[0:00] Here we go. >> All right.

[0:02] » Good evening everyone. We're going to call this meeting to order. Please join

[0:05] me in the pledge of allegiance.

[0:10] » I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[0:15] republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[0:22] justice for all.

[0:26] » Roll call, please. Alderman George

[0:30] » here. >> Alderman Collins

[0:31] » here. >> Alman Rucker

[0:32] » here. >> Alderman McCay

[0:33] » here. >> Alman Hoffman

[0:35] » here. >> Mayor Ross

[0:36] » here. >> Alderman Ostein.

[0:39] » All right. Next item on the agenda is citizens communication. This is a time

[0:43] set aside on the agenda for citizens and visitors.

[0:48] Oh, okay.

[0:54] » Might need a little maintenance on that. on

[0:57] a squeaky voice there all of a sudden. >> We're going to start over. Citizens

[1:02] communications. We we done there, April. All right.

[1:07] Citizen communications is time set aside on the agenda for citizens visitors to

[1:11] address the mayor and board on any topic that is not a public hearing. For those

[1:15] here in person, speakers will be restricted to 3 minutes unless otherwise

[1:18] permitted. Minutes may not be donated or transferred from one speaker to another.

[1:23] Any questions or comments for the mayor and board may also be sent to the city

[1:27] clerk at tberethoage.org no later than 10:00 a.m. on the board's

[1:33] meeting day, which is the first and third Thursday of each month. Submitted

[1:38] questions and comments may be read during the citizens communication

[1:41] section of the agenda. The board of alderman will not take any action on any

[1:46] item not listed on the agenda, nor will it respond to questions, although staff

[1:50] may be directed to respond at a later time. The mayor and board of alderman

[1:54] welcome and value input and feedback from the public. Is there anyone here in

[1:58] person who would like to address the board?

[2:02] All right, seeing none, we'll move on. Next item is approval of consent agenda.

[2:07] If the board desires, the consent agenda may be approved by a single motion.

[2:11] Tonight on the consent agenda, we have the minutes of the board of alderman

[2:14] meeting July 1st, 2026 and the bills list from July 16th, 2027. Are there any

[2:19] questions or comments from the board? Motion to approve.

[2:24] » Alderman Collins. Do I secure a second? >> Second.

[2:28] » Alderman Hoffman. All those in favor? I >> opposed. Motion carries.

[2:34] » Next item is financial update. >> Um I believe we we were going to

[2:39] » Yeah. Did you get the second amended? >> No, this is the one that was on my desk.

[2:44] » Okay. >> Sorry I didn't print it off.

[2:48] » Thank you, Carrie. I appreciate it.

[2:53] All right. So, the I'm sorry. Liquor license renewal was on there from

[2:58] Bullmore Lanes. So, do we need to step back and re go through the consent

[3:03] agenda motion process? >> On the consent agenda. It's approved,

[3:05] but Okay. You can ask Alderman McKay if it's

[3:08] » Yeah. Was everything in order, Alderman McKay?

[3:09] » Yes, it was. >> Were there any questions or concerns

[3:12] around that since I didn't speak about it? Okay. So, we can move forward. All

[3:16] right. Next item is unfinished business. Bill 2675, an ordinance of the city of

[3:23] Osage Beach, Missouri, authorizing the mayor to sign a contract with Prime

[3:26] Rinse Water LLC for water tower cleaning in amount of $31,435.

[3:33] This is second reading, I believe. Jeff Fischer, public works director.

[3:36] » Thank you, mayor. I don't have anything in addition the last time.

[3:40] » Okay. Any questions or concerns from the board? Alderman Hoffman. Uh what's the

[3:46] uh when when's the start and end date on this?

[3:49] » Uh I was trying to remember that just for the meeting. It's going to happen in

[3:52] August. It won't take but a oh maybe a few weeks.

[3:56] » Okay. Thanks. >> And if I recall, weren't they did you

[4:00] coordinate this with some of the other cities?

[4:02] » We did. We make it a we made it a cooperative.

[4:05] » Okay. So it depends on how we're going to land in the schedule probably when

[4:07] they get to town. >> Mhm.

[4:09] » Okay. Very good. Any other questions from the board?

[4:14] Just looking for a motion. >> Motion to approve.

[4:17] » Alderman Rucker. Do I hear a second? >> Second.

[4:21] » Alderman McKay. I think barely beat her. All those in favor?

[4:24] » I wait for a roll call. >> It's roll.

[4:26] » Oh, that's a second reading. Roll call. Thank you.

[4:29] » Roll call. >> Alman George.

[4:30] » Yes. >> Alman Collins.

[4:31] » Yes. >> Alderman Rucker.

[4:32] » Yes. >> Alman Kay.

[4:34] » Yes. >> Alman Hoffman.

[4:35] » Yes. >> Alman Ostein.

[4:38] » Motion carries. >> Next item. Make sure I'm on the right.

[4:43] is a >> presentation for the city's full year

[4:47] 2025 annual comprehensive financial report audit.

[4:51] » Mayor, what >> your motion to appoint um if you go by

[4:55] your new agenda. >> Okay. The blue sheets I don't have. So I

[4:59] apologize. >> That one doesn't have a blue sheet for

[5:01] it. So >> okay.

[5:02] » Okay. >> Apologize folks.

[5:08] So we are on >> the presentation. Is that right? No

[5:13] business is a >> the motion to appoint April Wright is

[5:16] April White. >> Okay, so that's not the right one

[5:18] either. Okay, I got the right one in front of me. Sorry, I'm finally getting

[5:21] lined out. I apologize, folks. So, we're on new business. First item, motion to

[5:25] appoint April White, interim city administrator.

[5:30] Are there any questions or from the board? Then I'm just

[5:34] » motion to approve. >> Alderman Rucker. Do I hear a second?

[5:38] » Second. >> Alderman Hoffman. All those in favor? I

[5:40] » I >> opposed. Motion carries.

[5:43] Congratulations, April. We look forward to

[5:46] » working. You've done a great job. >> Thank you, April.

[5:50] » All right. Next item on the agenda is a presentation of the city's fullear 2025

[5:56] annual comprehensive financial report audit from Hooden Associates CPA, PC,

[6:02] Michael Keenan, CPA. This is Carrie Bell.

