Board of Aldermen

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING OF MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 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 Nolte, 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 September 5, 2017 regarding a Special Use Permit Request for outside display of goods and merchandise for temporary or seasonal promotions at 14433 Manchester Road Alderman Hamill made the motion to approve the Minutes of the Public Hearing of September 5, 2017 regarding a Special Use Permit Request for outside display of goods and merchandise for temporary or seasonal promotions at 14433 Manchester Road. The motion was seconded by Alderman Clement and carried unanimously, with no objection. b. Minutes of the Public Hearing of September 5, 2017 regarding establishment of 2017 property tax rates Alderman Clement made the motion to approve the Minutes of the Public Hearing of September 5, 2017 regarding establishment of 2017 property tax rates. The motion was seconded by Alderman Hamill and carried unanimously, without objection. c. Minutes of the Regular Board of Aldermen meeting of Tuesday, September 5, 2017 Regular Board of Aldermen 09/18/2017 Page 1  Alderman Hamill made the motion to approve the Minutes of the Regular Board of Aldermen meeting of Tuesday, September 5, 2017. The motion was seconded by Alderman Clement and carried unanimously without objection. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF ORDER OF ITEMS ON THE AGENDA Mayor Willson advised that he would be introducing some boy scouts tonight. Alderman Hamill made the motion that the Order of Items on the Agenda be approved as amended. The motion was seconded by Alderman Clement and carried unanimously, without objection. 5. CONSIDERATION OF PETITIONS AND COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC a. Comments from the Public Mr. Michael Romney, 950 Meramec Station Road, stated he was at the meeting to discuss the Ordinance pertaining to the trees. He stated that he sees there were some changes made, two that he found, and one was to have a Tree Advisory Board and the other one was a change in the ratio. He said he has some issues with the Ordinance and he then discussed his concerns. He said he did not believe a developer would be able to comply with the intent of this Ordinance, and if he can’t, it won’t save any trees. He spoke about heavily-wooded properties in the City of Manchester. Mr. Romney discussed Black Locust, and said that according to the Ordinance, Black Locust is not a “nuisance” tree as defined in that Ordinance, but the State of Missouri calls them “nuisance” trees and gives instructions how to eradicate them. He said the State recommends bulldozing them and then using a herbicide. He said the Missouri Botanical Garden also says they are undesirable trees. Ms. Jean Evans, 1641 Award Drive, Missouri State Representative for House District 99, said she believes all of Manchester is within that district. Representative Evans said she attended a meeting with other state representatives and senators about the city and county merger, specifically a meeting hosted by the Municipal League on August 31 where information was presented. She said that there were a couple professors who did a deep dive into the information from Better Together’s report. She quoted a sentence that she said is indicative of the entire report: “Better Together reports that St. Louis as a region spends $600 per person annually more than Indianapolis.” She said that Indianapolis is a comparison city in this situation. She said Better Together is suggesting that all this money is going to waste. Representative Evans stated that the professors did a more comprehensive study digging into other fees and taxes that were not in the Better Together study, and with this more thorough research, they found that actually per capita Indianapolis spends $45 more per person annually than St. Louis. She said there are more inaccuracies in the report as you go through it. One of the conclusions they came to as a group is that competition among municipalities creates efficiencies because cities are competing for residents, and having that competition among these different municipalities keeps costs down, drives efficiencies and causes creation of better opportunities for residents. Representative Evans stated that she spoke with leadership, including Speaker of the House Todd Richardson, about caucus meeting rumors that the State was going to impose this merger on the City and County, and they have no interest in telling cities what to do. There is no interest in the leadership of the House. She said this should be voted on by the two entities, not other people in the Regular Board of Aldermen 09/18/2017 Page 2 State. There may be rumors by the leader of the senate, and she cannot speak to that, but State Representative Shamed Dogan for Ballwin has been appointed the chair of local government, so if there is any bill about this issue, it would come through his committee, and he is not in favor of the state being involved in this; he feels it is a local matter. Representative Evans stated that it takes both houses to agree to even get something like this to the governor. Representative Evans stated that you hear about Regionalism, and the area can continue to move forward as a region without a tie between the County and the City of St. Louis and the municipalities in the County. She commented that Regionalism is obvious in working with the Missouri Municipal League and working with the highway system. 