The City of Salem Board of Aldermen met Tuesday, Sept. 24 for its regularly scheduled meeting, during which the board heard and approved requests for funding from several community organizations, including MU Extension, Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP), and Salem Area Community Betterment Association (SACBA). The board also approved a new holiday contest, shifting gears from lighting fixtures at the park to a lighting contest to help bring some exterior cheer to organizations and businesses throughout the city.
Present for the meeting were mayor Greg Parker, aldermen Kala Sisco, John Whelan, Shawn Bolerjack, and Catherine Dent.
City Administrator Sally Burbridge announced a shakeup to the process for funding community support, which came with the adoption of the City’s fiscal year 2023-24 budget. Each entity or organization must apply for the funds which will then be approved or denied by the board. There is a total of $20,000 within the budget to go toward community support.
The board unanimously approved all requests for funding, including:
• $5,000 to SACBA to be utilized for beautification. The funds will cover the expenses for fertilizer, soil, mulch, plants/bulbs, and greenery to put in nine planters located downtown, maintained by the Spring Creek Garden Club. The funds also pay for someone to collect trash, mow, and prune shrubs at all Welcome to Salem signs, around the Farmers Market, and ONCRC Center.
• $4,500 to SHP for the cost of lumber, building supplies, tools, mattresses, and bedding to build and deliver beds to local children without in Dent County. The chapter has a goal of delivering 150 beds to children in 2024-25. For further information on SHP, look for coverage of its bed build at First Baptist Church in this edition of The Salem News (Page 1A).
• $8,200 to MU Extension in Dent County. MU Extension did a presentation on their recent strides over the past year during the previous Aldermen meeting.
The board also unanimously approved a request for funding, $350 in total, for utility credit prizes for a new community holiday lighting contest. Burbridge shared that in discussions with Parks Director Melissa DuBois and other city staff, the previous contest, “Light Up the Park”, has had decreased participation over the years since its initial inception. City staff have also struggled to keep up with lighting display maintenance and monitoring, prompting a need for an alternative.
With the community holiday lighting contest, there would be two categories: residential and commercial. Participants would need to register with the Utility Office to participate. Registration would include the name of the entity, physical address to be decorated, and the utility account to be credited in case of winning, with winners in each category receiving a credit on their City Utility Bill that comes out in January.
The funding for the lighting contest prize ($350) will come from the community support budget.
Lights and decorations would need to be up by the first Saturday of December and run through Christmas Day. This alternative is proposed to bring attention to the actual location or storefront of businesses.
Burbridge approached the Salem Chamber of Commerce to see if it would be interested in judging the contest—it opted not to. The city will be approaching other city organizations to see who would be interested in judging the contest.
During the Utility Committee meeting on Sept. 11, there was a recommendation to the board to amend the water leak policy for sewer adjustments. When a customer has a water leak, the city has done a sewer adjustment when the customer brings in proof that they’ve fixed the leak; before the policy amendment, the city did not have a timeframe for how far back the city must go to adjust for sewer charges. With this policy change, the city will do no more than the three most recent months. Each month that is adjusted will be adjusted down to the average usage for a 6–12-month period of normal usage. The board unanimously approved the policy amendment.
Some discussion took place between the board and Burbridge regarding the Welcome Home project, with Burbridge stating that only 13 homes were completed through the project.
Not only were there struggles to get contractors to bid on homes participating in the program, but there was a struggle to find homeowners to apply for the program. The criteria was limiting to the amount of people that could apply, said Burbridge, requiring only low-income or very low-income applicants who also possessed funds to match the program. Burbridge indicated that many contractors weren’t inclined to bid on participating homes as the work was more demanding than average, requiring complete home renovation as opposed to traditional home upgrades.
The alderman approved, with Sisco abstaining, the following Welcome Home bids and contracts:
• A change order request from Richard LaBrash for the Welcome Home Project at 1500 South Louise Street. The original bid was for $16,400. Labrash requested the contractor not complete correction work on the interior ramp. The ramp has been deducted from the total contract amount, making the final amount to be paid to Tri-Cat Restoration, $16,100.
• The Welcome Home Project contract and bid for rehabilitation work from Gray Construction, LLC. for the property of 102 South Washington. The contract approved a negotiated bid of $23,000. This property is the final home to participate in the program.
The city has been awarded a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for the Wastewater Treatment Facility upgrades phase 2b, in the amount of $790,000. Approval of the funding will further reduce the amount the city has to bond for. The alderman unanimously approved the CDBG award.
The Wastewater Treatment Facility upgrades have a total price tag of approximately $9.7 million. Burbridge provided an overview to the board on the funding the city has received to assist with the upgrades. Phase 2a is funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant in the amount of $5 million, previously awarded to the city. Phase 2b is funded through the Sewerage Bond with the State Revolving Fund (SRF) passed by voters in April 2023 for a total amount of $4.7 million. Approval of the Sewerage Bond opened the city up to eligibility to receive a SRF grant in the amount of $2 million.
Bids
The alderman unanimously approved the following bids:
• Bids to surplus the property of 306 East Second Street, donated to the city via the Voluntary Demolition Program, were advertised and one bid submitted by Sherri and William Harweger, who live next door to the lot, in the amount of $1,000.