[6:07] » Yes. Um, mayor and board of alderman. Um, Michael Keenan will be presenting

[6:12] your um, annual financial report this evening.

[6:17] » Come on up. Thank you, Michael. >> Make sure that's turned on, please, with

[6:22] a red light. There we go. Very good. You may have to kind of lean forward into

[6:26] that one sometimes. >> Can you hear me?

[6:28] » That sounds good. >> Uh, good evening, mayor and members of

[6:31] the board. Again, my name is Michael Keenan. I'm with the auditing firm of

[6:35] Hood and Associates and we're here to present the results of the financial and

[6:40] compliance audit for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025. To my left is

[6:47] the manager that was on the job, Colin Seco, and he's actually going to do the

[6:52] presentation and then after we do that, there's a PowerPoint. I thought maybe

[6:56] that elaborate thing coming down was just for us, but apparently not.

[7:04] but he'll go through that PowerPoint presentation. We believe in your packet

[7:07] you've been provided three documents. The annual comprehensive financial

[7:11] report, the single audit that relates to your expenditures of federal awards and

[7:16] then our required communications and management letter and our PowerPoint

[7:20] will kind of summarize those three reports and then we'll open the floor to

[7:25] any questions you may have. Colin, >> thank you.

[7:29] » Hello everyone.

[7:51] Sorry about that.

[7:58] » A little bit about Hood and Associates. Um, we serve Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma,

[8:03] and Texas as well as being licensed in those states. Uh, we have a peer review

[8:08] every 3 years. Uh, we have been awarded the highest rating given as a result of

[8:13] our peer review. We are members of the American Institute of Certified Public

[8:18] Accountants, otherwise known as the AICPA, and we have a member on the

[8:23] Government Audit Quality Center.

[8:28] The scope of our audit uh we were performed

[8:33] uh in an annual comprehensive financial report which is the thickest packet you

[8:37] have as well as the single audit which uh relates to the grants uh given to the

[8:44] airport. The city participates in the government

[8:48] finance officers association's certification and achievement and

[8:51] financial reporting. The 2024 report was the 26th consecutive year they've been

[8:58] awarded that honor which is a significant achievement and we believe

[9:01] the 2025 report uh will meet the same.

[9:10] Some of our responsibilities as the auditor we conduct our audit in

[9:14] accordance with generally accepted auditing standards, government auditing

[9:18] standards and uniform guidance which relates to the single audit. We plan and

[9:23] perform our audit to obtain reasonable not absolute assurance that the basic

[9:27] financial statements are free of material misstatement. Um we do not

[9:32] provide uh absolute assurance because we take a risk based approach in our audit

[9:37] and test certain uh items based on their risks. And since we don't test

[9:41] everything, we cannot provide absolute assurance.

[9:51] The auditing standards board of the American Institute of Certified Public

[9:55] Accountants recommends that we communicate the following matters to the

[9:57] governing board. Illegal acts. None came to our uh our attention as a result of

[10:03] performing our audit procedures. If any had uh popped up, we are required to

[10:10] report those to the governing body. Uh next we have changes in significant

[10:15] accounting policies. There were no changes in significant accounting

[10:18] policies during 2025. However, as discussed in note 14 of the uh annual

[10:24] comprehensive financial report, there was a change in the reporting entity as

[10:28] the water and sewer fund uh are now separate in the report.

[10:34] There were no difficulties or disagreements with management and we had

[10:38] full cooperation access to books and records.

[10:45] Financial and compliance audits address three basic questions. Question one is

[10:50] are the financial statements free of material misstatement? We have issued an

[10:54] unmodified opinion otherwise known as a clean opinion that the financial

[10:58] statements are fairly presented in all material respects.

[11:02] The next question is are internal controls over financial reporting

[11:05] adequately designed and operating effectively. We did not identify any

[11:09] deficiencies in internal control that we consider to be material weaknesses.

[11:14] Did the city of Osage Beach, Missouri comply in all material respects with the

[11:18] finance related laws and regulations? Uh, no. Non-compliance was noted with

[11:22] the finance related laws and regulations governing the city's operations.

[11:30] Next, we have other management letter comments. This can be found in the

[11:33] required communications report.

[11:38] These are suggestions for best practices and possible improvements in internal

[11:43] controls noted in the conduct of the audit.

[11:46] First one we have business continuity and disaster recovery preparedness as

[11:50] well as cyber security and other matters. Um

[11:54] these are just plans to have these controls in place. Um I believe Michael

[11:59] could uh explain them better than I personally.

[12:05] out of it. >> Yes.

[12:08] » Uh again, put put those recommendations and it's really

[12:12] uh disaster recovery, cyber security,

[12:17] different things that cities are exposed potentially to if a disaster or

[12:23] something occurs. And we're recommending and management has responded that you do

[12:28] have plans, policies, and procedures. So if that type of an event occurs, then

[12:34] the city will be able to continue operating business and continuing uh to

[12:41] operate as as normal. It's just good to have those plans is just in case

[12:45] something happens. Uh but we have seen before with that just in case and they

[12:50] were not ready. Uh you can kind of look back to when COVID came that was

[12:57] something that really wasn't anticipated by a lot of individuals

[13:03] state local and so there was people had to adapt and really no one had those

[13:09] type of plans in place. So we understand we made that recommendation the city

[13:13] indicated from management that you do have those plans in place.

[13:17] » Okay. Does that help? Any questions on that specific item?

[13:23] Thank you, Michael. >> Yep.

[13:28] » We're good to go to the next slide.

[13:32] » Uh we appreciate the opportunity to serve as the auditors for the city of

[13:35] Osage Beach, Missouri. We want to give thanks to Carrie Bell, city treasurer,

[13:40] as well as uh Torren Shirts, um accounting specialist. They were a great

[13:46] help in our audit, and we look forward to next year. Thank you very much, guys.

[13:52] » Thank you. Um, I'll just take a quick minute and say I got a chance to sit

[13:56] down during this audit at the end of it, I believe, with Michael and I

[13:59] appreciated your questions and your thoughts and you all have done a great

[14:03] job working with Carrie and her group for quite a few years and we appreciate

[14:06] all that you do. Are there any questions from the board or comments?

[14:11] Okay, thank you all for being here. Oh, sorry, didn't see one. Sorry, Kevin

[14:15] » Carrie. I thought that on the capital assets that we changed that threshold.

