MINUTES
OF THE REGULAR BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING
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City Hall
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March 17, 2003
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Council Chambers
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7:00 p.m.
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The
Mayor led with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Present: Alderman Boyd,
Alderman Marshall, Alderman Leahy, Alderman Golfin, Alderwoman Mehler, Alderman
Robertson, Alderman Wynn, Alderman Cross.
City Attorney Murphy, City Clerk/Administrator
Seemayer, Zoning Administrator Wolf, Director of Economic Development Shelton
and City Treasurer Reynders.
Absent: Executive
Secretary Williams.
Because
of the state of our nation at this time, Mayor Kelly asked Alderman Wynn to
lead everyone in a moment of prayer.
CONSIDERATION AND APPROVAL OF
THE AGENDA OF THE REGULAR BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING OF MARCH 17, 2003
Motion
was made by Alderman Golfin, second by Alderman Robertson to approve and adopt
the Agenda of the Regular Board of Aldermen Meeting of March 17, 2003. Roll
call: Alderman Boyd, yes; Alderman Marshall, yes; Alderman Leahy, yes;
Alderman Golfin, yes; Alderwoman Mehler, yes; Alderman Robertson, yes; Alderman
Wynn, yes; Alderman Cross, yes.
CONSIDERATION AND APPROVAL OF
THE MINUTES OF THE REGULAR BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING OF MARCH 3, 2003
Motion
was made by Alderman Robertson, second by Alderman Leahy to approve and adopt
the Minutes of the Regular Board of Aldermen Meeting of March 3, 2003. Roll
call: Alderman Boyd, yes; Alderman Marshall, yes; Alderman Leahy, yes;
Alderman Golfin, yes; Alderwoman Mehler, yes; Alderman Robertson, yes; Alderman
Wynn, yes; Alderman Cross, yes.
Bids – None
HEARING OF ANY MATTER OF PUBLIC
INTEREST UPON REQUEST OF ANY PERSON PRESENT
Kevin
Madras – 8813 Powell came before the
Board and said Bill No. 5166 increases the mayor’s salary. He has no problem
with the increasing of the salary as long as it is a reasonable amount. He
asked what is the mayor’s salary now.
City
Clerk/Administrator Seemayer said it is currently $8,700 annually and will be
increase to $14,400 annually. It was tied to the salary of the judge, which
was changed approximately three years ago.
Mr.
Madras said it seems like an exuberant amount for a person representing the
City and the people, since the population of Brentwood has gone down so
dramatically over the years. He does not mind the increase but it should be
closer to what the cost of living is and what the general raises have been for
everyone working for the City of Brentwood versus just one person.
Mayor
Kelly said the City has the highest paid police and fire personnel and
employees in St. Louis County and they strive to set a standard that is second
to none. The City also has one of the best benefit packages than any of the
other municipalities provide for their employees. If you are looking at the
compensation for the mayor, $14,400 a year is not a salary. If it were a
salary, you would probably be looking in the range of $100,000 a year with a
budget that is close to $12,000,000 a year. All City employees, except for the
few that were at the top of their pay scale had the opportunity for a 5% raise
this year. One of the reasons the mayor’s salary is increasing to that amount
is because it has only been adjusted once in about fifteen years. All those
things had been taken into consideration by the Ways and Means Committee.
Alderman
Golfin said as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee they considered the
increase carefully. A cost of living increase in this case would not take care
of the discrepancy that the committee saw in the mayor’s salary. The municipal
judge salary is $12,000 annually. The mayor who is accessible and available
many hours a day is $4,000 below that level, so it was a matter of adjustment
of salary to recognize the merit and the good work that the City requires of
the mayor. Some information about the salaries of mayors of other cities were
provided and varied to be high or low, but that is not the Brentwood standard.
Most of the mayors who were getting lower salaries are more or less in a
ceremonial position. The developments in Brentwood and the work this Board and
Mayor has been doing is quite involved and very complex. On that basis the
committee decided that they would forward this bill to the Board and have the
Board make the decision which is required on this issue.
Sue
Leahy - 2833 Manderly came before the
Board and said she does not have a problem with increases where it is
appropriate and does not have a problem with the mayor’s salary being brought
up in increments, but at this time, for this amount, when the country is in
economic turmoil, it’s too much.
