The City of Salem Board of Aldermen met for its regular meeting Tuesday, Dec. 10, during which the aldermen approved an application for an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG), with no city match requirements.
In attendance included mayor Greg Parker, aldermen Shawn Bolerjack, Rick Letchworth, Catherine Dent, and John Whelan. Other present city staff included city administrator Sally Burbridge, city clerk Tammy Koller, city attorney James Weber, parks director Melissa DuBois, and public works director Steve Paine.
The city is seeking funding with the Missouri Department of Natural Resource Division of Energy for the Missouri Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Funding. Burbridge explained that the grant is specifically for energy conservation—which the replacement of the remaining non-LED streetlights throughout the city would fall under.
The grant would be able to cover the approximately 505 streetlights to be replaced with LED lights and dawn-to-dusk sensors, along with the cost of hiring an outside contractor to do the replacements and allow crews to focus on normal daily work.
The total estimated cost would be $81,677.75 for materials and $187,875 for labor—coming to $220,552.75 for project costs. The grant has no match requirements. The board approved application to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program for funding. MRPC will be assisting in the application for the grant, noted Burbridge.
The board completed some housekeeping by officially amending section 110.170 to designate the location of aldermen meetings to the City Hall auditorium. Both board members and city staff commented that the location is preferred by staff for its larger seating capacity for the public. With that in mind, Dent asked Burbridge if there were any plans for the boardroom in the basement of City Hall, used previously for aldermen meetings.
“I have some ideas for it that have changed from the original,” shared Burbridge. “Since we’re not planning on moving back down there, I haven’t brought [the new plans] forward yet.”
There will be no meeting held Dec. 26. Due to staff and board members potentially being out of town for the holiday, the board approved cancellation of the last meeting of the year. The next regular meeting will be held Jan. 14, 2025.
One public comment was heard from resident Dave Davison, who asked the board two questions: the first question asked about the status of the annual audit for the last fiscal year, while the second asked if the board would agree that it is the responsibility of the city to provide clean, healthy, and potable water to city residents. The second went unanswered by the board, but the question on the audit was answered by finance director Stacey Houston who shared in her report that she had reached out to the city’s auditor Dec. 10. The auditor hopes to have the audit finalized mid-January with a presentation to be given at the aldermen meeting Jan. 28, according to Houston.
The board also approved:
• the financial agreement formalizing the $5 million dollar grant awarded to the city for the WWTP phase 2a project. The bid has already been awarded to Midstate Pipeline Maintenance, LLC. at the Dec. 3 meeting.
• The Enhance Enterprise Zone (EEZ) is a board shared between the city and county, requiring both boards’ approval of appointments. There are two seats for re-appointment of five-year terms, with both board members agreeing to continue serving: Dustin Howard, The Bank of Salem, and Daniel Salyer, Phil-Mart.
Reports of City Officials
Mayor Greg Parker
“I’d like to wish everybody a happy and safe Merry Christmas and New Year,” shared Parker. “Also, keep a lot of people in your thoughts and prayers for those that have lost loved ones in our community—some of them way too young, before their time.”
Alderwoman Catherine Dent
Salem Community Choir will be presenting a “Festival of Carols” 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 20 and again at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 22. Both performances are at the Dry Fork Church off F Highway.
City Clerk Tammy Koller
Business license renewals were mailed out Nov. 27. If businesses have not yet received them, contact the city clerk’s office. The forms look a little different this year, noted Koller. Contractors and business licenses were combined into one form. An addition was made to applications for new businesses to ensure Brown has the information he needs and streamline the process at the city clerk’s office. Koller has received several phone calls on these changes—if just doing a business renewal, Koller reminds businesses to just answer the questions that pertain to them and put N/A on everything else.
Of the six new T-Hangars built, five of them have been leased. One is available but Koller is working through the waitlist, with 14 days between each contact as recommended by the airport board. There are four pilots on the waitlist.
The cemetery is currently being gridded out on Diamond Maps by Koller and assistant city clerk Wanda Suhr. Once the grid is completed, it will be made public facing to ensure ease of access.
Steve Paine, Public Works Director
WWTP
Crews are continuing to check and repair systems after flood damages. Equipment repairs and daily testing continue.
Water
Crew members have repaired several service lines and one main break across the city. Fire hydrant maintenance and repair crews have finalized for the season, having maintained, oiled, diagnosed, and documented onto Diamond Maps 290 hydrants—140 hydrants will need painted when weather warms. Locates continue. Well #6 spiked with turbidity due to seismic activity. Paine reminded the public that if there are any issues with water turbidity, contact the main office to initiate a work order.
Electric
Crew members put up all 95 snowflakes throughout town and continued assisting the WWTP with repairs and crane work. Crew members conducted streetlight repairs and replacements. Call the main office to initiate work orders if you happen to see streetlights going off and on. Crew members are monitoring the contractor that’s currently working on the power feeder line clearing project, which is moving along well. To ensure efficiency in their process, the contractor cuts an area and returns the following day to clear. There have been complaints regarding brush and equipment being left in resident’s yards—the vendor is contacted, but the public is encouraged to be patient.
Construction
Crew members continue repairs. Drywall is being worked on at the Animal Shelter. Interior work is being completed at the airport pilot’s lounge. Construction, street, and electric crew members helped with the temporary lighting downtown.
Streets
After a successful parade, Paine spoke with the chamber representative, police, and street crew members to discuss ways to improve next year’s parade, such as not passing out items that look edible that are not edible and ground guides for larger vehicles to ensure safety for children. Street crew members assisted with the parade and immediately ran the street sweeper at the end. Multiple pavement patches were completed across town.
The mechanic assisted with repairs at the WWTP and worked on several city-owned vehicles. The cemetery crew completed cleaning, maintenance, and lawn repair—crew members are working on backfilling spots that have settled in the cemetery.
Melissa DuBois, Parks Director
DuBois shared that basketball practice has started Dec. 9—it had to be postponed a week due to the gym floors needing a little more time to settle. Games start at the beginning of January. Several companies have been reached out to for estimates on repairs to Al Brown fences and estimates on dirt replacement. Although the parks may look like they did not sustain a lot of damages, a lot of earth, fences, and tiles moved, shared DuBois. A representative from All-Inclusive Parks & Rec came to inspect the playground on Dec. 6. No damage was sustained. DuBois sought a second opinion on tiles and discovered all tiles will need pulled up, power-washed, stacked, and re-installed.
