I love this cabin, you know, and it's just it's not working right now for me. Got it. I got Deb next. Yeah. So we are tied with our budget and we're going to take three projects that have on strategic plan who have already been passed by council who were in the budget. Um Essen log cabin is not one of our strate is not in our strategic plan. Um and I mean can we we find the money somewhere else other than pulling these projects? Well that's where I was going. We could do a fundraiser. We could have businesses donate. We could have maybe the historic preservation donate or they may know somebody who's willing to donate to put

that cabin together. Um I mean there and there's probably some projects that we had budgeted to complete this year that aren't going to be complete. So why can't we pull that funding over if we're going to do the cabin? But again, I mean it it's a tight budget year. I understand that then, you know, the cost of the construction and maybe if we need additional parts, it's going to cost money. It it probably will go up. Um, but can't we look at another way of funding this? Make this more a community effort than just a city council coming up with the funds and moving projects that have already been approved. Um, you know, I'd really like to look put it off. Look for other money. make it a community project, you know, try to get people to donate it to it. And then if they only donate $150,000, well, we got $150,000. That's half of it. And I mean, our citizens are, you know, willing, a lot of them, to make donations. You know, that'd be great for the businesses to make donations. And I know all their money's tight. I've got that. But if we could put forth a community effort, you know, to maybe get some of the money at least. And then like you know we've always talked about okay you know a project A we've budgeted it for this year but it it's not going to be completed we know it's not. So can we use some of that money and then you know shove it off to the next year the rest of that p that project and put it in that budget. So um it it is a lot of money and it's and again what I say it's not absolutely necessary for our village green. It would be nice but it's not necessary. Um, and yes, we have a bid. My other question is, so how how long is that bid good for? Well, I asked that question today. Typically, it is in the bid documents, 60 days. The gentleman from

Shereck Creek said that they would honor the bid until a decision was made. I It is a lot of money. Uh, yeah. Um Tom said that we have the money and he's the budget guy and so I'm inclined to to um to uh give deference to Tom's opinion because this cost is it might be 50% more costly next year to do the same thing. And I I sort of disagree that this doesn't make or break the park. I think this this is a key feature of our new park because otherwise it's just a circle until we get the band stand and stuff up. There's nothing really else for, you know, no nothing to look at, no attractions, no anything um anything else. And so um uh if we if we went down the replica road, yeah, we could build it more cheaply, but then we don't need a cabin, we might as well do some other feature like pay for the dang um band stand or or something like that. And so the expertise that these sharet folks have is with old construction. And I have a feeling, I don't know this for a fact, but the bombshell folks, they're probably great at taking um Gastono or some other log company from the Ozarks and putting those beautiful oak logs together into a beautiful structure. But it's not the same thing as this reconstruction. We spent a lot of time in the historic preservation uh commission talking about, you know, the proper materials and so on and so forth. And we paid all this money for these consultants to to give us the plans and so so forth. We have a firm bid. There might be a couple little change orders, but I don't think it's going to change as much as as as you think it is, Deb. Um I I don't know that. I can't say that it might skyrocket, but I'm just saying I think I can alleviate some of your concern. Joe may have a different opinion, but I I think, you know, if

it's a firm bid, it's a it's a it's a pretty firm bid. And so, um so the uh um the uh idea of letting it go, we might as well just decide not to do the dang thing at all because it's going to be it's going to be 500,000 ne next year this time. So, all right. I got Chris. I'll I'll pass. I Okay, then I got Deb. Yeah. So, um, what I was just talking about a minute ago about moving things from projects or doing a, um, a donation community event, how does that fit in with the budget? I mean, can we still go ahead? How can we is there possibility with the budget that we can go ahead and do the three things that are wanting to be pulled and still do the cabin and and it without using the funding for the three projects that are listed as being pulled. Yes. So, thank you, Miss McCussen. With your permission, chair. Yes. So, we're always looking at to fill in this gap. We do have $200,000 appropriated in 2025 um to cover the cost of right of well pretty much right-of-way land dedication acquisition on the north side of Crest View. Considering that the North 38 development and that 40 foot dedication's no longer there, that does pretty much raise the argument that we most likely will not be utilizing that $200,000 to acquire that right away on the north side. That does give us a little breathing room. That said, the budget is extremely tight. So, um, that would be where it would be taken from, but I I I would turn to Mr. Bunes to see if it's feasible to pull together some type of fundraising event, how much time that would be needed for something like that to help offset. But right now, capital is very tight with all the construction projects that are going out the door. Just one thing on the capital