Graduation
from Citizen Police Academy
Dan Fitzgerald – Brentwood Police Department came
before the Board and said he is very honored to be here tonight to recognize
the citizens’ police academy graduates. This is their third class. They had
twelve members in the class. The whole idea of the citizens’ police academy is
for the people of Brentwood to find out what a police officer goes through in
their training and what they do on the job. They try to model it off the
police academy that all of them went to either in the city or county. They
talked about traffic patrol procedures, visited the county academy, etc. The
instructors were various members of the department. It was a positive
experience for everybody. Sergeant Fitzgerald asked the participants to come
forward which included Alderman Barb Cross, John Seavin, Terry Kennett, Elise
Kennett, Carl Pfeifer, Alderman Keith Robertson, Helen Brockman, Darren Sorrel,
Alderman Andy Leahy, Alderwoman Evelyn Mehler, Roberta Fishman and Dan Dalante
and presented them with a certificate.
The
participants thanked Sergeant Fitzgerald and staff for their time with the
class.
INTRODUCTIONS, READINGS AND PASSAGE OF BILLS AND
RESOLUTIONS
Bill No. 5168 – Preliminary Plat
Motion
was made by Alderman Leahy, second by Alderman Golfin to place Bill No. 5168 on
hold. Roll call: Alderman Boyd, yes; Alderman Marshall, yes; Alderman Leahy,
yes; Alderman Golfin, yes; Alderwoman Mehler, yes; Alderman Robertson, yes;
Alderman Wynn, yes; Alderman Cross, yes.
1St and 2nd Readings of Bills
Motion
was made by Alderman Boyd, second by Alderman Marshall to give Bills No. 5166,
5167 and 5169 first and second readings. Roll call: Alderman Boyd, yes;
Alderman Marshall, yes; Alderman Leahy, yes; Alderman Golfin, yes; Alderwoman
Mehler, yes; Alderman Robertson, yes; Alderman Wynn, yes; Alderman Cross, yes.
Bill No. 5166 – Compensation – Mayor
City
Attorney Murphy gave Bill No. 5166, AN ORDINANCE REPEALING ORDINANCE NO. 3564
AND ENACTING IN LIEU THEREOF A NEW ORDINANCE RELATING TO THE COMPENSATION OF
THE MAYOR; PROVIDING FOR THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS ORDINANCE; AND PROVIDING
FOR THE REPEAL OF ALL CONFLICTING ORDINANCES, its first and second readings.
Mayor
Kelly said it is important to separate the compensation and the position of
mayor from him. It is the position of mayor that is receiving this
compensation, not one individual person. The whole thing came about because of
the inequity of the municipal judge and the mayor’s position.
Alderman
Leahy said he would love to see this ordinance be constructed in the way of
connecting all three positions and not just position by position. If they are
looking to find parity between the mayor, judge and alderman positions then all
three positions should be established as to where they are. He would like to
see it go back to the Ways and Means Committee.
Alderman
Marshall said everybody is in line now from the salary structures that they
reviewed in the Ways and Means Committee meeting.
Alderman
Golfin said the consensus of the committee was that the issue should be brought
to the full Board. As far as those refinements or upgrades are concerned they
can always be done at a later time. The City has an $8,000,000 budget, which
is being administered and governed primarily by the mayor who is available.
The committee felt this needed immediate correction.
Alderman
Cross said in the past Brentwood has been a status quo community and maybe the
mayor’s position just required to be more of a manager type position.
Brentwood is seeing unprecedented changes and need a leader that has a vision
for the future. The City needs someone that can mediate among the other
townships, developers and people and the responsibilities are changing. The
City needs someone that has a professional approach, passion and time. She is
in support of the increase.
Alderman
Wynn said he is not on the Ways and Means Committee so he was not privy to all
that information, but that is the way they work. They work on committees.
Some of them are on one committee or another. The rest of them on the Board
get their information after the committee comes to a decision. The mayor has
been defending this increase but he really has no say so. The Board will make
the decision and are responsible for what they do with it. He would like to see
them in a position to get a good mayor every time. This has to do with the
position and having a quality salary is very important to that.
Alderman
Boyd asked if the committee considered the long-term implications of this
increase of expenditure.
Alderman
Golfin said yes. This is a salary increase that when compared to the current
salary does present a large jump percentage wise, but in comparison to an
$8,000,000 budget, the $6,000 is readily available. It is a small cost when
you consider the many costs they are going to be encountering this year.
Alderman
Boyd asked if the mayor’s position receive any sort of allowance for dealing
with the additional travel expenses and daily routines of conducting business.
City
Administrator Seemayer said there is no additional expense allowance.
