Board of Aldermen

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING OF TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2017 AT 200 HIGHLANDS BOULEVARD DRIVE 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor David L. Willson called the Regular Board of Aldermen meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL AND STATEMENT OF QUORUM Roll call showed those present were Alderman Clement, Alderman Stevens, Alderman Hamill, Alderman Ottenad, Alderman Baumann, Alderman Diehl, Mayor Willson and Attorney Gunn. A quorum was present. 3. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES a. Minutes of the Public Hearing of February 6, 2017 regarding the Special Use Permit Request for a restaurant at 17 Nationalway Alderman Hamill made the motion to approve the Minutes of the Public Hearing of February 6, 2017 regarding the Special Use Permit Request for a restaurant at 17 Nationalway. The motion was seconded by Alderman Clement and carried unanimously, without objection. b. Minutes of the Public Hearing of February 6, 2017 regarding a proposed text amendment to the Code of Ordinances involving administration and enforcement of building permits Alderman Clement and Alderman Hamill simultaneously made the motion to approve the Minutes of the Public Hearing of February 6, 2017 regarding a proposed text amendment to the Code of Ordinances involving administration and enforcement of building permits. The motion was seconded by Alderman Ottenad and carried unanimously, without objection. c. Minutes of the Regular Board of Aldermen meeting of Monday, February 6, 2017 Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 1  Alderman Hamill made the motion to approve the Minutes of the Regular Board of Aldermen meeting of Monday, February 6, 2017. The motion was seconded by Alderman Clement and carried unanimously, without objection. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF ORDER OF ITEMS ON THE AGENDA Mayor Willson stated that he has an addition; he will be introducing a boy scout. Alderman Hamill made the motion to approve the Order of Items on the Agenda as amended. The motion was seconded by Alderman Clement and carried unanimously, without objection. 5. CONSIDERATION OF PETITIONS AND COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC a. Employee Salary and Benefits Chief of Police Timothy Walsh read the following prepared statement: “I recently met with several of the aldermen to discuss morale issues and the steady departure of employees from the City’s Police Department. During that conversation, the aldermen suggested that a plan to address these issues should be developed immediately, rather than waiting for the vacancy in the City Administration position to be filled. I pointed out that the Board of Aldermen’s recent efforts to shift a significant additional financial burden to all of the employees through the health insurance premium had severely bruised the morale of the employees and had damaged the relationship between the Board and the City’s staff. I advised them that many of the employees felt unappreciated and had taken direct actions in response. Since November, Officer Tony Davis, Officer Nick Sampson and Captain Pat Milligan have resigned from the Police Department. Officer Jason Gibbs and Officer Timothy Hancock recently joined the Missouri National Guard because they needed to supplement their family’s income and health insurance needs. You may recall Mrs. Hancock addressed the Board in a recent meeting. This morning, Officer Dave Ebert stopped by my office and submitted his resignation as he also has secured a better arrangement to provide for his family’s income and health insurance needs. Last week, the Public Works Department received a resignation from Josh Giesleman; its sewer lateral inspector. Josh accepted a similar position with another municipality. Together, these employees represent many decades of experience and demonstrated talents toward the various services provided to our residents. Each of the employees who left us has raised concerns regarding issues with pay and benefits before leaving. Every week, I receive requests from our police officers to work at a secondary employment position. These secondary employment forms have been submitted by most, if not all, of the officers who work here. The officers use this additional income to supplement their family income and insurance needs. I also agreed with the aldermen that the City should make an effort to immediately address the pay and benefit issue. I pointed out that the salaries of our police officers were at least fifteen percent below the pay standards of other nearby Police Departments and I asked that they would consider lowering the family share of the health insurance premium that was paid by all employees. I pointed out that employees using the family health insurance option could least afford the additional expenditure. I added that it would go a long way and would make a big impact on Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 2 healing the recent wounds. At one point during our conversation, the issue of free trash service was addressed. I mentioned that a good number of years ago, the cost of trash service for the community had passed the one million dollar mark. We had talked at the time that that was such a large number and wondered how high it would go. I pointed out that the cost of trash service had now reached more than 1.3 million dollars. I asked that, if tax revenues were so tight that none could be found for employees, could something be done with this completely free trash service. In other words, would the City ever reach a point where some fees would be considered to subsidize the trash collection service, and thus, share its overall cost. I made it clear that this Police Department provides more public services with less support than other agencies and, simply put, I feel that we are underpaid and understaffed. Calls for service are up more than fifty percent over the last eight years, yet the level of staff has remained the same. We deliver several annual charitable programs that have a