[14:22] They're bringing out the fact that our threshold is at $2,000 and I thought we

[14:26] had upped that to 5,000.

[14:32] » In the report from uh uh requirement communications under capital assets

[14:38] under um uh recommendation >> I believe that's under prior year

[14:44] comments. Let let me let me verify that was

[14:50] implemented and the change was to $5,000,

[14:53] » right? >> And I need to look. I believe that was

[14:56] » All right. You now you mentioned it that the top title is prior.

[15:00] » Top title says prior year comment. >> Yeah. So that is

[15:04] I just got this two minutes before the meeting and I just skimmed it real

[15:07] quickly and I caught that. >> I was going to go something's not right.

[15:10] » No, that Okay. That's prior years. Okay. I'm okay then. Let's see. Yeah, I

[15:14] thought we had changed it to the five, but we changed it prior to

[15:17] » also I think >> also I think you had made the

[15:20] recommendation of wanting to see the water and sewer fund broke out

[15:24] separately >> and we remembered that and we did that.

[15:27] » I was going to compliment you on that. It was very nice to see that separation

[15:31] there and be able to from from my perspective and and responsibility I

[15:35] feel I have it was much easier to look at it and see the numbers and

[15:40] » yeah and and that's you know when we look at this this is the city's

[15:44] financial statements >> the only part that we have of the

[15:47] auditors is our opinion certainly we assist in the preparation of those but

[15:52] how you want those to look and what you include in them

[15:56] » is the responsibility of management and So we remembered that Harry remembered

[16:01] that let's do that because it makes things a lot easier when you do rate

[16:06] studies all kinds of things. You already budget that way and so you might as well

[16:11] report that way. And so we did listen to you and I I think it does make an

[16:16] improvement on the ability to identify and evaluate how did the water fund do,

[16:22] how did the sewer fund do when they're not combined.

[16:26] » Very good. Any other questions or comments from the board?

[16:30] » Again, thank you all for being here and appreciate the great work.

[16:32] » Uh, and we appreciate Thank you very much for your professionalism and also

[16:36] the staff. Hey, April. April used to be on this side when we used to ask her a

[16:42] bunch of questions. Uh, I still thank you and if there's any questions later

[16:47] on at any point during the year, don't hesitate to reach out. Carrie will

[16:52] provide you my information. and I'm more than happy to answer those questions or

[16:57] or anything else that we can do uh as your auditors. We certainly appreciate

[17:02] the opportunity. Thank you. Have a good evening.

[17:04] » Thank you. Appreciate you being here. >> All right. Next item on the agenda is

[17:10] bill 2683, an ordinance of the city of Oage Beach, Missouri establishing a

[17:15] procedure to disclose potential conflicts of interest and substantial

[17:19] interests for certain municipal officials. First reading. Tara Barrett,

[17:22] city clerk. Thank you, mayor, members of the board. This ordinance comes up every

[17:25] year at the same time. It has to be um approved and sent to the state by

[17:30] September. So, uh all it is is it allows you guys not to have to file your

[17:34] financial disclosure statements. It's a conflict um just a basic conflict of

[17:39] ordinance. It's one we do every single year. I recommend approval.

[17:43] » Okay. Are there any questions or thoughts from the board?

[17:47] Seeing none, I just need a motion. >> Motion to approve. Alderman Collins. Do

[17:52] I hear a second? >> Second.

[17:54] » Alderman Hoffman. All those in favor? >> I

[17:57] » opposed. Motion carries. All right. Next item on the agenda. Motion to appoint a

[18:04] member to the Deerberg's Transportation Development District, TDD, by Mayor

[18:08] Ross. This is mine. I wanted to appoint Bill McCay. It's in his uh ward. Um is

[18:13] there any questions or thoughts from the board?

[18:18] Just looking for a motion. Motion to approve.

[18:21] » Alderman Collins. Do I hear a second? >> Second.

[18:24] » Alderman Rucker. All those in favor? I >> I

[18:27] » opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. Next item. Motion to direct staff to proceed

[18:34] with changes necessary to sunset the ghost meter program. April, are you

[18:39] going to take this one? Go right ahead, please.

[18:42] » Thank you, mayor, members of the board. The staff has reviewed the ghost meter

[18:46] program recently in response to questions from some citizens and new

[18:51] board members. And just to give you a little history, ghost meters were

[18:55] created during past water extension projects where property owners who

[19:00] decided not to hook up right away uh secured their future water rights by

[19:05] paying a monthly fee rather than the upfront impact and meter fees. So these

[19:11] accounts have always been voluntary. owners can discontinue them at any time

[19:15] if they sign a water waiver uh which not only ceases their billing

[19:20] but also also re uh relinquishes their water rights. So we currently have 119

[19:27] active ghost meter accounts and those generate about $42,000

[19:33] annually. So, with today's hookup fees, um, if

[19:37] someone were to just come in and hook into City Water, residential would be

[19:41] $1,460. Um, at the current monthly rate, it

[19:47] would take a little over four years for that for those ghost meter payments to

[19:51] equal the standard hookup cost. But historically, that monthly rate was much

[19:56] lower. So, and some of those accounts have been active over 20 years. Um, so

[20:02] they have paid far more than the cost of a standard hookup. So staff is

[20:07] recommending that the city sunset the ghost meter program. In that scenario,

[20:12] all those existing accounts, the ones that are in good standing, would retain

[20:16] their water rights indefinitely and future hookup fees would be waved. So

[20:22] tonight, staff is just seeking direction from the board on whether to proceed

[20:27] with um preparing all of those ordinance changes that were would be needed to

[20:32] formally discontinue that program. >> Very good. Questions or thoughts?

[20:37] Alderman George? >> Um I I feel strongly about sunsetting.

[20:42] It is something that I had many questions about and my constituents when

[20:46] I was knocking on the doors um were very confused about cuz they were paying this

[20:51] fee that a lot of times didn't really understand what it was. So um I think

[20:55] it's awesome that you guys reviewed that and I would definitely be in support of

[21:01] sunsetting that. >> Very good. Anything? Alderman Rucker?

[21:06] » Uh couple of questions. um the ghost meter program that was set up and the

[21:11] way it's written and in the ordinances etc. residential only or commercial and

[21:16] residential. >> We have both commercial and residential

[21:21] accounts. So I was >> that are ghost meter.

