Board of Aldermen Meeting

CITY OF WILLARD BOARD OF ALDERMEN JUNE 9TH, 2008 7:00 P.M. Board present: Mayor Jamie Schoolcraft; Aldermen Richard Simpson; Aldermen Joe Cosby; Aldermen Paul C. Hood; Aldermen Dale Duvall; and Aldermen Vincent. Aldermen Louie Amodeo was not present. Also in attendance: City Clerk, Kathy Blakemore; Community Relations Officer/Deputy City Clerk/Deputy Court Clerk, Kate Gould; CFO, Karen Robson; Director of Development, Randy Brown; Director of Public Works, Charlie Jones; Director of Parks & Recreations, Kerri Gates; Chief of Police, Tom McClain; Police Officer, Bill Lingenfielser; Phone Operator, Tami Cobb; and City Attorney, Doug Harpool. Guest present: Sonya Messenger, Christine Squibb, Wanda Palmer, Ken Messenger, Stephanie Basham, Nora Cox, Gail Black, Sue Cheniae, Lana Herris, Mike Herris, Roxanne Stuart, Dawn Rethman, Joseph Rethman, Zara Rethman, Kim Haase, and Ruth Hunter. Mayor Jamie Schoolcraft led the Pledge of Allegiance. Special Recognition (Awards, Certificates and Honors None Mayor Jamie Schoolcraft called the meeting to order. Roll Call City Clerk, Kathy Blakemore called roll call: Aldermen Simpson-present; Aldermen Cosby- present; Aldermen Amodeo--------; Mayor Schoolcraft-present; Aldermen Hood-present; Aldermen Duvall-present; and Aldermen Vincent-present. Aldermen Amodeo was not present. Agenda Amendments/Approval of agenda Mayor Jamie Schoolcraft stated that item number four (4) needed to be removed from the agenda. Minutes from 05/12/08 have already been approved. Motion made by Aldermen Simpson with second by Aldermen Duvall to approve the agenda removing item number four (4). Aldermen Simpson-I; Aldermen Cosby-I; Aldermen Hood-I; Aldermen Duvall-I; and Aldermen Vincent-I. All votes yes. Motion carried. Hope House Update City Attorney Doug Harpool stated that he had been advised by the Hope House attorney that the license from the Department of Mental Health has not yet been approved. Doug has reviewed the Regulations of the Department of Mental Health which included the definition of a group home. The licensing regulations doesn’t define what respite care is. However, any facility that provides care for more than 24 hours would fall in the group home category. Hope House believes their Board of Aldermen Minutes Page 1 of 4 June 9th, 2008 license will be as a group home. Doug stated that if they get their license and it is a group home then our ability to take regulatory action against Hope House is limited. Mayor stated that he wanted to apologize to the people that were unable to attend the last meeting. Twice in the last year the city has had a board meeting on Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m. due to a holiday being on Monday. Mayor stated that the meeting was posted in two locations and also available on the web-site. It was also advertised in the city newsletter which was sent to every Willard citizen. Citizen Input None Financial Report Motion made by Aldermen Simpson with second by Aldermen Hood to approve to pay the outstanding bills. Aldermen Simpson-I; Aldermen Cosby-I; Aldermen Hood-I; Aldermen Duvall-I; and Aldermen Vincent-I. All votes yes. Motion carried. Police Department Report Chief of Police, Tom McClain stated that he had recently been to Kansas City Police Department and met with the Major and Captain to discuss PAL (Police Athletic League). Chief is researching to see if he thinks that the City of Willard would benefit from the PAL program. Chief will present a proposal at a future meeting. Chief mentioned a letter that he had received from a student regarding how he had been her mentor. Chief stated that this letter truly touched his heart. Officer Larry Alexander and Officer Bob Bell taught an Active Shooter training class in Fair Play. Willard will be having the same training at the Willard Intermediate School this Friday and Saturday. Aldermen Simpson asked Chief to explain to the public what the Active Shooter training was. Chief stated it was training in an emergency if someone went into the school to do harm. Emergency Management Report Mayor Jamie Schoolcraft stated that Stacy Winters Emergency Management Director was gone on vacation. Development Report Director of Development, Randy Brown stated that residential building is down which in turn makes inspections down also. A lot of nuisance complaints have been filed due to high grass and weeds. North Brooke Apartments: The framing on the fourth apartment building is almost complete. The foundation is installed on the next apartment building. The pool house is completed and the pool is almost complete. The city received revised as-built drawings for Stone Creek late this afternoon. (06/09/08) Steve Bringer has been working in the meadows area using the GPS system. Steve is structuring a base map for the Public Works Department. He has also been working on a data base system for City Hall and the Police Department for tracking all the city complaints. The city has received the chlorination drawings and the interconnect and they have been sent to DNR for approval. Board of Aldermen Minutes Page 2 of 4 June 9th, 2008 Public Works Report Charlie Jones Director of Public Works stated that his department has been repairing a lot of water leaks. Flynn Drilling Company has done preventative maintenance on both the Willard wells. Steve Bringer and Rick House have been working on the mapping for the waterlines. A washed-out culvert was repaired at the West Park after all the rains. Community Service Report Director of Parks & Recreations, Kerri Gates stated that a lot of the events have been rescheduled due to all the rain. Summer Day Camp has started and is going well. The swimming pool is open for the summer. Moonlight bike ride is scheduled for June 22nd at 12:00 a.m. Participants can chose between a five (5) or ten (10) mile ride. Also Kerri has been working a lot on “Freedom Fest”, the big 4th of July event. Aldermen Richard Simpson asked who was doing the pyrotechnics this year. Kerri stated it was AM Pyrotechnics. The city has a three (3) year contract with them and next year is the last year of that contract. Community Relations Report Kate Gould, Community Relations Officer stated that Governor Blunt signed House Bill number 1886 on Friday which allows Willard to annex land in the Springfield Airport Zone. The city took addresses for the City Wide Garage Sale for the Chamber of Commerce. The city received over 75 addresses for this event. There were over 400 hits on the web-site for the garage sale map and it was only up for one week. A lot of the city department heads for the last couple of weeks have been working on an internal system for complaints to make things run more smoothly. Kate stated that the business survey would be going out this week to 120 businesses. Feedback is expected to be in the 20% range. The city has had a lot of interest from potential developers. Kate and Randy have been meeting with potential developers but nothing has been finalized yet. Kate attended court training in Tan-Tar-A. She has also been training with Kathy on City Clerk business. Kate stated that last week was devoted to the Meadows customers. Meadows customers received their first water bill from the City of Willard since the purchase of the Meadows Water System. Lots of problems arose due to the information that we received from the Meadows Company. The city received 100 written complaints and a lot of phone calls. A vacation watch form has been added to the web-site. This form alerts the Police Department to watch your property while you are away on vacation. This is a safe form, no one can view the information except the Police Department. Stone Creek Final Plat Ordinance No action was taken on this issue. Stone Creek Subdivision into Special Sewer District ordinance No action was taken on this issue. Board of Aldermen Minutes Page 3 of 4 June 9th, 2008 Old Business None Mayor Jamie Schoolcraft stated that the board would be going into closed session to discuss Chapter 610.021 #1-legal, #2-Real Estate, and #3-Personnel. Motion made by Aldermen Vincent with second by Aldermen Duvall to adjourn the open session and go into executive session. Aldermen Simpson-I; Aldermen Cosby-I; Aldermen Hood-I; Aldermen Duvall-I; and Aldermen Vincent-I. All votes yes. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned. _____________________________ Kathy Blakemore, City Clerk Board of Aldermen Minutes Page 4 of 4 June 9th, 2008