COUNCIL MEETING
Tuesday September 19, 2017
The Board of Aldermen held a regular meeting on Tuesday, September 19, 2017, at 7:00 PM. Those present included Mayor Greg Richmond, Alderpersons Calvin Wilson, Alice Kezar and Ron Johnson. Also present were City Supervisor David Brodie, Emergency Management Director Denis Kolb, Police Chief Curt Drake, and City Water Clerk Dana Cornwell. Also present were Lois Kolb, Roger and Carol Coe, Brenda Hall, Joel Gaona, Kevin Keeney, and Sally Carroll from the McDonald County Press.
The Mayor called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M.
The Board discussed the regular meeting held on September 5, 2017. Ald. Wilson moved to approve the regular meeting minutes from September 5, 2017 with the revision on page 3, changing it from hurricane Iris to hurricane Irma. Ald. Johnson seconded. Ald. Johnson, Kezar, and Wilson voted aye with 0 nays with the revision.
The Mayor acknowledged Brenda Hall to discuss averaging her water bill. Brenda noted she had a leaky pipe that has now been fixed. Ald. Kezar moved to approve averaging Ms. Hall’s water bill from $143.74 to $58.75 including the $3.24 DNR water fee. Ald. Johnson seconded. Ald. Wilson, Kezar, and Johnson voted aye with 0 nays.
The Mayor acknowledged Joel Gaona to discuss averaging his water bill. Mr. Gaona noted he has the water turned off at the meter till he can get the leak fixed properly. Mr. Gaona’s water bill was $249.97 with the leak. His average with the 20% and $3.24 DNR water fee is $96.12. Ald. Wilson moved to approve the averaging of Mr. Gaona’s bill with the 20% and the $3.24 DNR water fee for $96.12. Ald. Kezar seconded. Ald. Wilson, Kezar, and Johnson voted aye with 0 nays.
Condemnation of 108 W. Williams: Officer Drake noted he hand delivered one letter to Ms. Landess, Officer Drake believes the son is living upstairs at 108 W. Williams and is under the impression that the son removed the note Curt hung on the door of the property. Mayor Richmond noted we had two choices we could either a) Continue the discussion to the next board meeting, or b) set a date for the next hearing. After a brief discussion it was decided to set the next hearing date. The Mayor also noted we need to get the proper paperwork from Mr. Pratt the city inspector. Ms. Landess needs another letter sent to her stating the day and time of next hearing. The Board set the special meeting for October 17, 2017 at 6:45 p.m.
Old Business: NONE
New Business: Kevin Keeny wanted to know why one of our officers was sitting about a mile outside of town just this side of Splitlog Rd. running radar instead of patrolling the streets in town. Mr. Keeny stated however he was not sure if he was running radar of if looking for a suspect in another case however. Ald. Wilson noted if it was on Thursday the odds were our officer was helping to look for a suspect in another case.
Citizens Business: NONE
- Department head reports:
Curt Drake- Officer Drake noted the new decals were on the Dodge truck.
Curt then noted he is trying to get ahold of Mr. Whitehill to fix the bumper on the Dodge truck.
Officer Drake also stated the rear radar is going out in the truck. He mentioned he talked to Stalker about what the radar was doing they told him it sounded like the Stalker head unit was going out. The council asked when the last time the radar units were updated it was decided Tom West had them refurbished approximately 10 years ago. Stalker no longer deals in refurbished radars. Mayor Richmond told Officer Drake to do some checking around and pricing, and to possibly look into something other than Stalker.
Officer Drake the noted the car needs to go to Joplin for lights and new hubcaps which are under warranty.
Officer Drake then asked the Board to revisit the possibility of making Joe Haswell a senior officer, noting it had been 90 days since the last discussion. Curt stated that Mr. Haswell is doing some good things for the city while still maintaining doing his job. Officer Drake noted Officer Haswell does a great job on his reports, very detailed; he also made mention that Officer Haskell reaches out to other agencies when he needs the help. Ald. Wilson asked if Joe had given it any further thought to moving closer to Goodman. At this time Joe is not currently financially able to move. Ald. Johnson wanted to know how this would change his current duties. Officer Drake said Joe would be able to do the racial profiling reports, and that the reserves would be able to report to Officer Haswell as well himself. After a brief discussion Ald. Johnson moved to make Officer Haswell a Senior Officer. Ald. Wilson seconded. Ald. Wilson, Kezar, and Johnson voted aye with 0 nays. Officer Drake asked that they vote to approve a pay raise for Joe from $11.00/hr. to $12.00/hr. Ald. Wilson moved to approve a pay raise for Officer Haswell. Ald. Johnson seconded. Ald. Wilson, Kezar, and Johnson voted aye with 0 nays.
Denis Kolb- NONE
David Brodie- NONE
Meghan Sexson- NOT PRESENT
Dana Cornwell-Noted that 122 & 122 ½ N. Wall had cleaned up a good portion of the property and they were searching for someone to demo the property. Ald. Wilson and Dept. head Brodie noted they could not notice anything being done. Mayor Richmond said he noticed they may have sprayed weed killer on the property. David Brodie noted he had seen someone a couple of times moving some things out.
Mayor Richmond thanked everyone for the festival and hoped to do it again next year. He stated that the unconfirmed amount made to put into next years festival was approximately $2100.00. Mayor Richmond thinks that next year we do need to do some better advertising. Mayor Richmond also wanted to remind the City employees and their families were invited to Ald. Kohleys house on Sunday September 24, 2017 for the City picnic.
The Board discussed the bills in the amount of $44,648.76, including transfers. Ald. Kezar moved to approve the bills in the amount of $44,648.76, including transfers. Ald. Johnson seconded. Ald. Wilson, Kezar, and Johnson voted aye with 0 nays.
Ald. Wilson moved to adjourn the meeting. Ald. Johnson seconded. Ald. Johnson, Kezar and Wilson voted aye with 0 nays.