[21:24] » So so >> mostly residential naturally.

[21:27] » So the the commercial people that are on the ghost meter account their their

[21:33] their fee has been higher or has their ghost meter fee been the same?

[21:37] » It's based on meter size. So, those with larger ghost meters, which are very

[21:41] rare, the majority of them are 5/8 inch meters. Um, here I have it. I forgot I

[21:47] had it here. So, 110 of those 119 accounts are 5/8

[21:54] inch meters. So, that's like 28 bucks a month. Um, but we do have three 1-in

[21:59] meters, and those are actually residential. Um, three, no, we have six

[22:04] 1-in meters, I'm sorry. one one and a half inch and two two inches. So now

[22:09] like a two inch go meter is $78.67. So their their monthly charges are

[22:14] greater than a residential account >> and their impact fees would be greater

[22:18] as well. >> Right.

[22:20] So the the I'm assuming that uh your your recommendation is going to be to

[22:27] sunset all ghost meters and would we be maintaining

[22:32] uh records so that when somebody who was on ghost meter would come back

[22:38] 20 years later from now they would be given the same size meter. They wouldn't

[22:43] be able to say well I want a 1 inch meter. No you you were a ghost meter at

[22:47] 58. >> Correct. the intent of how we would

[22:50] write it. >> Yes. And Car's department would keep

[22:52] those records. And historically, like we've had instances where someone has

[22:58] been paying for a 5/8 inch ghost meter, but then when they're ready to hook in

[23:01] or say it was a vacant lot and then they built something and they want a 1-in

[23:04] meter, they've just had to pay that that difference

[23:07] » the differential. >> Okay.

[23:10] Um

[23:16] we've we have we done with from from the original conception of the ghost meter

[23:21] program um we have uh continued to raise that as the rates have been raised. Is

[23:28] that how that has went up? >> Yes sir.

[23:30] » Okay. So, what is the uh recommendation for

[23:37] the uh how we will substitute that that that $40,000?

[23:43] We're going to be taking $40,000 worth of income away. So, we will just uh

[23:50] » budget accordingly. >> Bump up bump up the the rates by a penny

[23:53] or so or whatever it takes to to get the revenue back up to take care of that

[23:57] expenditures because we've been spending that much.

[23:59] » True. >> We have a rate study coming. M

[24:03] » okay. >> Um

[24:07] I thought there was something else I had to make sure for clarity.

[24:12] » Go ahead and I may come back. >> All right. Are there any other comments

[24:15] or questions from the board?

[24:20] Alman Rucker, are you going to have anything else then?

[24:24] » I have a quick question. Are we keeping the records by address? Is that what

[24:27] this comes down to? >> Thank you.

[24:30] » Yes. There's a few vacant lots left. So those would be kept by partial number is

[24:34] how we do it now. >> Be by partial. Okay. Okay.

[24:37] » Lot and parcel number. Yeah. >> All right. So it would transfer. So let

[24:41] let's just play this out. This address has been paying a ghost meter. It quit

[24:45] paying a ghost meter. They sell their house a year from now. Two years from

[24:49] now the new owner comes down there. That address is still historically held as a

[24:54] ghost meter without the uh meter fees and impact fees. I guess right. That's

[25:00] how I would recommend it. Unless you think it stays with the property.

[25:04] » Yeah. So that's where so it'll follow the lot, not the person. Right.

[25:08] » Right. >> That's that's how we've done it

[25:11] historically because say a house sells sometimes somebody will get that new

[25:14] bill and they'll be like they'll call in what is this?

[25:16] » And so those some of those people have signed the water waiver because they're

[25:19] like even though that you know whoever they bought it from it may be paid for 5

[25:22] years, 10 years whatever they decided they didn't want it and they've signed

[25:26] the waiver and their charges cease. >> Right. Well, it it sounds like the

[25:30] board's comfortable with what we just discussed. Am I missing anything? Okay,

[25:34] go ahead, Kevin. >> Um, this subject came up some time back

[25:39] within the last couple years and I thought my memory, which is not always

[25:45] the best, but I thought I thought the number was $80,000 in income is what we

[25:49] were getting from ghost meters and now it's 40,000. I don't know if the 80,000

[25:55] is correct or if I misunderstood it or can you shed any light on that?

[26:00] » Yeah, a previous staff member had given us some estimates and of course when I

[26:05] was preparing this agenda item, I wanted to make sure I was giving you the right

[26:09] number. So, um, we ran some reports and and yeah, I'm not sure where that number

[26:15] came from. >> I mean, naturally,

[26:18] » that tells me my memory is still good, >> right? it. Some people over, you know,

[26:24] in that time frame have probably either hooked in or um have signed the waiver.

[26:29] So, I mean, but that's not a $40,000 difference. So, I think it was just a

[26:32] miscalculation from a previous staff member.

[26:37] » I I do have something else. >> Anything else? Alderman George.

[26:41] » Um just out of curiosity, we don't anticipate putting in any more ghost

[26:47] meters, right? Or do we? like those things that's been something of the past

[26:51] and >> that was that was only done when we put

[26:54] the new system in. It was kind of a deal that

[26:57] » the mains going down this road >> and people were like well I don't know

[27:01] if I want to or don't want to and that was how it was accommodated. So I can't

[27:05] board the future but that's how why it was done. I think at that time, you

[27:10] know, we put a water system in and I was here then and everybody was on a well

[27:16] and some people wanted city water and some didn't and some didn't know if they

[27:19] wanted it yet. And so this was a way to help incentivize them. It it helped us

[27:24] with revenue at the time to be quite honest to help pay the bonds back

[27:27] because it gave the the the folks that weren't sure yet an ability to because

[27:31] if you went ahead and signed up, they waved all those fees at the original

[27:35] time, the original hookup. So, this gave those people that weren't sure yet an

[27:39] ability to pay $20. I think the number started out around 12 or 18 a month. So,

[27:45] that uh what was it? >> 148.

[27:48] » Okay. $15 a month. And they could hedge their bets for three or four years.

[27:51] Okay. Now, if they weren't paying attention after about 10 years, it they

[27:55] didn't really hedge any bets. Okay. And that's how the whole thing got started.