improvement pro program as well. There's still there's the proverbial elephant in the room. We still have to bid out through the BA Route 109 roundabout. We're still waiting for the final approvals to do that based upon most of the bids we've received. I have an expectation it's going to be higher than we anticipate. So, I'm conscious of that. Tom Tom mentioned using Crest View Drive funding. I identified Portner Park property acquisitions and our sound mitigation pilot program. Those are projects that are under the department of planning and parks. Didn't feel comfortable going over to public works and start using their money. So that's a decision for Tom and city council. But as I say, there's still maybe that 30 days will give us a better idea of what Route BA route 109 roundabouts going to cost. And if we need additional funds, certainly that's a decision you'll all need to make. Yeah, I guess just sort of a general comment here. Um, with several projects when we talk about delaying them, we talk about the fact that next year they're going to cost more than they do this year. And that is of course true. Uh, we're already taking a look at the pickle ball courts, which originally were supposed to be a half a million dollars. Now they're going to come in at 587,000. Uh, I know in previous conversations with director Vunish talking about the roundabout at BA and 109, uh, we're expecting that to come in much higher than we originally projected. That is a public safety issue. Uh, as much as I like the idea of having the Essen log cabin over there, over here next to Village Green, I I just personally don't see that as an immediate priority. Uh, considering all the pressures that we've got on the budget at this point in time. I tend to agree with uh Council Member Mabry in

terms of delaying the decision to next month, but I also I think I agree with Council Member Cray uh that that $300,000 could be put to use uh make ensuring that we can complete some of these capital projects which are going to come in over budget. Could I say one more thing? Yeah, go ahead. Absolutely. So, uh couple things. Number one about your SN log cabin. I did offer last time I spoke with you, we were out at the Ammer job. There is a way to save money on the SN log cabin where you instead of using the first off the logs are not all from the SN log cabin. There are multiple logs that are being borrowed from another antique log cabin already. Multiple uh at least 20 or 30 of them are completely not part of the ESL cabin. So, what you were saying we were going to do, everybody's going to do that cuz you have No, no, no, no. That's not what I said. What I said was you you probably have folks that have a lot of experience with um with new oak logs or new pine logs or whatever um shipped in and constructing a beautiful replica of a log cabin. This is not the same thing. Yeah. No, these guys these guys whether these are old, right? These regardless I I I don't my guys have built older log cabins reconstructed. They have. So, I wasn't asked that question. Number two, I did offer that if you just get the stone from Old Castle because the stone is just a facade on the side of this building, you're pouring a concrete foundation and you're building the the log cabin on a new concrete foundation. And the stone on the side of that building is just a facade. Okay? It's a veneer stone. And the stone that was offered to us to use, which is over off of Hart Road that I live on. I was looking at it. It's not the one of the main cost of that is that stone is all

misshapen. It's not made for to be a veneer. It's made to be a stone footing. Um so I mentioned to Joe, you can save about about $20,000 if you just put a stone veneer on the on the footing that you're already doing. You're you're basically what you were doing. But he said is use a man. You have to cut it all versus Oh, use the fake stuff instead of the instead of a slice. Not fake. No, it's still stone. It's still It's still stone. It's just you would have to cut all that stone. Yes. That's the big cost. You got to bring that. You got because it's big has to cut the stone. Yeah, we don't want to do that. I would. So, you could save to I already offered that just just so we're aware. And then the only other thing I'm going to say is well, I'm gonna say two things. If we're if we're talking about a tight budget and we're talking about everything and You're saying five grand doesn't matter. It seems to me like you guys are all talking about a tight budget, but I was low, so I'm cheaper than that guy and I'm already offering a $20,000 deduct. Number one. Number two, I'm going to end with this just so you guys know. It has nothing to do with the Essen log cabin. Your budget on your pickle ball court. I build pickle ball courts. That's one thing that I do know. I built St. County four pickle ball courts in Tillis Park along with the tennis courts that Aaron Owens and everybody at St. Louis County is absolutely thrilled with and up and running now. I built two pickleball courts for the city of Chesterfield. I did both those pickleball courts with a retaining wall all the way around them and a parking lot right next to them. The cost was $387,000. I did two pickleball courts for Jim Coleman who used to own these buildings right here in his backyard. I built those pickle ball courts. All of them are post-tension pickle ball courts that are the top of the line that you can get. And I don't know who's giving you your budgets, but if you guys want a good budget on a pickleball court, you ought to call me. Our budget's tight.