Motion
was made by Alderman Cross, second by Alderman Marshall to adopt Bill No.
5166. Roll call: Alderman Boyd, yes; Alderman Marshall, yes; Alderman Leahy,
no; Alderman Golfin, yes; Alderwoman Mehler, yes; Alderman Robertson, abstain;
Alderman Wynn, yes; Alderman Cross, yes.
The
Mayor thereupon declared Bill No. 5166 duly passed and signed same into
approval thereof. Said Bill was given Ordinance No. 3872.
Bill No. 5167 – Parking of Vehicles by the Physically Disabled
City
Attorney Murphy gave Bill No. 5167, AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 14 OF THE
REVISED CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF BRENTWOOD, MISSOURI BY ADDING A NEW
PARAGRAPH TO SECTION 14-1004, SCHEDULE D, PARKING OF VEHICLES BY THE PHYSICALLY
DISABLED AT 1450 HIGH SCHOOL DRIVE; PROVIDING FOR THE CURRENT MAINTENANCE OF
THIS CODE; PROVIDING FOR THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS ORDINANCE; AND PROVIDING
FOR THE REPEAL OF ALL CONFLICTING ORDINANCES, its first and second readings.
Alderman
Golfin asked how would you provide parking on High School Drive, which has no
parking on either side of the road.
Mayor
Kelly said it is in one of the parking spaces and not on the street.
Alderwoman
Mehler said the resident did not want a pole sign. She just wanted it painted
on the asphalt, which Brentwood Forest did, but the City wanted to pass an
ordinance to enforce it.
Motion
was made by Alderwoman Mehler, second by Alderman Golfin to adopt Bill No.
5167. Roll call: Alderman Boyd, yes; Alderman Marshall, yes; Alderman Leahy,
yes; Alderman Golfin, yes; Alderwoman Mehler, yes; Alderman Robertson, yes;
Alderman Wynn, yes; Alderman Cross, yes;
The
Mayor thereupon declared Bill No. 5167 duly passed and signed same into
approval thereof. Said Bill was given Ordinance No. 3873.
Bill No. 5169 – Certificates of Participation
City
Administrator Seemayer said there is a substitute bill for Bill No. 5169. The
only difference is the actual interest rates are on the bill.
City
Attorney Murphy gave Bill No. 5169, AN ORDINANCE APPROVING THE DELIVERY OF
$1,330,000 PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF CERTIFICATES OF PARTICIPATION (CITY OF
BRENTWOOD, MISSOURI, LESSEE), SERIES 2003, FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING FUNDS
TO PAY A PORTION OF THE COSTS OF A PROJECT FOR THE CITY OF BRENTWOOD, MISSOURI;
AUTHORIZING AND APPROVING CERTAIN DOCUMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DELIVERY OF
THE CERTIFICATES; AND AUTHORIZING CERTAIN OTHER ACTIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE
DELIVERY OF THE CERTIFICATES, its first and second readings.
Tom
McNeely – First St. Louis Securities
came before the Board and said these are Certificates of Participation. They
are not bonds. They are not the debt of the city. There is no tax levy
established for them or any tax increase to be done. The interest rates start
out at about 1.5% and go up to 4.75%. In October there is a payment of $25,000
for interest and then every year after that payments are around $100,000 per
year for principal and interest. You will have a reserve fund established with
these certificates of about $100,000. That reserve fund is invested to the
benefit of the City, so $2,000 or $3,000 in interest earnings will reduce these
payments on the certificates. Interest rates are at a record low. The average
interest rate is just over 4.25% for borrowing money over a 20-year period for
Certificates of Participation. If the City cannot make the payment the reserve
fund could be drawn out.
Mayor
Kelly asked when could these funds be paid off with no penalty.
Tom
McNeely said it could be paid off after seven years with no penalty. Given the
low interest rates, in the borrowing year you can be assured that money
invested would be able to earn in a year or two more interest than what is
being paid out.
Alderman
Leahy said the library fund was looking at possibly taking some of the money
that they had already reserved and advance paying their portion back. From
what he understands that would not be permissible without penalty until 2010.
Mayor
Kelly said for the City this is an account issue. Staff handles all the
finances for the library even though they are a separate taxing district. For
the first three years the library would make the entire payment until their
$500,000 is paid off, so the City would not have a payment towards that.
Alderman
Leahy said this policy does not have insurance, yet there is an underwriter’s
fee of $15,900.
Mr.
McNeely said that is their fee for marketing the securities.
