Crystal Lake Park

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MINUTES

of the City of Crystal Lake Park, Missouri

 Regular Meeting of the Board of Alderman

Monday, October 9, 2006

 Mayor Balcer welcomed the residents to the meeting and asked that roll call be taken.

 ROLL CALL:

 Mayor and Alderpersons:  Present:  Mayor Matt Balcer, and Alderpersons Bonnie Taylor, Jim Gehringer, Jim Leonard and Sandy Spitzer.

City Officials:  Present:  City Clerk Lois LaDriere, City Treasurer Ann Bradley, City Attorney Steve McCandless, and Building Commissioner (BC) Robb Lappe, and Planning & Zoning (P&Z) Commission members Rita Brinkmann and Amy Cislo.

Mayor Balcer asked for a vote to approve the Meeting Agenda for October 9, 2006.  Alderperson Spitzer made a Motion to so approve, which was seconded by Alderperson Leonard, and subsequently approved.

Alderperson Leonard then made a Motion to approve the September 11 and 20, 2006 minutes, which was seconded by Alderperson Taylor, and subsequently approved.

Mayor Balcer welcomed Tom Becker, Chief of the Frontenac Police Department, to the meeting.  Alderperson Taylor informed the Chief that her neighbor had recently been robbed of his car stereo and asked whether the Chief had been notified, which he said he had not.  He encouraged residents to report any suspicious or criminal activity so that the police would know what to look out for when patrolling the City.  Alderperson Gehringer asked the Chief if the police could check for illegally parked cars on the school bus route, particularly during the morning and afternoon pick up and delivery of children.  The chief agreed to do so.  Alderperson Spitzer mentioned that the City was discussing the issue of yard and estate sales, and asked the Chief if Frontenac police would be interested in moonlighting for the City in order to help police traffic and parking during such events.  The Chief indicated that they would be interested and that the fee would be $30 per hour per policeman.  Mayor Balcer agreed to discuss the details of such arrangements with the Chief at a later date.

CITY OFFICIALS:

Financial Report:  Next on the agenda was the presentation of the financial report by City Treasurer Ann Bradley.  Bradley noted that the City had received a letter from the St. Louis County Auditor that the City was now in compliance with the tax code.  She also stated that the City’s account with Bank of America had been officially closed.   In response to questions at an earlier meeting concerning high Ameren bills, Bradley noted that the City would receive a rebate from Ameren.  Next, she distributed a Fraud Reporting Policy statement which she had developed to be placed on the City’s website to inform residents of the procedures for reporting suspected fraud.  Bradley asked whether the City Attorney or any Board members opposed her placing the fraud reporting policy as written on the City’s website, and their being no opposition, it was approved. 

Alderperson Leonard indicated that the September personnel checks should appear in the third quarterly statement rather than the fourth, which includes the months of October through December.  Bradley responded that the request would require journal entries for all personnel checks which she is unable to do due to time constraints.  Alderperson Leonard then made a Motion to approve the September 2006 check detail as amended, which Motion was seconded by Alderperson Spitzer, and thereafter approved.

City Clerk Report:  City Clerk LaDriere reported that the City’s leaf pick up dates were scheduled for the weeks of November 13 and 27, as well as December 18.  She indicated that signs would be made and placed throughout the City notifying residents of the dates.  In addition, information had been included in a recent mailing to residents and a sign noting the dates had been placed on the City’s bulletin board.  LaDriere also noted that due to the term expirations of Ward l Alderperson Gehringer and Ward 2 Alderperson Spitzer in April 2007, there would be two openings on the Board and that such openings would be placed on the April 2007 election ballot.  In addition, residents would be notified via a mailing and the City newsletter of the deadline for registering to be placed on the ballot for either of those positions.  Lastly, LaDriere stated that she had received a complaint from a resident concerning two homes on Crystal Drive which contained debris on their properties and on the adjoining City street following a recent storm.  She stated that she had notified the residents involved of the need to clean up the debris, which they had promised to do.

Planning and Zoning Commission Report:  BC Lappe reported that the home addition and improvements at 2225 Divot Drive had been approved at the last Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. 

