[0:04] yes okay um I'd like to call to order the Maplewood city council meeting for

[0:11] Tuesday December 10th

[0:14] and uh when we do Zoom do we do a pledge of

[0:21] allegiance I didn't bring a flag with me uh

[0:26] but uh I pledge allegiance United States America and to

[0:34] the

[0:38] stand

[0:42] indivisible thank you uh roll call please council member

[0:49] Perell council member faulkingham council member Garcia here

[0:57] mayor Greenberg here council member hom here council member

[1:07] Maddox and council member Paige here okay mayor Greenberg a quorum is present

[1:15] uh item number four is a motion to excuse council members Carell uh

[1:19] faulkingham and Maddox so moved

[1:25] seconded any discussion

[1:28] uh all those in favor I I any opposed the council members are

[1:37] excused uh item number five is the approval of the Count Council

[1:42] agenda I'll entertain a motion motion to approve

[1:47] seconded we have a motion to Second any discussion uh all those in favor I any

[1:57] opposed the council agenda is approved uh item number six is the approval of

[2:05] the November 12th 2024 city council meeting

[2:09] minutes I need a motion motion to approve second second okay is there any

[2:17] discussion I was not there so uh [Music]

[2:23] uh okay uh so Jackie can I vote to approve those if I wasn't in

[2:33] attendance that is a question I don't have the answer to Mayor um I think

[2:39] probably not so we may need to pass that to the next

[2:42] meeting okay uh then I will uh delay to table uh I yes I'll need a motion table

[2:55] can you motion to put it on the next agenda instead of tabling okay that'll

[3:00] easier procedurally motion to move to the January agenda

[3:04] seconded we have a motion to Second any discussion uh all those in favor I I I

[3:13] any opposed the motion will be or the uh

[3:18] approval of the minutes will be uh dealt with in in January then the next meeting

[3:25] item number seven is a public hearing to hear citizens comments on a request by

[3:29] the Maplewood Richmond Height School District to reone 2555 Oakland Avenue

[3:35] from PA public activity District to Sr single family residential

[3:41] district uh do we have anyone in the audience that uh has raise their hand

[3:46] for this I do not see any Zoom hands

[3:51] mayor okay uh if that is the case then uh

[4:01] unless Dr well Dr Jameson will have a a chance

[4:05] later on to to address this but uh as far as the public forum I will consider

[4:10] it closed uh item number eight is the

[4:16] public forum uh which allows anyone that's

[4:20] watching us or listening to us tonight to address the Council on any matter uh

[4:27] you keep in mind that there's a second public C for him later in the meeting uh

[4:32] so if you miss the first one or you hear something that we've said that you'd

[4:37] like to respond to you'll have another opportunity is there anyone that has a

[4:42] raised hand no there is not ma'am okay so uh

[4:47] public forum is now closed sorry uh Mr John KN house I'll

[4:54] allow him to enter okay uh at this point

[5:01] Mr KN house if you unmute we'll be able to hear you can you hear me now yes

[5:07] sound great I I didn't know if I was on um okay yeah I just want to uh just

[5:12] briefly um I leave at 7461 Hazel Avenue I'm sure you guys have uh know who I am

[5:18] um I I just wanted to I know I sent an email to some of the council people with

[5:22] just a pck uh a couple pictures just to illustrate um the box trucks that would

[5:27] be that are parted on their present um parking lot at side Project brewery and

[5:34] where they are parked um that's where the egress is going to be on to the new

[5:39] um parking lot so I guess my our family's concern is um if that egress is

[5:43] going to be there where will they be parking their box trucks um in the

[5:48] future and and my concern is our family's concern is they're going to be

[5:52] parking the box trucks um at those two parallel spots that are parallel to um

[5:59] our backyard and if You' if you've looked at the picture you can see how

[6:03] tall those box trucks are how obnoxious they look um so I know the buffering

[6:09] will be there um but I guess we're just hoping that with that visual you can see

[6:13] that the most buffering we're going to need is um whatever we can get you know

[6:19] tall coniferous trees um so that that's kind of my concern I guess we're just

[6:24] asking if you could at least just discuss that our concern that the box

[6:29] trucks will be there instead of what it was intended to be of of customer

[6:33] parking um and it one more thing real quick is you can see with uh that that

[6:38] Pensky yellow truck the the other truck is the food truck and I guess I I I

[6:43] wanted to picture that there um because that was that was there for several

[6:47] weeks and I I think it it kind of just we don't have a lot of faith in their in

[6:51] their sensibility or their awareness of of how that affects us as a neighbor um

[6:57] and we're kind of depending on the council and to make sure that everything

[7:01] is done that um you know that sensibility can can be there once that

[7:07] new parking lot is there [Applause]

[7:10] so that's pretty much all I want to say I've said a lot in previous uh meetings

[7:14] but thank you for the opportunity okay thank

[7:18] you uh I wasn't part of the previous

[7:23] discussion but we'll have a discussion with the

[7:27] uh with S Pro project and express your concerns to them uh and hopefully we can

[7:36] come to a reasonable resolution of the matter uh are there any other hands

[7:42] raised at the public for the public forum there or not okay then we'll move

[7:48] on to item number nine which are announcements we have some announcements

[7:52] here yeah I just um keep I'll keep it short and sweet uh Maplewood fire

[7:57] department is going to be driving Santa around and that is coming up on December

[8:01] 14th and 15th um north side of Manchester on the 14th

[8:08] uh Southside on the 15th they've got the map posted on their Facebook page from a

[8:12] couple days back um it's super fun so you know it's fun good

[8:19] times okay I mean last year I got to ride in the fir truck so that was like

[8:24] the highlight of my December I'm not even joking about that but hopefully you

[8:28] don't have to ride in the ambulance anytime soon for

[8:33] sure are there any other any other announcements no okay uh item number 10

[8:40] then is a uh a a report on the Mr School District by Dr Bonita Jamison the

[8:48] superintendent uh and we have visual aids to uh to help

[8:55] too

[9:07] Dr Jameson you're still muted good evening mayor Greenberg

[9:12] Council and community members I come before you today to give a brief update

[9:17] on the happenings in Maple Richmond High School District and if you can recall

[9:22] last August I gave a presentation to the city council in regards to our newly

[9:28] adopted Ed strategic planning the progress that we've actually made so

[9:32] during that report I discussed primarily all of the five priority areas in

[9:38] addition to our mission vision and core values tonight I will be giving an

[9:41] update on two of our priority areas which are for our students which is the

[9:46] academic component of our plan and for our resources which is both the

[9:51] financial and Facilities aspect of our

[9:56] plan so I want to start off with uh dist and Rome by levels uh contrary to most

[10:01] school districts in the state Mr has continued to remain constant with our

[10:05] enrollment and actually having increases at both the elementary school and also

[10:10] slight increases at some of the grade levels at the high school but you can

[10:13] see the numbers pk12 for the district we have approximately 1 1550 students in

[10:20] the district currently um the district priority and

[10:25] goals which is for our students the academic component I do want to

[10:28] highlight two designations that were actually received um by Niche um in 2025

[10:35] the district actually received an a rating and actually ranked nine out of

[10:39] 459 districts within the state of Missouri and for us news rankings for

[10:44] best high schools the high school actually ranked 24th in the state of

[10:48] Missouri for the best high school in Missouri this is the highlight of the

[10:54] work that the staff uh under the guidance of the Board of Education have

[10:59] contributed for this year so uh we've had a couple of Articles run in the St

[11:03] Louis Post Dispatch highlighting some of the growth that the district has had um

[11:08] this year so we ranked fourth out of 552 districts within the state and we are in

[11:15] the top 1% of the districts in the state and we were ranked second out of the 23

[11:21] school districts in St Louis County so the comparison for those districts would

[11:24] actually be a Webster Groves a Kirkwood and there was only one District that

[11:29] performed or earned higher percentages than Maplewood Richmond Heights which

[11:33] was our neighbors z brenwood uh we um were highlighted in a several of our

