The City of Salem Board of Aldermen unanimously passed a resolution (35-2021) authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement between City of Salem and the Missouri Department of Social Services for the low-income household water assistance program, during the Nov. 23 regular meeting.
Alderman Kevin James asked City Administrator Walden to expound about what the program was.
“Ray, do you plan to share the details of this program?”
Walden deferred to Alderman Shawn Bolerjack who chairs the Utilities Committee who joined the meeting via Zoom.
“It’s a program where they provide up to $750 to those who qualify. My understanding is that the Department of Social Services and certain agencies will administer the program. Those agencies will reach out to potentially eligible persons to help alert them about this program and if they’re eligible they’ll send a check to the city to apply to their account. And the city has to provide certain reporting details back to the state that they’ve received the funds and that it’s been applied toward the account,” said Bolerjack.
“This assistance will be toward water and sewer portion of customers’ bills,” Walden expanded. “And we will be probably processing bills the first part of next week. If approved we could include information with utility bills next week,” he said.
“The income requirements for this program are well above the poverty line,” added Mayor Steelman. “A large number of our community members will be able to apply and be eligible for this program. And I believe as well—in our conversations when we were talking about this grant—the $750 can be applied to past due amounts and even some of our contract amounts as well. This is really helpful for a lot of our citizens.”
Aldermen also unanimously passed a resolution (34-2021) authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement between the City of Salem and Missouri Energy Solutions Professionals, LLC. for an HVAC/maintenance project for $1,461,539.
Alderman James spoke into the necessity of the project.
“We have multiple rooms that are compromised and multiple HVAC systems that are not operational or on their last leg,” he said.
James stated that initially he was concerned about spending that kind of money all at one time; however, “after we looked deeper into the challenges this was the best opportunity for savings—guaranteed savings for that matter—as far as capital expenses,” said James.
The board also unanimously passed an ordinance (Bill No. 3445) that authorizes the mayor to sign and execute task order No. 12, which pertains to an agreement between the city and C.M. Archer Group P.C. dated Feb. 3, 2020 for engineering design services related to water well No. 9 and an elevated storage tank, reflecting the current agreement the city adopted at that time with Archer-Elgin for general engineering services. The project description also includes a new water main and highway bore to connect the proposed well/tower to the existing water main located on the east side of Hwy. 72, near the Salem Memorial District Hospital.
“I think it’s important to discuss why we are doing this,” said James. “We have one of our wells right now that’s compromised. There’re down hole issues with—for lack of a better word—sloughing of material clay, of residuals and other things down the hole. It’s been given turbidity challenges over the years. And we’re already at our service levels, so we’re maxed out at what we can provide. If we don’t do this and we lose that well at some point, we could have a water shortage. It’s important.,” said James.
“I might also add, we believe there may be some grants available that could help with the water tower portion,” said Walden.
Walden told the board that he believes it’s to the city’s advantage to do the design work for the water tower at the same time as doing the design work for the well. Design of a well and tower is included in this task order but not their actual construction, which will be bid out as separate projects. Walden stated that having the design of both the well and the tower in hand puts the city in a stronger position when applying for grants to fund the construction of the two water capital improvement projects.
“We budgeted $100,000 this year for design work and I believe that will carry us through June of 2022. I’ll confirm that with Jeff Medows (C.M. Archer Group), I wasn’t able to do that before tonight’s meeting,” said Walden.
“Should that not be the case, we would have to come back and request a budget adjustment. But unless we find out otherwise; what we’ve budgeted will cover us through June of 2022.”
Also at the meeting Walden gave an update on current projects. Walden stated that he would be meeting with MRPC, MoDOT engineers and the Dent County Commission to discuss funded transportation needs for the county. Afterwards, the city would be meeting with MoDOT separately to discuss weed trimming and other items along state roads in the Salem city limits.
“Next Tuesday, I’ll be attending the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District annual meeting in St. James. Some might be aware that our local sheltered workshop was recently recommended for a grant by the district to DNR (Department of Natural Resources) and we’re glad to support those efforts.
Mayor Kim Steelman gave a brief report. “I don’t have a ton to report on, but I wanted to take a minute and thank our staff for working so hard, because there is a lot going on right now,” she said. “I have gotten more positive comments from community members and committee members that aren’t part of our staff in the last month than I maybe have gotten ever in my entire time in office (both as mayor and alderwoman). Just talking about their positive experiences with staff and how timely people have been getting back to them—not having to ask about things multiple times and that is just a testament to how hard our staff is working right now,” said Steelman.