OLD BUSINESS:                 

A.  Indentures (Fairway Manor):  Mayor Balcer stated that upon initial review by City Attorney McCandless of the indentures that it appeared they had expired.  McCandless also reiterated that in either event, the indentures would not take precedence over City ordinances.  Alderperson Taylor noted that attorney Feder, who had discussed the issue of indentures at the City’s last Board of Alderpersons meeting, seemed to indicate that unless a submission for approval was in direct violation of city ordinances or could be proven to threaten that property values of surrounding properties, it would be difficult to turn down a plan.  Mayor Balcer indicated that he had interpreted attorney Feder’s statement differently in that he heard that Planning and Zoning Board decisions would most likely be upheld in the Courts.  Alderperson Gehringer added that per Feder’s discussion of the Stoyanoff court case in the 1970’s, Gehringer thought if the P&Z Commission could prove that approval of a proposed plan potentially presented a financial detriment to the City and its residents, then the Planning and Zoning Board could deny such plans. 

City Attorney McCandless noted that LaDriere had distributed information on an upcoming seminar concerning planning and zoning issues and that attendance by the City’s Board of Adjustment and Planning and Zoning Commission members would be helpful in obtaining a better understanding of their roles on the Board and Commission.  Mayor Balcer noted that if Alderperson Gehringer’s view was correct, then there would be no need for the existence of a Planning and Zoning Committee.  McCandless suggested that further discussion of the roles of the members of the Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of Adjustment be tabled until after the members attended the seminar on October 30, 2006.

B.  Street Maintenance:  Mayor Balcer reported that he had yet to meet with an engineer regarding future maintenance of the City’s streets.  Alderperson Taylor volunteered to contact and meet with a street engineer and report back to the Board at the next meeting.  Taylor also noted that no patches had been laid to rectify a problem on Oak Street.  Mayor Balcer asked BC Lappe if he could call and ask if a temporary patch could be placed over the hole until they finished the entire street.  Mayor Balcer also agreed to contact MSD concerning their lack of clean up and repair of the streets affected by their project and then report on the status at the next meeting. 

C.  Website Update:  LaDriere provided an update on the City’s redesigned website and stated that additional changes would occur following the soon to be issued report by the City’s Vision Committee following the receipt and tally of responses of residents.  She stated that the information gleaned from the survey, as well as additional insight by the Committee would help dictate additional changes to the website.  Alderperson Gehringer stated that he had reviewed the redesigned website and that it was a significant improvement over the prior version.  LaDriere then discussed a proposal by Sullivan Publications to host the City’s website and provide QuickCode on Line.  A discussion ensued concerning the pros and cons of such proposal, including easy access by residents and City Officials to the City’s ordinances, as well as by developers and the neighboring City of Frontenac which provides services to the City.  City Attorney McCandless stated that it was unusual for a City the size of Crystal Lake Park to provide such an enhanced service on its website.  After discussing the costs of the enhancements, which would include an initial payment of $800, plus $200 annually to update ordinances, as well as the cost to host the site at an initial charge of $300 plus $30 per month maintenance, the Board decided to postpone a decision on pursuing the enhancements.  Instead, it was decided to track the number of hits on the website after placing the CD version of the ordinances on the site, to ascertain whether or not there was enough demand for information on the online ordinances to warrant the possibility of purchasing enhancements.

D.  Estate and Yard Sales:  Mayor Balcer initiated discussion of estate and yard sales by asking if Board members wanted to continue with the annual City garage/yard sale.  Alderperson Taylor then inquired if residents knew that the annual sale would be continued, would they then be less likely to host their own individual sales thoughout the year.  Alderperson Leonard noted that the idea was to discourage residents from having estate sales and that a fee was necessary to cover policing and possible damage that could occur during such sales.  Mayor Balcer suggested a $250 per day fee, while Alderperson Spitzer suggested the City should charge a $500 per day fee.  Mayor Balcer suggested that the City ascertain what fees other cities charge for estate sales.  Alderperson Spitzer then made a Motion that the City charge a $500 fee per day for estate sales which would include the City providing police supervision, and that yard/garage sales of all sizes would be charged a fee of $15 per day, and that a $10 fee be charged to each resident participating in the annual City yard/garage sale.  The Motion was seconded by Alderperson Leonard and subsequently approved. 