significant and positive impact on the community. We cycle through one public training program after another throughout the year in addition to providing an outstanding law enforcement product to the community. The list of ancillary public relations and safety programs never stops growing. I came to work here in 1983 and, at the time that I started here, the Manchester Police Department paid as well as any other community and also provided the best work-related benefits. The property tax here at that time was thirty-seven cents. Over the next several decades, it was reduced by three or five cents each year until it finally landed at its current rate of four and one-half cents. As the tax rate dropped, so did the level of pay and benefits received as compared to that paid by other communities. As brick and mortar stores receive a smaller share of sales because of the option of on-line purchases, it has become more and more evident that local governments cannot operate strictly from sales tax revenue. If you look around at other local communities, you’ll find some with 7% utility tax rates and much higher levels of property taxes. I want you to know that I am very proud of the men and women of the Manchester Police Department. Whether a new hire or a veteran, our officers work hard and often wear a number of hats as they provide a very high quality level of service to the citizens of Manchester. What we provide has value and those that provide it should be compensated for their service. It’s long overdue that the pay and benefits of the City’s entire staff were brought up to standards. I don’t know if the elected officials realize it or not, but the Manchester community regularly goes out of its way to let us know that they’re grateful for our service. I have a big box in my office filled with complementary notes and thank you cards received from the public. We’ve always received them, but I began collecting them when the additional cost of insurance was announced. Nearly every day, residents drop off sandwiches, pizza, cookies or cakes for the officers. Uniformed officers can’t walk through a business without people walking up to thank them for their service to our community. While it’s been a while, I would remind you that the bond issue for our police headquarters received nearly three out of every four votes. My point is, I hope, clear. The residents of Manchester strongly and convincingly support their Police Department (and, I’m sure, all other Departments) and they regularly and convincingly demonstrate that support. Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 3  In closing, I would certainly agree that improvements to the pay and benefit issue must be addressed immediately. At the time of the City’s founding, the citizens of Manchester decided that they wanted more than the basic services provided by the County. They recognized the need for improved services and placed a significant value on those services. In preparing these comments, I have discussed these issues with the entire senior staff. Everyone agrees, the present situation is unsustainable and immediate action is required. As Directors of the City’s Departments, we can’t continue to provide a quality level of service under the current salary and benefit structure. I would ask that the Mayor assign an elected official to join with the senior staff to discuss these issues and then to report to the entire Board (in writing) on any progress achieved. Further delay will result in the loss of other valuable and capable employees as they leave Manchester to work in neighboring communities.” Alderman Clement stated this is very good and he was one of those aldermen and Chief has followed up on it. He believes he is hearing the Chief suggesting the Mayor ask one of the aldermen to join senior staff to look at ways of finding revenue for salary changes across the board. Chief Timothy Walsh stated it is not necessarily salary changes; he thinks the City needs to consider salary and benefits. He thinks Manchester needs a revenue stream that we currently do not have, and he doesn’t think that they should have to come and revisit this every year. He would like the aldermen to consider a revenue stream that would fund the city services for years to come. When he came here to work here as a policeman, he didn’t come here expecting to get rich, but he would like, as would the other policemen and everyone else working here, to be paid a reasonable level of pay as compared to the other communities that are immediately around us. He thinks that the revenues are out there to be had. He said he lives here too, and he doesn’t want to pay crazy taxes, but he thinks the City needs to pay the folks that work here a reasonable salary and that is not what the City is doing right now. Alderman Clement stated they asked for such a team in October at the conclusion of the budget planning, when Chris Winters was asked to be on it as a resident. He said what Chief is asking for is what they were looking for as well. Chief Walsh stated if we don’t do something immediately, we will have a significant problem. Alderman Clement asked if one department needs more immediate attention than others. Chief Walsh answered that would be unfair. He said he hasn’t looked at all the other departments and compared them to comparable departments in other municipalities. He said he gets a salary survey from SLAPCA, the St. Louis Area Police Chief’s Association and the Missouri Police Chiefs Association and in the St. Louis area, in our general area, the starting pay difference is $7,500 between what the City of Manchester starts at compared to our neighboring cities. Alderman Clement stated that he was the one that in October 2015 said we need to look at Police Department salaries, and at that time the Board asked the City Administrator to put together recommendations. He said the Chief has been the most vocal in support of the Police Department, Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 4 not to say that the other departments don’t need some kind of consideration, but his personal opinion is maybe there is a need to