[27:58] And I think it is a good time to sunset it. So,

[28:00] » absolutely. >> Yeah. Yeah. And we discussed the, you

[28:03] know, there's very few little pockets in the city that what we call unwatered or

[28:08] aren't serviced by city water. And we talked through that, Jeff and Carrie and

[28:11] I, and Jeff recommended that we do that on a case-byase basis, probably with a

[28:17] petition process like we do with other things in the city, but that would be

[28:21] » I realized we had unwatered areas, so that's news to me. I knew we had a

[28:23] couple unseeded areas. >> That's rare. It's they're very

[28:26] » We'll talk about that another time. >> Okay. Does staff have the direction that

[28:30] they need to move forward? >> Yes.

[28:33] » Okay. All right. Anything else on this subject? All right. We'll move on to

[28:37] staff communications. >> It has a we have it as a motion.

[28:39] » Do we need a motion this? >> Pardon me.

[28:41] » Wouldn't we need a motion this? >> Oh, it is a motion. I thought it was a

[28:44] discussion. I apologize. Okay. So, I looking for a motion. It is

[28:48] a motion. My apologies. Going to be a rough night.

[28:51] » Motion to approve. >> Alderman Hoffman.

[28:53] » Second. >> Alderman Collins. All those in favor?

[28:57] » I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Now, we'll move on to staff

[29:02] communications. We're going to start with Ty Dinsdale,

[29:06] airport manager. Hey, Ty. >> Oh, thank you, sir. Nothing.

[29:11] » Make sure you're awake over there. >> Yeah.

[29:15] » Nothing to add this evening. Thank you. >> Thanks for being here, Billy. Official

[29:18] Ron White. I would like to take just a moment to say thanks to um Mitch

[29:23] Phillips and Rob Long and the street department. Following our uh freak

[29:27] windstorm uh on the holiday weekend, we had a lot

[29:31] of damage to some trees here on the grounds of city hall and I was contacted

[29:37] that following Monday and asked if uh we needed some help. Well, it may not have

[29:41] been Monday. asked if we needed help cleaning that up and they brought a crew

[29:44] over, identified trees that were not going to be salvageable, uh cut

[29:49] everything up, removed it from the property. That saved us uh my department

[29:53] a lot of time and uh the city some expense on that. So, just a a big shout

[29:58] out to them to say thank you for their efforts.

[30:00] » Great. Thank you. All right. Public works director Jeff Fischer.

[30:04] » Thank you, Mayor. I would like to report on sort of the status of our sewer

[30:08] investigation. Um, we did determine that the technology options that are out

[30:15] there are not viable. Uh, we weren't confident that we could spend money to

[30:21] put something in that 24in interceptor and get good data from it. So, we're

[30:27] going back to old school. We're going to cut it open a couple of times and take a

[30:32] look inside and then report back on what we find from that. Um and uh as we're

[30:39] working through the rates too. So we're we're uh concurrently working on those

[30:43] efforts. Uh I should know something in the next couple of weeks on what our

[30:49] recommendations going to be. So I will report back soon. But it's it's going

[30:54] well. Sands in the system and as a whole uh so far this summer it seems to be

[31:00] working well. We've only had odor a couple of three times and uh we just

[31:06] tightened up uh the transducers and sands a little bit this week and that

[31:11] went well. So uh the hope there is that uh the couple of times that we smell

[31:18] sands here recently we can reduce that even further. I don't think we'll ever

[31:22] be in that world where we don't ever have a smell, but uh so far it's went

[31:27] really well and Chris's team's done a lot of work. So I want to commend them.

[31:33] All right, that's all I got. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jeff. City planner Kerry

[31:36] Patterson. Can I >> steal your mic? See, I'm just going to

[31:40] follow up a little bit on what Ron said. You know, one of the great parts about

[31:43] living in the city is every once in a while, uh, the folks that live close to

[31:48] me, who know what I do, uh, don't mind stopping by the house and letting me

[31:51] know what's going on. And after the storm that we had, which was was kind of

[31:56] crazy, uh, three trees on Malibu Road fell down across Malibu Road and made it

[32:03] impassible. Um, and the next day when I was out cleaning up my yard and and

[32:10] helping some neighbors, uh, we had some folks that walked up the street and they

[32:13] made a a point of stopping and letting me know that after that storm, the first

[32:18] vehicle that they saw come down Malibu Road was a city vehicle that was coming

[32:22] down to clear that road. And I already mentioned that to Jeff and to tell his

[32:27] guys, thank you. But, you know, it's it's it's great to get those kind of

[32:30] reports from just citizens who come up and say, "Man, it was great to see. We

[32:35] couldn't believe it when we saw it, you know, that they were the absolute

[32:38] first." And they got Malibu, uh, cleared off within about 2 hours, but it was it

[32:44] was three very large trees, a couple of them out of the cemetery down there. So,

[32:48] uh, that was really appreciated. So, >> great. Thank you, Police Chief Todd

[32:53] Davis. Mayor, members of the board, um first

[32:56] I'd like to recognize Haley Scott for um being awarded employee of the quarter.

[33:01] Um Haley stepped up when we had to take the power down to city hall that evening

[33:06] to replace the generator. Um her supervisor had a family emergency come

[33:11] up and Haley stepped up and stuck around, left here probably 9 or 10:00

[33:16] and was back in at 3:00 or 4 in the morning to help bring the system back

[33:20] up. um she's just does all kinds of stuff like that. But then I'd also like

[33:25] to recognize our our 911 center for uh the 4th of July. They they literally got

[33:32] their butts handed to them. Um normally on a on a regular day, they

[33:39] average about 10 911 calls a day. They had 76. Um, not only that, when our 911

[33:46] center, our car calls start rolling over to Camden County, but we also receive

[33:51] Camden and Millers. So, theirs was rolling over. So, they were trying to

[33:56] transfer the calls back, but those agencies were full. So, they were

[34:01] actually the call was rolling back over and coming to back to Lexi and Haley.

[34:06] They were answering each other's calls when they would try to transfer. But not

[34:10] only them, but our the whole first responders, public works, everybody

[34:15] stepped up, got what needed to be done when that freak storm came through. So

[34:20] they had a uh they stepped up and it was it was Haley, Reagan, Lexi, and Gracie.