NEW BUSINESS:

Establishing and Approving City Clerk’s Compensation:  Mayor Balcer stated that it was important that the City Clerk be fairly compensated for work performed.  He noted that new City Clerk LaDriere had provided numerous additional and enhanced services to the City, as well as additional hours at the same rate of pay as the prior City Clerk.  Alderperson Leonard noted that the City’s financial resources are limited, in that unlike many other cities, Crystal Lake Park does not have retail or commercial businesses on which to rely for income.  He also noted that in 2003 the City compensated its City Clerk in the amount of $17,000 for the year, and that through September 2006 the City had already compensated that position in the amount of $19,262.  Treasurer Bradley indicated that much of that additional expenditure was due to the fact that both the former City Clerk and new City Clerk had been compensated for an overlapping period of three months.  That situation would no longer occur, she added.  Alderperson Gehringer agreed that the position should be adequately compensated.  Mayor Balcer noted that the City was now averaging about four newly built houses annually and that developers were paying higher fees to the City for such homes, a trend which he expected to continue to provide additional income to the City.  Alderperson Taylor asked what the rationale was behind an hourly rate of $20 per hour for compensation to the City Clerk.  She indicated that anything less than that rate would however be less than adequate for part-time pay when compared to the market for such services, qualifications and experience.  Alderperson Gehringer indicated he would prefer a monthly salary for the position while Alderperson Leonard indicated he would prefer hourly compensation.  City Attorney McCandless stated that compensation for the position is set by ordinance.  It was decided by the Board that LaDriere should keep a full and accurate track of her hours for the next month and report back to the Board.  In addition it was agreed that the current ordinance would be amended at the November meeting to reflect the City Clerk’s compensation at a rate of $20 per hour.  It was also decided that the issue would be revisited at the January 2007 meeting.

CLP Commercial Property:  Alderperson Leonard stated that the City owned $149,741 work of commercial property, which property is taxed at a lower rate of .285% of assessed property.  Included is property owned by Laclede Gas, Missouri Water and Southwestern Bell Communications.  BC Lappe noted that the City has a very low personal property tax.  A discussion ensued and it was noted that the City needed to devise ways in which to earn additional revenue and a $5000 permit fee for developers was proposed to help alleviate the situation.  The discussion also included whether or not to charge permit fees for home additions and, if so, whether or not a graduation scale should be used based upon the size of the addition.  It was noted that St. Louis County used a fee scale based on construction costs and percentage of the property.  For example a fee of one percent of the cost of improvements could be charged with one-half the fee going to the City of Frontenac and the other half to our City.  It was also suggested that the City could increase to .25 basis points (1/4 of 1%), and boost street bonds from $100 to $2000, which would provide an additional source of revenue to the City.  It was decided that further discussion would be tabled until a future meeting. 

Sanitary Sewer Lateral Program:  Alderperson Taylor reported that she had further investigated the issue and that the City must meet certain criteria to qualify for the program and to charge an annual $50 assessment to residents.  She stated that she had spoken to Ken Plieman, St. Louis County Department of Public Works, and that he had agreed to make a presentation to the Board at a future meeting.  Mayor Balcer stated that after conferring with City Attorney McCandless, he had learned that it was extremely difficult for a City of our size and limited resources to administer such a program.  McCandless agreed and noted that he did not think that the City had adequate resources to administer such a program.  However, it was agreed that the Board would be open to a presentation by Plieman and that such presentation would occur at the next Board meeting on November 13, 2006.  There being no further business, a Motion was by Alderperson Leonard to adjourn the meeting at 9:00 p.m.  Motion passed unanimously.

MINUTES RECORDED BY:_____________________________________________

                                                            City Clerk, Lois A. LaDriere

ATTEST:_____________________________________                                          

         Matt Balcer, Mayor