Those pickle ball courts are uh I build them. That's actually an incred a big specialty of my company is sports fields, sports turf, all that stuff is I have a whole division that does that and that's all we do on that side. And I'm just letting you guys know there's multiple options that you can look at to get your budget down if you want to look at it. Okay. Yeah. I was just going to say um you know I think we've got the motion on the floor to to table this to next month, right? Um if I think my personal opinion would give Tom a little bit more time to dig into the budget to see what options are available because I think it sounds just from what I've been hearing the committee's torn at the very least on whether we should do this at all and then how we're going to pay for it if we're going to do it. I think it would give the the the city um administrator some time to look into that budget. Uh the other thing I'll just say my two cents on regarding the the proposals and the and the bids. Uh I totally respect the department's recommendation and I know they do do great due diligence and look into these things and and hard. I think part of this has to do with the frustration that we're feeling with Village Green that we've talked about already at length today. Um, and I think we've also talked about the fact that there's numerous different components that are involved and the frustrations we're feeling with Village Green and and so, um, I don't really feel it's it's necessarily fair to make that a determining factor on who we're going to go with. And I think in my world from a business partnership perspective is, you know, it's a it's a partnership. We're in a partnership with Bombshell Construction right now to build Village Green. And I consider SNL Cam as part of Village Green because it's going to be there. We're all talking about it as as part of if we're going to build it, it's going to be part of Village Green. So, to me, it doesn't make sense for multiple reasons from a partnership perspective to bring in a

whole another separate contractor to build this one component of a project that we've already awarded. And they saved us over $100,000 in the initial bid of working with them versus the other contractors involved. Um, so we've already saved significantly there. Um so I I wouldn't support using a separate contractor. Um that was the recommendation. And then secondly, I also think that it's another complicating factor to bring in another contractor and throw them all in the same pit and expect things to go even smoother, let alone more more problems. And I think if um which I'm sure that you would be happy to do, but I think if Bombshell was able to give us a guarantee, Joe, that there would be a separate project manager managing the SNL log cabin versus or, you know, at least somebody that would be in charge of the SNL cabin versus somebody that's in charge of keeping things moving with Village Green. So, we've got dual layers of accountability. So, it's not, you know, if we want to treat it that way, because like I said, in my world, I feel like it's all just part of the one big project. Um, you know, if we were going to do it, we probably should have just bid it all out together. Um, when we were doing Village Green. Um, so that's just my two cents. I know it's a complicated subject now. There's different differing opinions and I feel like we're kind of all over the place here um already on on this, but um, does anybody else have anything to say? Yeah. U go ahead, Rob. very quickly. Um the again the Historic Preservation Commission did a ton of work on figuring out how to do this as an actual reconstruction of a of a period log cabin recognizing that they weren't all logs from that actual cabin, but they were local logs and and they would fit in and and so on and so forth. And um then we got sticker shock with the initial cost estimates and decided okay well maybe we don't really need to restore the the roof to um 1800's glory

we'll just do you know we'll we'll do the best faximile that we can etc etc. I think the stone suggestion is a good one if as long as it's natural stone because nobody's going to be looking underneath it anyway and it'll look just like a log cabin. That's a good way to save money, but we're still $360,000 if you can save us 20 grand. If we save another five grand by going with them, that's okay. I'm still um I would like to I would like the department to do more um if we move forward to talk to Bombshell about the actual experience and the folks that are going to be working on this because it's a big deal and it's not the same thing as typical carpentry. I mean I I got carpenters all through my family and so it it's a it's a legitimate concern. It absolutely is. Yeah. And so, um, but, um, uh, I was going to offer up the partner park portion of our budget because in this climate, it's unlikely that we're going to get that thing, you know, done anytime soon. And that's some potential savings. But I do want to say that um uh um heaven every park that we talk about, every project that we talk about, we talk about community involvement and selling people benches and selling people pathways and selling people this and that and plaques to hang on the trees and whatnot. I don't know that the department has enough time to chase those kinds of funds. It just seems like a logistical nightmare for a very very skeleton crew of a department to be doing that kind of work. And so I'm not sure we can hang we can hang our hat on any um significant um we have a new communications manager that knows how to write really good articles that could perhaps involve the community in a little bit more detail to be able to garner um I I've got residents that are asking me what can we contribute to the city? give me some details on some things that

we could do. Um, and so, well, I wasn't done, but all I'll say is um is there's um probably a million dollars worth of park projects that I know about right now today that would take um that would you know, we need um funding for 380 grand for the cabin. Um you know, a bunch of money for Partner Park, a bunch of money for um uh well, there's all all kinds of projects. I just don't know that it's feasible to try to um try to significantly or fund one of these significant project. That's all I'm saying. Okay. Yeah. If you know if if we could probably raise a lot of money if we wait until celebrate Wildwood and you know in different spots put signs or whatever and a container or whatever. I mean, with as many people come to, you know, celebrate Wildwood, I'm sure we'd get a substantial amount of money for donations, but that wouldn't be much of additional work on the department. Um, and I think involving community is really important. I mean, that's one of our our mantras is invite is in invite the community to participate. And, you know, the community is going to own Village Green. They're going to own the cabinet when it gets up there. So, you know, I I think involving the community is important if we don't have the money right away, but we can we can raise the money from the community and then we could still pull money out of our budget that Tom could find. Um, you know, I I really think that that's the best way to go. Yeah. I'd like to um call for a vote, Mr. Motion. Yeah. all the question here because I think it's premature for us to try to formulate a strategy for how we might potentially fund the Essen log cabin until we get a better determination from Tom what may or may

