RECORD OF PROCEEDING
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Meeting of the Board of Aldermen of the City of Clarkson Valley, April 5, 2022
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The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.
A roll call for the meeting was taken with the following result:
PRESENT Ward ABSENT
Mayor Scott Douglass
Alderperson Jim Meyer Ward 1
Alderperson Sue McNamara Ward 1
Alderperson Honora Schiller Ward 2
Alderperson Julie Blanner Ward 2
Alderperson Lin Midyett Ward 3 Alderperson Gregg Bogosian
Also in Attendance:
City Clerk: Michele McMahon
Alderperson Meyer made a motion to accept the March 2022 Minutes. Alderperson McNamara seconded the motion. A voice vote was taken to accept the Minutes with an affirmative result and the motion was declared passed.
REMARKS, PETITIONS AND COMPLAINTS
There were no remarks, petitions, or complaints.
REPORTS
Chesterfield Police Report
Lt. Connelly gave the March Police Report.
Mayor’s Report
Court Report: Mayor Douglass said the amount received in March 2022 for court receipts was $2,392.50.
Forest Hills Pitch and Putt: Mayor Douglass said he met with the interim General Manager and the Grounds Supervisor with Forest Hills Country Club to discuss their proposal to install a pitch and putt. They originally ‘shoe-horned’ the project onto a very small parcel but have scaled it down considerably in size. Once the Club finalizes its plans, they will submit for a grading permit.
ARPA Funds – Reporting: Mayor Douglass said we’re getting closer to knowing how government entities can spend the ARPA money and how to report. The report is due April 30, 2022.
Partnering with St. Louis County Highway: Mayor Douglass said he made a call to both the County and State Highway Departments to see if there is a way to partner with them on potential projects – especially with sidewalks in mind. The state did not have anything on Clarkson Road and St. Louis County said they did not have any projects on Kehrs Mill Road but would consider putting information together to consider sidewalk replacement/upgrades on Kehrs Mill Road. However, Mayor Douglass said we cannot spend all City ARPA money on that sole project.
Subdivision Cameras – ALPRs (Automated License Plate Reader): Mayor Douglass reported that he spoke with Alderperson Bogosian about Flock Cameras and ALPRs. Lt. Connelly gave him a contact person’s name who could give more information about these. Alderperson Midyett asked if these cameras would be similar to the ones in Forest Hills, to which Mayor Douglass responded the Flock cameras’ information goes straight to the police. The police can program these cameras to flag license plates and/or vehicle descriptions in instances such as Amber Alerts.
Alderpersons’ Reports
Final Report – Mercy Clinic Family Medicine (MCFM) Offer: Alderperson Midyett gave the final committee report (a copy of which is attached to these Minutes), recognizing and thanking committee members McNamara and Schiller for their time, commitment and effort. He described the original offer from MCFM and stated that after touring the facilities being offered, the minuses for the MCFM offer far outweighed the pluses. He then stated EyeCare Partners, who are the new owners of the Fru-Con Building, came back with a proposal, offering both City Hall and the Police Substation rent-free premises. Conversely, when the committee members compared the pluses and minuses of the current premises; the pluses far outweighed the minuses. He went on to describe s few of the issues with MCFM which included: lobbies would not delineate city hall on its directories; the existing walk-up window in what would be city hall would not be conducive to city hall business; there were two exam rooms with curtains that we are not sure how to utilize. The other significant items were they would commit to allowing us to hold our monthly meetings, but could not guarantee the room for other meetings such as Board of Adjustment, P&Z, etc. and there would be no one to arrange the meeting room set-up for any of these meetings.
Alderperson Midyett made a motion to continue the location of city hall in the EyeCare Partners building, seconded by Alderperson McNamara. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion to continue city hall in its current location was declared passed.
Final Report – Street Name Signs: Alderperson Blanner stated Alderperson Bogosian so kindly put together the report (a copy of which is attached to these Minutes). The findings of the Street Sign Committee, whose members consisted of Alderpersons Bogosian, Blanner and Meyer unanimously recommended not to update the existing signs. Other findings of this committee included: the black lettering on white background were not affected over time but approximately 80% of the logo decals were faded to the point one would not know they were ever there. Alderperson Blanner then made a motion that the City does not update the street name signs, seconded by Alderperson Schiller. A voice was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion that Clarkson Valley does not update its street name signs was declared passed. Alderperson Schiller suggested that if we have to replace signs in the future, she would prefer we leave the logo off, to which everyone agreed.
Code Enforcement Officer: Discussion turned to the City obtaining a code enforcement officer whereupon Alderperson Meyer asked if we could contract with the City of Chesterfield for use of its code enforcement officer. A voice vote was taken whereupon everyone agreed we should approach Chesterfield with the inquiry. Alderperson Blanner wanted to clarify this request, stating that Chesterfield’s code enforcement officer does exactly what Jack Schenck, our Building Commissioner, does now. Lt. Connelly gave further information, saying Chesterfield’s residents are directed to a portal to make the complaints, further stating these complaints can be anonymous.
Jennycliffe Parent Pickup and Dropoff for School Bus: Alderperson Blanner mentioned the parking situation on Jennycliffe Lane, and Mayor Douglass said he would touch base on this subject this month.
Court Report – Collections: Alderperson Meyer asked how the court collections are going? The Court Clerk in Chesterfield makes monthly reports; however, it was believed the report does not contain the outstanding amounts. Mayor Douglass said we would look further into this.