6. REPORTS FROM THE MAYOR a. Introduction of Boy Scouts Mayor Willson introduced Boy Scout Mark Hartwig from Troop 677 and said he is working on the “Communications” Merit Badge. He also introduced Boy Scouts Nicholas Purschke, Alex Ancell, Alex Metzner, and Ryan Wolak from Troop 630 and said they are all working on their “Communications” Merit Badges and their “Citizenship in the Community” Merit Badges. b. Certified Municipal Official Award Mayor Willson acknowledged Alderman Ottenad with her Certified Municipal Official Award which she received from the Missouri Municipal League. Mayor Willson stated that a lot of time is spent in achieving this award; there are classes and tests, and it is not something that is done overnight. Mayor Willson congratulated Alderman Ottenad on her accomplishment. c. Mayoral Report Mayor Willson reported he attended the Lafayette Area Mayor’s Organization (LAMO) meeting on September 8 and they discussed the City/County merger. He stated that September 8 – 10 was the Manchester Homecoming; on September 12, he went to the Missouri Municipal League (MML) Conference on Tuesday when Alderman Ottenad received her award; on September 14, he attended the Senior Staff meeting; on Saturday he attended the Recycling Event at Schroeder Park. He stated this was another successful event with three truckloads and 23,255 pounds of electronics. He commented that it is amazing how much continues to be delivered. 7. REPORTS FROM THE CITY ADMINISTRATOR a. List of Paid Bills (Warrant dates of September 3 – September 16, 2017) There were no questions. 8. REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES a. Planning and Zoning Commission Alderman Clement reported that there were two cases, both were site plans: Regular Board of Aldermen 09/18/2017 Page 3  Ms. Alison Gauch, Civil Engineering Design Consultants, on behalf of Sovran Meramec LLC, owner, is seeking approval to amend a Site Plan for Life Storage, located at 301 Meramec Station Road, in the C-1 Commercial Zoning District, and this was a conditional approval based on the decision of the Board of Adjustment. Mr. Sean Flower, Flower and Fendler, owner, is seeking approval of a Site Plan to construct a new single family home to be located at 1212 John Ryan Lane in the R-4 Residential Zoning District. b. Homecoming Committee Alderman Ottenad reported that Homecoming 2017 is now in the history books. The beautiful weather contributed to this year’s Homecoming being the best one ever. Great music, food, and fun led to the biggest percent of sales collected from Luehr’s Ideal Rides; the Manchester Homecoming Committee collected a total of $16,015.76. She stated there were a total of 33 food, information, and retail vendors, 10 arts and crafts vendors, 14 cute pet entries, 12 cute kid entries, and the Committee sold a total of 2,250 Raffle tickets worth over $3,950 in prizes, and gave away 208 attendance prizes to adults and over 300 attendance prizes to kids. All attendance prizes were donated by over 85 different sponsors! The Cute Kids & Cute Pets contest collected a total $524 for the Manchester Shop-with-a- Cop program that benefits children in our community. Jack’s Kids Corner was full of kids having a great time all weekend and more than 300 dogs participated in the Doggie Paddle at the pool. In addition, we had huge numbers participate in the parade with 56 of the best pirate-theme parade entries. Alderman Ottenad thanked all who made this event possible! She said the Committee will have a wrap up meeting on October 18. c. Manchester Arts Alderman Baumann reported that he had no report for Manchester Arts. d. Recap of Missouri Municipal League Conference Alderman Baumann stated the Department of Natural Resources has a land use grant for parks, where you can get up to $100,000 a year for things like playground equipment, a pool, or items like that. There is a playground equipment company in Maryland Heights that gives a 100% match. The Department of Natural Resources has a grant on the tire matting, and that is a 100% matching grant. Alderman Baumann stated that Payment Solutions has a credit card processing system. American Express has 1% back, and this is done for governments too, where there is about 1% back. He said it is a free service, and he referred that to City Administrator Perney. Alderman Baumann reported that there were some really good classes at the Missouri Municipal League Conference. Regular Board of Aldermen 09/18/2017 Page 4 9. ACTION ON OLD BILLS a. AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CODE OF ORDINANCES RELATING TO CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF TREES Alderman Clement stated that Alderman Ottenad, staff and he have gone out to Mr. Romney’s property and taken a look at it. He said after that they met and discussed some of the concerns that Mr. Romney had expressed. He said that from the City’s perspective, we don’t share the same concerns as Mr. Romney. This Ordinance is a good balance; it has been loosened, and it is not as restrictive as it originally was. Over the last few years, a couple of the new housing developments that have gone in have “clear cut”, and it is believed this will help preserve some of the trees, possibly up to 1/3 of them. He acknowledged that Black Locust is a nuisance. Alderman Clement read for the second time Substitute Bill # 17-2308, entitled: “AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF MANCHESTER BY ADDING THERETO A NEW CHAPTER 250 RELATING