not be available from city administrator Lee. Do you think uh a postponement to next month is enough time to look at that or would you like us to give you more time? We could have with the postponement to next month we could have some options available to us. it would be long enough to be able to see like uh director Vunich was talking about with the J turns and some of these other things that yeah the only thing um the only thing that's kind there's two items that are pushing in my mind that is making kind of that making it fuzzy is one um we are meeting with Amron tomorrow this is not necessarily parks and planning related but we are meeting with Amron tomorrow what we're waiting for is just a donation document to be f like Amron to confirm that they donated the land which they already have that's the only thing that's holding us up from getting rightway clearance from ODOT. Once that's done, we'll have 109 VA out. Uh we can expect that to take anywhere between 3 to 4 weeks for bidding. Um so that that is the timeline we're thinking there. I'm hoping we can get that final document that from them though this week so then we could have it bid hopefully next week. All of our informations our ducks in a row to get it out the door. Um that said, if that if that number hasn't come in, if we don't have bids on the 109BA, that is going to kind of hang over u any decision we might want to make. On top of that, the only other thing, and this is probably a 2026 expense, but just want to bring it up for for just, you know, just for reference, we do have um a little bit of a deeper analysis that's going to take place of the building. We have about $100,000 set aside this year uh for capital. about 20,000ish of that I'm assuming is going to probably go to legal to be able to look into some of the issues, see if there is some liability. If we find that there is, that's great. Then we can probably recoup some of those funds that are going to potentially have to be spent. Um, but I am anticipating quite quite a large expense coming down the pipeline for restructuring the rain garden. And if we were to have to do something with the foundation that we're we're talking very very expensive um repairs that

could come down the pipe. So, those are the two that we're not going to have the solid numbers on those. That's more of a 2026 discussion, but just wanted to bring up two things that are kind of ringing in the back of my mind. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So, the motion on the floor then that we've discussed is that we're going to postpone this till at least next month, which at that point we can see what the city has for us regarding information on the budget. And, you know, if we need to push it out another 30 days at that point, we can always have that conversation then. So, um, all those in favor of the motion, please say I. I. Any oppose? Any abstensions? All right. Sorry. Still not out. Thank you for your patience. Thank you very much for your participation coming here today. I appreciate you listening to me and I I am serious about the village green screen. I'm hoping to get it going a lot faster. But if you guys want to have a meeting and you all want to talk to me and find out what's going on at any time, I mean, and you're not getting enough from from Ken and Joe and everybody, I'm happy to sit down with everybody and explain that. Oh, we get enough from Joe. I think he does a great job. Um, what's the process or is there a process for getting another bid on the pickle ball stuff if we decide to go forward? Because of we don't have a Oh, we don't have Okay. Okay. It sounds like a budget that you got. Yeah. We don't have any money. Who gave it to you? We got to give our police a raise. Okay. The original estimate was from the bidding process we did for community park and that was right at $400,000 when we were doing the mixeduse development over at Taylor Road and Main Street and the pickle ball courts were added as part of that. Arco Construction, which is doing the project for the multiple family, went ahead and

did an estimate for Mr. Combmes courts. So, this is a swag and it's not a a sharp pencil. So, that was the $500,000 and at the last meeting in March, you all asked for maybe a just a a reook and just in that year's time, it's gone up $78,000. And that includes the best guess on that short stretch of overhead electric line that needs to be relocated. [Laughter] [Music] Well, just just for future reference, just so you guys understand, a two pickle ball court setup, the post tension slab with the the topping mix and all the nets and everything, just the slab, you're looking at about $285,000. This is bigger. Four. This is four of them. Mhm. If you have four, it don't you don't double it. So, it depends on how much further you want to go out. You can actually save yourself a lot of money if you break it up into two different two different pieces and they know that they have two post tension slabs and then they put a sidewalk in between them. You can save a lot of money there. There's there's a lot of tricks to pickle ball courts and tennis courts. The post tension the post-tensioning is what is crazy expensive. Um, you can save it. I mean, I'm just going to tell you like Hillsboro, other places, they don't have the money for the post-tensioning and they'll build the whole park out and they'll just pave it for now with asphalt, save themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars. Wait till a later date when they have the money saved up for the post-tensioning slabs and they'll go back in and put in post tension slabs. I'm just telling you that's an

