The Clinton City Council met in open session August 1, at City Hall. Councilwomen Debbie Smith and Martha Nichols were absent.
Following roll call and the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, the approval of the previous meeting’s minutes were approved. The city council was a bit longer than usual and lasted until about 7:30 p.m. Here are the highlights:
Personal appearances: Clintonian Floyd Romig approached the council about the “hobo fence” on West Allen Street. “How’d you like that in your front or back yard everyday?” he asked the council. Mr. Romig said he considered it an eye-sore and also an issue of public safety. It appears there are some code issues concerning the property in question that are being processed in the local municipal court, but as yet no resolution has been achieved. The city council deferred to City Attorney Doug Harris who reiterated that things needed to play out in the municipal court first.
Reports: Amanda Johnson gave the Clinton Main Street update. She updated the council on the new Christmas Lights on the Square for this year (in partnership with Clinton Tourism to make it happen). Cars may pull on the square and tune into a radio station which will be in sync with the light display (at regular intervals). She also spoke about updates to billboards, a Main Street Connections meeting in St. Louis, and more “Slipping Into Summer” events on the downtown square which promotes local business. The annual Piccadilly is September 12 and the theme this year is “Barbie.” Tickets go on sale August 16th for that. She highlighted several new businesses on the downtown square and reported that Clinton Main Street was designated as a Main Street America affiliate out of 1200 communities.
Economic Director Mark Dawson also reported to the council. He reported four new project interests in the last six weeks – one of those needing rail access (which they were able to accommodate) but, alas, the amount of property needed was more than could be offered. Other project activity involves an electronics related industry and, of course, the ongoing “Project Queen” which is still in the works. He reported that “Project Diversity” is moving very fast. “We’ve been extremely busy,” said Dawson. He reported working with Evergy recently to increase capacity issues at the Gerhardt Industrial Park as well. Overall, there have been 34 new projects this year and Director Dawson projected this year to have the most projects fielded since he started.
Highlights from the Public Works report, given by Councilman Cameron Jackson, include: council approval to construct a timber-framed boiler building for the Aquatic Center instead of the much delayed block-style building originally planned; shelter houses, ADA parking and restrooms are complete at Hurt Park – part of the restoration project there; the outdoor pool-house is open and there have been many positive comments. There are still some minor things to complete at the Artesian Pool, but it will soon be complete.
The Artesian parking and Hillcrest/Oakstar Drive pavement work is to be delayed because the projects came in about $300,000 each over what was anticipated. Both will be put back out to bid. Council Gene Henry said he was disappointed that the drive related to the project, but which is under city purview, is not complete. He said the exit onto Business 13 (near the Everhart store) is in very poor shape and “give the city of Clinton a black eye). It was discussed that the project be completed without regard to the timeline for the other paving projects and will be on the Public Works agenda.
Other Public Works matters discussed/resolved at city council: the upper level pump repairs are complete; four hoists are needed to be inspected (as they are annually); there was an operations audit at Waste Water; all monitors have been installed at the lift stations, the most recent (and final one) was the Deer Creek one. Also, a request from the Stoneridge Home Owners Association to be annexed to the city was discussed. The request is due to pressure from the Department of Natural Resources to significantly improve their water filtration system and bring their waste water systems up-to date. It was discussed that the extra waste water would not be a problem capacity-wise for the city, but there is still discussion about whether the roads would stay private or become part of the city’s responsibility. Early indications are that the city will try to not adopt the roads along with the waste water systems.
Public Safety report highlights: Councilman Gene Henry reported, with the assistance of Captain John Scott of the Clinton Police Department, the software update needs of CPD. It was explained that the procedure manual, which other departments tend to have automatic updates for, is lacking at CPD. Although the start-up cost for the implementation of these programs (one is Lexipol for policy/procedure and the other is Caliber which allows for up-to-date reporting of police reports to other agencies), not having them is costing more in man-power and time than necessary. The council approved the purchase of both – Lexipol is $51,000 to initiate and $15,000 annually, and Caliber is $100,000 to start and $19,000 per year). The Caliber purchase will bring CPD into compliance of which they have been out of for many, many years. The council also authorized the donation of the surplus car (#7) which was reported to be in very poor shape, to the UCM Drive Course which CPD uses to train officers at, too (a mutual sharing of resources). The council authorized the purchase of a mass spectrometer to help CPD identify substances (i.e., drugs) without touching them. It will also enable holds of individuals charged without having to send off to a lab for verification, at least in the onset. A mass spectrometer was used recently as part of a departmental sharing from Warrensburg’s PD to help apprehend an individual selling drugs near a school here in town. There was discussion about including Henry County in the purchase of the piece of equipment, but ultimately it was decided that it could be purchased ($30,000) using American Recovery Plan Act monies and shared with other agencies (like the Henry County Sheriff’s Department) as warranted. The final portion of the report included sharing that the new fire truck will be officially placed into service on August 3.
Councilman Wilson reported the Finance Committee’s findings: The first reading of Bill No. 2023-21 was held and approved. The bill establishes procedure if it is found that there is a conflict of interest for officials. Resolution 10-2023 regarding a lease agreement at Gerhart Industrial Park (which has been in place since 1983) was approved by the council.
Mayor Carla Moberly complimented all the city department/agencies for their work after the recent severe storm. She deferred the floor to Fire Chief Mark Manuel after the nice words: Chief Manuel told the council he was worried about the lack of manpower per shift the fire department is experiencing (and has been experiencing for some time). He had tracked that only 86 of 213 days this year the department had full coverage on shifts. There were four structure fires in July alone and there were four heat related injuries to firefighters during that time as well to which the ambulance had to respond. Chief Manuel said he attributes all of those to undermanned shifts. It is a situation in which he fears something worse may happen to one of the responders if not corrected.
Unfinished business: Bill No. 2023-22, an ordinance providing for the submission to a vote of the people the question of a local parks sales tax was read (first reading approved). Also, the first reading of a transportation sales tax question (Bill No. 2023-23) was held and approved by the council. A small discussion about the approval (by the state of Missouri) to authorize for a public safety tax was held, however, it was suggested that it not be an issue on the November ballot so as to give folks time to learn about it (the suggestion of Fire Chief Manuel). A Public Safety Tax was previously a forbidden territory for public entities.
New Business for the city: the first reading of Bill No. 2023-19 was held which addresses pertaining to a code of ethics for the ATS program (this is a requirement).
There was no closed session as expected at the beginning of the meeting (adjourn at 7:30 p.m.).