address the police before others. Director of Parks, Recreation and Arts Eileen Collins stated if there is a situation where the Police Department needs to respond, at that time, they are the most important; when it is snowing, it’s the Public Works Department, and when the grass is up to your knees and everyone is coming up to the park, it’s the Parks Department. She said she thinks you can judge on that. She said when she loses one individual out of her department, it is probably the equivalent of Chief losing six police officers from the Police Department. She said the same goes as Director of Public Works Bob Ruck, and yes, there might be more people, but you can’t judge who is most important in this community. Director of Public Works Bob Ruck added that he currently is three positions short, and they are having trouble trying to fill those positions. He said the City just lost their sewer lateral inspector, and again with seven years of hard work behind him here, he is going somewhere else for better salary and better benefits from the beginning. Alderman Baumann said when they voted on the health insurance a few months back, he caught flak from almost everyone on this Board about his comment about double and triple checking the budget to seeing if there was money available to help with the health insurance and salaries. He said he took his own advice and worked hard to educate himself on the budget. At the budget meeting he mentioned Manchester had $1,001,994.20 to help with the wages and the health insurance. He said the total fund balance as percentage of expenditures is at 30.81%, and the City is only required to maintain 20%. Alderman Baumann stated between 2002 and 2011, the City moved out $6.8 million from the General Revenue Fund to the Capital Improvement Fund. Basically the City “robbed Peter to pay Paul”. He said he wanted to be clear, and he knows the dollars were spent wisely and for the benefit for Manchester. Since then, the City has repaid $1 million back to the General Revenue Fund. Now Manchester is “robbing Paul to pay back Peter” at the expense of the Capital Improvement Fund. Alderman Baumann said that our closest neighbors, Ballwin and Ellisville, recognize the benefit of competitive salaries and wages. Alderman Baumann stated during budget season as he was reading the West Newsmagazine, he read an article about Ellisville adjusting their salary by 9.2 percent. Ballwin had an ad out for a police officer starting at $51,000, while Manchester starts at $43,680. For months now both employees, and most importantly residents, have urged the Board to take action, which still has not happened. Alderman Baumann said that since the budget meeting, the City has lost five patrolmen including one today, and this includes two officers who went to the National Guard. He seriously doubts those men are coming back after their stint with the National Guard. He added that we lost our Captain, we lost our City Administrator, we lost a Public Works employee today, and on top of that, we had an ad out since August for the two open positions in the Public Works Department, but they just can’t fill them. He said they were all warned at the Board meeting and at the Budget meetings that the City would lose employees. He said it is their fault for not acting. Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 5  Alderman Baumann stated there are ways to fix this. Manchester’s utility tax rate is at 5%; both Ballwin’s and Ellisville’s are at 7%, and they are comparative cities. Each additional percent would bring in $363,000. The second way would be to start charging for some of the trash service. He believes Manchester is one of three cities that still picks up the bill for trash services for the residents. He said the amount that Manchester would need is $10 month from each residence just to fund our current budget, but before they think of these two options, it needs to be considered about using the funds the City is supposed to be using for this need. If he is correct, in speaking with Director Tuberty, in order to maintain the General Fund balance at a percentage of expenditures above 20 percent, for every dollar that we add this year to the budget, we would need to support that same dollar amount in following years. Alderman Baumann said he wanted to be clear, this is not just about being nice to our employees and giving them raises; this is about benefits and a quality of life for our residents. For example, for our Police Department, this is our public safety, this is about our officers knowing the streets. Knowing where the concerns are because of pay scales, we have become the “training facilities” for other cities. He said he understands that in addition to the cost of training, the City spends about $3,000 in uniforms and equipment every time we have a vacancy and find it necessary to hire a new officer. Alderman Baumann stated that on behalf of the Public Works Department, having good streets leads to good property value. The individual who left us this week did our excavation for the sewer lateral line program. Just think for a moment, we have had two open positions in Public Works since August, and this gentleman did our sewer laterals. What is going to be the wait for the future residents in a couple weeks when he leaves? Alderman Baumann stated for the Parks Department, as the grass cutting season begins, we all have seen how the Missouri Department of Transportation does the grass cutting, when it is knee high to waist high. He wants everyone to think if Director Collins loses her employees of all the Manchester programs and the staff to put on the programing at a minimal cost. Those programs will cease or slow down. Alderman Baumann stated for the Planning and Zoning Department, the benefit is consistent business revenue coming in by getting businesses in the City. He believes since he has been on the Board that the City has had four different planning and zoning directors. Alderman Baumann stated he doesn’t believe we can just focus on one department, this is a City-wide issue. He said the board is asleep at the wheel. Alderman