[11:38] articles for a 12% increase in total APR points earned an 11% increase in English

[11:44] and 6% increase in math overall so for the district for our total annual

[11:49] performance report score we earn 97% of the scores and you can see for the

[11:55] performance uh score which is the academic component of the annual

[11:59] performance report the district earned 135 points out of the 140 total points

[12:06] and for continuous Improvement which is in regards to our strategic plan which

[12:10] um the two priority areas that I'm reporting on today fit within continuous

[12:15] Improvement we earned 59 out of the 60 points possible for the school

[12:21] district um the next priority area that I would like to highlight is for our

[12:26] resources and this also includes fac facilities and so here we talk about

[12:31] looking at the systems within our facilities and using the information

[12:36] that we acquire for decisionmaking and then also looking at uh transparency for

[12:42] the community in regards to our fiscal management so a couple of things the

[12:48] district actually recently received an unmodified opinion on its financial

[12:53] statements for the fiscal year 2024 by our Auditors KB and also unmodified

[13:00] opinion on um the state and federal reporting package and basically what

[13:04] that means is that's the highest level of uh recognition for Assurance issued

[13:10] by Auditors in addition to compliance with all uh regulations another area

[13:16] that I would like to highlight um in regards to the district's finances is

[13:21] our ability to actually not only seek out grants to off offset some of our

[13:25] costs but to actually be awarded those grants so part of the work and I didn't

[13:30] talk about the academic component and some of the work that we're doing around

[13:34] Competency Based education but Maple World Richmond Heights was one of a few

[13:39] districts that received a $400,000 Grant from the Missouri Department of

[13:43] Elementary and secondary education um We are continuing to improve the safety of

[13:48] our facilities for our students and community and we received

[13:53] $25,000 Grant from the state department for that as well as well as several

[13:58] technology grants from ITF so we've been working uh diligently

[14:04] to not only be prudent in our expenditures but to identify additional

[14:09] streaming Revenue sources to offset cost and as previously mentioned two of the

[14:14] homes we are actually selling and giving back to the city with the hopes of

[14:18] having families to come in to uh contribute to increasing enrollment

[14:22] numbers for the uh District I also have included here a historical operating

[14:27] fund balance just give Community an idea of where we have been from 2016 through

[14:35] 2025 which would be our ending fund balance so starting from

[14:39] 2016 uh the district had approximately a 19% fund balance and as you can see it

[14:46] continued to grow over time and you see an increase going from 2019 all the way

[14:50] through 2022 and we think about the pandemic and Co and some of the funds

[14:56] received from the federal government to support support um our community during

[15:00] the pandemic and now what you're seeing now are intentional uh spin downs and

[15:05] part of that is the district's uh effort to actually improve the retention of

[15:11] staff and very sizable raises were given in the past two years which were

[15:16] approved by the board but there is still work yet to be done because the district

[15:20] currently um ranks within the bottom two from the St Louis County region for the

[15:25] round 23 districts that are in the St Louis County for certified staff teacher

[15:32] salaries um so that's just an update around where we are for our

[15:36] resources um there are always opportunities for Community to get

[15:41] engaged including uh mayor and the council um on December 17th if you have

[15:46] not signed up the high school are having capstones and you have an opportunity to

[15:52] see and hear from our students as well as giving feedback on their

[15:55] presentations and they have put a lot of work and time and then on December 19th

[16:00] it's the Board of Education meeting there we will be talking about um the

[16:05] potential for a bond and also a potential Debt Service transfer which

[16:11] would be uh a tax rate a no tax rate increase for the community if the board

[16:16] decides to move forward and that will hopefully give us an opportunity to

[16:21] continue to compensate competitively our teachers so that we can keep our valued

[16:27] uh resources and if you are bored and have absolutely nothing to do and are

[16:31] looking forward to being around some great individuals who are being of

[16:35] service to the school district we do have an opportunity for um our community

[16:40] to join um several strategic plan committees which are led by board

[16:44] members and members of the maple Richmond Height cabinet level

[16:49] team that concludes my presentation for this evening I welcome any questions you

[16:54] may have

[16:59] uh no questions for me just a comment uh you touched on it but I want to say

[17:03] congratulations and kudos for all of the accolades every time I turn around I

[17:07] read or or hear something about the school district um a couple of which you

[17:12] named and also you know I saw a report recently that Mr is one of the only

[17:16] districts that's been able to make gains and continue to progress forward after

[17:20] covid um so thanks for all the work you're doing

[17:24] I think it's it's at least being recognized and um I appreciate it I

[17:29] attended the work session recently that you guys had to talk about the fund

[17:32] balance and to talk about some of those bonds and tax rate increases I know

[17:36] there are challenges but I appreciate the work that the administration and

[17:39] board are doing right now so keep up to good work thank you and I'd be remissed

[17:43] to not mention the efforts that our teachers put in to ensure that the level

[17:48] of growth that we're seeing in our students they put in a lot of time and

[17:51] are committed to the vision and mission of the district so thank you for that

[18:03] any other questions thank you very much for having

[18:08] me thank you thank

[18:13] you uh we'll move on to item number 11 which is a resolution of the city

[18:20] council of the city of Maplewood Missouri appointing Mary Killian to the

[18:24] Human Services Commission in establishing her term of office as

[18:28] expiring on June 30th

[18:32] 2026 and I have a motion motion to approve

[18:37] seconded a motion and second any discussion uh I think she'll be a good

[18:43] addition to the commission uh roll call vote

[18:48] please council member Garcia

[18:53] yes mayor Greenberg yes council member hom

[18:59] yes council member Paige yes resolution 2463 is

[19:06] approved thank you item number 12 is a resolution of the city council of the

[19:11] city of Maplewood Missouri appointing Janine I hope I got that first name

[19:16] correct uh Janine Dallas to the Human Services Commission and establishing her

[19:21] term of office as expiring on June 30th 2027

[19:30] seconded second is there any discussion roll call vote please mayor

[19:37] Greenberg yes council member hom yes council member Paige yes council

[19:45] member Garcia yes hey resolution 2464 is approved

[19:52] thank you item number 30 13 is a resolution of the city council of the

[19:57] city of Maplewood Missouri appointing Adam valenc to the Human Services

[20:02] Commission and establishing his term of office as expiring on June 30th

[20:10] 2028 motion to approve seconded uh we have a motion a second is

[20:16] there any discussion roll call vote please council

[20:21] member Garcia yes mayor Greenberg yes council

[20:26] member hom yes council member Paige

[20:34] yes all right resolution 2465 is approved okay uh item number 14 is a

[20:42] resolution of the city council of the city of Maplewood Missouri appointing

[20:45] Paul McFarland to the sustainability commission establishing his term of

[20:50] office as expiring June 30th

[20:55] 2028 uh motion to approve seconded we have a motion a second is there any

[21:02] discussion roll call please actually I do have one question you I I I'm looking

[21:07] at the packet it shows expiring June 30th

[21:11] 2025 the update to the packet there was a little mismatch in the agenda that uh

[21:17] was posted separately from the packet the experation dates are correct in the

[21:22] packet that's posted online currently okay okay any other disc

[21:29] session then roll call please council member Paige yes council member Garcia

[21:38] yes mayor Greenberg yes council member hom yes hey resolution 2466 is

[21:48] approved thank you item number 15 is Bill number

[21:52] 6265 an ordinance of the city council of Maplewood uh the city of Maplewood

[21:58] Missouri to reone 2555 Oakland Avenue from PA public activity District to Sr

[22:05] single family residenti residential

[22:10] district I'll entertain approve seconded uh is there any

[22:17] discussion um Dr Jameson isn't available but uh the the property is at the corner

[22:26] of of Oakland uh facing the the high school uh for those that don't know

[22:33] where it is it was previously a single family residential zone property and it

[22:40] would be returned to single family uh is there any any other

[22:47] comments uh the city manager would like to

[22:51] make glad the house will be returning to the market and uh adding another

