CITY OF NEW MELLE
WORK SESSION OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN
JUNE 21, 2010
Call to Order: A Work Session of the Board of Alderman of the City of New Melle was held on Monday, June 21, 2010 at 7:00 P.M. The meeting was held at the New Melle City Hall, located at 145 Almeling Street, New Melle, Missouri and was called to order by Mayor Ernest Arteaga.
Roll Call:
Alderman Don Hendrich Absent Alderman Doug Bice Present
Alderman Janet Jokisch-Messig Present Alderman Carol Proveaux Present
Police Chief, Aaron Burkemper and City Clerk, DeeAnn Burwitz were also present.
Officer’s Report:
Mayor Arteaga stated this item has been added to the work session agendas to give the Board members an opportunity to report on anything that has happened since the last meeting and asked Alderman Jokisch-Messig to start.
Alderman Jokisch-Messig stated that she was pulled over for failure to signal Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 3:10 A.M. as she was going home from church.
Chief Burkemper asked if it was one of our officer’s.
Alderman Jokisch-Messig stated it was and described the details of the event. She told the officer that she is well aware of their stopping drivers for no signals and other violations as she is an Alderman for the City of New Melle. She said the officer told her “well ok then go on.”
Alderman Bice stated the onboard camera could be reviewed as it should provide a record of the incident.
Chief Burkemper stated he will look into the incident and mentioned that statistics show that a large number of drivers traveling that late at night have excessive Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) and it may have played a part as to why she was stopped. He will investigate further.
Alderman Bice asked Chief Burkemper wouldn’t there still have to be a basis for the stop?
Chief Burkemper agreed that there needs to be probable cause and that is what he will be looking into.
Alderman Jokisch-Messig added that the officer stated he was looking for a red car with young kids in the area. When asked if she had a red car, Alderman Jokisch-Messig stated she was driving a red van. It was agreed that this was a crucial piece of information that was likely to be the primary cause as to why she was stopped.
{Follow-up email dated June 24, 2010 from Chief Burkemper is attached for the record}
Mayor Arteaga turned the floor over to Alderman Proveaux.
Alderman Proveaux stated three issues she wanted addressed. She would like to see the full time police officers get at least a 3% raise.
Mayor Arteaga stated that would be a budget item to be addressed at budget time.
Alderman Proveaux said she would like to see a flag pole at the City Hall stating that churches have crosses and government buildings display the American flag. The third item she wanted addressed was sidewalks and was adamant that she would continue to address these issues until completed, to the end of her tenure or unless she was discharged from office. She stated if the City’s transportation fund could not be used for sidewalks then perhaps they could be used for a bike lane. She would like to see a bike lane from the elementary school to the library and made reference to bike lanes in other communities that sported people biking, walking, pushing strollers, etc. She mentioned driving behind two bicyclists who were riding on the road next to each other and asked Chief Burkemper if that was legal.
Chief Burkemper stated bicyclists are to ride single file and it is indeed illegal for bicyclists to ride side-by-side on roadways.
Mayor Arteaga stated Alderman Proveaux’s idea of bicycle lanes was innovative and suggested seeking joint funding efforts with Missouri Department of Transportation.
Alderman Bice stated his understanding that the Board had agreed to seek external sources of funding for such a large project as road work is extremely expensive and the City’s funds are limited. He said a co-op is a great idea but warned of existing drainage problems around the City and whether additional pavement would cause more problems. He stated a project engineer would be best able to determine and address these concerns.
Alderman Proveaux stated she drove around assessing possible routes for bike lanes.
Mayor Arteaga stated due to narrow streets and limited easements that the City may need to acquire additional easement through eminent domain or voluntary easements.
Discussion ensued around what streets to use.
Alderman Bice suggested starting by contacting Kevin Arbor, Daniel Boone Elementary School Principal, to see if the school district would get on board with this project and to contact other communities that have already been through the process and ask them for input about some of the costs involved, shortcuts, grants and loans, etc.
Discussion ensued around finding other groups, agencies and organizations that could offer ideas, funding options and general assistance with this process.
Alderman Proveaux stated if we don’t make improvements to the City, we won’t be able to generate more tax revenue. She reiterated her position of raises for the Police Department.
