The City of Salem Board of Aldermen met for its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, Nov. 12, during which eastward alderwoman Kala Sisco officially stepped down from her role, and the city heard the board appointment and oath of office from Michael “Rick” Letchworth to the open seat.
“Miss Kala Sisco, with this being your last meeting, and—as I said in our previous meeting—it has been an honor. You won’t get to go too far. We’ll keep you on enough boards and enough committees, hopefully, to keep you kind of busy in your active time,” said Mayor Greg Parker. “With this being your last meeting tonight, I have a recommendation for Alderwoman Sisco’s seat. I have a recommendation for Michael Letchworth to serve.”
“That is an awesome choice, I am very excited,” said Sisco.
With Parker’s recommendation, Alderman Shawn Bolerjack moved to approve the mayor’s appointment with Alderman John Whelan seconding. The vote was 3-0 to approve with Sisco abstaining. Sisco stepped down from the stage and Letchworth stepped up.
Letchworth came forward to recite the oath of office, led by city clerk Tammy Koller. After reciting the oath of office and signing, Letchworth officially joined the other aldermen on stage. Letchworth joined at the very end of the meeting, so no votes were made by him at the meeting Nov. 12.
In light of Sisco leaving and Letchworth serving, Parker reappointed several boards. Bolerjack will serve as chairman on the Airport Board; Dent will serve as chair for the community involvement committee; and Whelan will serve as chair for the finance committee.
The board heard several bids for a new water department truck. It was explained that the wastewater treatment plant truck is a 2007 Ford F-150 with 122,000 miles. The vehicle is at the end of its expected lifespan and needs replaced, and it was also involved in the floodwaters that hit the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Six bids were received meeting the minimum specifications requested. The department recommended the approval of Ed Morse Chevrolet’s bid in the amount of $41,233 for a 2025 Chevy, half-ton, crew cab pickup truck in white.
When asked by Sisco why it was decided to go with Ed Morse Chevrolet versus Heavin Motors, Paine explained that the bid offered a better warranty. Whelan moved to approve the bid from Ed Morse Chevrolet. Explaining that she wanted to keep local dollars local while still providing the department a well-equipped truck, Sisco voted no, resulting in a 3-1 vote. The bid from Ed Morse Chevrolet was approved.
The city currently has a lease agreement with John Deere Financial, since Oct. 2019 for a 2019 JD 4WD Loader. The lease is at the end of its term. The city has the option to purchase the loader for $84,411.71, lease a different loader, or purchase a new loader. The amount to purchase a new loader is estimated to be approximately $180,000. The loader is frequently used by the street department for loading materials, picking up yard waste and storm damage, and removing snow and ice. It was used just recently to assist in clearing the streets of debris following the flood. Brent Young recommended purchasing the loader outright, stating that the department knows the vehicle inside and out. The board unanimously approved purchasing the lease outright.
The city, explained Burbridge, would like to work toward digitizing—scanning and preserving electronically—its current and past records. Digitizing records would provide security against accidental destruction or natural disasters; allow future staff to access information quickly; and assist the city with sunshine requests. The digitizing software to be utilized would be Laserfische, which would store the records in a Cloud-based environment, and would cost the city $5,900.00, annually. This is included in the capital improvements budget for the fiscal year. The board unanimously approved the contract with Laserfische.
The city has received the ARPA Drinking Water Grant Award in the amount of $3,730,000 to go toward the new well, well-house, and new water tower. The city match toward the project is $38,000, or approximately 1% of the total project cost of $3,768,000. DNR approved $628,000 for the engineering portion of the contract in June of 2023, with a $6,342.80 (1%) city match. The amended ARPA grant award amount, considering the DNR contribution, is $3,140,000; the city’s 1% match to the ARPA grant will be $31,657.20. Once the Financial Assistance Agreement and the General Terms and Conditions documents are signed by the mayor and DNR, the city will be able to submit expense reimbursement requests for the construction expenses. The board voted unanimously to approve the mayor signing required documents.
The board also unanimously approved Resolution No. 26-2024, a resolution providing for the municipal election for Salem on April 8, 2025.
The board heard several first readings of bills, including:
• Bill No. 3631: An ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement between BuildTec Construction LLC and the city for the Salem Water System Improvements, Contract A, for the well house, tank and well site, and waterline.
• Bill No. 3632: An ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement between Caldwell Tanks, Inc and the city for the Salem Water System Improvements, Contract B, for the multi-column elevated storage tank.
• Bill No. 3633: An ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement between B&H Drilling & Pump Service and the city for the Salem Water System Improvements, Contract C, for a pitless well base bid.