option. Hillsboro, they just do a two inch over. Yeah, they do. That's true. Thank you very much, guys. Yeah. Thank you. Have a good evening. Thank you. Thank you. 7:20. I know you guys are killing me. So, there are a couple of items we would like to discuss. I think the rest of the agenda could wait till May. Okay. Um the first is the wall that heals and then the other is the vehicle purchase. Um, and I only say the vehicle purchase. I know it's spending funds, but I mean, it's a nice I rented one when I was a Florida. They're really nice. Drive in a 19year-old van still. And I thought you'd replace nice cars. You'll you'll enjoy it. If we could do those two, that would be great. Yeah. Let's go ahead then. Well, let's do we need a motion to amend the agenda to push everything out to May except for the new vehicle um heel and the walnut heel. Is everybody okay? We have motion council me council member Scott next. All in favor motion please say I opposed. Thank you. Any abstensions? Okay. So let's go to the wallet heels. I think you were just tired of talking. Uh, thank you, chair, and members of the committee. Um, as as you are very familiar, we've had quite a few discussions about the wallet heels. It's a threequarter replica of the memorial in BC. Um, and the city began its efforts to bring the Wallet Heels uh, in 2021. Um, and went out to go visit the wall while it was here in Warrington. and um had planned on bringing in um but were advised that in like hold off until 2024 2025 just to give some breathing room between the two visits. And so we

did and we planned to move forward with it in 2024 2025. Um but uh through a lot of discussion determined that the best location for it was probably going to be our village green because it had great site, great accessibility, would bring people into town center, maybe they could stop and get lunch while they're here and such. It would also be a you know relatively like tranquil area surrounded by residential area. And so um that that was kind of the planning process that we began. Um and so we the application opens up in May and the city started looking into um you know applying for it to come in 2026 as planned um and um well as planned after we realized the village green may or may not be done um this year and so that was part of the problem. And so with the wallet that heals when they bring when they bring it to the city, you don't really get a choice in when you can kind of request a time period, but it's really up to them just depending on what their schedule for touring the country is and not knowing when the park would be done delayed until 2026. So, we're getting ready to apply for this and um we've had a couple new developments since one being that we have a really big all-inclusive playground going in over at Village Green um in 2026. And it may or may not be done at that point in time. But it also uh might prevent, you know, a wall that size, I think it's 385 feet or something, a wall of that 375. Um, a wall of that magnitude fitting in the park any longer. And not only that, but when you put a playground next to it, it kind of loses the the serenity, the somber moment when you have children playing next door. Green. Pardon?

Couldn't put it in the green. No, no, no, no. It would not fit in the oval. It would have to go along outside it. Um, and it's it's pretty substantial. Um, so we have that development and so that, you know, brings about where where would be another appropriate location for it, you know, and we've discussed community park, but there's also the possibility that, you know, weather might be problematic just because it might get soggy down there and we don't really want the wall to sink because that would be bad. Um, and you know, parking could be a challenge. Um, so, you know, we could look into partnering with, you know, one of the schools or maybe the community college. they have land to the south of there for that. And so we started running through potential ideas. Um there have been other schools like in other cities that have like lent the football field or whatever if it happened to be over the summer. And so there's a possibility of a partnership, but then we came across a slightly bigger problem. And so it is uh bittersweet. So on the 2020 um six or the 2025 schedule um for this year, it appears that it is going to be um on display here in St. Louis under St. Louis County from July 24th to July 27th at Jefferson Barracks. So, I mean, it couldn't be a better place for it and it's probably going to be quite a display and and it's it's going to be lovely. I look forward to seeing it if I can make it out there. But that being said, that then puts it in Warrington and then a couple years later in Jefferson barracks and then we would be following that presentation. Um, and and we have to find a location. Um, so it it's put a little a few kinks in it and so it's something that they