TO THE CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF TREES WITHIN THE CITY’S RIGHTS-OF-WAY AND PARKS AND, FURTHER, ESTABLISHING REGULATIONS FOR TREES IN BOTH RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENTS, WITHIN THE CITY OF MANCHESTER”, by title only. Alderman Baumann asked what changes were made. Alderman Clement answered that the ratio was changed. He stated the City Attorney and City Administrator felt that the initial mission for the Tree Board probably needed to be more specific and so they looked at other cities around Manchester at what tasks their City Tree Board is set up to do, so, Manchester mimicked those duties. Alderman Baumann asked if it is up to the City to determine if a tree is a nuisance or dangerous, or whether an arborist should make that determination. Alderman Clement said that as far as street trees, Code Enforcement should be able to determine if the trees are dangerous. Alderman Baumann stated that when this started, the fact was brought up that there is no one in the City who is a certified arborist to say whether it is a danger or not. Alderman Clement stated that there is a certified arborist living in the City, and he was involved in putting together this Ordinance. He said that Director Ruck uses arborists when the City needs them. Alderman Clement made the motion that Substitute Bill # 17-2308 become Ordinance # 17- 2194. The motion was seconded by Alderman Ottenad. A poll of the Board showed: Alderman Ottenad - aye Alderman Clement - aye Alderman Nolte - aye Regular Board of Aldermen 09/18/2017 Page 5  Alderman Hamill - aye Alderman Diehl - aye Alderman Baumann - aye Mayor Willson reported that the motion passed 6 – 0, with no objections. b. BILL # 17-2311 – AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING PROPERTY TAX RATES FOR 2017 Alderman Ottenad read for the second time Bill # 17-2311, entitled: “AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING AND LEVYING THE RATE OF TAXATION UPON ALL REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY IN THE CITY OF MANCHESTER FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2017”, by title only. Alderman Ottenad made the motion that Bill # 17-2311 become Ordinance # 17-2195. The motion was seconded by Alderman Clement. A poll of the Board showed: Alderman Clement - aye Alderman Nolte - aye Alderman Hamill - aye Alderman Diehl - aye Alderman Baumann - aye Alderman Ottenad - aye Mayor Willson reported that the motion passed 6 – 0, with no objections. 10. INTRODUCTION OF NEW BILLS a. RESOLUTION CONTRACTING FOR THE STORMWATER CHANNEL F AND STORMWATER CHANNEL H PROJECTS Alderman Baumann read proposed Resolution # 17-0599, entitled: “A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY ADMINISTRATOR OF THE CITY OF MANCHESTER TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH IDEAL LANDSCAPE CONSTRUCTION, INC. IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED SIX HUNDRED FIVE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED EIGHTEEN DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS ($605,318.50), INCLUDING A FIVE PERCENT (5%) CHANGE ORDER (FOR THE CHANNEL F PROJECT ONLY) IN THE AMOUNT OF TWENTY-SIX THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED EIGHTY-THREE DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS ($26,683.50) IN THE EVENT OF UNFORESEEN CONDITIONS, FOR CONSTRUCTION OF STORMWATER IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE CHANNEL F STREAMBANK RESTORATION PROJECT AND THE CHANNEL H STREAMBANK MAINTENANCE PROJECT”, by title only. Alderman Ottenad asked why there was no change order for unforeseen conditions for Channel H. Director of Public Works Bob Ruck answered it is for replacement for tie walls around the wall, so they are not getting down in the creek. They will be putting boulders in their place. Regular Board of Aldermen 09/18/2017 Page 6  Alderman Clement asked if most of this will be finished this year. Director Ruck stated most will be this year, depending on the weather. Alderman Baumann made the motion for approved of Resolution # 17-0599. The motion was seconded by Alderman Clement and carried unanimously, without objection. b. RESOLUTION EXPRESSING OPPOSITION TO A STATEWIDE VOTE REGARDING GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE OF ST. LOUIS CITY, ST. LOUIS COUNTY, AND AREA MUNICIPALITIES Alderman Hamill read proposed Resolution # 17-0600, entitled: “A RESOLUTION URGING THE ST. LOUIS COUNTY COUNCIL AND ST. LOUIS BOARD OF ALDERMEN TO OPPOSE ANY AND ALL LEGISLATION AUTHORIZING A STATEWIDE VOTE REGARDING OR MANDATING A CHANGE IN THE GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE OF ST. LOUIS CITY AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY AND THE MUNICIPALITIES THEREIN”, by title only. Alderman Hamill made the motion for approval of Resolution # 17-0600. The motion was seconded by Alderman Clement and carried unanimously, without objection. 11. MISCELLANEOUS a. Comments from the Public There were none. 12. ADJOURNMENT At 7:46 p.m., there being no further business, Alderman Hamill made the motion to adjourn. The motion was seconded by Alderman Clement and carried unanimously, without objection. The meeting adjourned at 7:46 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Ruth E. Baker, MMC/MPCC City Clerk Note: This is a journal of the Board of Aldermen meeting of September 18, 2017 (summary); not a verbatim transcript. If a recording of the meeting is desired, please contact City Hall. Regular Board of Aldermen 09/18/2017 Page 7