Stevens stated she didn’t have any information ahead of time or time to prepare a statement, but she supports anytime to get people to sit down together and talk honestly about the reality of what is available and how to save people with their salaries and benefits in a long term basis. Her concern is based upon the experiences they have had to date about asking and supporting such a partnership, we still haven’t gotten there. Her concern is the first thing the committee team Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 6 needs to do as it gets together is to decide on a timeline so we don’t elongate the investigation, as much as we get something started. She said she would support an honest and open communication and seeing what could be done. She has also said to others she doesn’t know if it is legally appropriate or not, if it isn’t the trash, then let the people speak. She hears people say “Don’t take my trash away.” and she also hears people say “It doesn’t make a difference to me to help the City”. She said it could be a valid issue, if it is appropriate, to put on the ballot. She said to let the people decide, if the people decide then that is what the people want. Alderman Stevens stated her biggest concern is not the formation but the actual application once the recommendations are made in getting things done and acted upon. She said with the vacancies we have currently in the City, trying to get it done would be difficult. Chief Timothy Walsh stated in what he wrote, the trash fees were discussed when they went over the $1 million dollar mark, everybody said “Wow, a million dollars, that is a lot of bucks.” It now is a third higher than when it crossed that threshold, and what he is asking is how much of the increase does the City continue to support. Is there ever a line in the sand anywhere that says the City will go this far and then it is time for someone to throw in money in the pile? Mayor Willson stated as being the interim administrator, that allows him to say some things because he has interacted in the last seven weeks with the department heads, the employees, and he has heard things that he was never privy to as the Mayor, because it was not in his job description. For all those people that are out there, if they remember at the budget meetings, he made the comment that by the first of the year the City will probably lose 10 or more employees. There was no reaction and currently we have lost nine, and he was not too far off, because you could see it coming. There was a comment at the time “Where are they going? There are no jobs out there”. All nine people who have left so far are well employed making more money, getting better benefits, and getting better health care benefits wherever they went. One person left and went to Franklin County, took a cut in base salary because he was going make it up in his retirement plan and health insurance premiums, and he was going to come out ahead. The comment that if you don’t like it here, go somewhere else, is actually what is happening. It is not because they don’t like it here, it is because they can go other places, make more money, they can get better benefits, and be treated differently than they are treated right now in the City of Manchester. This is not something that has happened in the last year or two years; he has been the Mayor nine years, and he has watched this happen over a period of time, with one percent raise, ½ percent raise, no raise, and one percent raise, that is not going to cut it, that is not going to make these people stay. He said as Paul Harvey always said “Here is the rest of the story”: The problem is we can’t hire anybody to take these jobs, we are going to be short and we are going to continue to be short because we can’t pay these people. We are not paying people an appropriate hourly wage. An example is with the Police Department, we are $5,000 or $6,000 less in starting salary. You are not going to get people to come here that have 10 years’ experience, you are going to get them coming here getting out of the Academy. He said the Police Department currently has only five applications for a position, Director Bob Ruck can’t hire people because we can’t pay them an hourly wage, Director Eileen Collins lost Brian, so she is one short, and he was a key person. They all went and bettered themselves. You can’t blame Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 7 them for that, for bettering their families, getting better insurance, and getting a retirement plan in Lagers. Mayor Willson stated he thinks it is time the Board bites the bullet, does something, makes a decision, and starts putting out the proper amount of money to keep people or this will be a never- ending problem. We will not be able to replace them. He doesn’t think the process is over yet and he doesn’t know how we are going to stop it but the question is how we are going to replace these people if we are not offering comparable wages. It is a real eye opener going and sitting with department heads and listening to what they are trying to do with minimal workers. He has always said, and presented this to the aldermen on other occasions, that we have just under 20,000 residents, and we have 78 employees. If you look at other cities of comparable size, they have 100 to 140 employees. Some cities with 10,000 residents have 50 more employees, and he is not counting the fire departments, he is just counting the employees in the Police Department, Public Works Department, and the Parks and Recreation Department. Why are we so short on people? Mayor Willson commended the Department Heads for coming to tonight’s meeting. He commended Chief Walsh for his nice speech he gave. He said he hopes we can do something about it. He hopes the Board can put together some type of program or bring everyone up to speed and pay the appropriate amount of money that they deserve. Alderman Stevens stated she agrees with what the Mayor said. She asked “When this will be put together and when will this be done?” She asked “Who makes that decision, is that the Mayor’s decision, or is that the aldermen’s