probably wouldn't approve for next year, maybe not even the year after, you know, um, and so at this point um, in light of these circumstances, the department is seeking direction from the committee. Um, how to proceed, you know, is this something that we want to just table for now? Is this something that we want to move forward with? Because if we get our name in the hat, then even if we're not approved next year, then we could potentially be approved over another city. Um, if they put their name in the hat or, you know, is is Jefferson Barrack something that we want to follow? It's going to be hard to hard to surpass that I would imagine. Um, and so that being said, um, tonight the department is seeking direction. Do we want to move forward with this? Do we want to put our name in the chat or is this something we would like to I'm going to make a motion that we put it on hold. It's a it's a great thought. It seems like it's it would be duplication. They wouldn't consider our application anyway at this point. So I I I'll make a motion but put it on hold. We got a motion, a second to put on hold. Any discussion on the motion? Council Dadwell. I was going to say we wait until 2030. It needs to be out 2030 and we we see if we can't get it back in village green then and put the application in now and then they've got plenty of time to plan for us. Okay. Um I don't we wouldn't put the application in now though. They won't put until like 2029 or right but yeah and again that's the problem. I'll reach out to them and see how like how to go about that. Yeah. Because if somebody else applies for it between now and now and then, you know, I mean, they might let them go in 2028, you know, or something, but I'll reach out to him and see if there's if there's a way to think about that then and get our name on the

list for that time. Let me plan accordingly. But city of St. say we want to take 2030, right? I mean, I feel like it's hard to plan that far out anyway, right? And so I don't I don't remember well for them. Yeah. I mean I think it's a good idea to put it on hold too but but my other suggestion is so that we would have something permanent like some of the other cities maybe we instead of and buying that in we could use the funding and make a a monument for the city of Wildwood. That was veterans. I know. I mean that would be permanent. That was going to be um our our next the department's next suggestion is that you know we had also discuss the Hall of Heroes and you know maybe focus on that and then when that's done focus on a permanent um memorial or something along those lines. I mean there's there's so many other ways that we can honor our veterans and that's also something that we can look into. Um but yeah, I I don't think that we need to completely dismiss, you know, veterans projects. to just maybe focus them someplace else for now. Yeah. All right. Well, great discussion. I couldn't agree more. I think it's good. All in favor of the motion, please say I. I. Any oppose? Any obst? Awesome. Thank you very much, Mr. Ripto. And that brings us to the last item on the agenda then left for tonight, which is the uh new vehicle purchase. Mr. Mr. Chair, we'll keep you in the loop about the wall being down at Jefferson Barracks. So that when it's there, if you want to visit, I'll certainly know. I'll put in a plug for it. I saw what saw it a few years ago. Well, I was a blubber and fool at the real one in in um DC, but this one was pretty dramatic as well. Uh it was at Creek Court Lake

probably 15 years ago or so. So um it's worth seeing. Awesome. Very good. Okay. Um, we've got the beautiful purchase. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. It's the best it's ever looked. Did you buy it already? Take quite the photograph. I will say I mean she's sparkle I made it up before the picture was taken just killed that argument. Thanks. That looks great. I know you need one. He's got at least 100,000 miles left on it. Yeah, she's she's uh been around. So this is this is Vanna White as the parks department likes to call her. Um and she has been quite the trooper. Uh it's a 2005 Dodge Caravan and she has uh been through field trips, a range of events and so many other activities and she has uh together but um since the middle of 2023 um it's been getting a little bit expensive to maintain um and you know the cost of repairs is getting up there and there's maybe holding it together. She's been well loved, that's for sure. And so the department has been looking into getting another vehicle and has attached a budget from the uh capital improvement program for 2025. And the city council set aside $35,000 for a new van for the department. Melanie, it the capital improvement sales tax fund had 40,000 set aside for a ban. Oh, I get those fund warmers. Well, that's great news. But are you trading

are you trading this in or are you getting a second vehicle? Um, are you taking offers on it? Did you want to put in an offer? We could start the bidding here tonight. You need one for your business. Raffle it to citizens. There's an internet sales service we use. Um, we sold the old trailer. So, you're getting rid of this one. That is usually the typical process. Okay. They're great bands. As I said, I'll I'll make a motion for it. Save you some time. All right. Do we have a second for that motion? Council member Cutchin. All right. Any discussion on the motion? What what ordained that this or what this is is the one chosen a voyage route. um 2025 Chrysler Voyager vehicle. What What's settled everyone on that despite the fact that it's a great vehicle? Well, I mean that's that's the primary reason for one. Um for two, it is actually really hard to find vans, especially vans that are Americanmade. And the van is important for a for everything that we do when it comes to the parks department. We put a lot in it that can't go in a truck. and an SUV doesn't you just don't have the capacity. Um and so a van was important. Um but as to the type of van, um I think that we also looked at the Chrysler Pacifica and that was over the prices that you see here. As far as the really trying to get at what what was the triage process? Did we bring in professionals? Did we go through consumer reports? What what got what got a mirror image copy what we had before just because what we had before was perfect. I I think part of it was just narrowing it

