St. Mary Board of Aldermen meeting minutes released

/ News, Ste. Genevieve News

ST. MARY – The City of St. Mary, Mo. has released the minutes of its Nov. 14 meeting:

 

THE CITY OF ST. MARY, MISSOURI

Board of Aldermen Meeting

Thursday, November 14th, 2024

6:00 p.m.

 

  1. Be it Remembered: A regular meeting of the St. Mary Board of Aldermen was called to order by the Honorable Mayor Adam Bequette on Thursday, November 14th, 2024 beginning at 6:00 PM at City Hall located at 782 3rd Street, St. Mary, Missouri 63673.

 

  1. Pledge of Allegiance: The meeting was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America.

 

  1. Roll Call: Aldermen answering the roll call were Alderman Brenda Thompson, Alderman Kathy Bergmann, Alderman Dr. Zen Duda and Alderman Annette Hacker (absent).

 

  1. Agenda: A motion was made by Alderman Dr. Zen Duda to approve the agenda. Alderman Brenda Thompson seconded the motion. Alderman Kathy Bergmann, Alderman Brenda Thompson, and Alderman Dr. Zen Duda voted yea on a voice vote. Motion carried.

 

  1. Consent Agenda: A motion was made by Alderman Dr. Zen Duda to approve the Consent Agenda which consists of the following: Minutes from Previous Meeting, Treasurers Report, Collectors Report and Bills Paid and City Manager to pay previously appropriated expenses as they come due as allowed by the budget. Alderman Brenda Thompson seconded the motion. Alderman Dr. Zen Duda, Alderman Brenda Thompson, and Alderman Kathy Bergmann voted yea on a voice vote. Motion carried. 

 

  1. Public Hearing:

 

Michael Montgomery form Heartland Engineering stated that the City’s census data shows that the median household income is at $60,000 with a wide margin of error. We are going to have to do a new income survey to get the accurate amount of median household income. There will be to different surveys that will have to go out that will potentially help the city in the long run for granting opportunities.  Those income surveys are good for four years.

 

  1. BILL NO. 1006 – AN ORDINANCE CALLING FOR A GENERAL ELECTION IN THE CITY OF ST. MARY, MISSOURI: SETTING THE DATE OF ELECTION; OFFICIALS TO BE ELECTED AND THE LOCATION OF THE ELECTION.

           

Alderman Dr. Zen Duda made a motion for a first reading of bill 1006 by heading only. Alderman Brenda Thompson seconded the motion. Roll Call Vote: Alderman Kathy Bergmann (aye), Alderman Dr. Zen Duda (aye) and Alderman Brenda Thompson (aye).  Mayor Adam Bequette read bill 1006 for a first reading by heading only.

 

Alderman Dr. Zen Duda made a motion for a second reading of bill 1002. Alderman Brenda Thompson seconded the motion. Roll Call Vote: Alderman Kathy Bergmann (aye), Alderman Dr. Zen Duda (aye) and Alderman Brenda Thompson (aye).  Mayor Adam Bequette read bill 1006 for a second reading by heading only.

 

Alderman Dr. Zen Duda made a motion for passage of bill 1006. Alderman Brenda Thompson seconded the motion. Roll Call Vote: Alderman Dr. Zen Duda (aye), Alderman Kathy Bergmann (aye) and Alderman Brenda Thompson (aye).  Motion passed. Bill adopted.

 

  1. RESOLUTION TO ENTER INTO SUBS A NEW BILLING SOFTWARE.

 

A motion was made by Alderman Dr. Zen Duda to approve the Resolution for SUBS a new billing software through Missouri Rural Water Association. Alderman Kathy Bergmann seconded the motion. Roll Call Vote: Alderman Dr. Zen Duda (aye), Alderman Kathy Bermann (aye) and Alderman Brenda Thompson (aye) voted yea on a voice vote. Motion carried. 

           

  1. NEW TELEPHONE SERVICES

 

This is put on hold until the next meeting we are waiting for one more bid from T-Mobile for business services

 

  1. ANYTHING ELSE THAT MIGHT COME IN FRONT OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMAN

 

Alderman Dr. Zen Duda stated that we need to get the income survey out as soon as possible. In the long run it could potentially save the city some money.