Alderman
Golfin asked if it would be fair to say this attractive loan package is
possible because of the good financial position of the City of Brentwood.
Mr.
McNeely said Moody’s Investors Service affirmed the rating of A1 on these
securities as it did a year and a half ago.
Motion
was made Alderman Golfin, second by Alderman Cross to adopt Bill No. 5169. Roll
call: Alderman Boyd, yes; Alderman Marshall, yes; Alderman Leahy, yes;
Alderman Golfin, yes; Alderwoman Mehler, yes; Alderman Robertson, yes; Alderman
Wynn, yes; Alderman Cross, yes.
The
Mayor thereupon declared Bill No. 5169 duly passed and signed same into
approval thereof. Said Bill was given Ordinance No. 3874.
ACCOUNTS AGAINST THE CITY
Motion
was made by Alderman Golfin, second by Alderman Robertson to approve the
revised warrant list dated March 17th as submitted. All in favor,
none opposed.
REPORTS OF COMMITTEES AND DEPARTMENT HEADS:
Mayor’s Report
Executive Session
Mayor
Kelly announced an executive session/legal matter would be held following the
regular meeting.
Neighborhood Study Group
Mayor
Kelly said he met with Chairman John Geppert of the Planning and Zoning
Commission concerning the neighborhood study group. They have a list of
committee people that Mr. Geppert put together. The idea of this group is to
look at housing issues, things that other municipalities have done, and come to
a consensus and report back to the Planning and Zoning Commission with any
recommendations. It will also have a key impact on adding to the comprehensive
plan.
Alderman
Boyd asked if the list of prospective committee members are available to them.
Mayor
Kelly said yes.
John
Geppert said four prospective members are Ms. Bilderback, Mr. Bockert, Mr.
Kramer and himself, all members of the Planning and Zoning Commission. He is
also considering Jim Fiete, Kevin Keough, and Scott Stinson all associated with
single-family issues and Dennis Norman who is the president of Saaman
Corporation. There has been some conversation about the impact on the school
district with some of the programs that might take place on single family and
the school district is very involved in those types of things. They thought
school district participation in this would be good.
Alderman
Boyd asked if the intent of the committee is to conclude its work on the
redevelopment issue and then form the basis for the comprehensive planning
committee or will their work be circumscribed specifically to looking at the
redevelopment issue.
Mayor
Kelly said they are going to look at the housing issue.
Mr.
Geppert said the key involvement of the group is being a study group, not necessarily
a group that will come back and make recommendations. To the extent that there
are differing opinions, the issue is to report back to the Planning and Zoning
Commission with concerns. And the alternatives that cities have taken as it
relates to the balancing act between the benefit to a city of redeveloping
single family residents and the issues of neighborhood preservation and
character of your community, etc.
Alderman
Boyd said the composition of this committee seems to be very heavily weighted
on those who are in the development business. He is a little concerned that
perhaps they have stretched their boundaries in terms of including planning
professionals or other people involved in the community.
Mr.
Geppert said he does not know that they went out looking for the development
community. Non-the-less in any city you want the involvement of a development
community because you do not want to shut down development and create barriers
to all types of redevelopment that would benefit the city as you increase
property values etc.
City of Rock Hill
Mayor
Kelly said he and City Administrator Seemayer has been working with the City of
Rock Hill on two joint efforts. One is the possibility of taking over, not
only the City’s own trash service but the City of Rock Hill as well. In doing
this in conjunction with the City of Rock Hill, they can see a profit in the
trash service to cover ongoing costs. In the first year, the City would see a
net gain in revenue of about $58,000. In the third year it would be about
$85,000. At that point the four trucks that the City would be required to buy
would be paid off. It would increase by a significant amount as well which
would help them cover the costs of increased landfills. He asked the Ways and
Means Committee to review it. Rock Hill is very anxious to proceed because
they are not happy with their service.
Mayor
Kelly said one of the biggest benefits to the City of Brentwood is joining
dispatch with Rock Hill. The service would be better for residents of both
cities. Brentwood would have to hire three new dispatchers. It would be a
benefit to the City of Brentwood and to the City of Rock Hill. On weekends and
low peak hours they would have one dispatcher. The City would also be housing Rock
Hill’s prisoners at Brentwood Police Department. They would pay the City a fee
whenever they have a prisoner to be housed. Since the numbers came in high,
Rock Hill is analyzing it to see if they want to proceed. Rock Hill is talking
about building a new municipal center. If they proceed, they would not have to
build a dispatch center or cells to house their prisoners.
