STE. GENEVIEVE — The Ste. Genevieve Board of Aldermen met Thursday night in a regular session and decided to stick with its decision to donate a vehicle to the Ste. Genevieve R-II School Resource Officer, a qualified law enforcement officer whose salary is paid by the school district and patrols the school campus.
During the discussion, Alderman Joe Prince made a motion to rescind the donation, saying the vehicle was worth thousands of dollars and should be sold. He said the city could use the money to pay for a new K-9. (The city’s current K-9 is trained to alert on the presence of marijuana and with the state now allowing recreational use of marijuana, alerts on that drug would be false.) After some discussion, Alderman Prince’s motion died for lack of a second and the resolution stands.
In other business, the aldermen, minus Robert Donovan, who did not attend the meeting, approved four resolutions contained in the consent agenda.
Resolution 2023-08 authorizes the mayor to enter into a farm land lease with Bahr Farms for city owned property on Progress Parkway.
Resolution 2023-09 affirms an ARPA Grant application for a cybersecurity program to protect the city’s internet infrastructure.
Resolution 2023-10 appointing Gary Roth to the Parks and Recreation Board.
Resolution 2023-11 re-appointing Anthony “Tony” Grass to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The aldermen discussed a resolution approved at a previous meeting to donate a vehicle to the Ste. Genevieve School District School Resource Officer. Alderman Joe Prince moved to rescind the approval to reconsider at a later date when questions about the expense of replacing the city’s K-9.
Prince’s motion failed for lack of a second.
The aldermen approved a bid from Bob Otto Striping Services to re-stripe Progress Parkway for $11,400; approved a company for a salary study for the city and conducted a broker proposal discussion.
During the work session, the aldermen learned that the city did not receive an ARPA grant for water main replacement. City Administrator Happy Welch noted the city was ranked 264 out of around 300 requests. The requests totaled about $1 billion, while the available funds are about $400,000.
The city is considering making repairs to a water main serving Oakwood Street.
The city is considering doing $339,000 worth of pavement overlay. The list of streets was previously discussed.
The board of aldermen also discussed the replacement of the city’s current K-9 due to Missouri allowing recreational marijuana. The current K-9 cannot be used because he has been trained to alert on marijuana. A new K-9 will cost around $14,000 and could be available in January.
The meeting was shown live on SteGenTV Channel 990 and the SteGenTV You Tube Channel and is now available to view on You Tube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlJAWM4-0VA