Board of Alderman Regular Meeting

BOARD OF ALDERMEN Meeting Minutes FEBRUARY 10, 2025 7:00 PM 1 GOVERNMENT CTR. BALLWIN, MO 63011 THE MINUTES ARE PREPARED IN SUMMARY TO REFLECT THE OVERALL DISCUSSIONS, NOT VERBATIM QUOTES. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Pogue at 7:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Present​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Absent Mayor Tim Pogue Alderman Mike Utt Alderman Michael Finley Alderman Pamela Haug Alderman Mark Stallmann Alderman Frank Fleming Alderman Mark Weaver Alderman David Siegel Alderman Jim Lehmkuhl City Administrator Eric Sterman City Attorney Robert Jones The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. MINUTES The minutes from the January 27, 2025 Board of Aldermen meeting were submitted for approval. A motion to approve as submitted was made by Alderman Frank Fleming and seconded by Alderman Michael Finley. A voice vote was taken with unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. CITIZEN COMMENTS________________________________________________________ Alderman Mark Stallmann recognized Den 5, Pack 621 out of Ballwin Elementary who were in attendance in the audience. He also noted that Mayor Tim Pogue, City Attorney Bob Jones and Parks & Recreation Director Chris Conway were all members of that Pack. City of Ballwin- Board of Aldermen Meeting Minutes​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ February 10, 2025​ ​ 1  BOARD OF ALDERMEN Meeting Minutes FEBRUARY 10, 2025 7:00 PM 1 GOVERNMENT CTR. BALLWIN, MO 63011 PRESENTATIONS____________________________________________________________ Navigate and Archimages provided an update on the new Public Works and Parks Maintenance Facility Renovation.They noted the next phase will be to go out to bid for a General Contractor to begin construction on the project. The plan is to go out to bid on February 17th, with bids due back March 11th. Anticipated Bid Award date is March 24th, with construction to hopefully begin shortly after. Navigate anticipated the project would be completed by March of 2026. All of those dates are subject to change, depending on several factors and what bids come back. There were several concerns from the Board regarding the height of the fence around the Parks/Building facility. Public Works Director Jim Link noted there is currently a six foot concrete fence around the Public Works lot. Alderman Mike Utt made a motion to issue bids and authorize staff to move forward with bid issuance. Alderman David Siegel seconded the motion. A voice vote was taken with unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. OLD BUSINESS______________________________________________________________ Bill 5012 - AN ORDINANCE PROHIBITING THE DISCHARGE OF A FIREARM WITHIN OR INTO THE CITY LIMITS. A motion was made by Alderman Mark Stallmann and seconded by Alderman Frank Fleming for a first reading of Bill 5012, title only. A voice vote was taken with unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Alderman Mark Stallmann read Bill 5012, title only. Discussion: City Attorney Bob Jones noted he spoke with Chief John Bergfeld regarding some questions over what was included in the bill. He made two changes to the bill, changing the state of mind/level of cognition portion and took out the lawful discharge portion and changed it to reckless discharge. Mayor Tim Pogue questioned whether the Missouri Department of Conservation needed to be added in as well for anything occurring in Castlewood State Park as the City of Ballwin’s borders get closer to the Park. City Attorney Jones noted the City can address that in the future as potential annexations happen. A motion was made by Alderman Frank Fleming and seconded by Alderman Mike Utt for a second reading of Bill 5012, title only. A voice vote was taken with unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Alderman Fleming read Bill 5012, title only.​ A roll call vote was taken for passage and approval of Bill 5012 with the following results: Aye: Aldermen Utt, Finley, Haug, Stallmann, Fleming, Weaver, Siegel, Lehmkuhl Nay: None City of Ballwin- Board of Aldermen Meeting Minutes​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ February 10, 2025​ ​ 2  BOARD OF ALDERMEN Meeting Minutes FEBRUARY 10, 2025 7:00 PM 1 GOVERNMENT CTR. BALLWIN, MO 63011 Bill No. 5012 was approved and became Ordinance No. 25-03. CONSENT ITEMS____________________________________________________________ Parks & Recreation – Contract Mowing Staff recommends awarding the contract to low bidder IDEAL Landscape in the amount of $94,121.16 Discussion: Alderman David Siegel questioned what types of improvements were planned for staff to complete this summer without having to mow. Parks & Recreation Director Chris Conway noted the City has invested a lot into parks and playgrounds over the past several years and the idea was to allow staff time to enhance and beautify our parks through landscaping and other projects. They’re also planning on rebuilding the deck at New Ballwin Lake. ​ A motion was made by Alderman David Siegel and seconded by Alderman Mike Utt to accept staff’s recommendation. A voice vote was taken with unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Public Works – 2 Ton Truck Replacement with Leaf Vacuum Staff recommends purchasing a 2026 Mack Granite 42BR with a Body-Bed-Hydraulics-Plow and a Leaf vacuum attachment from Vanguard Truck Centers/Woody’s Municipal Supply for a total of $417,695.00. Discussion: Alderman David Siegel questioned why the Public Works Department was purchasing a Mack, noting he has had issues with Volvo who just purchased Mack. Public Works Director noted he took a look at the maintenance costs of all the vehicles the City currently has in its fleet, and the City spent significantly less on their current Mack truck compared to all the other brands. A motion was made by Alderman David Siegel and seconded by Alderman Mike Utt to accept staff’s recommendation. A voice vote was taken with unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. MAYOR’S REPORT__________________________________________________________ Mayor Tim Pogue asked for a motion to reappoint Sue Pyles and Susan Harris to the Parks & Recreation Citizen Advisory Committee for three year terms. Their terms were up at the end of 2024. Alderman Michael Finley made the motion with Alderman Mike Utt seconding the motion. A voice vote was taken with unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. City of Ballwin- Board of Aldermen Meeting Minutes​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ February 10, 2025​ ​ 3  BOARD OF ALDERMEN Meeting Minutes FEBRUARY 10, 2025 7:00 PM 1 GOVERNMENT CTR. BALLWIN, MO 63011 CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT__________________________________________________ City Administrator Eric Sterman noted staff was granted permission from the Board of Aldermen to purchase a Parks truck under $40,000 at the January 13, 2025 Board meeting. He noted the Parks & Recreation Department had purchased a Ford Ranger from Lou Fusz for $38,218, trading in a 2013 Ford F-150 for $4,000. With dealer fees the total came to $33,808. Alderman David Siegel asked Chief John Bergfeld where the department was on purchasing new vehicles and what color they would be. Chief Bergfeld noted they were looking for white vehicles. City Administrator Sterman noted there was a potential deal from Dodge to purchase five white Durangos for the price of four, but that is still being worked on and will be reported back to the Board if it happens. City Administrator Sterman noted the Parks & Recreation Department had previously purchased a new audio/visual system for the Event Center at the Golf Course. That has been having issues since it was put in, and has since been removed and refunded due to several issues. Since the A/V system is necessary for events, both upcoming and yet to be booked, under the emergency purchasing ordinance, it has been approved by the City Administrator and the Parks & Recreation Director to purchase a new one at an expected cost of between $12,000-$20,000. The Board of Aldermen agreed with the purchase, with Alderman Frank Fleming noting that if the City needed to spend more money to get it done as fast as possible, that was fine with him. Parks & Recreation Director Chris Conway noted he and staff are working with different vendors to get pricing and specifications and will report back when something has been purchased. City Administrator Sterman noted the City was applying for traffic enforcement grants from MODOT, which pays for officers overtime for seat belt enforcement, drinking while driving and other enforcement measures. City Administrator Sterman also noted that the City’s Prosecuting Attorney’s Assistant is now gone, so those job duties are being fulfilled by someone in Chris Graville, the City’s Prosecuting Attorney’s office. This will continue for several months to see if this works for the City. The previous PAA was only part time, which meant some emails and phone calls were not being returned for several days. This arrangement should alleviate that issue. City Administrator Sterman also noted Chris Graville’s contract may need to be amended with this new arrangement, but the City will see where we are in a month or two and what that cost looks like. CITY ATTORNEY’S REPORT_________________________________________________ None.​ City of Ballwin- Board of Aldermen Meeting Minutes​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ February 10, 2025​ ​ 4  BOARD OF ALDERMEN Meeting Minutes FEBRUARY 10, 2025 7:00 PM 1 GOVERNMENT CTR. BALLWIN, MO 63011 STAFF REPORTS____________________________________________________________ Parks & Recreation – Median Maintenance Staff recommends awarding Landesign Plus Contractual the Median Maintenance Bid for 2025 for $16,763.11 Landesign Plus has serviced our medians for the last six years and Landesign Plus has had no OSHA violations within the past six years. Discussion: Parks & Recreation Director Chris Conway noted the budget for this was set at $15,000, and all bids received were over budget. The overage will be made up through savings in the mowing contract. Alderman David Siegel noted he did not think the City needed to contract this out. He believed the City should do something more sustainable for these medians that did not require as much maintenance. Alderman Frank Fleming noted he agreed, to the extent that we can have vegetation we don’t have to maintain as much. City Administrator Eric Sterman noted the City had eliminated one position to allow for mowing maintenance to be contracted out. He noted staff could start to reduce the vegetation type in house which should be less maintenance overall. Alderman Siegel noted he would like to see the City move to something more sustainable, and noted it could be something the Parks & Recreation Citizen Advisory Committee could look at moving forward. A motion was made by Alderman Frank Fleming and seconded by Alderman David Siegel to accept staff’s recommendation. A voice vote was taken with unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. ALDERMANIC COMMENTS__________________________________________________ Alderman Michael Finley noted he saw a news story about the West County Lanes having difficulty because a support beam had fallen in their business, forcing them to close. He also noted there are fundraisers being discussed to help out the business and that it was important for places like these to stay open in and around Ballwin. Alderman David Siegel noted Ballwin ranked 41st in the country for best places to live. Alderman Mark Stallmann congratulation Parks & Recreation Director Chris Conway for his election to the MPRA Board. CLOSED SESSION___________________________________________________________ A motion was made by Alderman Frank Fleming and seconded by Alderman Michael Finley to move to closed session under 610.022 RSMo., (1), (2), (3) (13) and (19). A roll call vote was taken on the move to closed session with the following results: Aye: Aldermen Utt, Finley, Haug, Stallmann, Fleming, Weaver, Siegel, Lehmkuhl Nay: None The meeting moved to closed session at 8:11 p.m. City of Ballwin- Board of Aldermen Meeting Minutes​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ February 10, 2025​ ​ 5  BOARD OF ALDERMEN Meeting Minutes FEBRUARY 10, 2025 7:00 PM 1 GOVERNMENT CTR. BALLWIN, MO 63011 ADJOURNMENT____________________________________________________________ When the Board returned to chambers, a motion to reconvene was made by Alderman Frank Fleming and seconded by Alderman Mike Utt. The motion passed by a unanimous voice vote and the meeting reconvened at 8:44 p.m. ​ A motion was made by Alderman Frank Fleming and seconded by Alderman Michael Finley to adjourn. The motion was passed by unanimous affirmative voice vote and the meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. ______________________________ TIM POGUE, MAYOR ATTEST: ____________________________________ MEGAN FREEMAN, CITY CLERK City of Ballwin- Board of Aldermen Meeting Minutes​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ February 10, 2025​ ​ 6