[22:57] residence to our community yeah that's great news I'm really biased because

[23:01] it's not far from where I live but it's a really nice

[23:06] neighborhood uh any other discussion all those in favor I I I any

[23:14] opposed uh SEC second reading bill number 6265 an ordinance of the city

[23:20] council of the city of Maplewood Missouri to reone 2555 Oakland Avenue

[23:24] from PA public activity District to Sr single family residential

[23:30] district motion to approve seconded any further

[23:36] discussion all those in favor I I any opposed the motion will move to its

[23:44] third and final reading to be held at our next

[23:48] meeting uh item number 16 is Bill number 6256 in ordinance of this city council

[23:56] of the city of Maplewood Missouri authorizing the city manager to execute

[24:00] an interoperable radio system user

[24:03] agreement with St Louis County in my understanding this is uh with regards to

[24:08] the emergency Community Communications radio

[24:12] system and uh so uh what what is the nature of the the

[24:20] agreement U the agreement uh allows us to basically uh share operations of our

[24:27] emergency Radio Systems with St Louis County um and this is an agreement that

[24:31] is in existence now and will continue now for another uh 10 years to allow

[24:38] more coordinated emergency response across the county is there any cost on

[24:42] our part there is now okay are there uh okay so uh I'll entertain a motion

[24:57] motion to approve seconded uh we have a motion to second

[25:01] is there any

[25:04] discussion I think you've answered the questions that I had uh all those in

[25:09] favor I I I any opposed uh second reading bill number 6256 an ordinance of

[25:17] the city council of the city of Maplewood Missouri authorizing the city

[25:21] manager to execute an interoperable radio system user agreement with St

[25:26] Louis County motion to approve

[25:31] seconded we have motion a second any further

[25:34] discussion all those in favor I I I any opposed uh the third and final reading

[25:42] will be held at our next meeting we'll move on to item number 17

[25:48] which is Bill number 6267 an emergency ordinance of the city

[25:52] council of the city of Maplewood Missouri amending the capital

[25:56] Improvement fund Sewer Lateral fund Firehouse bond fund Hanley Road special

[26:00] allocation fund and the Cambridge common special allocation fund budgets for the

[26:06] fisal year beginning July 1st 2023 through June 30th

[26:13] 2024 uh would the city manager like to briefly uh explain the need for the an

[26:22] emergency ordinance yeah absolutely so our audit is just about to be closed

[26:27] obviously we want make sure that our books are correct for the previous

[26:30] fiscal year we only have one meeting this month in order to pass this

[26:35] ordinance before the end of the calendar year which is the time that we need to

[26:39] submit our audit findings um and our financial reporting to the state of

[26:43] Missouri to remain in compliance okay so that means we'll be

[26:47] reading it three times including the the third and final reading uh right now so

[26:54] uh for the first reading I'll entertain a motion

[26:59] motion to approve seconded and we have a motion to second

[27:03] is there any further discussion amongst Council

[27:07] here um all those in favor I I any opposed uh second reading bill number

[27:17] 6267 an emergency ordinance of the city council of the city of Maplewood

[27:21] Missouri amending the capital Improvement fund Sewer Lateral fund

[27:26] Firehouse bond fund Hanley Road special allocation fund and Cambridge common

[27:31] special allocation fund budgets for the fiscal year beginning July 1st 2023

[27:37] through June 30th 2024 motion to

[27:42] approve seconded we have a motion a second any discussion all those in favor

[27:49] I I I any opposed uh final reading uh bill number

[27:56] 6267 an emergency ordinance of the city council of the city of Maplewood

[28:00] Missouri amending the capital Improvement fund Sewer Lateral fund

[28:04] Firehouse bond fund Hanley Road special allocation fund and Cambridge common

[28:09] special allocation fund budgets for the fiscal year begin beginning July 1st

[28:14] 2023 through June 30th

[28:19] 2024 motion to approve seconded we have a motion a second uh any

[28:26] discussion uh roll call vote please council member Garcia yes mayor

[28:33] Greenberg yes council member hom yes council member Paige yes he bill

[28:43] number 6267 ordinance 6059 is approved thank

[28:50] you uh item number 18 is Bill number 6263 an ordinance of the city council of

[28:57] the city of Maplewood Missouri to reone the northern

[29:02] 3,360 ft portion of 7443 Hazel Avenue from single family residential district

[29:09] to CB community business

[29:15] district we need motion to approve seconded okay we have a motion second is

[29:22] zing discussion I wasn't part of the first discussion at the last meeting uh

[29:28] and we've heard from the immediate nextdoor neighbor with his

[29:34] concerns uh but not necessarily a uh uh he he

[29:43] wants issues to be addressed but uh didn't necessarily Express

[29:50] opposition um yeah well I I had one item we we

[29:54] talked about this at length um when this was last on the agenda last meeting

[29:58] meeting um I think you know we had Mr King from

[30:02] side project in the council chambers he answered some questions for us one of

[30:06] the questions I asked was if that space would be planned to be utilized to move

[30:10] the food truck back um based on my notes his answer was no they want the food

[30:15] they want the food truck to be as close to the facility as possible um so I

[30:19] expect that it's just temporarily being parked there but I I think it would be

[30:24] good if we could reiterate that that you know the proposed use for customer

[30:28] parking and based on the images that he provided in the email Mr KN house

[30:33] provided in the email that he sent earlier this evening um all those trucks

[30:38] both the food truck and the box truck that's parked

[30:42] there proceed way past any privacy fence that could be put up so I do understand

[30:47] the need for the buffering to be you know as mature Conor trees as can be

[30:52] planted um and I think if the city can help to compel as part of this Pro Pro

[30:58] those things to be done it would be in the best interest of both the neighbors

[31:01] and uh the business so that's my only comment on the matter yeah I I agree um

[31:06] there's a huge difference on impact if you live right behind it if someone's

[31:11] parking a sedan behind a fence versus um you know a large box truck and you know

[31:17] mayor Greenberg one of the points made when it was asked last the last session

[31:22] about if like the food truck would be put back there is the food truck

[31:26] functions as the kitchen for um side project so they made the very strong

[31:32] point that it makes no sense to make your staff go farther between your

[31:36] kitchen production site essentially and your customers especially when you have

[31:40] weather that's cold or hot you know so um to council member H's Point that's

[31:45] kind of why I'm hoping that this is just a temporary placement well maybe another

[31:50] part of the lot was being utilized for something I don't I don't know it was

[31:53] it's a bit surprising with the photos is there a lever we can pull to react to

[31:58] that if if that's becomes an issue I I was sort of trying to figure I

[32:03] understand what he's asking and I just don't want to make sure we're not

[32:05] setting up a situation here where six months from now it's like well we voted

[32:09] yes so yeah certainly the the permit

[32:13] approval process will allow us to to guide essentially what we allow to have

[32:18] in that space and then obviously the enforcement uh processes have in place

[32:23] can can help monitor that um certainly we would uh lean on Mr ni to alert us to

[32:28] any circumstances that were occurring outside of what was approved for the use

[32:34] and the staff monitor so they would have to obtain a

[32:40] permit for the fence uh one for any construction on their property and of

[32:46] course uh a permit for the the property on Hazel so hopefully that will give us

[32:52] an opportunity to uh to stipulate that uh

[32:58] that the the trucks should not necessarily should not be located uh

[33:06] where they currently are fair enough I feel like Mr KN house has been very

[33:10] reasonable so I just we meeting that agreed

[33:14] agreed is there any other discussion here you need a roll call vote then

[33:21] please council member Garcia yes mayor Greenberg yes

[33:28] council member hom yes council member Paige

[33:37] yes okay he bill number

[33:42] 6263 ordinance 6057 is

[33:47] approved uh item number 19 is Bill number

[33:50] 6264 in ordinance of the city council of the city of Maplewood Missouri providing