There’s been some conversation from board members regarding the question of including the City of Salem’s logo on the new water tower at the price of $1,500, versus putting “Salem” in block letters as previously approved. Sisco shared that she liked the idea of the city logo being on the water tower to welcome visitors to Salem. Several staff members reached out to Sisco and encouraged her to reconsider the water tower’s appearance, after the board previously approved block letters. Bolerjack agreed, stating that the cost of putting the logo on the water tower is a low price considering it could potentially advertise the city to passing traffic and would stand for several years. The board may revisit the decision at a later meeting.
Reports of City Officials
City Administrator Sally Burbridge
Burbridge shared that she and Paine met with MRPC, MoDOT, and the Dent County Commission to prioritize county wide transportation projects.
As a group, they prioritized the following projects and needs, in the following order:
#1 – Route TT Bridge No. R080 over Crooked Creek – replacing culvert with bridge
#2 – MO 32 Bridge over West Fork of the Huzzah (Boss) built in 1931 – replace bridge
#3 – MO 19 Bridge J0070 over Spring Creek built in 1930 - replace bridge
#4 – MO 19 Intersection with Roosevelt St. – possible addition of turn lanes and crosswalk
#5 – Dent Co Route 119 – Safety improvements (shoulders)
Burbridge is also speaking with MRPC about submitting, writing, and administering grants on behalf of the city, including a grant for the tornado warning system and a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for energy conservation. Burbridge further shared that drive lanes are narrowed for the Downtown Sidewalk Project. The entrances to each block are also narrowed with bump outs to act as a traffic calming measure.
Mayor Greg Parker
The Christmas Parade 2024 is coming up, labeled “Have Your Elf a Merry Little Christmas” and themed after Elf on the Shelf. The parade will be held Saturday, Dec. 7 with a lineup beginning at 5:30 p.m. and the parade beginning at 6 p.m. Don’t come earlier than 5 p.m. if you would like to be in the parade. Reach out to the Chamber of Commerce for more information.
“I want to take the time to thank all of our city staff for all the hard work during the flood,” shared Parker.
Alderman Shawn Bolerjack
“I just want to thank [Alderwoman Sisco] for her years of service as an alderwoman on the board,” said Bolerjack. “It’s been a pleasure to serve with her.”
Being the day after Veteran’s Day, Bolerjack also thanked all the veterans in the community for their service to the country and reminded attendees of the Honoring Our Heroes Marathon.
Melissa DuBois, Parks and Recreation Director
The park sustained significant damage through the flood and had to close the park due to damages to tiling and chips, making it unsafe for play.
She reminded those in attendance that the city is doing a Holiday Lighting Contest. For more information, go to https://www.salemmo.com/news_detail_T58_R98.php. DuBois encouraged everyone to participate in making the city light up for the holidays.
Whelan complimented DuBois on the Salem MO Spectacular. Whelan encouraged the city to have more events like it, and DuBois shared that a date has already been set for next year’s event of Oct. 25 with organizers looking at different things to make it bigger and better. Over 4,000 people attended the event, shared DuBois.
“I want to thank the community for actually turning out and showing up for something that we put together and put a lot of work into,” said DuBois.
She thanked city staff and her own staff for assisting with the event, as well as the vendors that turned out to take part. Consistent traffic was seen all day long.
Steve Paine, Public Works Director
The wastewater treatment plant was overrun with floodwater. Full crew efforts have been ongoing to get all systems back online, with assistance from electric, water, and street departments. Equipment repairs are ongoing and daily testing continues. Extensive cleanup efforts for all facilities were undertaken immediately. Walkdowns were conducted.
The water department spent the majority of its time assisting with repairs and cleanup at the WWTP. Several water service lines were repaired. Crew members assisted the hydrant maintenance and repair crews to ensure it had the information it needed as it moved across town. Hydrants receiving maintenance and oil totaled 101; 86 hydrants were painted; and 46 gate valves were painted. The fire department opted to have hydrants painted chrome yellow to ensure nighttime visibility. Hydrant maintenance and repair crews will be returning Nov. 17 through Nov. 20 to work on the rest of the hydrants.
The electric department replaced and rerouted a problematic power line leading to the Walnut Hill Drive outage after the flood. Crew members spent a lot of time assisting with the WWTP. It is monitoring the contractor working on the feeder line clearing project—trees are currently being cleared from lines. Tree trimming crews are assisting as well to ensure, in the case of an ice event, there won’t be any downed lines in the winter.
The construction department installed a drain at the Al Brown Fields concession stand and worked on a few concrete projects. It continued building temporary light poles for the downtown project.
The street department worked around the clock to keep storm drains clean during the storm. Crew members continued to work on clearing drains after the flood event and worked on rebuilding roads at WWTP.
The mechanic assisted with the WWTP, inspected roofs and facilities, and troubleshooted damaged equipment. Cemetery crew members are still working on maintenance at the cemetery and assisted in set-up and teardown for a funeral.