Alderman
Leahy asked if preferential employment would be given to the current
dispatchers that would want to work for Brentwood.
Mayor
Kelly said they agreed that they would interview their dispatchers first.
City
Administrator Seemayer said they did some recalculating and they would be able
to run two dispatchers seven days a week, except for the midnight shift.
Alderman
Robertson said in going through the citizens’ police academy they learned how
much the dispatchers do when they are on duty. Sometimes it is amazing that
they get anything done at all. This will certainly improve on the excellent
performance they have.
City
Treasurer Reynders said as one of the trustees representing the police and
firemen’s pension fund when you are looking at the cost of three additional
dispatchers he would also urge the Board to take into consideration that the
funding for the police and firemen’s pension fund does come from tax revenues.
If they are not going to be able to capture any tax revenues how do you look at
funding our returning benefits?
Mayor
Kelly said they took those numbers into account when they were figuring the
salaries for the employees.
City
Administrator Seemayer said the dispatchers are in the LAGERS plan because they
are considered civilian employees.
Alderman
Boyd applauded the Mayor and Mr. Seemayer’s efforts. Anything they could do to
build collaborative relationships with neighboring communities is wonderful.
It does occasionally have cost saving implications for them but more
importantly it will have service delivery implications for all the people
living in the area.
Mayor
Kelly said they would hire the dispatchers with the understanding that they
would be employees of the City of Brentwood as long as the City has the
agreement with the City of Rock Hill. If the City of Rock Hill decided they
did not want to have the City’s service anymore the City would obviously not be
able to support those three additional employees.
Public Safety Committee
Meeting
A
Public Safety Committee meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 19th
at 4:00 p.m.
Public Works Committee
Flagpole Line
Alderman
Leahy said the Public Works Committee extended a courtesy to the St. Mary
Magdalen Parish by helping to replace the flagpole line that broke. They did
it very nicely and conveniently and they are grateful for the extended
courtesy.
City Engineer – No report
Parks – No report
Zoning Administrator – No
report
Ways and Means Committee
– No further report
Planning and Zoning – No
report
City Attorney
Lennox Group
City
Attorney Murphy said he accepted service on petition for a mandamus that was
filed by the Lennox Group LC. The zoning administrator denied a business
license to them based on their application to establish a small loan company on
Manchester Road. The zoning administrator determined that was not the proper
zoning district and therefore denied the license. They have taken it to the
circuit court.
Mayor
Kelly asked if their main business would be cashing payroll checks.
City
Attorney Murphy said no.
City Clerk/Administrator
City
Administrator Seemayer said a Ways and Means Committee meeting will be held
Thursday, March 20th at 4:00 p.m.
Director of Economic Development – No report
Excise Commissioner – No
report
Library
Renovations
Alderman
Wynn said the trailer for the library has been delivered. The library will
temporarily be located in the trailer until renovations are completed.
Municipal League – No
report
Waste Management Commission – No report
Stormwater Management –
No report
Communication – No
further report
Facilities Committee – No
report
Insurance Committee – No
report
UNFINISHED BUSINESS –
None
NEW BUSINESS – None
Recess
The
meeting was recessed at 8:15 p.m. for an executive session/legal matter.
Executive Session
Motion
was made by Alderman Robertson, second by Alderman Boyd to enter into executive
session on a legal matter at 8:17 p.m. Roll call: Alderman Boyd, yes;
Alderman Marshall, yes; Alderman Leahy, yes; Alderman Golfin, yes; Alderwoman
Mehler, yes; Alderman Robertson, yes; Alderman Wynn, yes; Alderman Cross, yes.
After
discussion on a legal matter, motion was made by Alderman Golfin, second by
Alderman Marshall to return to open session at 9:36 p.m. Roll call: Alderman
Boyd, yes; Alderman Marshall, yes; Alderman Leahy, yes; Alderman Golfin, yes;
Alderwoman Mehler, yes; Alderman Robertson, yes; Alderman Wynn, yes; Alderman
Cross, yes.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion
was made by Alderman Wynn, second by Alderman Boyd to adjourn the meeting at
9:37 p.m. Roll call: Alderman Boyd, yes; Alderman Marshall, yes; Alderman
Leahy, yes; Alderman Golfin, yes; Alderwoman Mehler, yes; Alderman Robertson,
yes; Alderman Wynn, yes; Alderman Cross, yes.
Pat
Kelly, Mayor
Attest:
Chris
Seemayer, City Clerk