February 13th Regular Session Part 1:

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM, roll call was held with Donna Burns, Eric Monnig, Arthur Westhues and Joey Gibbs present while Alderman Gibbs officiating the meeting as Mayor Pro Tem, Mayor Larry Neville was not present. A Mayor Pro Tem (Mayor Pro Tempore) is defined as a member of the city council that is appointed by its members to act as mayor pro tempore (pro tem) (or vice mayor) in the absence of the actual mayor.

They quickly moved to consent agenda. To explain that in every day language Roberts Rules of Order define a Consent Agenda as a grouping of routine meeting discussion points into a single agenda item. In so doing, the grouped items can be approved in one action, rather than through the filing of multiple motions. This is employed as a time saving mechanism to make meetings proceed at an efficient pace. The minutes of the Open Budget Session January 6th, the Open and Closed sessions of January 11th and 16th, Open Session of January 19th and the monthly financial report. Arthur Westhues had comments on several of these things, it was stated on the meeting 19th that they adjourned to closed session but no closed session was had, the meeting of January 11th typographical errors were present and a comment whether discussion of the financial report should be had or moved to budget, he continued to ask whether a railroad tax that is routinely incorporated in the fiscal budget but for some unforeseen reason was not added to this years fiscal budget as well as commenting that the Library budget line on page 8 the month to day balance shows a total balance of $43930 which is greater then the year to day balance of $28075. Resource Supervisor Rob Snider asked Ellen Dalzelle of the library board if any repair work had been done but none had occurred yet and was being looked in to. Alderman Gibbs stated that their fund still had $65000, city clerk Rebbeca Yung stated it was the information that was provided to her. The motion was made and seconded and approved by roll call vote. These types of issues are generally typographical in nature and are corrected in regular budget reconciliation done throughout the year.

They then moved in to public comment, Kathleen Wellborn spoke first. As a long time member of the Glasgow Parks and Recreations board she and former city grant writer near the end of her term began writing a grant for new picnic tables through a MO DNR grant opportunity, they began the process in spring of 2021. They were awarded the grant, then purchased two eight foot benches fourteen picnic table, eleven standard sized and three wheelchair accessible from recycled tire material and are quite heavy. After this time there was a great turn over of employees and elected officials, due to covid DNR had extended the closeout of the grant, she believed that it was already finished but had not. When information was requested of the grant information from the City of Glasgow all that were found was two pieces of paper which was not needed. She was still able to complete it and stated that $14104 was deposited to the city in November and that should be reflected coming from general fund moving to Parks and Rec. She stated that a designated spot should be made for all federal forms and grants that are not supposed to be lost or taken away, then reported that the whole process is done. Next Ellen Dalzelle spoke, before the winter weather a stop sign was put up on the corner Market and 4th St where the school bus normally lets off students, it was working well while some citizen comments were positive some were negative that we didn’t need more stop signs but she had noticed a significant decrease in speed of vehicles at that intersection and when the sign was removed it reverted to increased speeds. She asked that the temporary stop sign be restored for a ninety day test. It was agreed by Mayor Pro Tem Gibbs that it should be restored at which time a preliminary traffic report would be done by Chief Tyler Polson at the end of 90 days and make a determination. Laura Friesz spoke next, and alderperson and citizen of Keytesville Missouri, she wanted to extend a thank you to two employees of the City of Glasgow, earlier this winter they had suffered a catastrophic water break that left the entire town without water for almost an entire day, if not for Norman Newton then Public Works Supervisor and Shannon Sullivan Chief Waterplant Operator coming after their regular shifts were over for the city and aiding they would not have been able to restore services within a 24 hour period, extolling the quality of these said employees and the character they showed for coming after hours to volunteer to help a neighboring community. As of this writing Norman Newton is no longer a city employee.

Renna Bean made a public comment asking why the community center now has a lock on it now that city council meetings have been moved to Washington Street. Chief Polson responded stating that it was added as another safety measure put in place to protect police equipment and the evidence that is legally retained there. Candidate Bean stated she would still like the city to discuss removing the lock then asked if a bridge update could be given, Mayor Pro Tem Gibbs said it would be discussed in alderman reports. She then stated that in public comments that the City of Columbia had rescinded a meeting policy that public comment could not be had after the public comment section, it was decided to be discussed with an agenda item later pertaining to Agenda order. A section at the beginning of the meeting for general public comments and remonstrations while also having a section after new business is a common practice in many municipalities, these are generally enacted so arguments and debates interrupt the flow of meetings and make them run long unnecessarily.