decision?” She asked what the next step is and when will it happen. Mayor Willson answered this will all be taken under advisement. City Attorney Gunn stated if we had a City Administrator, it would be for them to start the process. Alderman Stevens commented that since there are so many vacancies that the City has, we need to make sure again, with good intentions, that this doesn’t get stuck in the muck. Alderman Baumann stated the city-wide total for the cost to bring employees to the midpoint range, as per the salary study, is $654,000. It is just not $654,000, but it is also the retirement and the payroll tax that actually comes to $738,366. He said if you just want to take care of the Police Department, that is $357,200, plus retirement and payroll tax at a total of $403,279. Then you would probably put some more logs on the fire as everything going on here. His suggestion is Director Tuberty come up with a couple numbers, bring it to the Board next meeting as to what he thinks it would cost to bring everybody up to that $654,000, of which the total amount it $738,366. The City has the money in the budget to make these changes this year, but the City doesn’t have the money in the budget to do it next year. The problem is how we are going to pay for it. That is why Director Tuberty should come up with a couple ways to solve that problem. He Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 8 believes this can be done by the next meeting, and the Board can vote on it next meeting to solve the problem. Director of Finance Dave Tuberty stated his recommendation is the Mayor appoints the commission. We get it started and we get it started the moment somebody is in place to join us. As far as the numbers go; that figure was a year ago. The problem is that any increases, anything we would do to increase this year has to be sustained. It has to be ongoing for the duration of the City, and it can’t be something we dip into our Reserve Fund for, because that is the quickest way to lose that. If there is a suggestion to come up with a plan and we need extra in the budget to get it started, he would support it. We can use a little of that reserve, but that is only if there is a plan where we will go in the future. Alderman Ottenad asked with the numbers given, whether those are the averages of the cities. She asked: “Where does it put the City of Manchester in the relation to other cities?” Director Tuberty stated the numbers were included when the salary study took place, and the former City Administrator had asked for him to determine how much it would take to bring up the salaries of the employees. Alderman Ottenad asked for a copy of the salary study instead of throwing out numbers. Numerous people answered it was given out in the end of April last year. Director of Parks, Recreation, and Arts Eileen Collins stated it was graphed and put into a spreadsheet and color coded. Alderman Ottenad asked if they exact numbers that show the information being discussed. She said until they have a meeting, she didn’t bother to go through all that. Alderman Stevens interrupted by saying they are getting into discussion of what should be occurring in this commission. She said this is not the meeting to do that. She said they should get some information, some had time to prepare and some haven’t had time to prepare. People are making assumptions that all the facts may not be out. This is not the forum. Alderman Ottenad stated as long as they have the numbers, that is fine. Mayor Willson stated he attended the Lafayette Mayors meeting last Friday, and he asked the mayors some questions. He asked Ellisville how much that city pays of the insurance for employees, and the answer was 100 percent. He asked Ballwin how they decide what the salary structure is, and the mayor said they do a salary review and if the City of Ballwin is not within the 75 percentile, they make the correction and raise the salaries. He said there are cities out there doing things to keep up to date. Alderman Ottenad stated Manchester used to be at the 50 percentile, but it has been years. Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 9  Mayor Willson stated this problem didn’t occur over the last few years; it has been on a slide for some time. Chief Timothy Walsh stated Manchester used to be at the top of the heap. He said when he came here there was no one above Manchester. Alderman Ottenad stated that was even before she got on the Board. Alderman Clement stated he wanted to express the fact that Chief started his requests in October 2015, and he sat down and made an appeal. The Board told Chief to give data and give them his recommendations. The Board was expecting that information at the end of January of last year. He said the Board never received a recommendation from the City on how to address this issue. He has the email from the Mayor and former City Administrator for a work session or for them to make recommendations to the Board and let them look at them. He said when there was another budget session, the Board was told there was not going to be a recommendation. From the Board of Aldermen perspective, he really thinks this should have come from city staff. He said they need to work on it and he supports the idea someone from this Board can work with the team. He wants something specific. He wants to know dollars and cents and what it is going to take. Chief Walsh asked that one of the Board members be appointed by the Mayor to meet with City staff. Mayor Willson stated he appreciated everyone’s comments. b. Comments from the Public Ms. Tracy Garrett, 463 Lynwood Forest, stated this was interesting; she knew what was on the agenda for the meeting because she had read the minutes on line this evening before she came. She said she saw there were comments on salary and benefits, and this is something that she has spoken about before. Ms. Garrett said she was interested and found it interesting that this just came up, because in October, there was a determination that a commission should be formed with residents, employees, and members of the board. She said she was asked November 3 