Mayor Arteaga stated that will be taken up during budget discussions and turned the floor over to Alderman Bice.
Alderman Bice stated he would wait until the financial report on the agenda to address his financial concerns. He mentioned a neighbor had spoke with him regarding burglaries and break-ins occurring in New Melle Oaks which is outside the City’s jurisdiction but are right next to Alderman Bice’s subdivision. Alderman Bice had already addressed this issue with Chief Burkemper.
Chief Burkemper stated St. Charles County responded to this as it is outside New Melle’s jurisdiction.
Mayor Arteaga stated this is all the more reason why they should annex into the New Melle city limits as our police response time would be much quicker.
Mayor Arteaga briefed the Board on several meetings he attended. He mentioned a conversation he had with Mr. Karenbrock commending him on how appealing his new business looks. He talked extensively about his experiences at a recent mayor’s meeting in St. Charles County and a mutual concern over zip codes, census figures and related funding issues. He asked about a vendor list and stated he received a letter from a company requesting that they be added to the city’s vendor list. He said as mayor, he should be able to authorize certain things to be done without the full board’s approval and needed a vendor list to accomplish this.
Alderman Bice stated City Attorney Karr could explain to him the extent of the Mayor’s authority in such matters.
Mayor Arteaga still felt that he should have a list of vendors that he can call for general repairs and maintenance. He mentioned the lighting issue and noted it could be a fire hazard and he would like to have a list of at least three or four vendors to choose from to fix the problem.
City Clerk Burwitz stated there really is not a need for a large list of every kind of vendor out there as repairs or projects needed by the city are sporadic and dealt with individually as they come up. As City Clerk, she uses local resources first and then expands outward from there, makes calls and schedules work to be done within normal working hours if possible or make other arrangements as necessary.
Mayor Arteaga stated the city is always having carpentry work done and he should have a list of at least three or four carpenters to contact. For instance with the drop box project, the City Clerk got a bid from David Green, who has done work for the City of New Melle many times before, and Mayor Arteaga requested and received a bid from his personal friend, John Wappelhorst. He insisted that he should have a list of all commonly used vendors such as carpenters, electricians, etc. even if they are not used that often.
City Clerk Burwitz reiterated that she adheres to the Board’s philosophy of keeping things local when possible and expanding from there to fill the needs of any work to be completed for the city.
Alderman Bice agreed that the Board shares the philosophy of using local resources first and expanding from there if necessary and feels the city’s needs are intermittent and sporadic rather than routine and perpetual. He was not averse to having a vendors list but felt that the day to day operations have been handled properly by the city clerk all along.
Alderman Proveaux stated perhaps a vendors list could be compiled and kept at the city hall.
City Clerk Burwitz asked who this list would be for.
Alderman Proveaux stated it would be for any of the city officials or employees to use.
City Clerk Burwitz stated she is the only one who makes contact with vendors to schedule work to be done at the city hall.
Mayor Arteaga mentioned his conversations with other mayors and stated they all have vendors’ lists for their cities. It seemed to him the drop box project was strung along because we didn’t have a vendor chosen to install it.
Alderman Bice stated it was postponed at the last meeting because the board was only presented with drop boxes to select from and once the board agreed on the box, they requested proposals of the total cost for the project including installation. If your intent is to stay local first with competitive pricing, he felt the city is already doing that. If the intent is to go strictly by price, then perhaps a vendor list would be more useful.
Mayor Arteaga stated he requested a bid from a local electrician for the flag pole lighting and felt their price was quite high and would like to have bids from at least two or three others.
Alderman Bice said he believes the City Clerk is quite capable of getting adequate bids and proposals.
Mayor Arteaga asked if anyone else has come by the city hall to bid on the electrical aspect of the flag pole project.
City Clerk Burwitz responded no.
Mayor Arteaga stated he had sent someone else and requested a bid from Wally Karase as well.
Alderman Bice cautioned that consideration must be given as to whether vendors are licensed, bonded, insured and professionally capable.
Mayor Arteaga stated Wally Karase told the Mayor the he could not do the work himself because he was not a licensed electrician.