down to Americanmade and um available vans and so that that narrowed the pool down quite a bit. Yes. And so then you have the Chrysler Pacifica and the vehicle Lucy. So Mr. Mayberry, the vans lasted 20 years. Yeah. It's it's a good vehicle and so replacing it. You thought if the priority was on Americanmade then uh you're right that the selection is constrained. Um I did an awful lot of research and uh um a Korean brand just clean the clock of all competition. But it was not a perfect 15 or whatever year old Americanmade band that we chose. It was a SUV. So that's happened. SUVs are plentiful. Finding a van is more challenging. Very good. Thank you. All right. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of the motion, please say I. I. Abstains. Any objections? Thank you. Big deal. What color is it going to be? It's gonna be white again. White. Yes. White, too. You'll like it. They're nice cars. All right. Well, in light of all of the extended conversations we've had, which were all great tonight. Thanks for all the participation from everybody. I think it was good conversation and discussion and helpful. Um, thank you, Mr. Director Vich, for helping us amend the agenda further. Welcome. Still, we're five minutes behind original schedule, but we're still good. House member. Uh, yeah. I I I I anticipated you're asking for miscellaneous. Is that your next the next thing adding now? Yes. Yeah. Okay. Um, so um I I I

desperately would like to see us do more to solicit funding for projects and so forth from the populace. I think it's a good thing. People buy into it. they generally would tend to watch out for things, you know, better and so on and so forth. But, you know, we we we have tried in the past even at Celebrate Wildwood and other events like the historic preservation society tent and the city tent, we try to sell these books and nobody even buys the dang history books and they're actually getting something in return. So I would like to us to brainstorm maybe for a minute on um the feasibility or um what's the appropriate way to ask for some sort of a feasibility opinion from I guess it would come from um directly uh uh h you know how we might go about establish establishing a program or programs on the website at city at at at uh city events so on and so forth to solicit um uh donations. from people. I don't think we're going to get anywhere near Well, here's what you do. You go to Deerbergs, you talk to their general manager, you go to Shnooks, uh you go to your top businesses, uh and just ask for donations. You got to get a some volunteers together and uh and uh see how much they're going to do donate. You might get $25,000. Anything is good, but go to your big businesses. That's where I'd start. Well, I mean that makes perfect sense, but but it's still that's not But you do it through the website, the historical preservation, it's you got those volunteers and uh you advertise it. Uh farmers market uh uh you know, it's you can make it a community volunteer thing and and somebody can organize it. But who does it? That's that was the that's what I would I can do it. I can knock on I can

go visit these businesses. I mean, uh, I make a motion that, um, Jim Jim CR on the take care of fundraising. I'll go to Deerbergs and I'll go to Shnooks. Well, I wasn't suggesting that. I'll go to Dollars. I'm more suggesting write the plan. You know, we need to we need to write up. Yeah. I think I think it's a great idea to come up with a plan. Yeah. I think it's something that you know we could start putting some thought into perhaps on you know with this committee um you know with with your thoughts we want 200 grand and committ yeah go ahead I'm going to ask a question of the city manager who has experience in fundraising for other situations whether he has anybody on staff or whether he has a method that he might recommend to this committee to use to discuss around um how we gain um funding from our citizens. So yeah, if you uh with with your permission shar. Yeah. So I guess I could provide a couple ideas. Well, in that case, I think it would be a coordination between the parks planning department and then our communications uh manager and myself um would be kind of the point people on that project. But what I was almost thinking just as we were talking here and a method that you know you've seen it in consumer uh life yourselves, but maybe there's something where we could tie in and this is going to take some technical knowhow. We're going to have to discuss it with our website design, our website hosting company. Um, and also we're gonna have to get the P uh PSI compliance side down. But maybe it's something where if you're a resident and you're applying or registering for one

of our events that it asks you, it prompts the resident at that that point of sale to say, hey, would you since they're using one of our park events, it maybe asks them, hey, would you like to donate $5 or$1 to5 towards your local parks? It'll go towards just parks. And we would be able to create we we could legally create a fund where that money would funnel into and then it could be used for very specific purposes. We'd have to have the city attorney define those. But it would almost allow the individuals that are getting the most out of our marketing I mean not our sorry uh get getting the most out of our parks and recck programs to be able to give back. There also maybe are opportunities even with the programs that we offer you know like senior senior yoga. I mean, I know that one might get a little bit more tricky because we get funding um for that from the county. Uh that said, you know, they're not paying the full price, but maybe they maybe they just like the event and they do have some money to spare and it's not asking them for $1,000 or anything along those lines. So, those small dollar donations could add up. That's one component and also would target the market that's actually engaged with our Rex uh parks and reccks department in general. The other side of it is, I just want to bring this up, and Joe Joe could probably speak to this a little bit too, is that the majority of our fundraising, we kind of when it comes to the business community, we almost kind of max out what we ask for for Celebrate Wildwood. And that really does leave us quite a little, it leaves us very little room um for being able to kind of go back, you know, time and time again. I know that that's always been kind of the, you know, we don't want to ruin c, we don't want to have our goal for celebrate wildwood. Now it's been moved up 35,000. I believe it's this year, uh, that we want in donations, you know. So, in that case, you know, us ramping that goal up. Last year, we met it and I just want to say great job to our parks department, planning department for that. They they did an excellent job. Um, that said, with it going up this year, now we're asking for more. It is our 30th