[34:26] Um the night shift, they they actually dayshift worked overtime trying to catch

[34:32] everything back up to get all the calls come in. So that they rocked it. Um,

[34:37] also our we're in the middle of our move for the comm communication center

[34:40] downstairs. Um, they hope to be up and running back in there tomorrow morning.

[34:46] Um, so they've taken the last 3 days and re putting it all together, moving

[34:52] things from upstairs to downstairs. So once it's up and running, we'll uh give

[34:56] you guys a tour. >> So I've got Thank you, Todd. Yep. City

[35:01] clerk to our breath. >> Thank you, mayor, members of the board.

[35:04] I don't really have anything other than I registered everybody for the MML

[35:08] conference in September. I just sent out an email to see if you want to attend

[35:12] the banquet on Tuesday night the 5th. Please shoot me back an email and if

[35:16] you're going to be bring a guest, I'll get that everybody set up for that. All

[35:20] right, that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, we'll start with

[35:25] Alderman George. >> Did I miss somebody?

[35:28] » Bell and me. >> Did I miss Carrie Bell?

[35:30] » I am so sorry. >> And April. No, I think I just didn't do

[35:34] that the right way. I apologize. And this is your night too with the audit.

[35:38] So, I apologize, Carrie. >> And that's Yeah, and that's what I was

[35:41] going to say. Obviously, um I was going to thank um some of my staff, Torren

[35:46] Church, and Selena Franklin for all their help with the audit. Um this is

[35:51] this was just Torren's second year, and he really stepped it up. I think April,

[35:56] she she wouldn't hardly let me catch catch her, but I think she was still a

[36:00] support for him. But um he's really picking up on on all of that and um and

[36:08] your support the technology for the financial system and support of having

[36:14] quality auditors makes a huge difference and I I appreciate that support. Um and

[36:21] then I don't know if April you going to say anything about budget software. We

[36:24] had our we had our first me we had our first um group meeting with the

[36:29] departments and all the managers that are going to actually put um the the

[36:34] numbers in. April organized the whole training was here in this room and I

[36:40] thought it went very well. I think people were really positive and um you

[36:45] know it was just the it was the first step and there was a lot of things that

[36:50] but we took our first baby step with all the departments. I thought went really

[36:54] great. >> Very good.

[36:57] And now, city administrator April Way. >> Thank you, Mayor.

[37:02] Chief sold some of my things, but congrats to Haley Scott for being

[37:06] awarded employee of the quarter for second quarter. Definitely wanted to

[37:09] recognize the police, the dispatch, the transportation department for working

[37:13] through that crazy pop-up storm. Like Fourth of July weekend isn't crazy

[37:16] enough for them. Um, also wanted to recognize Ty for all he rangled that

[37:21] weekend. little minor airport storm damage and some other other uh

[37:26] unexpected hurdles. And heart of the Lake Freedom Fest this

[37:30] past weekend was spectacular. Thank you to Eric Gregory. He couldn't be here

[37:34] tonight. And all his staff and all the city hall staff who pitched in this um

[37:38] pitched in as well. Mayor, sorry about attempting to dunk you. Can't believe I

[37:43] missed seven times. I was a catcher, not a barn.

[37:49] » I used to throw down to second, I promise. But and thank you for being the

[37:53] first step in the dunk tank and everyone else who was in the dunk tank. It was a

[37:56] great event. The fireworks were amazing. Only a few bug bites at the end of the

[38:01] night. So, uh Eric also since he couldn't be here, he wanted me to remind

[38:05] everyone that tomorrow night um is the movie in the parks. They're showing

[38:11] Zootopia. Movie starts at dark, so roughly around 8:45. And then since

[38:16] they're already going to have the park open after dusk, they've decided to do

[38:19] another um bark park after dark event. So the lights will be on at the dog park

[38:24] until 10 p.m. And then lastly, I just wanted to extend best wishes to previous

[38:30] city administrator Devon Lake. I really enjoyed getting to know her and learning

[38:35] from her and developing a lifelong friendship. So I will miss her dearly.

[38:41] » Thank you. Okay, Alman George. Um,

[38:47] thank you Carrie Bell and Torin and your team. That's I mean I can't imagine it

[38:51] not. It's very fun to go through. So, um, and to see that we passed it with

[38:56] flying colors just proves how excellent your team is. Um, I want to thank

[39:01] everybody in the city that worked at the uh, Freedom Fest and did what you did.

[39:07] My kids absolutely loved it. The food was awesome. The vendors were great. Um,

[39:12] I I almost I and I've said it to a couple other people is that I almost

[39:16] think that we should just always do it the weekend after because the amount of

[39:20] people there was tremendous and didn't hear anything negative from anybody.

[39:26] Thanks for directing the traffic, getting people in and out of there. It

[39:29] was awesome. Um, I think I was out of there in 10 minutes or something, so it

[39:34] was it was pretty awesome. So, thanks for that, Chief. Um, and then, uh,

[39:39] lastly, April, I I just want to say thank you very much for picking up the

[39:43] extra slack. I know it's going to be a lot of hard work for you. Um, and I and

[39:47] I think that, you know, speaking with the board and everybody, you're going to

[39:51] do just a great job. And if you need any support, we're all here to help you. Um,

[39:56] I have nothing but great things to say about you. I think you're going to do

[39:59] awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you, Alderman Collins.

[40:05] So, I've heard from everyone that Freedom Fest was a fantastic event. I am

[40:10] sorry I missed it. My grandson's fourth birthday was on the same day in Kansas

[40:15] City. Um, I pulled into my driveway just in time to see fireworks from my

[40:20] backyard and they were fantastic. Um, so I'm really sorry that I missed it and I

[40:26] hope that I can attend next year. Um, thank you to everybody involved in the

[40:31] storm response. I've also been hearing from everybody how quick it was. Um,

[40:37] everybody having issues outside of Osage Beach. Um, and we we were pretty

[40:42] fortunate that you all were on top of it and everybody stayed safe and got

[40:48] streets cleared quickly. And I also want to say thank you to April. Um, yeah, I

[40:54] think you're going to do a great job and and you absolutely have my support and

[40:58] if there's anything I can do, don't hesitate to ask. And that's all I've

[41:02] got. >> Thank you, Alderman Hoffman.