• One bid was received for pool media changes for the Alice Lou Craig Municipal Swimming Pool, Westport Pools. Westport Pools submitted a bid of $25,500 for labor and materials to remove and replace the pool media. This bid was tabled during the previous Alderman meeting for more warranty information—DuBois explained that there is a one-year warranty on labor and new hatch to be installed.
In other news, the board approved:
• The annual contract with Trumpia, the company that provides the city’s texting application that provides notices to citizens about Utility specific updates, Parks and Recreation programs, and general city updates. Per Federal Communication Regulations, the texting platform is voluntary, meaning that citizens must choose to sign-up for text notifications. As of Sept. 22, there are a total of 535 citizens who have added their numbers for notifications. The total cost of Trumpia’s texting application service is $6,000. Bolerjack noted that the service is especially important for emergencies, and he encouraged citizens to sign-up.
• Assistant City Clerk Wanda Suhr going to the LAGERS 2024 Annual Meeting in place of City Clerk Tammy Koller, who is unable to attend.
• The disposal of paper records per state and local retention schedules.
Reports of City Officials
Mayor Greg Parker reminded citizens that the citywide yard sale is coming up, Oct. 5. Behind the Administrative building, parking spaces are available to rent for $8. Meanwhile, the citywide cleanup will be from Oct. 21-25.
Additionally, Parker gave his condolences to the family of the late, retired fire chief Tom Roofe.
“He served our community greatly,” said Parker.
Alderwoman Kala Sisco
• Sisco announced that the Fireworks Committee has an event posted to its Facebook page for its Pancakes and Pajamas fundraising event. She shared that the event would include dressing up in pajamas and eating pancakes, along with taking pictures with Santa and watching a Christmas movie. For information, visit the Salem MO Fireworks page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560962177412.
• The traveling league for boys are having tryouts on Oct. 14, taking place at the Upper Elementary, for third, fourth, and fifth grade boys. Those trying out need to reside in Salem, but it does not matter what school they attend, said Sisco. Third grade will start at 5:15 p.m. Fourth and fifth grade tryouts will start at 6:30 p.m. Show up at least 15 minutes prior to tryout time to complete sign-up.
Finance Director Stacey Houston
Houston presented a financial update to the board.
The Total Sales Tax Revenues collected through September are $1,220,191, including the general fund, parks & recreation fund, and capital improvement fund. The revenues are up 10% from the same time frame as last year.
Utilities Usage & Revenues YTD:
• Electric kWh’s sold is 9,284,901. This is down approximately 2.5% compared to the same time frame as last year. Revenues billed are $1,273,925.
• Purchase of Power, what the city pays to MPUA, is $803,000; 1% more than the same time frame as last year.
• Water consumption sold is 22,504,299 million gallons; up 2.6% compared to the same time frame as last year. Revenues billed are $149,762.
• Sewer consumption sold is 19,781,727 million gallons; up 1% compared to the same time frame as last year. Revenues billed are $188,172.
Fund balance summary shows data through Aug. 31. The total of all funds is $10,736,472. The city has brought in 13% of what has been budgeted for revenues and expended 16% of what has been budgeted for expenditures. Houston explained that expenditures exceed revenues at this time due to one-time expenditures taken out at the beginning of the fiscal year, such as workman’s compensation and general insurance.
Public Works Director Steve Paine
Paine reminded the public to please dial 573-729-4811 to report public works issues, as it helps public works track it within its system as a work order and ensures crew members are aware of and working to fix the problem. For after hours, call 573-729-4242.
WWTG
• The department continued daily testing, weekly sample runs to Springfield, and training its new team member. Preparation is being made for phase 2 of the sewer plant upgrades.
Water
• Multiple water service lines were repaired across the city. Locates were conducted. Crew members also conducted lawn corrections and checked fire hydrants for leaks with a camera in preparation to repair.
• Paine stated that bid opening on the new water tower is coming up.
Electric
• The department fixed four outages across the city during and after the recent storm. Crew members are researching documented easements for pole replacements in hard to reach areas. Line trimming crews are making major gains on a phase three line at U.S. Foods. Crew members continued work on replacing several streetlights, including six within the Housing Authority area. Crew members are working on finishing up the Al Brown field project and assisted the WWTP with motor lift replacements.
Construction department
• The department is working on curb removal. Crew members worked on a citizen’s request for a transformer on East First Street. Crew members are working to finish a large curve on Acuff Street, where a citizen is taking on water. Crew members are nearly finished on the office spaces within the administrative building.
Street department
• Crew members cleaned out storm drains, ditches, and debris from the recent storm. Crew members are continuing to work on storm drains per citizen call-ins. Crews continued mowing and conducted yard waste maintenance.
Mechanic
• The city mechanic worked on projects at Old City Hall and the administrative building, as well as street department and electric department vehicles.
Cemetery
• Crew members are keeping up with mowing and trimming maintenance, assisting set-up and tear down for funeral services, and are training their new seasonal team member.
Meanwhile, in closed session, the board approved a pay adjustment for Public Works Director Steve Paine, 3-1—Dent voted no, for reasons not stated within the press release. Paine will advance to Step 6 of the pay scale for his position.
In a press release, the city stated, "Since his appointment in March 2024 and successfully completing his probationary period, Mr. Paine has demonstrated strong leadership and commitment in fulfilling the duties of Public Works Director. This adjustment recognizes Mr. Paine’s contributions and reflects the Mayor and Board’s commitment to ensuring strong leadership in our city’s operation.”