City Attorney’s Report
The City Attorney, Patrick Butler, was not in attendance.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
BILL NO. 0514 – AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE MUNICIPAL CODE OF THE CITY OF CLARKSON VALLEY, MISSOURI, REGARDING SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS IN TITLE V: BUILDING CODES AND REGULATIONS, ARTICLE I. INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODE, SECTION 500.020 CHAPTER 31 SPECIAL CONSTRUCTION, BY ADDING A NEW SECTION 3111 SOLAR SYSTEMS FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL USE PROPERTIES.
A motion was made by Alderperson Schiller and seconded by Alderperson Midyett to discuss and pass Bill No. 0514. Mayor Douglass read Bill No. 0514 for the first time and said the explanation and remarks regarding this Bill came from the Building Commissioner. There was no further discussion. Mayor Douglass read Bill No. 0514 the second time. A roll call vote was taken, with the following results. Ayes: Blanner, McNamara, Meyer, Midyett, and Schiller. There were no Nays. Whereby, Mayor Douglass declared Bill No. 0514 as having passed and is now Ordinance No. 22-06.
NEW BUSINESS
Discuss Solar Speed Signage in Kehrs Mill Estates: City Clerk, Michele McMahon, said the subdivision would like the solar signs to be smaller than the ones we currently have, and we need to look further into it. The sign initially chosen did not have the solar capability, only battery powered. Forest Hills Club Estates President of Trustees, Valerie Denton, was present and volunteered to send the information she is considering for her subdivision. These signs, she said, are from the same company used by the City of Chesterfield when they temporarily install them for speed surveys.
Discuss Motorized Scooters, Bicycles, etc.: Mayor Douglass said since younger families are moving into the city, we might have issues again with motorized vehicles. He said the reason the Alderpersons received all the material on our current codes was to inform you of the rules and how the police will enforce them. Alderperson Blanner asked that this information be placed on the website and asked Mayor Douglass to add it to his Mayor’s Corner. She further stated that a lot of children use these to ride to the club. Alderperson Schiller would also like to see that we remind people which side of the road to walk on and to operate these vehicles.
Procurement Policy: Discussion turned to the Procurement Police and the dollar amount that should be allotted for the city clerk to spend for city hall purchases within budget. Mayor Douglass suggested $100, but it was felt not much can be purchased with that, and $200 was agreed upon. The same for the dollar amount able to be spent by Mayor Douglass without special approval as long as it is under $500 was the suggestion and within budget. However, after further discussion the amount decided upon was $1,000.
Audit: Alderperson McNamara made a motion to approve payment of invoices in the amount of $72,820.85, seconded by Alderperson Blanner. A voice vote was taken to approve the audit with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion was declared passed.
Alderperson Meyer made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Alderperson McNamara. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion was declared passed. The Regular Meeting of the Board of Aldermen adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
Scott Douglass, Mayor
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ATTEST: Michele McMahon, City Clerk
CITY OF CLARKSON VALLEY
COMMITTEE REPORT ON
OFFICE SPACE OFFERS
- Committee Members
- Lin Midyett, Chair, Honora Schiller and Sue McNamara
- Evaluation and Report
- A few weeks ago, Mercy approached Clarkson Valley with an offer for office space in the medical building located at the corner of Clayton and Clarkson. Mercy’s offer was attractive; they offered a five-year lease with no lease expense.
- CV formed a committee to evaluate the space and the offer compared to our present arrangement with the Clarkson Eyecare Building.
- Subsequently, the Clarkson Eyecare Building offered a similar lease arrangement – five years with no lease expense.
- Committee’s Recommendation
- The committee unanimously recommends that we remain in the present location.
- Attached is a comparison of the offers; however, the significant reasons are mentioned below.
- Moving and relocation costs will be avoided.
- Mercy’s space was designed for medical space, and it was not ideal for our needs.
- Office staff and Police would share the space, which may not work as well as separate offices.
- Mercy would commit to our first Tuesday of the month use of the conference room but other not at other times. They could be conflicts with other meeting times.
- Clarkson Valley staff would be responsible for setting up the conference room for meetings and presumably for storing the chairs and tables after the meetings.
STREET SIGNS
On Apr 1, 2022, at 3:26 PM, Gregg Bogosian <gregg.bogosian@gmail.com> wrote:
The committee created to review the idea of using ARPA funds to replace all of the street signs in the city recommends to the full Board of Alderman that we do not proceed with replacing the street signs.
The committee, consisting of Julie Blanner, Jim Meyer, and chairperson Gregg Bogosian, was unanimous on this recommendation.
This recommendation is based on several considerations:
The black and white street signs look to be in good condition, except that on about 80% of them the black Clarkson Valley logo has faded to a very light brown or is totally faded away. However, the lettering for the street names has not faded on any of the signs, suggesting that the logos were made with a different type of black paint that was not fade resistant. It does not seem feasible or cost-effective to have the logos repainted, as this would entail removing the signs, taking them to a shop for repainting of the logo, and then reinstalling the signs. This would be expensive, the street signs would be gone for a period of time, and we don’t know if the logos could even be done with a fade resistant paint.
There are black and white street signs for the subdivision entrances on Clarkson Road, and the standard St. Louis County green and white street signs for the subdivision entrances on Kehrs Mill Road. The idea of replacing those green and white street signs along Kehrs Mill is a non-starter, as the County had replaced our black and white street signs with those green and white street signs. They said they would do it again if we put up black and white street signs. They said they wanted uniform green and white street signs along “arterial” county roads. Our black and white street signs are still up along Clarkson Road, as that is a state highway, and MoDOT was okay with us putting up those.
There are some street signs with a faded logo that look like someone (presumably the subdivision trustees) tried to put on a new logo decal. Those are not holding up very well.
There is one street sign that was replaced (again, presumably by the subdivision trustees) that has no logo, and the street name is in a different font.
Thus, while there are some irregularities, we are of the opinion that the street signs are in good overall condition.