[33:55] for a boundary adjustment between the city of Webster grow in

[34:00] Maplewood motion to approve seconded okay motion a second uh since

[34:07] we're transferring property to Webster grow we're going to see a major

[34:12] Financial windfall from this correct we don't have to care for it yeah

[34:19] exactly okay so uh is there any discussion

[34:26] here and uh I believe Amber you're still muted so

[34:31] if you wanted to add anything you'd have to unmute nothing above and beyond

[34:36] what's in the packet obviously this is part of our partnership around improving

[34:40] the space and allowing for that Park and it Mak great sense to us to have Webster

[34:45] Groves maintain the entirety of that Park um so that we can focus our

[34:50] attention on our other facilities thank you uh I'll entertain a

[34:56] roll call vote here then council member Garcia yes mayor

[35:01] Greenberg yes council member hom yes council member paage yes hey Bill number

[35:10] 6264 ordinance 6058 is approved okay item number 20 is old

[35:18] business is there any old

[35:21] business hearing none I'll move on to item number 21 which is Council

[35:27] communication are there any Council

[35:32] Communications U item number 22 is the mayor's report and included in your

[35:38] package was uh a recap of uh the events that I attended at the National League

[35:44] of cities City Summit in Tampa this year uh I was somewhat over underwhelmed I

[35:53] should say with regards to the quality of the programming uh in comparison to

[35:58] those programs that I attended previously before covid uh it it was

[36:04] still beneficial but I really need to analyze whether it's worth uh uh

[36:11] taxpayers money if I can't come back with a whole lot of uh ideas and

[36:17] inspiration as I have in the past uh so uh if you have any questions with

[36:24] regards to any of those uh you I would say that the trip to the homeless

[36:30] encampment uh the uh Tampa Hope was probably the the most

[36:36] interesting uh not that it you know that we're going to set up a bunch of

[36:42] pre-fabricated uh buildings in in Maplewood but uh you know it it's not

[36:48] just housing they have other programs that I thought were helpful and there

[36:53] were other uh seminars and workshops and classrooms and presentations

[36:58] dealing with uh uh housing and dealing with other issues but

[37:05] uh uh and things like budgeting and there's

[37:10] a lot of vendors at the at in the ex exhibit hall that uh

[37:16] that were helpful in working with other communities and solving the same

[37:19] problems that we're experiencing but I'll be glad to take any of those

[37:24] questions offline and uh yeah from any of the council members item number 23 is

[37:31] a city attorney's report okay here we go I have nothing to

[37:38] report this evening mayor okay uh and item number 24 is the city manager

[37:43] report I'm pleased to share that our budget document for the current fiscal

[37:49] year has received the government finance officer

[37:52] Association the work um that was the bud that for this year um on prepared into

[37:58] the document that is now posted on the city's website um so we showed strength

[38:03] and Improvement in several key areas including um planning um and having five

[38:09] years worth of budgeting uh in our document versus the one so we're seeing

[38:14] some improvement although they also identified areas where we can continue

[38:18] to improve which we will be focused on in our departmental goal setting um

[38:22] which will be shared with Council in February tickets for the Sweet Tooth

[38:26] tour went on sale yesterday um that event will be January

[38:31] 2th please plan to join us it will be cold but

[38:35] delicious we are very excited to have been able to Pilot a popup retail

[38:40] initiative if you've been uh down Sutton um next to wellbody you'll have seen

[38:45] that reset vintage apparel which currently has on bellw has a holiday

[38:49] popup in that space on Sutton they're already doing brisk business this is a a

[38:55] a concept that we're piloting to see if we might uh be able to provide this

[38:59] opportunity to businesses to be able to take up some of those vacant retail

[39:05] spaces this has been so successful within a short period of time um that we

[39:11] expect there may be a long-term Prospect for the business owner in that space can

[39:16] can I ask one question did that work because they're already a Maplewood

[39:19] business and therefore they're kind of like they've got their license and all

[39:23] that if an outside non- Maplewood business wanted to do that could we

[39:26] accommodate that you piloted it with only mle wood

[39:30] businesses for that reason in order to be able to turn that around fairly

[39:34] quickly and provide for it in our existing ordinances that being said um I

[39:39] think we just need to do a little bit of tinkering with our licensing and

[39:42] ordinances to be able to offer this more

[39:48] widely we're looking at that and and planning and zoning is supportive and

[39:52] aware of some additional adjustment great

[39:57] um and finally we do have uh the schedule for the special business

[40:01] district lunch and learn series now those are

[40:06] open to any interested uh party who would like to come and learn for free um

[40:13] from speakers so we'll be promoting those on the city's

[40:17] website ahead okay item number 25 then is the

[40:23] second of uh three public forums is there any are there any hands raised

[40:28] yes I am going to allow Mr KN house back into the meeting and Mr KN house if you

[40:35] could unmute can you hear me now yes okay yeah I just want to clarify that

[40:40] the food truck it hasn't been parked like that for several months and I made

[40:43] that I pointed that out in my email to you guys today I I put it there I showed

[40:47] that picture just to to get a view of what it would be like if if they did

[40:50] Park a a parallel um right along the fence line um so I didn't want to

[40:55] mislead anybody that that that hasn't been like that for a few months since

[40:58] they took that fence down and put it back up the you the the yellow box truck

[41:03] that was there so I just want to clarify that didn't want to mislead anybody I

[41:05] heard you talk about that earlier and I appreciate you guys discussing it thank

[41:08] you guys thank you all right is there anyone else that would like to speak at

[41:14] the uh public forum there is not okay uh item number

[41:21] 26 is a business licensed revocation hearing for map VAP L LC at 20 7213

[41:29] Manchester Road uh will be will we be dealing with this after the nor the

[41:36] regular meeting or we're cond meeting during the regular

[41:41] meeting okay

[41:45] uh and then uh then I should move on to item number

[41:51] 27 no let's go ahead and launch in okay I'm the business owner is here here with

[41:57] us so I'm okay bring him into the meeting Mr

[42:03] sirron and ask him to unmute and identify himself hello I'm Joe siren

[42:08] owner of M great thank you so much thank you guys

[42:13] so much okay so uh for the per for purposes

[42:18] of the record I'm Barry Greenberg mayor the city of

[42:22] Maplewood and there are uh we have three m members uh four three members in

[42:29] attendance uh tonight uh Christa Garcia Eric paage and

[42:34] Nick homa in addition Jackie Graves uh Maplewood City attorney is

[42:41] here and will advise the city council on legal matters the Maplewood city council

[42:46] is conducting a hearing to consider the revocation of the business license

[42:49] issued to map Vape LLC located at 7213 Manchester Road the hearing will be

[42:56] conducted in accordance with section 14-55 of the Maplewood code of

[43:01] ordinances and chapter 536 of the revised statutes of Missouri referred to

[43:07] as the administrative procedures act M tea Hyde uh maplewood's resource

[43:15] development and public engage engagement manager is here and will be presenting

[43:20] testimony and evidence to the city council Mr Joe siren the M the owner of

[43:25] map vape and holder of the business license is attending is attending

[43:30] tonight and uh uh Mrs M Graves uh would you like to offer any exhibits into the

[43:38] record at this time uh yes I would mayor and just for clarification Amber um was

[43:44] Mr siren provided with the documentation as well or should we share a screen he

[43:49] was provided with the documentation okay thank you yes I saw it I'm sorry Mr

[43:55] siren yes I did I did review it okay thank you I I just to make sure you had

[44:00] it okay um thank you mayor Greenberg I'd like to let the record reflect that

[44:04] several notices were mailed to Mr siren including a first notice which was dated

[44:09] June 17 2024 along with a revocation notice from the Missouri Department of

[44:14] Revenue dated June 12th 2024 a second notice notifying Mr siren of a hearing

[44:19] dated October 1st 2024 along with a second revocation notice from the

[44:24] Missouri Department of Revenue dated August 27th 2024 and a third notice uh

[44:30] which was dated November 20 November excuse me 14th 2024 notifying Mr siren

[44:36] of this hearing which was mailed to Mr siren via certified mail the notices are

[44:41] offered and accepted into evidence as exhibit one and for the council they can