[41:08] » I too want to thank uh Devin for her two years of

[41:14] service here. Um I enjoyed working with her. I think we did get a lot of things

[41:18] accomplished and I wish her nothing but the best. I think Warsaw and her are

[41:21] gonna be a really good fit and I wish her the best. And April, I echo what

[41:27] everyone else is saying. You're awesome. We love you. Thank you for stepping up.

[41:30] We're all here to help you in any way we can. Um, and lastly, yeah, Freedom

[41:35] Freedom Fest. I'm just I want to thank the public for for coming out. We

[41:41] obviously I want the staff did a great job pivoting. Eric and his team,

[41:45] everyone in in in the city stepped up. But it was just great to see all the

[41:50] people or I wasn't there. It was great to hear that all the people showed up. I

[41:55] didn't get home till 9:00 p.m. that night myself like Rebecca. Uh but but

[41:59] thank you everyone for for coming out and and and turning what could have been

[42:03] a real negative into a real positive. That's all I got.

[42:07] » Thank you, Alderman McKay. Um I I just basically want to say I'm proud to

[42:11] represent the city uh through the adversity of the storm damage and

[42:15] getting the emails and the updates. Uh the adversity of the Freedom Fest

[42:20] getting pushed back a week. What a great event. I have never seen that many cars

[42:24] getting out of there. And again, the police department even getting them out

[42:27] quickly and blocking the roads and all that. That was fantastic. Uh Carrie,

[42:31] nice job with the report. I'm trying to read it and it's it's a lot of work.

[42:35] Kudos to you on that. Um and April, nice job. Thanks,

[42:42] » Alderman Rucker. >> Yes. Uh I will warn you ahead of time. I

[42:46] have quite a few items. Um first of all, the Freedom Fest. Um, number one,

[42:53] it's unfortunate that we had to postpone it, but it was God telling us we didn't

[42:59] need to have it because if we would have had that, think of what would have that

[43:03] would have looked like at 3:30 in the afternoon with all those tents and all

[43:07] those vendors set up and wherever those tents would have landed.

[43:12] So, there there was there was a message there. Um, and I will just tell you uh

[43:18] the Freedom Fest uh down at the park was great during the daytime, but uh I will

[43:24] tell you all that there was a whole bunch more people because there was at

[43:27] least another hundred cars with me up at the outlet mall because that's where we

[43:32] were at the outlet mall and they were I pulled in. I thought, well, there won't

[43:36] be anybody here cuz I'm not going to make it back down to the park. I was

[43:40] amazed at all the cars that were sitting there and and people outside the cars

[43:46] and paying frisbes and doing all the stuff beforehand and and and then

[43:50] watching the fireworks. It was a good view up there. It was you missed about

[43:54] 5% of the stuff that didn't go up, but a lot of people there. So, when Eric's

[43:58] thinking about who how many attended and now I hear we have a couple people that

[44:02] didn't make it to the park, it was in their backyards. So, I I think it's

[44:06] unbelievable the amount of folks that attended it. Um, just give you a little

[44:10] hint. My motion is going to be not allow fireworks display next year and to put

[44:16] money in the budget and have a fireworks display at the park. Put our money and

[44:20] efforts and have a safe place down there rather than having kids shooting them.

[44:24] But that's here for another meeting to talk about. Um, Chief, I wonder if you

[44:29] could double check Senate Bill 975. Um I didn't get a chance to review it

[44:36] completely but it talks about the ambulances and stuff and just where do

[44:40] we fall with the ambulance? Do we fall under some of the litigate some of the

[44:44] laws for the ambulance districts or just what with us being city ambulance

[44:49] » is that the one is that I'm not sure what that is that one for the training

[44:55] for >> exactly one for the training for the

[44:58] board of directors mandatory or is it

[45:03] » I didn't >> I'll do some research

[45:06] » on it too it's not Senate Bill 975 I didn't get a chance to go into it but I

[45:11] just wanted make sure uh because it wasn't and and then that made me start

[45:16] thinking well you know this this is not tied to ambulance districts where do we

[45:21] fall in so I'll let >> I'll look into it

[45:24] » open that up um uh hats off to the alderman that took

[45:29] the challenge uh I reviewed the sites uh uh there's uh almost everybody's is

[45:36] there but I will just give you a little hint you might want to go back and

[45:39] double check what's on the site because I know I had conversations with at least

[45:44] two aldermen that think their phone number's there and it's not. So, you

[45:47] might want to double check what you put in and double check it's what it's

[45:52] supposed to be and anyway. So, but uh thank you for that. Uh because I do know

[45:57] people do look in there and and get phone numbers and if all you guys have

[46:00] yours, I won't get all the phone calls. So, that'd be great. Um,

[46:07] on a sad note, uh, Colonel

[46:12] Ron Schmidt >> passed away. For those of you who don't

[46:15] know who Colonel Ron Schmidt is, Ron served this country for 30 years

[46:21] in the armed service as and and was a colonel. Ron served this city for 10

[46:27] years as an alderman in Ward One with me. Um, Ron came on the year before I

[46:34] was elected. Uh, Ron was put onto this board, I believe, in a very unique way

[46:41] and maybe the only person that has ever been put on the board. And that was

[46:48] a very short time before the election, Ron put his name in the hat to be a

[46:53] ridein and passed business cards out to make sure everybody had this correct

[46:57] spelling of his name and and and so Ron was elected as a ridein voter or as a

[47:04] write-in candidate. So, uh, for those that are interested, there will be, uh,

[47:08] services or celebration of life on the 28th of July at Lake Ozark Lions at

[47:16] 5:00. So, we miss Colonel Ron. Uh, he was he

[47:22] was a he was a trooper. Um,

[47:28] lastly, uh, I just want to let the citizens know out there that this board

[47:34] has quite a bit of responsibilities in a lot of ways in some ways maybe you're

[47:38] not aware of. Uh, the board has the responsibility to take on committees

[47:45] such as the planning and zoning, tiff board, board of appeals, board of

[47:50] adjustments. uh after the mayor has suggested candidates to approve those

[47:55] folks, then we have the responsibility to fill those positions

[48:00] when they become available, either by the term expiring or by someone having

[48:06] to step away from those boards. It's also our responsibility to do the

[48:11] same in the event that any of the elected officials step away, such as the

[48:16] mayor, myself, or any other alderman. We have the responsibility to appoint

[48:21] somebody to that position until the next election. I say all this because I'm

[48:26] looking for my file that I have kept for over 20 years is empty. I always would