anniversary which gives us a little confidence. But that is kind of the place for businesses where we we really are asking for the most of their money. But I think what you have to do and this is where you got to get the city attorney involved to line it up. But maybe some of our events right now music on Maine and this is this this is a discussion that's going to probably need to be fleshed out. But our Music on Main events, they're not sponsored by anyone other than the city. Our our our logo is the only one running that event. I guarantee you could probably get some business interest in there to say, "Hey, I'd like to sponsor the music on Maine, but they'd want their name on the banner. They'd want it, you know, front and center." And maybe what that does is that helps pay for those events, which then would money is fungeable. And in that case, that would free up additional dollars to be spent on these separate programs or building SNL log cabin, things along those lines. Um, so there are a couple ideas, but I'm more than happy to have the department kind of start coordinating and a lot of it could be just based off what we've been doing successfully for our uh Celebrate Wildwood events, but I think it's it's a combo of two different things. For the business community, I think you have to offer something. You have to offer visibility, which is key. And then for the consumer base, I think it's more so uh getting the individuals that utilize our services so much. We could put it in the gazette as well and get those natural, you know, here people that are just reading our content, but I think you got to almost get them at the point of sale. They're already spending, let's just say $55 to register for the event. That said, they're like, "Okay, I will spend the extra $5 because I want to keep seeing these types of programs created and making sure that we make the promise to the residents that, hey, if you're donating money, it is going towards these extracurriculars and it's going towards making, you know, these events more attainable for everyone." Yeah, council Rambo. Thank you, Tom. That's uh what we pay you for. That was a great uh great summary of the options.

Uh do we need a motion uh for that study to to commence or um or uh are you just going to take it on and do it? Tom, I'm talking to you. I'm sorry. If you all if you all are comfortable, I mean, I guess let's let's get a motion to put it on if you all don't mind. I move that we um that we add to the department's labor bergen and um and um ask them ask them to get with Tom and the other appropriate folks to figure this out. All right, we got a motion. We got a second. Council Rottenberg. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? All right, good job. Um no, I think it's a great idea. And I I think so many different festivals and everything always have some corporate sponsor attached to it. So, I think we're shooting ourselves in the foot by not um the city doesn't really need to sponsor its own music festival. We might as well have somebody else cover that cost. Get Amaran to do it. No, I mean and that's and that's the thing, Chair. Yeah, you're Amaring Amar very well. I think they would be open to that type of that idea. Yeah, they do all kinds of stuff like that. How about Bombshell? That may be a quid pro. A lot of these a lot of these big local corporations though like Dearbergs for instance or Shnooks having uh locations here in the city. I mean they have a certain amount of millions that are allocated to that type of manually anyway. So it's just a matter of getting to them corporate foundations. Yeah. Do like the like McDonald's does and just like round up every time people buy stuff or like at Petco you two bucks for the humane society every time you check out. We could do Well, like I said, this sounds sort of like a community relations activity more so than a parks and planning activity because this is along the lines of their area of

expertise to reach out to the businesses here in town. I got a motion to dis to dismiss. People need to go. Are there any other miscellaneous? I'll take. All right. So, well, first we got uh next meeting is going to be Tuesday, May 20th. Uh just mark your calendars. Um and uh we'll probably be having a new parks and planning committee. This is probably the last meeting of this committee because we'll be celebrator we'll be installing the new council members right at the meeting and then uh the mayor will be assigning the new. So to all of you guys, uh it's been a pleasure serving with you guys on this committee. Hopefully some of us are back and continue the good work that we've been doing. They cut our pay. Yours. Yeah, just if you ask they cut, right? So um no, but thank you very much. I appreciate everybody on here. It's so agreeable to work with and discussions we've had and all. So, so good to have and it's great working with a great department and do a great job. So, it's always a pleasure what you guys bring to the table and all the thought that goes into it and the hard work. So, keep it up. Yep. Thank you very much. And we've got a motion on the floor for adjournment for Council Cran, second by Council Oberg. Any discussion on the motion? Another 30 minutes. All right. Seeing none, all in favor please say I. I. Any opposed? Any obsessions? All right. Thank you. All right.