[44:46] be found um in your packet at Pages 49 through

[44:51] 57 I'd like to note that pursuant to section

[44:55] 14-55 of the Maplewood code of ordinances it states that prior to

[44:59] conducting this hearing the city clerk shall mail written notice to the leny

[45:03] that's Mr siren at their last known address as shown in the records of the

[45:07] city clerk advising the leny of the date time and place of this hearing and the

[45:11] reasons for considering the revocation of the license as uh we have done that

[45:16] as set forth in exhibit one the requirements of

[45:20] 14-55 for notice have been satisfied in addition chapter 14 of the

[45:27] staplewood code of ordinances including specifically chapter 14 Article 2

[45:31] Division 1 section 14-23 c regarding the prerequisites for

[45:37] business licenses and 14- 54 A3 regarding the grounds for revocation are

[45:43] offered and accepted into evidence as Exhibit 2 they are included at the

[45:47] packet at page 67 to 68 I also want to read into the record uh those two

[45:53] sections section 14-23 c states sales tax license pursuant to Missouri revised

[45:59] Statute section

[46:11] 144.350 4 A3 States in addition to any other revocation procedure contained in

[46:17] this code any license issued under this chapter may be revoked for any of the

[46:21] following reasons subsection 3 states failure of the license e to pay any

[46:26] license fee or any applicable state tax arising from the business activity or

[46:30] premises licensed finally I'm offering and introducing into the record exhibit

[46:36] 3 this is Missouri's uh certification of the revocation order which is dated

[46:40] November 22nd 2024 confirming uh that the lensee lacks

[46:46] a valid state tax license and this is in the packet at Pages 69 through

[46:54] 71 and actually the certification on that is dated November 22nd 2024 the

[47:01] revocation order for exhibit 3 is dated August 27th 2024 just for clarification

[47:09] and again that's exhibit 3 these are all the exhibits I'm offering at this time

[47:13] mayor okay does anyone have any objection to exhibits number one through

[47:19] number

[47:22] three then uh as a matter of information Miss Hyde

[47:27] will first present evidence to the city council pertaining to the grounds for

[47:31] revocation as set forth in the notice Mr siren will have an opportunity to make

[47:37] any objections to the evidence and to cross-examine any

[47:42] witness uh both parties have the right to call and examine witnesses to

[47:47] introduce exhibits and to cross-examine any Witnesses called to testify in this

[47:52] matter once Miss Hyde has finished speaking Mr siren will will be entitled

[47:58] to call witnesses present any evidence in opposition to the requested

[48:02] revocation of the business license the members of the city council are

[48:06] generally familiar with the facts given rise to the request for revocation based

[48:11] upon the notice of revocation and other documents presented to the city council

[48:17] members and all parties Miss Hyde are you prepared to

[48:24] proceed yes

[48:35] and uh Mr siren are you prepared to proceed I don't know if I am at this

[48:41] time I did not realize what was uh this whole procedure was about I just would

[48:45] like to State um I know that I was behind on the sales taxes and I made

[48:50] arrangements with the the Missouri Department of Revenue and um had paid

[48:55] them a big chunk of money up front it was making monthly payments so I don't

[48:58] know what had happened between there and now I had sent in the information when I

[49:03] was uh served by one of your members I gave them copies of oh no I actually

[49:07] mail emailed them in and that that was the last I've heard about this until I

[49:13] actually got another email from I guess whoever sent me the email that I'm on

[49:17] right now from so the the the question that I have for uh Miss Graves is uh if

[49:25] he proceeds at this time uh we need to move forward with this

[49:31] uh uh if if there's additional information that needs to be

[49:38] addressed uh we can deal with it later in this proceeding or at a subsequent

[49:45] proceeding is that correct uh well mayor the hearing is scheduled for the evening

[49:51] and was noticed for the evening as set forth in the notices which was clear as

[49:55] to the purpose tonight um if there's some reason that the

[49:59] council needs to adjourn this hearing prior to conclusion uh you could do so

[50:05] um for example for the re one of the reasons you stated uh but uh the

[50:11] intention would be that it completed be completed this evening well I would like

[50:15] more time if you don't mind to contact Missouri Department Revenue again and

[50:19] see what exactly is going on because I have I've made a payment arranges with

[50:22] them to have the money come out directly out of my business account and I do know

[50:26] what is going on um and I gave like I said when this happened I had to fire my

[50:31] my my tax guy back from 2022 and uh then I found this out was

[50:37] all behind on these taxes so I made the arrangements took money and paid them

[50:40] off to get the caught up on this budget billion I guess you call it for 18

[50:45] months and now I'm in this with you guys so if anything I would like another

[50:49] opportunity to call the Missouri Department revenue and see if I can

[50:52] straighten this out with him myself before we go any further if that would

[50:55] be okay uh there are other facts that are

[51:01] pertinent to to this hearing and uh that's only

[51:07] one of the uh the issues you know to be addressed here

[51:13] so if we should move forward with this and discuss the other uh the other

[51:21] issues here and uh I'm looking for legal uh

[51:27] Direction here since mayor the the hearing should

[51:33] proceed unless there is a motion to adjourn the hearing that gets the

[51:37] majority vote of the council otherwise you should continue to

[51:42] proceed okay uh in that case uh I'll petition the council here to to

[51:51] determine uh whether we want to proceed I think that uh that we should move

[51:58] forward with this uh there's a lot of testimony and information that uh that

[52:07] we would need to hear and that doesn't mean that we'll have every in all of the

[52:13] facts available to us but uh uh I would at least like to

[52:20] get uh what we do know and there's substantial amount of information out of

[52:25] the way uh does do any of the council members uh

[52:32] not want to continue with the hearing I don't I agree with mayor

[52:37] greenberger that we should proceed here that's my stance it seems like there

[52:41] have been plentiful communication it it you know and and

[52:49] writing yeah and you it this could go on forever based

[52:55] upon you know getting each and every piece of information uh and I agree with

[53:02] council member Paige that the there have been opportunities as uh demonstrated by

[53:09] the notifications that have been uh uh provided to uh Mr siren so

[53:19] uh in uh Miss Garcia do you have um

[53:27] an opinion I think I don't know that it's

[53:31] worth continuing tonight given that Mr siren has explained that he has been

[53:37] working with the state so if there is a sinking issue between Communications at

[53:44] the state level that might be leading us to have a conversation in

[53:49] error that's the only concern I have so what's the most recent communication we

[53:54] have from the state

[53:58] if we're going to get into that uh we may want to go ahead and proceed into

[54:02] the hearing um that is but go ahead I believe that um the last notice that we

[54:09] received based on the documentation that was entered into evidence and the

[54:14] exhibits um was a notice dated August 27th 2024

[54:22] which was the second or third which was the second revocation

[54:27] notice that we received from the state the state provided us with a

[54:32] certified copy of that document on November um

[54:38] 22nd yep fine November 22nd so about three weeks

[54:44] ago so uh uh I certainly don't want to

[54:50] contradict council member Garcia but there's three of the four of us that

[54:54] would would like to move forward with this and uh

[55:00] uh I I can see the the potential for continuations you know uh

[55:08] infinitely in this matter uh if we don't uh address it

[55:13] now so um based on our uh uh our vote uh I'd like to swear in

[55:23] the the witnesses Miss Hyde Mr siren uh would you both raise your right

[55:30] hand do you swear that your testimony here today shall tell the shall be the

[55:35] truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do I

[55:40] do okay Miss Hyde please proceed Council as you know my name is

[55:46] Tanish sh Hyde and By Appointment of the city clerk of the city of Maplewood I

[55:51] manag business licensing for the city as the resource development and public

[55:55] engagement manager this matter involves mape Vape LLC located at 7213 Manchester

[56:02] Road pursuant to section 14-23 c of the Maplewood city code no

[56:09] Merchant shall maintain a city business license without a valid state sales tax

[56:14] license the Missouri Department of Revenue notified the city on June 12th