Alderman Proveaux said she thought Mayor Arteaga’s point was that Mr. Karase worked for a company that was in the electrical business.
Alderman Bice reiterated the procedures to be followed in choosing vendors and that to the best of his knowledge; the city clerk is already doing that.
Alderman Proveaux asked about the postal service meeting.
Mayor Arteaga stated the meeting scheduled June 30, 2010 for the New Melle Post Office was strictly to discuss possible future locations of the post office and had nothing to do with zip code and census concerns.
Mayor Arteaga mentioned the article he would be posting in the Boone Country Connection regarding the opinion poll. Discussion ensued regarding timetable of requesting responses and reporting the outcome.
Mayor Arteaga provided copies of a Demographic and Income Profile report on the City of New Melle that was based on the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau figures and projected figures for 2010 and 2015. Discussion ensued relating it to probable causes why the city does not receive all the revenue it should be entitled to because of inaccurate population counts.
Code Enforcement Report:
Mayor Arteaga stated Alderman Bice requested that Mr. Schoernheer provide a code violation report that shows the status and steps taken for code violations.
Alderman Bice explained a form previously used by the Code Enforcement Officer and the procedures for giving notices and other measures towards compliance. The city clerk was given a copy of this report and would speak to Mr. Schoernheer when he stops by the city hall again.
Mayor Arteaga stated the situation with Dive Stop was there before he took office and seems to be stagnant and asked what is being done about it.
Alderman Bice stated Dive Stop is beyond the code enforcement officer and is in the City’s hands at this point.
Mayor Arteaga stated he talked to City Attorney Karr who said she had been trying to communicate with Dive Stop.
Mayor Arteaga mentioned an incident where excessive mud and gravel were deposited on the road from heavy equipment which had caused damage to windshields. He asked if there was something in place to deal with debris on the roadways.
Alderman Bice stated that since it deals with public safety, the officers should be able to respond to it.
Chief Burkemper stated if there is a criminal code against it, they could issue a ticket for it.
Alderman Bice asked Chief Burkemper if public safety issues fall within his jurisdiction or should we get clarification from City Attorney Karr; or does this fall into other city codes that are dealt with by the Code Enforcement Officer as code violations.
Mayor Arteaga stated this situation needs to be addressed immediately and not have to wait around for the Code Enforcement Officer to deal with.
Alderman Bice stated first we have to be clear on whose jurisdiction this situation falls because we would not want to put our officers in a compromising position.
Chief Burkemper stated if he sees or knows who the perpetrator was; he could confront them and ask how and when they will fix the problem. He will check to see if there is a criminal code in existence that this situation clearly falls under.
Mayor Arteaga stated the citizen who complained to him said there was an officer nearby who did nothing.
Alderman Bice stated again this situation is not as black and white as we would like and in defense of the police department we need to verify with the city attorney what the scope of this matter is and where the jurisdiction lies. If it does not fit into the current code structure, then we need to take the appropriate steps to make sure it fits.
Financial Report:
Mayor Arteaga stated the City’s financials are the foundation for anything we do.
Alderman Bice stated the financials currently compare the actual year to date against the annual budget. He asked Michelle, Botz, Deal & Company, for a year to date budget comparison and looked back at the minutes and they did not clearly reflect this point.
City Clerk Burwitz recollected that Michelle’s comment to Alderman Bice’s request was that generally only larger municipalities have the staff available to analyze and take into account when certain revenues hit the ledger and can make financial statements on a month to month basis. She stated Michelle could take the annual budget and divide each account by twelve months to get monthly or year to date comparisons but advised against it because often times revenues or expenses are not realized in routine monthly increments and could askew the figures.
Alderman Bice stated perhaps that was where the confusion lied. He was looking for a year to date budget comparison and not month by month. Looking at the current financial statements, Alderman Bice noted the current year to date operating loss is roughly $12,000 and last month’s year to date statements showed a loss of about $7,000 which means we added around $5,000 of additional deficit just in the last month.
Mayor Arteaga pointed out the year to date percent of budget on expenses reflects 41.2% which is right on target. He stated he does not look at things that way at all and gave an example that if he had income of $400 and spent $500 in a particular month that would reflect a loss of $100 for that month. However the $100 loss is insignificant if the person has $10,000 sitting in the bank.