 

Alderman Dr. Zen Duda asked if we had one or two salt spreaders. Frankie Ullman stated that we have two of them and that one of them needs a new drive chain for it and the other One needs a new motor. Also, as budget wise we need to start putting back some money back to buy a new bush hog.

 

Mayor Adam Bequette stated that we have put a condemned sign on the house. He also talked to Bill Fischer about getting quote to take it down.

 

  1. Department Reports:

 

  1. a. Emergency Management – Director April Grindstaff was absent during the meeting.

 

  1. Police Department – Alderman Dr. Zen Duda welcomed the new police officer Tyler Urban to the City. Mayor Adam Bequette asked when Tyler relocated to the city if he could take the car to his house. The board had no problem with that.

 

  1. Fire Department – Alderman Kathy Bergmann gave the floor to Fire Chief Frankie Ullman. Frankie stated the they had 11 calls. All medic calls. We had our annual barbeque; it went really well. On the 50/50 drawing Annette Hacker won it and she donated her winnings back to the fire department. Frankie would like to thank everyone that come to the barbeque, everyone that helped out and the donations from the people. We are in the process of getting lights done on 42. With the funds that we received from the barbeque we have been buying equipment for the fire house so that we wouldn’t be using the funds from the city to buy. Everything else has been pretty good. We lost one fireman. When the weather starts getting a little colder, we will be finishing up the meeting room. Alderman Dr. Zenon Duda asked what the status of becoming a district was. Frankie stated that they were waiting on the lawyer to get back to them to tell them what the next step will be. They have a meeting next month.

 

  1. Street Department – Alderman Dr. Zen Duda stated that over the weekend he started adding gravel to the sides of the street on 3rd and Locus. Mayor Adam Bequette stated that the trees are over grown on cedar street. Frankie stated that he would get to that Friday. Up on Spruce Street the road is buckling very back. He thinks it is from the tree roots. We can take a look at it Friday and see what we could do with it.

 

  1. Water / Wastewater Department –Frankie Ullman reported that everything has been going good on the water side. We are doing a lead and cooper inventory. Everything on our side is pvc. We sent an inventory sheet out to all the residents and we are trying to get away from lead pipes. On the Wastewater side walking around with the engineer and keeping the plant alive up and going is pretty amazing. Talking about the lab it needs to be in a room by its self. The lab does need to be clean. The electrical panel is a mess. He was going over things with the engineer. One thing that we need to do is keep the lab clean. Grinders we replaced all the grinders that needed to be done.

 

  1. Park / Cemetery / Animal Control – Alderman Brenda Thompson asked if we had an update on the dog complaints. Mayor Adam Bequette stated that we have been in contact with Officer Barton. For the cemetery she wanted to thank Mayor Bequette for putting flags up for the veterans at the cemetery. She talked to the Missouri Department of Conservation down in Cape. The lady is going to be able provide some resources to help design and planning with some naturalized trails and objectives on the trail. She would like to come and have an in person visit to go over what we could do. Mayor Adam Bequette talked to the person that owns that property of the antique mall to see what he could do for the city to have a small park on his property.

 

  1. Citizens Participation –

 

Brian Worley- he owns property down on Poplar Street. He stated that he told the City Clerk that he wanted to lease that property out and ended up having health problems and had not been able to come and get the paper work to fill out. He has been the one that has maintained the FEMA buyout property all summer long. Then he saw that someone else asked lease out that ground to put their truck and trailers on. Brian stated that he and the neighbors would like to keep that property from turning into a business-related park place. The alderman and mayor stated that they would get some more information on the FEMA buyout regulations and they would be in contact with him when they get the information.

 

  1. Regular Session Adjournment: There being no further business before the board, a motion was made by Alderman Dr. Zen Duda to adjourn at 7:24 p.m. Alderman Kathy Bergmann seconded the motion.  All the aldermen voted yea on a voice vote.  Meeting adjourned.

 

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MAYOR – ADAM BEQUETTE                               

 

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CITY CLERK – APRIL GRINDSTAFF