[56:20] 2024 of the revocation of make Vapes LLC state sales tax license the LI C

[56:27] subsequently obtained a certificate of no tax due on July 2nd

[56:33] 2024 and in response I issued him a city renewed business license for 2024

[56:40] 2025 correct the Missouri Department of Revenue again notified the city on

[56:46] August 27th 2024 of a second license revocation following the certified nosis

[56:52] to the ly Mr sirron provided me with an email that contained a state payment

[57:00] agreement on October 3rd 2024 upon verification with the

[57:06] Department of Revenue on October 7th 2024 the state confirmed the business

[57:12] lack of valid sales tax license as certified by the revocation order dated

[57:17] November 22nd 2024 whereas section 14- 54 A3

[57:25] authorizes revocation for failure to pay required sales tax cause exist to revoke

[57:31] the business license of map Vape

[57:41] LLC unmute here

[57:47] um Mr Mr siren do you have any questions from Miss Hyde you'll be able to present

[57:54] your own statement what she did say is correct the only

[57:57] thing that I never got anything other from the state was that I was getting my

[58:02] license revoked as far as I was set up with automatic uh direct dep um debit

[58:08] from my account per month for the next so many months until it was caught up

[58:13] they I made the deal with them giving a a a three-month upfront which I did and

[58:18] then the payments are supposed to come out of my account so from

[58:22] here I that's I got need I need to contact the Missouri Department of

[58:25] Revenue ask him why either they didn't take the money out or the money came out

[58:29] and they didn't credit my account properly so it's one of the two

[58:33] things I mean I've been in business here for 10 years in in the city of Maplewood

[58:37] and I've never had a problem you guys go back and look all my stuff ever being

[58:40] behind on my taxes until the last two years and that's the truth so I mean you

[58:45] can go look at your all my records

[58:49] yourself

[58:54] so uh all right can I ask a question I don't

[58:58] know what the rules are here yeah uh so I'm noticing on the

[59:04] payment plan like five payments should have been made already do we have

[59:07] anything from the state like so we are we Flying Blind on that issue do we know

[59:11] if those five pay right so if you sorry I don't mean to interrupt but August I

[59:15] know August September and October will definitely come out I see them on the

[59:19] plan I don't see any way to verify that that's

[59:23] happened council member paid just the way this would work is the city presents

[59:28] its evidence and then Mr siren can rebut that evidence so I see so we need to see

[59:32] effectly what I would suggest is that he should provide that evidence the city is

[59:36] not required to determine that he made payments or

[59:44] not yeah I guess what I'm saying is if that could be provided right now that

[59:48] might have an impact on my opinion so you need me to provide that

[59:54] the payments were coming out yeah right that would be evidence that I didn't I

[1:00:00] wasn't prepared for any of that I didn't like again this is the first thing I

[1:00:03] didn't know what I didn't know what this was about besides me coming to talk to

[1:00:05] you guys about the licensing that was all I I wasn't prepared for anything

[1:00:09] besides this just to talk to you guys about it I read through the stuff and uh

[1:00:14] the letters that uh that I guess Mrs uh Miss Hyde had sent me today uh or

[1:00:21] yesterday I guess it was and uh just came to the meeting this why I'm here I

[1:00:27] had no I reculation what else was going to happen besides me talking to you guys

[1:00:30] about the taxes talking about what's going on Missouri Department revenue and

[1:00:33] then me me resolving it with them and then that's what that's what I was

[1:00:37] assuming was going to happen so I'd like to give Miss Hyde an opportunity to ask

[1:00:44] questions at this point sure um I don't really have a question

[1:00:50] as I stated he did email me that payment plan and I followed up with the state

[1:00:56] to make sure because I I got a notice saying that he was not in compliance so

[1:01:02] then I followed up once he submitted that he actually had a payment plan and

[1:01:07] their response was he did not have a valid sales tax license and I would also

[1:01:13] like to say I sent this notice certified mail on November 14th and it is stamped

[1:01:19] that it was received on November 19th and it had all of the information for

[1:01:23] today's hearing so I I don't know what

[1:01:28] else I I could have done no I'm not blaming I'm not saying

[1:01:34] I'm not putting the blame on anybody if anything it's on me I get that but I

[1:01:38] just need more time to fix it with the Missouri Department of

[1:01:42] Revenue I mean if I call them up and they're like give me more money to get

[1:01:46] it back on on track I have no problem doing that I just don't want

[1:01:49] to I'm not trying to skip out on not paying my taxes put it that way I

[1:01:54] wouldn't have I wouldn't have done all this to keep my life if I didn't think I

[1:01:57] I got the non non- tax due when I got the re the the license renewed from

[1:02:07] them I me the thing I'm reading is to resolve the matter prior to the hearing

[1:02:12] number two says provide proof of payment to our office no later than December 4

[1:02:16] and I guess what I'm hearing from Miss hey is that we never received that

[1:02:21] information

[1:02:29] I I'm sorry I don't have that gu that piece with me I got the stuff that she

[1:02:32] sent me and the the payout agreement that I

[1:02:38] had with Missouri Department Revenue that's all I

[1:02:43] brought well I I think it's a valid point that uh Mr Paige made with regards

[1:02:50] to you know the notification was given with regards to the expectations

[1:02:56] that we have so that we can actually you know adjudicate this this matter uh and

[1:03:02] without that information it makes makes it very difficult for us to do our

[1:03:07] job uh and so I am you know at this point

[1:03:14] I'm not sure exactly uh you know what you could if

[1:03:20] you're not prepared to provide us with the information that we've asked for uh

[1:03:26] you know the question I have is you know should we you know pardon me wants to

[1:03:31] move forward and uh and then uh you know addressing the concerns of council

[1:03:38] member Garcia you know we want to we do want to have all the

[1:03:43] information uh sure before making you know any type of decision but you know

[1:03:49] the the process has been established notification has been given and

[1:03:54] subsequently uh we don't have the in you know any

[1:03:58] information to uh to support uh uh in particular in in this

[1:04:06] case you know the payments uh having been made to the sure well would you

[1:04:11] guys be willing to give me like another two to three weeks so we can meet again

[1:04:15] and I can bring you everything and have this all sorted out by

[1:04:18] then and then you guys could go through all this and I have everything to prove

[1:04:22] what I've done not done and then you can make your decision from there

[1:04:28] you know I I would need some reassurance that we're we're that we would be able

[1:04:33] to at that time address this the the concern that one of the concerns I have

[1:04:38] is that uh you know we're allowing the business to

[1:04:45] continue uh operation uh and we obviously have

[1:04:53] evidence to indicate that uh the business hasn't met the the requirements

[1:04:59] uh in order to to conduct business and so I'm in in that respect I'm reluctant

[1:05:08] to uh to postpone the the proceedings but I'd like to hear from the other

[1:05:14] council members Mr siren was it your

[1:05:19] understanding that the only thing needed to reinstate your license

[1:05:26] with the state was to get on the tax payment plan because it feels like it

[1:05:31] feels like there's two things going on and that Miss Hyde had said she had

[1:05:35] reached out and to the state and been told the license was still

[1:05:39] revoked but you're saying no no I have a payment plan and I mean like to me it

[1:05:45] just sounds like maybe there's one more step that was missed to say yes I have a

[1:05:50] payment plan with the state and also maybe there's I mean

[1:05:54] it maybe there's another form or something random that's being Miss I

[1:05:58] don't know that because I never had to go throughs before because when I would

[1:06:01] always go down there I give you guys my my yearly Ledger and then I give you the

[1:06:05] no tax due to get my license renewed so when I found that these taxes were bowed

[1:06:10] they they like you're going to you're going to have to pay this big chunk of

[1:06:12] money and get on this payment plan and then they'll give me a no tax due to get

[1:06:16] my license renewed that's what I did so it's all I've done and then I was doing

[1:06:20] the payment plan and now it seems like something happened that I didn't make

[1:06:23] the payments or something and and if I did they didn't count them towards me

