Crystal Lake Park

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MINUTES

 of the City of Crystal Lake Park, Missouri

Regular Meeting of the Board of Alderpersons

June 11, 2007

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 Leonard and Dennis Nahnsen.  Absent:  Alderperson Jim Gehringer.

 City Officials:  Present:  City Attorney Steve McCandless, City Clerk Lois La Driere, City Treasurer Ann Bradley, and Street Commissioner Jim Cooper.   Absent:  Police Chief Steve Sood.

 Mayor Balcer asked for a vote to approve the meeting Agenda for June 11, 2007.  Treasurer Bradley asked that the presentation by Hochschild Bloom on the audit report be removed from the Agenda since the accounting firm needed additional information prior to making the presentation.  In addition, Mayor Balcer asked that the Qualifications of P&Z Commission members be tabled until the July meeting.  City Clerk LaDriere noted that the P&Z Commission was involved in determining such qualifications, so the Board may not need to address that item at all.  The amended Agenda was then approved. 

 Mayor Balcer then asked for a vote to approve the meeting minutes of May 2007.  LaDriere indicated that she had received some additions to the minutes from Alderperson Leonard and had revised the May minutes accordingly.  A Motion was made to approve the revised May 2007 minutes, which was unanimously approved.

 NEW BUSINESS:

 Status of City Attorney:  Mayor Balcer indicated that attorney Jeff Duke, of the law firm of Curtis Oetting, was unable to attend and make a presentation to the Board at this meeting as he was on business in Washington, D.C.  A discussion ensued and Alderperson Leonard said that he had researched attorney Howard Papener, who had recently make a presentation to the Board and, after doing so, believed that Papener was extremely qualified to serve the City as its attorney.  Mayor Balcer noted that he had some concerns about the Curtis Oetting law firm, since no one from the firm could make the last two Board meetings, nor a recent P&Z Commission meeting.  Treasurer Bradley, who is also an attorney, and City Attorney Steve McCandless concurred, adding that if the firm was not available to make a presentation, the level of service provided by the law firm is questionable.  Alderperson Nahnsen indicated that he was comfortable with voting in favor to hire Papener as City Attorney.  Alderperson Taylor expressed concerns that the City had not been able to interview a second attorney for the position, but indicated that she was comfortable with Papener as well.  Mayor Balcer noted the urgency in the matter and recommended voting on the hiring of Papener.  Alderperson Leonard made a Motion to authorize the Mayor to engage Papener as the new City Attorney, which was seconded by Alderperson Nahnsen, and unanimously approved. 

CITY OFFICIALS:

 Financial Report:  Next on the Agenda was a presentation of the financial report.  City Treasurer Bradley said that there were no financial reports since it was too early in the month, and distributed a Check Detail instead.  She reiterated that Hochschild Bloom would make a presentation on the audit report at the July meeting, after they had received additional information from the City.   She also provided Mayor Balcer with a document to be signed by him and returned to the accounting firm.  Bradley then stated that the most recent statement received from Bank of America had not contained the usual deposit from St. Louis County, which deposits the City had been attempting to cease for months.  Bradley suggested that the City’s account with Bank of America be closed, with the hope that no future deposits would be made by the County.  LaDriere said that she would close the account.  Alderperson Leonard noted that the audit report did not include the City’s contracts with Living Décor and Veolia. 

 Street Commissioner:  Street Commissioner Cooper distributed a revised street report provided by Horner Shifrin, as well as an Agreement and Bid Proposal to be signed by Mayor Balcer on behalf of the City.  Attorney McCandless recommended that a cap be placed on the expenses by Horner Shifrin, so that the City does not unintentionally over spend on the project.  Alderperson Leonard said that no more than $25,000 should be appropriated to Horner Shifrin for their evaluation, report and recommendations.  A discussion ensued regarding the street report, expenses, and amounts budgeted in the City’s street project account.  Alderperson Nahnsen suggested that instead of fully funding driveway repairs to those residents harmed by the street project, the City should only fund a percentage of those repairs, based on the severity of damage inflicted.   Alderperson Taylor said that those residents who had been burdened the last three years, and were on the original list, should have their repairs made first.  Alderperson Nahnsen responded that those monies should be used for both driveway and street repairs.  Alderperson Leonard noted that some residents who had their driveways damaged were not on the original list, including himself.  He then stated that the Board had agreed previously to reimburse those residents first.  Mayor Balcer said that the Board could continue this debate or wait on a per cost bid for repairs before proceeding further.  Cooper responded that Horner Shifrin’s proposed bid on street repairs was for the entire project, not just driveways, so the cost of the bid would likely increase if projects were bid separately.  Further discussion ensued and Mayor Balcer reiterated that he was uncomfortable as a taxpaying citizen in agreeing to replace entire driveways rather than just compensating residents only for the portion that was damaged.  Alderperson Nahnsen recommended allocating a percentage of compensation based on the extent of damage to each driveway.  Alderperson Leonard said that the Horner Shifrin report estimated that the cost would be $2000 to replace each driveway.  Alderperson Taylor noted the report also stated that the prior street project was the cause of the damage to driveways and that those repairs should be made first, following which work should be done on the streets.  Treasurer Bradley suggested that the City take an insurance type approach and ask each resident who will receive compensation to pay a deductible. 

 Mayor Balcer noted that the City was still in the process of obtaining a cost estimate and that the Board should refrain from making any decisions on the issue until that was received.  Alderperson Nahnsen said that he would like to see the cost to fix certain driveways before making a decision on the issue.  Mayor Balcer then asked Cooper to ask Horner Shifrin to include a separate bid on the driveways in the overall report. 

 City Clerk:  City Clerk LaDriere then provided a summary of the June Planning & Zoming Commission meeting.  She noted that a second building commissioner (BC) had been interviewed by the Commission and that a decision would soon be made as to whom to hire as City BC.  In addition, she said, a special meeting was being scheduled on June 28^th, open to the public, to discuss District D issues.  Alderperson Leonard said that he was unaware that the City was planning to hire an outside BC and noted that the City had not budgeted for such expense.  Mayor Balcer said that he believed the hiring of an outside BC was only temporary, until the City could find a resident to fill the position.  He said that no contract would be signed with an outside BC, so the City was not bound to any specific term of service.  Alderperson Taylor asked LaDriere if she would talk to P&Z Chairperson Evans about having the new City Attorney attend the special meeting of the Commission on June 28^th, to which LaDriere replied that she would.

 VOTE TO CLOSE THE MEETING:  There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

NEXT MEETING:

 Mayor Balcer then announced that the next meeting of the Board was scheduled for Monday, July 9, 2007. 

 MINUTES RECORDED BY:______________________________________________

                                                City Clerk, Lois La Driere

ATTEST:_______________________________________________________________

               Matt Balcer, Mayor