in an email to participate in this group, to look at revenue streams, to do something about this huge problem that Manchester has with our wonderful employees. She was told it would be within the next couple months. She was told it would be at least three meetings. Nothing. Nothing. No one has asked about it until people bring it up again. Ms. Garrett said that if these employees that we are so concerned about were annoying us, frolicking in our yards and eating our vegetation like the deer, the Board would have been all over it. Ms. Garrett said that in the last couple months, the deer are identified as a problem. They are not a bigger problem than last year, but let’s commission someone else to look at it, and we will have someone else come in and talk to us. The salaries are lower than they should be, and that is what she has seen since October, and she is really concerned because there are great people working for the City and they are leaving. Residents are going to leave too if this becomes “that City”. Ms. Garrett said that the City of Manchester has already been on the news over insurance benefits; she urged: Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 10 “Let’s not be on the news because we are not treating each other respectfully. Let’s not be on the news because we can’t seem to get out the bottom percentile with not paying our employees appropriately; we are so much better than that.” Ms. Garrett said that the residents pay low taxes, but have great trash. She said we forget about the people who take care of us and her children, by plowing her streets, though they haven’t had to do it much this year, we forget about them, but we have great trash. She said those employees probably make more than City of Manchester employees, because the City pays the trash company a lot of money to pick up trash. She would be happy to contribute to that. Ms. Garrett stated she really, in the last couple months, has been coming to these meetings and has been disappointed in the way the communications go back and forth between aldermen. She feels she doesn’t hear “This is good for the City”. She feels like she hears “This is because I am mad because I didn’t like the way this was said”, or “because a long time ago you said”. Ms. Garrett said what she needs to hear from the Board is “because it is good for the City”, as that is why she lives here and she wants to continue to live here. Mr. Chris Winters, 510 Cardinal Lane, expressed his thanks for the answers to his questions asked at the meeting on February 6. Mr. Winters stated that one of the answers to his questions concerning whether SLAIT is used for other insurance the City has was that the City does use SLAIT to obtain other insurances. He said there was an e-mail sent by Alderman Baumann replying to the Mayor concerning a meeting and copying the City Attorney and City Administrator on August 22, 2016, letting them know that he had contact information from Kirkwood School District’s United Healthcare representative and their broker’s information as well, to try and get additional quotes to find a more reasonable health care plan. He said that nine minutes later there was a reply from Alderman Hamill that the City “already has a broker” and “the meeting on Monday is not to discuss quotes” Mr. Winters said that this doesn’t appear true; the City actually has two brokers. Mr. Winters posed a follow-up question: “Did the City of Manchester give SLAIT the opportunity to bid on its behalf for health insurance?” Mr. Winters stated he had a question for some aldermen. He asked if it is true that in the past, two City Administrators were given a buy-out when they were asked to resign. He asked if one City Administrator was forced from their position and that former City Administrator sued and was granted a sum of money from the City of Manchester. Mr. Winters asked if it is true that in the past, some aldermen called upon a former City Administrator to come to an off-site location on a Friday to tell this individual that they no longer wanted him to be the City Administrator and that that person was being demoted with less pay, and he had to answer by Monday. Mr. Winters asked if the ultimate goal was the hope that he would resign. He then asked if it is true that this former City Administrator had to hire and pay for his own Attorney to justify the legal expenditure of funds with Horner and Shifrin to undertake bridge study work for the City, as that person was accused of wrong doing by an alderman and backed by the City Attorney, and once that person’s attorney proved them wrong, they backed off leaving that former City Administrator to pay $2000 to his attorney and he was never reimbursed. Mr. Winters asked if it is true that in the past there were two closed-door meetings in back- to-back months to attempt to take votes to fire a City Administrator. He said if that did take place, Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 11 the effort obviously did not get the vote to do so. He said that a former City Administrator found better employment a couple of years later. Mr. Winters asked if it is true that in the past two City Administrative employees were asked to come to the office of Hockensmith, McKinnis and Hamill at which the following persons were included in this meeting: Alderman Clement, Alderman Hamill, Tom Beattie and two other Beattie associates where these employees were told that Beattie and Associates will be the City of Manchester’s health insurance broker and that is that. He asked if the two City Administrative employees were told: “This meeting never took place”. He then asked if Hockensmith, McKinnis and Hamill represent Beattie and Associates for legal issues. Mr. Winters commented that if Alderman Clement and Alderman Hamill were bullying authoritarians, their actions would not have been made unless previous discussions with other aldermen took place in order to have a majority vote in place in case the opportunity arose. Mr. Winters asked Alderman Ottenad and Alderman Diehl if they did, in fact, have anything to do with these past discussions of bullying tactics of