[1:06:27] and now I'm getting in this whole situation so I just feel like I need

[1:06:30] more time to do my own research I didn't do any research I I was literally

[1:06:35] looking at this thinking you guys wanted to discuss this whole situation with me

[1:06:39] and then telling me hey this is what needs to happen Mr siren you either fix

[1:06:42] this or we're going to whatever I did not know this was the last draw what I

[1:06:47] was coming to this meeting I just I'm sorry I didn't take it as

[1:06:51] serious as I thought I should have I'm I was dealing with Missouri Department

[1:06:54] Revenue so I'll just be

[1:06:59] honest we appreciate your cander on it uh go ahead yeah I have a question maybe

[1:07:05] for attorney Graves I share the mayor's concerns um feels to me like there are

[1:07:11] two issues here and the one we're dealing with is just the Maplewood

[1:07:13] business license the evidence that we have is from the Department of Revenue

[1:07:17] um and I my understanding is that we can't continue the Maplewood business

[1:07:21] license if the state sales tax is not up to date so we've given notice um and to

[1:07:30] ask for evidence of the payment by December 4th which we don't have if we

[1:07:34] were to adjourn and extend an additional timeline so that Mr siren could provide

[1:07:40] that evidence to us are we in any legal Jeopardy does that put the city you know

[1:07:45] because we're allowing that business to continue to operate is that a problem

[1:07:49] for us so

[1:07:52] I so council member H I do not believe that is a problem for the city um I

[1:07:58] would note the revocation order states that um Mr siren cannot operate uh map

[1:08:05] Vape um under Missouri law um and that continuing to operate um without a valid

[1:08:11] Missouri retail sales tax is a misdemeanor uh so there are very real

[1:08:16] consequences for Mr siren I I do not believe there there are consequences for

[1:08:20] the

[1:08:23] city yeah I I don't want to be in the business of gotcha time with a 10y year

[1:08:28] long business so I I'm I'm softening my perspective here I do think reading

[1:08:32] these letters a little bit more carefully be advisable going forward

[1:08:36] correct you're right I I again I I take ownership from that I'll be I'll be

[1:08:41] honest yeah know fair enough I mean that's that's fine um so I don't know I

[1:08:46] I feel like our hand I'm sort of like nak council person home is I I feel like

[1:08:50] our hands are a little tied here um but I also don't want to do something we

[1:08:54] can't you know Rectify if we've got it

[1:09:00] wrong well the the different scenarios here one if we if we revoke the business

[1:09:06] license then uh what would be the process to reinstate the business

[1:09:14] license and Tiffany do you have a is that your area of

[1:09:20] expertise I it probably should be I can state that I can answer that mayor um he

[1:09:26] can reapply for a license and a license can that has been revoked may not be

[1:09:31] reissued until the basis for the revocation has been cured so he would

[1:09:36] have to prove to the city that uh this is no longer an

[1:09:41] issue is there a step between approval and revoc like is there a suspend or is

[1:09:47] it this or that not under our code okay thank

[1:09:53] you well I also hold it to o license too that's that's a part of my business and

[1:09:58] a retail license and a merchant license so I do have all three of

[1:10:03] those sorry we're closed yeah

[1:10:10] sorry may I just note for the record just before we before we move on that um

[1:10:17] I'm gonna suggest that the email that Tiffany had with the Department of uh

[1:10:22] Revenue which is at Pages 58 and 5 n of the packet be marked as exhibit four for

[1:10:28] this

[1:10:37] hearing uh based on the information that attorney Graves gave us you know about

[1:10:42] reinstatement of a business license it it feels to me like no matter which

[1:10:46] direction we go they're we're going to have to have a

[1:10:49] resolution with the Department of Revenue and Mr siren before we like if

[1:10:54] we adjourn tonight that's going to have to happen or else we're going to be

[1:10:56] doing this again uh we're going to have to have evidence of payment and make

[1:11:00] sure that the resolution with the Department of Revenue is all ironed out

[1:11:04] and if we revoke then once that's ironed out we can always issue another business

[1:11:08] license so um to me it feels like we land in similar places no matter what

[1:11:13] the path forward tonight is I I actually had one thought about that though and I

[1:11:18] I should probably know this and I don't would I don't know I'm assuming if he

[1:11:22] had to reapply for another business license after we revoked one whatever

[1:11:25] fees are associated that would be back in

[1:11:28] force is that a I I should know this but is that a significant

[1:11:34] amount does anybody know what that fee is I do not know for this

[1:11:40] business yeah I know I know it cost me you up money to get a license every time

[1:11:45] I I renew it every single year and then The Upfront does cost more but I just

[1:11:50] don't want to I mean if I can save this from you guys closing me down and give

[1:11:53] me another three weeks to fix this I mean if I have to I'll take I'll pull

[1:11:57] money out of my 401k to freaking pay this I don't care I just didn't want to

[1:12:01] have to do that I'll take penal I'll take penalties and hits on that to be

[1:12:05] honest with youut down either way because sounds like you're committing a

[1:12:09] crime if if you continue to operate business whether we say so or not so i'

[1:12:13] I'd be careful there fee that he paid for um 2425 was

[1:12:21] $19.72 okay so not not substantial so so one one scenario then

[1:12:26] would be to revoke the license and then as soon as Mr siren could provide

[1:12:33] evidence of uh of his standing with the state then I'm assuming at that point uh

[1:12:40] he would be allowed to uh apply and we would approve a

[1:12:45] business license does that sound correct yeah but was going to happen

[1:12:50] I'll lose all my business and I'll be out of business I can't do that well

[1:12:55] well what I'm saying is that 10 year following here you

[1:13:00] know well you know it seems like this hinges upon the uh the state

[1:13:08] acknowledging that you're in in decent standing with them so you know in your

[1:13:15] opinion how long would it take for you to ascertain

[1:13:19] that I think by the first of the year for sure I mean I'll call them tomorrow

[1:13:23] and figure out if I can get this done tomorrow but I I've tried to call them

[1:13:27] before on Monday and they were so busy they put me on a on a call back they

[1:13:32] never call me back

[1:13:36] so I mean I I'm happy to sit on it for till our next meeting but I I don't

[1:13:41] think that solves Mr siren's problem it still doesn't sound like he should be

[1:13:44] operating his business whether or not we put this off or act today either way as

[1:13:50] far as the state's concerned I'm not sure uh I don't think that solved your

[1:13:53] problem but you know I like I said I don't I don't want to be in the gotta

[1:13:57] business if this is an honest mistake or there's some documentation that this

[1:14:01] that's just there that we don't have in front of us I mean I the letter was

[1:14:05] clear you should have had it tonight but again I you know I'm I'm willing to sit

[1:14:09] on it for a couple weeks if we need to yeah I agree with council member

[1:14:14] Paige um I resp I also think though that it's

[1:14:19] not really our purview to manage what's going on with map vape and the state of

[1:14:24] Missouri Department Revenue we're just talking about our business license

[1:14:27] tonight um I'll just Echo that yeah I think these these letters were clear and

[1:14:33] I I'm all about Second Chances so if if you have evidence to show that you've

[1:14:38] paid and you can provide that evidence to us um I'm willing to you know adjourn

[1:14:43] this now I guess my qu my question is so now that we've we've got you here Mr

[1:14:47] siren and this is all clear if we get back in January and we have to do this

[1:14:51] again I think it's safe to say that I would be comfortable

[1:14:55] with the revocation and moving forward if you can't provide and you don't have

[1:14:59] this cleared up um my question for attorney Graves is if we adjourn this

[1:15:04] now do we have to come back and do this entire thing again with entering

[1:15:08] exhibits into evidence and hearing or can we pick up where we left off we will

[1:15:11] be able to pick up where you left off okay okay my my other question is what

[1:15:15] happened I have is all figured out and I'm bringing you the the information to

[1:15:18] your guys office and it's all taken care of do we have to meet again or are we