Arthur Westhues made a comment to move Josh Demint from New Business to after Public Comment, Donna Burns seconded and was passed by roll call.

Mr. Demint outlined a timeline of the freezing of the city water line leading to his water meter on the city side and his outage, which was frozen for 13 days leaving he and his family without water. He explained that he communicated with Resource Supervisor Rob Snider and city public works employees to alleviate the issues for several days, then used his own resources, propane tanks with a torch which ended up being destroyed by the process to try to thaw it out. He was upset to be without water and that while the issue was caused by the extraordinary washout several years back and that it was the cities side of the line that it was placed in his lap to repair as it was a referred to him as a “landscaping issue.” He’s continued communication with the city supervisor and is willing to purchase dirt, but with prior experience as a plumber the only solutions would be to dig or bore a new line. Mayor Pro Tem Gibbs suggested if they did bore would he be willing to move his meter to the top of the hill, he stated he would as long as they bored from meter to his house. Gibbs also made a comment that he had not known any info before last week of this issue and had only the apprised himself of the information, Donna Burns made a statement that she went out there too. He feels that 13 days is excessive for an outage, and someone without the resources he had to pack water and have family in which to take showers at they’d have been forced to be in a hotel and asked to be compensated for his expended personal resources. He has filed an official complaint to the city, Robert Snider stated that line should not have been run originally the way it was, normal practice is five feet from meter to main and should not have passed code then. He also stated that by DNR policy that the city is definitely responsible for the quality of water and material condition of the line but when dealing with things like washout that an ordinance would need to be in place. Mr. Demint provided me a copy of his official complaint which is available on the Documents Page. An excerpt states “I was pretty upset to find that nothing had even been tried and no one had contacted me to say why or explain what would be done in the near future. Friday morning, first thing I went to the city hall and had a good discussion with the city administrator and found out that after we talked Thursday about a plan, the mayor decided to tell the city employee not to do what was discussed. He is stating safety reasons that I understand to a point, but still does nothing for the problem of not having a water service. I want to thank the city employees and city administrator for taking the time to do what they could to help with the situation. They have been very easy to work with and understand when I am upset. I have also been using my resources, electricity for space heaters, propane cylinders, and a torch that is now destroyed in efforts to restore the service, which is not my responsibility. I feel like the mayor is putting all the emphasis on the “landscaping” issue and not the larger picture of a water service that is not operational at this time. “

Moving on to Old Business, the first item was the cities current DNR Pool Permit and it’s expiration, no one was present from the Parks and Recs board so the City Supervisor outlined that the DNR permit allowing the elimination of pool water will expire July 31st of this year, and the city would need to work to get back in compliance. He stated that a webex would be available on March 1st and he highly recommended that any city official or Park board member participate to be apprised of new changes to the permit. Discussion was had that the previous method was no longer compliant and a new process would need to decided upon. When dealing with facilities like pools the Missouri Department of Natural Resources requires that waste water eliminated be treated before going back in to a public sewer system or using a lateral flow, care must be taken to make sure that this water does not directly re-enter the natural water way.

The next item was continued discussion on the employee handbook revision, they are tabling this item till March but the city supervisor stated that some research needed to be done pertaining to marijuana policy by the city attorney but should be ready for final review next month.

They moved on to the review of yearly city financial audit report draft, Supervisor Snider stated there were a few actionable items but not significantly major. On item he stated was the account line of Riverfront restoration, this was in fact not that the cities and had been incorrectly attributed to city several years ago and was being removed. Snider continued stating that other city personnel needed to be cross-trained and an accounting control procedures need to be put in place. It was not discussed how this Riverfront Restoration item persisted through multiple years budget review as well as overview by it’s financial advisor and was not caught.

Chief Polson then gave the court report, stating that the city had five cases on the docket, since the previous meeting the department had received numerous calls, a child service call, death investigation, traffic accidents, vandalism, property damage, and numerous traffic violations. Alderman Westhues made a comment stating “Chief is there you realize you are over budget on your reserve officers?” Chief Polson replied “I do.” Westhues then asked “You gonna manage that?” of which Chief stated they had already discussed it and had a plan in place. These types of questions are generally discussed in the financial report in consent agenda or during pay ordinances, no explanation was given as to why this was interjected in to the court report.