Steelman mentioned a meeting that she had with Salem Municipal Airport Board President Tyler Naramore and Airport Manager Brent Young.
“I had a lot of things on my list,” she said. “I was pleasantly surprised that basically everything that I had on my list to talk about had already been addressed and that staff was already on top of it—that’s the way it’s supposed to be, and it’s a great surprise when that happens,” she said.
Also at the meeting Economic Development Director Sally Burbidge reported that the certified site the city has been working on in the industrial drive.
“We got clearance from U.S. Fish and Wildlife (in relation to required environmental studies) to Archer-Elgin,” she said. Burbridge stated that she and Walden had plans to reach out to Jeff Medows of Archer-Elgin on Wednesday (Nov. 23) to figure out what needs to be done in order to move forward.
“I’d reported previously that I was able to respond to state lead on that parcel. That project has been put on hold until Spring of 2022,” she said. “I don’t know if that means three months or six months. That gives us time to hopefully get some things moving.”
Burbridge also announced a general housing meeting that will take place Wednesday (Dec. 1) at 3:30 p.m. hosted in the housing authority office at 606 N. McGrath Ln. That meeting is open to anyone who wants to attend. “For those who may not be familiar—it’s not a decision making entity at all, we just share information,” she said.
Director of Public Works Mark Nash gave his report.
First Nash discussed the water and sewer department.
“The water and sewer department are still flushing hydrants—you have to bear in mind that we have over 550 of those to flush,” he said. Nash reported that they also fixed water leaks on three different streets. “We’ve still got quite a few to take care of, but we’re getting them knocked out and we’re getting there as fast as we can. Our water consumption (as a city as a whole) seems to be going down,” he said.
Employees continued to study for certifications and crews are working on maintenance on some of the city’s water towers. Nash referenced the down hole issue that James mentioned earlier in the meeting. “We may have to run a camera down in there to see.”
“I talked to Donnie (Moore, water and sewer department supervisor) about other municipalities. It seems like most of the issues came up after the earthquake, I didn’t feel it but some people did,” he said. “Some of those municipalities are having the same issue,” he said. “We’re thinking that some of the turbidity issues that we’re having right now might be because of the earthquake a couple weeks ago.”
Next Nash shifted his focus to the electric department. “We’ve got the Christmas lights repaired and we’re getting ready to put those back up—we had to wait for some bulbs to come in to be able to put those up,” he said.
“We’re building some more services and we’re still installing security lights—that seems to be a never ending thing.”
“On the street department, you might see the street sweeper around town—we’re trying to get all that done and get those streets swept before it gets too cold. We’re bush hogging the airport right now and we’re doing some asphalt work.”
“Our construction department is doing some patching on the roof over at the (Salem Community Center @ the Armory,” he said. Nash also stated that they fixed the sidewalk on Fourth Street and Main Street and a few other roadwork projects. “Construction guys are staying pretty busy,” he said. “We’re trying to get all of our concrete work done that we can right now before weather changes.”
After Nash finished his report Mayor Steelman brought up the Second Street bridge that’s closed right now.
Walden responded. “At your direction, we did have Archer-Elgin go ahead and do an assessment of it,” he said. “Their preliminary estimated range is between $125,000 and $175,000 to bring the bridge up to anything remotely close to common standards just due to the age an construction of it,” said Walden. Archer-Elgin advised to keep the bridge closed unless the city fully replaces the bridge, according to Walden.
In place of a report alderman Shawn Bolerjack had some kind words to say in the spirit of the Thanksgiving Holiday.
“I just want to thank the city employees for their efforts to provide services to our residents and to visitors to our city,” he said. “I also want say thank you to the mayor and to my fellow aldermen—it’s been an honor serving alongside you these past few months,” he said.
Alderwoman Kala Sisco, during her report, wanted to thank the city for working on the street lights. “You can tell there’s a lot of work being done and it’s making a huge difference throughout our city,” she said. “I also want to thank the aldermen and the mayor for allowing me to serve on the board until election,” she said. Sisco stated that she plans to run for the position she currently serves in during the upcoming April election.
The board also unanimously approved the bid for a new skid steer.