[48:32] drop names in it when someone would say to me or I would think they would be a

[48:36] good candidate for any one of these positions because we have to fill them

[48:40] at the drop of a hat, so to speak. We we don't always can't plan that months in

[48:45] advance. So, if anybody out there is interested in being any of those

[48:50] positions, please seek us out. Look us up on the internet. There's information

[48:54] there. Please, you can call me. I'll be happy to visit with you, try to give you

[48:58] what the responsibilities are so we can put your name in the hat. So, whenever

[49:03] we have that besides just the normal nutri uh people that step away, but but

[49:08] uh we need to have those names and we need have those available to us so that

[49:12] we can do our job. And if you're interested, you can attend some of these

[49:16] meetings, some of these boards, and see what goes on with it. Uh start out and

[49:20] in and as Mr. McCay did uh many years ago when I asked him to be on planning

[49:25] and zoning and he liked it enough that he decided to step in to be an alderman

[49:30] and there he is. So, and I'm I'm proud to say that I I had asked Bill to to be

[49:36] on planning and zoning and brought his name forth and and now he's serving as

[49:40] an alderman. So, if anybody is out there and and has that desire in the future,

[49:45] because I will tell you, I'm telling you right now, April of 2028, I will not be

[49:53] running. I will not. So, there will be a vacancy

[50:00] at least then. >> Starting to really like Florida, aren't

[50:02] you?

[50:06] » So, with that, um, have a safe time out there. Uh the storm response response by

[50:13] all the all the first responders uh was fabulous. I know there was a lot I've I

[50:21] nature of my business was emergency response. So I understand what go what

[50:24] happens in those times and and and Jeff thanks for the updates. The update you

[50:29] gave the alderman was very helpful when when I had people call me and ask me

[50:33] well what this and like oh this is what's going on. So I thank you for

[50:36] that. With that that's enough. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Alderman

[50:40] Rucker. All right. I got a few things. Um, Alderman Rucker talked about Ron

[50:45] Schmidt. Ron Schmidt was uh one of my favorite people to be quite honest and

[50:50] um I will miss him. Um, I'll miss talking to him as he was president of

[50:54] the board for a while too. Thought he provided some great leadership at that

[50:58] time and uh our hearts go out to my heart to uh Darlene and his family. He

[51:04] will be missed. Um, I want to say thank you to all the public works employees

[51:09] and first responders on July 4th due to my family situation. We were not in

[51:13] town. I think I fielded about two or three texts and basically got told

[51:17] everything's under control and we're on top of it. And um, that was as nice a

[51:22] July 4th gift as I could have had um because I got to focus on my family and

[51:27] I can't thank you all enough who all I don't know who all was involved but

[51:30] there was a whole bunch of people and they did a fantastic job. And um the

[51:34] public has also told me about how great a job you all did. So, thank you very

[51:38] much. Um Freedomfest. Um yeah, I was down there for a while. I was in a dunk

[51:42] tank for 30 minutes and there's some kids just love to run up and hit that

[51:45] bullseye that April can't hit. Um but it was fun. Um the fireworks show was

[51:50] awesome, but I want to thank all the employees that took their day to come

[51:53] down and and help with that because uh they made a great event out of it. And I

[51:58] think that we may have started something. I believe in planting a seed

[52:01] and watching it grow. And I think that we planted an awful good seed and we may

[52:05] have some we may have hit on something and uh we'll decide how to do it again

[52:09] even better next year. Um I want to thank Alderman Collins and Alderman

[52:12] Hoffman for some work they did yesterday. It was very helpful at a time

[52:16] that it was needed and I could not step in and and I can't thank you two enough.

[52:20] Um Jeff Fiser um your work over at LC fine and trying to make keep that moving

[52:26] um with the airport. uh we're trying to avoid some situations of of gaining um

[52:33] easements or those kinds of things without spending a lot of the money and

[52:36] you you've stayed on that and helped out and I appreciate that and the work that

[52:40] you and your group are doing over there with the uh sewer spill. You've done a

[52:43] great job. Thank you very much. Um I do want to mention since MMO was brought up

[52:48] earlier that there's going to be a welcome to Oage Beach event on Monday. I

[52:52] don't know the se of during the uh MML event and I don't know the exact date.

[52:56] Is it the 10th? Does that sound right? >> 14th.

[52:59] » It's 14th. >> 14th. Thank you. I'm off a few days, but

[53:02] uh um I'm proud of what the that everyone has put together. And uh

[53:06] hopefully uh all the folks that might be out there from other cities will come. I

[53:10] think has anybody heard the latest? Do we are we over 100 yet?

[53:14] » 126. >> 126.

[53:16] » Just a few minutes ago and I looked. >> That is awesome. You guys did a great

[53:19] job. Thank you. Um I do want to thank Devon Lake for her service and wish her

[53:23] well in her next chapter. Um, and uh, we we'll be watching and hoping that she

[53:28] does great. And then last, I saved the best for last in April. Thank you for

[53:34] all you've been doing. Um, I look forward to working with you. Um, this

[53:37] city is in great hands and uh, can't thank you all enough for everything

[53:41] you've been doing recently and and all the years before that. So, thank you.

[53:45] With that said, that's all I have. There was an item on the agenda for executive

[53:49] session. There's no need for that at this time. So it

[53:54] » we what >> do we need it? Yeah, we need it.

[53:57] » I wasn't aware of that. I no one communicated to me. So I guess we're

[54:01] having executive session. So notice is given that agenda includes a roll call

[54:04] vote to close the meeting as allowed by RSMO section 610.021

[54:10] parenthesis 3 hiring, firing, disciplining, or promoting a particular

[54:14] employees by a public governmental body when personnel personnel information

[54:18] about the employees discussed or recorded. So, I need a motion.

[54:23] » Motion to go into executive session. >> Alderman Collins. Do I hear a second?

[54:27] » Second. >> Alderman George. Roll call, please.

[54:31] » Alderman Hoffman, >> yes.

[54:33] » Alman Rucker, >> yes.

[54:34] » Alderman McCay, yes. >> Alderman Collins, yes. Alman George,

[54:37] yes. Alman Ostein. >> All right, we'll move in executive

[54:41] session. Anybody needs a bio or something?

July 16, 2026, Regular Board of Aldermen Meeting

Transcript