Alderman Bice stated that in some areas we are on track with the budget and other areas are way off and those discrepancies need to be evaluated and the budget may need to be amended accordingly which is generally done each year around September. He suggested it may be wise to make amendments to the budget sooner this year because of the gaps and discrepancies on the financials at this point. Without a financial director, this may be more difficult than usual.
Alderman Bice led an extensive discussion around the budget, various line items, and urged fiscal responsibility.
Mayor Arteaga stated according to several sources, bank statements should be opened by a Board member, passed to the City Clerk, and then to the financial person for reconciliation.
City Clerk Burwitz stated that procedure is already being followed.
Mayor Arteaga asked Alderman Proveaux to research grants and provided her some resources.
Mayor Arteaga brought up vehicle sales taxes and motor fuel taxes that are based on population from the last census and stated the city is getting short changed which led to much discussion. He said Mayor Lambi from Wentzville had the revenue department audited to see if Wentzville was being funded appropriately and it did not cost the city anything to do this. Mayor Arteaga suggested that New Melle consider doing this as well.
Alderman Bice stated as a small town, we have to fight for every nickel and dime.
City Clerk Burwitz suggested the Board approach the U.S. Postal Service to make New Melle’s Post Office full service with carrier delivery so every city resident would have the same zip code.
Alderman Bice stated we have been catering to the Postal Service by hosting a meeting for them to establish location and getting no help in return to deal with the zip code issues.
Alderman Jokisch-Messig mentioned Lake Saint Louis is much larger than New Melle and they do not have a post office. There mail is delivered by O’Fallon and there is a mobile trailer that parks in a lot once a week in Lake Saint Louis for residents to purchase stamps and such.
Alderman Bice stated he would forgo a post office in New Melle and travel to Wentzville or wherever for stamps if it would allow New Melle’s true population to be counted accurately by designation of a single zip code for all City of New Melle residents.
Mayor Arteaga stated residents of Lake Saint Louis somehow use their city name in their address even though their mail is being delivered by O’Fallon.
City Clerk Burwitz explained that residents of Lake Saint Louis maintain their distinct identity through their own unique zip code of 63367. All Lake Saint Louis residents’ mail is addressed as Lake Saint Louis, Missouri 63367 even though distribution comes from O’Fallon’s Post Office. She suggested this may be a better option for New Melle rather than full service delivery through the local post office. Let Wentzville deliver all mail to New Melle residents and all residents would use an address ending in New Melle, MO 63365.
Alderman Bice stated there is clearly a political or financial reason why New Melle has its own post office and yet has been divided between four separate zip codes. With the U.S. Postal Service losing money constantly, there must be a reason somewhere as to why they still operate a post office here. He suggested taking a stand at the meeting scheduled on June 30, 2010 and let the U.S. Postal Service officials know that we no longer support having a local post office.
Mayor Arteaga stated that these words would fall on deaf ears as they have already stated the representatives at that meeting have nothing to do with that area of concern.
Alderman Bice stated we would at least go on record and start the process of reorganizing New Melle’s zip code and mail delivery process and put it on public record as a group.
Alderman Proveaux agreed that the Board as a whole should be at that meeting and speak out for one zip code for all residents.
Discussion ensued with consensus that the City is losing money due to inaccurate population counts which would be more accurately tracked if all residents were identified with a uniform and unique zip code of 63365 regardless of where the mail is delivered from.
Discuss CD Renewal:
Transportation Fund Certificate of Deposit (CD) ending in 812 was up for renewal. The CD renewal rate given by Commerce Bank was 0.399% down from 0.995% the term prior. Discussion ensued and the Board agreed to cash in the CD and deposit, in its entirety, to the City’s checking account with the designation of Transportation Sales Tax Cash.
Redefine Financial Director Position:
The Board reviewed and discussed several job descriptions provided by other nearby municipalities.
Mayor Arteaga mentioned his conversation with the part time City Administrator of Saint Paul, Missouri and asked if he could be considered or asked to work part time for New Melle as well.