administrative employees. Mr. Winters stated that he is pointing out that there seems to be a pattern of strange goings on here. Mr. Winters said if any of these questions come with a “yes” answer, he wanted to know what motive they had by handcuffing City Administrative employees. He asked: “What gain is it for you? What gain is it for the Citizens of Manchester? What gain is it for our employees? Does this make the City prosper?” Mr. Winters asked if four aldermen realize they are turning the City of Manchester into the laughing stock of the entire county. He said that Manchester is the talk of all other municipalities. All the other municipalities are going to end up with all of Manchester’s mid-seasoned employees, and this is causing the City of Manchester to get stuck with no one else wanting to even fill out an application. Alderman Ottenad asked if Mr. Winters is expecting answers. She said she would like to see the answers as well. Mr. Winters stated he is expecting answers. City Attorney Gunn stated with Mr. Winters prior questions was a transcript that was prepared and sent to him so he would have the questions, and he answered the questions. Alderman Ottenad asked if she will get a copy; since her name was brought up, she would like to see how this is answered. Mr. Winters stated he doesn’t think this should just be answered by the attorney only. Alderman Clement stated he wants to be a part of any answers as well. City Attorney Gunn stated they will prepare a list of the questions and send it to everybody, Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 12 and everybody can provide their answers. He will have to reach out to Mr. Winters regarding what some of the questions are, but he understands Mr. Winters is protecting by not naming. Mr. Winters stated he is just asking if this is true. This is what he has heard and he is now asking if it is true. City Attorney Gunn stated Mr. Winters spoke about a City Administrator and he doesn’t know who he is talking about. Mr. Winters stated there are quite a few administrators who have been through here in the past 10 years. City Attorney Gunn stated Mr. Winters may be asking questions that go back to 1976 and he will need to narrow the field. 6. REPORTS FROM THE MAYOR a. Mayoral Report Mayor Willson introduced Boy Scout Ben Garcia, from Troop 680 in Valley Park; he is working on his “Citizenship in the Community” merit badge. Mayor Willson reported that on February 9, he attended a Police Chiefs’ and Administrators’ meeting; on February 10, he attended the Lafayette Area Mayor’s Organization (LAMO) meeting, on February 13, he attended the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting; on February 15, he attended a conference call regarding events with parks building; on February 16, Director Ruck and he met with Dave Dial, an architect, regarding repairs that will have to be made at City Hall, they will have to pull off the siding and fix the balcony and it is necessary that the craftsman understands historical restoration; on February 17, he attended the Government Affairs & Transportation meeting in Wildwood, and there were updates from the Missouri Department of Transportation and other Mayors and other cities; on February 19, he attended the Judy Kosloff memorial, it was a really nice program. 7. REPORTS FROM THE CITY ADMINISTRATOR a. List of Paid Bills (Warrant dates of February 5 – February 18, 2017) Mayor Willson stated the list of paid bills was in the packet. There were no questions. 8. REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES a. Planning and Zoning Commission Alderman Clement reported that there was a meeting a week ago. There were four cases, a site plan for a carport to be attached, a site plan for new construction, rezoning for a parcel at 825 Sulphur Springs, and a proposal for a new subdivision that will be coming to the Board of Aldermen in March. The Planning and Zoning Commission Banquet was held on Thursday night. Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 13  Mayor Willson stated at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, he made the comment that it is not helpful to the residents to call him at home and ask him to stop St. Louis County from reassessments. b. Homecoming Committee Alderman Ottenad reported that there was no meeting, and there is no meeting scheduled until April 12 at the Legion Hall. c. Manchester Arts Alderman Stevens reported that there is a new display by Mideast Area Agency on Aging West County citizens. Their work used to be displayed in the County Library, and now it will be at the City’s Police Facility. There are three dates set for the Community Band for this summer, there is information on FOCUS, the photography show, on the website. She said that the West Newsmagazine is going to be doing a story about a creative alliance to try to develop a sculpture loan project. 9. ACTION ON OLD BILLS a. BILL # 17-2290 - AN ORDINANCE APPROVING A SPECIAL USE PERMIT REQUEST FOR A RESTAURANT AT 17 NATIONALWAY CENTER Alderman Stevens read for the second time Bill # 17-2290, entitled: “AN ORDINANCE CREATING A SPECIAL USE PERMIT AND GRANTING THE SAME TO SAWAN FOODS, LLC TO OPERATE A RESTAURANT AT 17 NATIONALWAY SHOPPING CENTER, AS PROVIDED FOR IN SECTION 405.285(C)(12) OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF MANCHESTER”, by title only. Alderman Ottenad asked if there is a name yet for this restaurant. Director of Planning and Zoning Melanie Rippetoe said that to her knowledge, there is no name announced yet for the restaurant. Alderman Ottenad said that recently, the Board of Aldermen approved a restaurant that didn’t have a name. Her problem is the Board approved a restaurant that was unnamed and it turned out to have black windows. She said the Board was railed because how could they approve a restaurant that had a name like that. Alderman Stevens asked if this restaurant is a chain or an individual. Alderman Ottenad said she knows they have another restaurant in Manchester. She wouldn’t care if they used the same name and just put a number 2 behind it. Alderman Stevens asked if there was a name and