[1:15:22] back are we then okay or do we have to meet

[1:15:26] regardless if you provide the documentation which shows that you are

[1:15:32] um good with the state of Missouri and that you have a Missouri retail sales

[1:15:37] tax license not just that you've paid made payments um

[1:15:44] then I don't did I miss something here did I was was I supposed to like buy get

[1:15:49] another did I miss getting the license renewed is other saying the revocation

[1:15:53] order from the Department of Revenue states that you are notified that your

[1:15:58] res your retail sales tax license was revoked by the state of

[1:16:03] Missouri so the information we've been provided is that you do not have a sales

[1:16:08] tax license to operate in Missouri okay then I need to get a hold

[1:16:13] of because I was very confused I I didn't I don't even have anything from

[1:16:16] them saying I don't have a my license ever revoked it says that I made an

[1:16:21] agreement with him and I got my no tax due so I could get my license renewed

[1:16:24] with the state of uh Maplewood so I need to you got to give me some time to call

[1:16:30] to get this taken care of I I'm will whatever and I I'll need a little

[1:16:35] guidance but whatever motion I need to make to say let's sit on this till the

[1:16:40] next meeting in January I'm willing to make

[1:16:43] um whatever that whatever that verbage is well I I think that you know the idea

[1:16:52] here is that it if we don't proceed with the revocation right now then uh Mr

[1:17:01] siren's going to be operating at his own risk with regards to the

[1:17:06] state uh and so either way all of this has to be

[1:17:12] resolved before the next meeting so correct so the idea would be that we

[1:17:19] wouldn't you there'd be no need for a revocation hearing if everything is

[1:17:25] taken care of if it's not taken care of then I think it's very clear which

[1:17:30] direction you know uh we would be going on on the revocation yeah fair enough I

[1:17:37] be I be I I understand completely I appreciate your

[1:17:42] guys um so I I just have one question on Clarity based on something that mayor

[1:17:46] Greenberg said it no matter what action we take here tonight seems to me like M

[1:17:52] Vape is operating outside the bounds of the law right right now because there is

[1:17:57] no sales tax there is no valid state sales

[1:18:03] tax uh certificate or no matter what we do here so like this is something that

[1:18:08] has to be handled with the Department of Revenue we just can't issue a business

[1:18:12] license in Maplewood if that other license doesn't exist is that is that

[1:18:16] accurate Jackie or yes that's accurate I we are not we the city are not the ones

[1:18:23] to determine whether or not uh Mr siren is in violation of state law all we can

[1:18:28] say is that here's our city business license and our city business license

[1:18:33] says that you can't have a our code says you can't have a business license if you

[1:18:37] don't have the state retail sales tax license yeah so if he's operating

[1:18:42] without a state retail sales tax license either he shouldn't be issued a business

[1:18:47] license or if he has one the code says that it should be revoked

[1:18:52] so does that answer your question mom yeah it does and I I've I mean I think

[1:18:58] there's enough gray area and potential for miscommunication that I'm willing to

[1:19:03] you know adjourn and give until the next the January meeting to see if uh this

[1:19:08] can be settled with the state and the evidence that we need produced so that

[1:19:12] we don't even need to either have the hearing or if we can't iron it out we'll

[1:19:17] come back here and pick up where we left off if we do it' be a fast meeting I

[1:19:21] yeah I agree with that and I think uh I'm totally willing to believe that the

[1:19:25] state is operating like a Swiss watch right so I like I've dealt with these

[1:19:28] kind of issues so I I don't want to just and I if it doesn't hurt us then we're

[1:19:32] just sort of sitting on the sidelines and letting it play out and I'm

[1:19:37] perfectly fine with that I don't want to put um unnecessary

[1:19:42] impediments in the way of a business yeah seeing that this might be easily

[1:19:47] enough resolved so so just to be clear uh Mr

[1:19:54] siren you're going to be contacting the state of Missouri uh and you know we

[1:20:00] just I just want to you be clear that what you know I understand the the

[1:20:07] difficulties of dealing with the state uh but this this does need to be

[1:20:13] resolved I agree and whether you have to go to Jesse or or what you have to do

[1:20:19] I've I've haven't been in that exact situation but I've experienced the same

[1:20:24] frustration with the the workings of the the state of Missouri uh and it's you

[1:20:30] know it's imperative that you uh get you know back in the good graces

[1:20:38] of the state of Missouri and then at that point

[1:20:42] uh the your your uh business license with the state of I mean with the city

[1:20:49] of Maplewood should just be pretty much a formality I would think

[1:20:54] and so uh you know I don't want to leave this

[1:20:59] until uh our next meeting I want I I really want to see this resolved right

[1:21:05] away uh and uh so that we don't have to you know to go through this uh this

[1:21:13] process uh because as as you know if if we have to go through this process a

[1:21:19] month from now uh I think we we all know what the outcome is going to be and fair

[1:21:25] enough it doesn't help the it doesn't help you obviously it doesn't help the

[1:21:29] city of Maplewood uh and uh I don't want to see

[1:21:34] one of our businesses in trouble with the state of Missouri either me either I

[1:21:38] I don't so so at this point

[1:21:45] uh uh this isn't a normal Council matter uh from a legal

[1:21:51] perspective uh should we then make a motion to adjourn the hearing to January

[1:22:01] 14th 14th okay then I'll entertain a motion

[1:22:06] at this point motion to adjourn the revocation hearing to January 14

[1:22:12] 2025 I need a second seconded we have a motion in the second

[1:22:18] uh we've already had our discussion unless there's any other comments that

[1:22:22] anyone wants to make so it this point uh we need a we need a Voice vote or a uh

[1:22:30] roll

[1:22:33] call I'm not sure uh you just do a roll

[1:22:40] call okay uh Danel would you like to your council member Garcia yes mayor

[1:22:50] Greenberg yes council member hom yes

[1:22:56] council member Paige yes okay okay so uh please take care of

[1:23:04] it uh you know if there's anything that the city can do to help you know we will

[1:23:09] try but the the fact of the matter is your issue is with the the state of

[1:23:14] Missouri and uh

[1:23:18] uh yeah good luck thank you guys I appreciate your patience and I will take

[1:23:23] care of this I prise you all right good luck thank you Merry

[1:23:29] Christmas like yep yep have a good night so let me get back to my notes Here uh

[1:23:38] with regards to the meeting uh that was item number

[1:23:44] 26 uh item number 27 is a motion to hold a close session is there a need to hold

[1:23:49] a closed session uh then

[1:23:55] item number 28 is adjournment do we have a motion motion to adjourn second we

[1:24:02] have motion a second uh all those in favor I I I any

[1:24:08] opposed uh the uh the meeting is

[1:24:13] adjourned and so you know I wouldn't mind you know staying here and talking

[1:24:18] about it but uh needs to be a public meeting so we really can't do that so uh

[1:24:24] hopefully we won't need to have any discussion before next

[1:24:27] time so uh quick question city manager the the the tech updates in our

[1:24:36] Council chamber so that started this this week last week almost concluded

[1:24:42] it'll be done next week oh awesome okay we'll have our next meeting in person I

[1:24:48] mean my sofa is comfier than my chair there you can bring it to the council

[1:24:53] chamber then [Laughter]

[1:24:58] okay well uh if there's other other questions we can't conduct business but

[1:25:04] uh we can still ask uh you know staff questions if we want to uh but it sounds

[1:25:10] like we've we've explored that and so uh uh we'll be meeting again on uh and as

[1:25:17] soon as uh Tiffany as soon as there's any evidence that he's in compliance

[1:25:23] please let us know uh but I I hope that he got the

[1:25:29] message uh because I think I think the message is very clear and uh you know

[1:25:34] people need to do their homework when they're you know when they're running a

[1:25:39] business so uh the meeting is adjourned I guess uh we can all leave the meeting

[1:25:46] and I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas Hanukkah New Year and uh

[1:25:54] uh look forward to getting back together in January yep happy holiday holidays

[1:26:01] all have a good night than everyone bye bye bye

12-10-24 City Council Meeting

Transcript