Alderman Bice stated before we are even ready to fill the position, we need to establish a job description with the requirements and qualifications for the position. Then we need to do things right by posting and advertising the opening and have all applications sent to the City Hall. We need to make sure things are done appropriately.
Ideas were shared and discussion had regarding titles, qualifications, etc.
Alderman Jokisch-Messig stated she would draft a job description using pertinent parts from the other municipalities’ job descriptions and present to the Board for review via email.
Finalize Opinion Poll:
Alderman Bice presented the final draft of the opinion poll and stated he has sent it to Dianne Sudbrock for publishing in the Boone Country Connection (BCC) as soon as we give her the go ahead.
Mayor Arteaga read the letter he drafted to be sent with the opinion poll and included in the BCC.
Discussion ensued and suggestions made regarding deadlines for response times and publication of the results. The opinion poll will be mailed to residents of New Melle, included in the BCC for those in the surrounding area and available on the City’s website. Responses should be mailed to the City’s P.O. Box, dropped off at the City Hall during business hours, completed online via the City’s website and/or Mayor Arteaga plans to host a meeting with the Mayor with coffee and doughnuts on Saturday, July 24, 2010 as an opportunity for residents to turn in their completed forms and discuss topics of interest.
Mayor Arteaga stated he was embarrassed recently at a Mayor’s meeting when other mayors were handing out business cards and he did not have any to offer and asked to have business cards made.
Alderman Bice said that should fall under office supplies and suggested The Write Design for printing them.
Set Electronic Transfer Policy:
City Clerk Burwitz stated Commerce Bank notified her that as of November 1, 2010 they will no longer accept federal tax payments and provided information about how to enroll and submit these payments to the federal government electronically. These tax payments include federal income tax, social security and Medicare taxes generated through payroll. Some municipalities have their payroll functions outsourced and those are obviously being done electronically with direct deposit. Lake Saint Louis is one local municipality that does their payroll internally and has been making payroll as well as accounts payable payments electronically longer than anyone there could remember. Their City Clerk was unaware or unable to find any ordinance or written policy that created or governed this procedure.
Mayor Arteaga stated when a new financial person was hired perhaps they could establish a policy for this.
City Clerk Burwitz stated currently two people sign each check which authorizes these disbursements and the full Board approves bills after they have been paid. A policy is needed that provides authorization of electronic disbursements prior to the transfer of funds. She stated the City receives a lot of electronic deposits such as gross receipts tax, property tax, etc. we just have not utilized electronic transfers for payments to date. Other municipalities, Lake Saint Louis in particular, stated they take advantage of receiving and paying all they can electronically for timesaving and security reasons. Making federal tax payments electronically opens the door to processing other payments electronically such as direct deposit of pay checks and accounts payables as well.
Mayor Arteaga stated he thinks electronic is the way to go but we need a process in place to do it and felt it should wait until we have a new financial person on board to handle the details.
Alderman Jokisch-Messig mentioned QuickBooks is capable of processing electronic payments and direct deposits for payroll. Electronic funds transfers are more secure as fewer people have access to and/or handle checks and it would save on the cost of checks.
Mayor Arteaga stated he wanted to move on and go into closed session.
Closed Session – Personnel – Hiring, Firing, Disciplining or Promoting Employees (Sec 610.021(3), RSMo) – On motion of Alderman Proveaux, second by Alderman Jokisch-Messig, the Aldermen voted 3 “Aye”, 1 Absent (Hendrich) to move into closed session, Pursuant to Sec. 610.021(3) to discuss personnel.
On a roll call vote to move into Closed Session per State Statute:
The Motion Passed 3-0 as follows:
Alderman Doug Bice – AYE
Alderman Carol Proveaux – AYE
Alderman Janet Jokisch-Messig – AYE
Alderman Don Hendrich – Absent
Following the Closed Session, the Board returned to Open Session.
Adjournment:
On motion of Alderman Jokisch-Messig, second by Alderman Bice, the Aldermen voted 3 “Aye”, 1 Absent (Hendrich) to adjourn the meeting at 9:50P.M.
Respectfully Submitted, Accepted,
DeeAnn Burwitz, City Clerk Ernest Arteaga, Mayor