it was included in this Special Use Permit, if the name was changed, if that changes the Special Use Permit. Attorney Gunn answered he doesn’t believe so. Alderman Ottenad asked why this is being brought before the Board of Aldermen without a Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 14 name. Alderman Stevens said personally she would like to know the name of it and she doesn’t know what the restaurant is. Alderman Clement said they know in general what the menu is expected to be. He said in a broader way, if the Board doesn’t know the information about it and they were burned a bit, it might be more helpful if they knew more about it. Mayor Willson commented that when this was read for the first time and Alderman Stevens asked if there was any further discussion, there was no more discussion. He wondered why this problem wasn’t brought up then. Alderman Clement stated he did ask at the last Board meeting because he also didn’t have a name at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. Alderman Stevens made the motion that Bill # 17-2290 become Ordinance # 17-2174. The motion was seconded by Alderman Hamill. A poll of the Board showed: Alderman Clement - aye Alderman Stevens - aye Alderman Hamill - aye Alderman Diehl – aye Alderman Baumann – aye Alderman Ottenad – nay Mayor Willson reported the motion passed with a 5 – 1 vote. b. BILL # 17-2291 - AN ORDINANCE APPROVING A TEXT AMENDMENT TO THE CODE OF ORDINANCES PERTAINING TO ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF BUILDING PERMITS Alderman Clement read for the second time Bill # 17-2291, entitled: “AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 405.800 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF MANCHESTER RELATING TO BUILDING PERMITS”, by title only. Alderman Clement made the motion that Bill # 17-2291 become Ordinance # 17-2175. The motion was seconded by Alderman Ottenad. A poll of the Board showed: Alderman Stevens - aye Alderman Hamill - aye Alderman Diehl – aye Alderman Baumann – aye Alderman Ottenad – aye Alderman Clement - aye Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 15  Mayor Willson reported the motion passed by 6 – 0, with no objections. 10. INTRODUCTION OF NEW BILLS a. BILL AMENDING CHAPTER 210 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES Alderman Baumann introduced Bill # 17-2292, entitled: “AN ORDINANCE TOTALLY AMENDING CHAPTER 210 OF THE CITY OF MANCHESTER CODE OF ORDINANCES RELATING TO THE OFFENSES OCCURRING WITHIN THE CITY OF MANCHESTER”, by title only. Alderman Hamill asked what the changes were. City Attorney Gunn stated the changes include everything in regard to the recent changes to the Statutes, and this will put us in compliance. Alderman Baumann stated that Emergency Legislation had been requested, so he made a motion for approval of Emergency Legislation. The motion was seconded by Alderman Clement and carried unanimously, without objection. Alderman Baumann read for the second time Bill # 17-2292, entitled: “AN ORDINANCE TOTALLY AMENDING CHAPTER 210 OF THE CITY OF MANCHESTER CODE OF ORDINANCES RELATING TO THE OFFENSES OCCURRING WITHIN THE CITY OF MANCHESTER”, by title only. Alderman Baumann made the motion that Bill # 17-2292 become Ordinance # 17-2176. The motion was seconded by Alderman Clement. A poll of the Board showed: Alderman Hamill - aye Alderman Diehl – aye Alderman Baumann – aye Alderman Ottenad – aye Alderman Clement – aye Alderman Stevens - aye Mayor Willson reported the motion passed by 6 – 0, with no objections. b. RESOLUTION AMENDING ENGINEERING SERVICES FOR THE PARKS BUILDING Alderman Hamill asked Director Eileen Collins what the Metropolitan Sewer District missed or changed on the plans. Director Collins answered there is only so much land disturbance that can occur in a certain parcel size; they had to redesign the detention pond and parks building. Alderman Hamill introduced proposed Resolution # 17-0584, entitled: “A RESOLUTION AMENDING RESOLUTION NO. 15-0542 BY INCREASING THE FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR ENGINEERING SERVICES PROVIDED FOR THEREIN”, by title only. Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 16  Alderman Hamill made the motion for approval of Resolution # 17-0584. The motion was seconded by Alderman Clement and carried unanimously, without objection. c. RESOLUTION AMENDING ARCHITECTURAL AND RELATED SERVICES PERTAINING TO THE PARKS BUILDING ADDITION Alderman Diehl introduced proposed Resolution # 17-0585, entitled: “A RESOLUTION AMENDING RESOLUTION NO. 15-0541 BY INCREASING THE REIMBURSABLES PROVIDED FOR THEREIN”, by title only. Director of Parks, Recreation, and Arts Eileen Collins said any time there is something going to the County and the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD), it is the architect’s responsibility to have those printed, and when it is a set of plans, and up to 30 pages, $2,000 is all he put in his bid for reimbursables. Alderman Ottenad asked if this is something that Horner & Shifrin should have caught. Director Collins answered that she doesn’t believe so. She said that not knowing about the amphitheater and the land disturbance, it was MSD that dropped the ball, and when they went back to look at it, they said the drawings were not adequate. Alderman Ottenad asked if the Metropolitan Sewer District isn’t helping fund any of this. Director Collins answered that they are not. Alderman Diehl made the motion for approval of Resolution # 17-0585. The motion was seconded by Alderman Clement and carried unanimously, without objection. 11. Miscellaneous a. Comments from the Public There were none. 13. ADJOURNMENT At 8:20 p.m., there being no further business, Alderman Clement made the motion to adjourn. The motion was seconded by Alderman Hamill and carried 6 - 0, without objection. The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Ruth E. Baker, MMC/MPCC City Clerk Note: This is a journal of the Board of Aldermen meeting of February 21 2017, (summary); not a verbatim transcript. If a recording of the meeting is desired, please contact City Hall. Regular Board of Aldermen 02/21/2017 Page 17