[0:00] what Rory means because Tim said, "Are we voting on this tonight?" I said,

[0:03] "Well, Claire said, "We are, but then Rory said, "No, it doesn't." What he's

[0:07] saying is you vote on the proposed and then you don't pass the you pass the

[0:11] final without >> No, we adopt it tonight by resolution.

[0:15] So, we're going to vote on the resolution tonight.

[0:17] » And then what happened? Is it changeable?

[0:20] » That's not what >> Why are you asking about it? I don't

[0:25] understand. Because Tim asked me if they were voting last night and I said,

[0:32] I'm confused.

[0:57] I'm not really

[1:12] We're not

[1:17] sure.

[1:42] All right. 6:00

[2:01] second.

[2:04] Councilman Swanson. >> Yes, ma'am.

[2:06] » Councilman Brazzle. >> Councilman Hammond.

[2:09] » Councilman Elim. >> Yes.

[2:10] » Councilman Hollander. >> Yes.

[2:12] » Councilwoman York. >> Yes.

[2:13] » Councilman Baker. >> All right.

[2:19] » It didn't sound like it was working, but it was on.

[2:22] » No. All right. I'm going to go get my water, my glasses, my phone, all of it.

[7:50] testing.

[54:28] Excellent.

[54:57] » Excuse me.

[55:01] at the top of the top.

[55:05] » All right. So, with that, I would entertain a motion.

[55:08] » Uh, I make a motion to return um to uh open meeting.

[55:14] » Motion to second. >> All those in favor say I.

[55:18] » I. >> All those opposed.

[55:20] » All right. So, we are back out of the closed session. We will take a break

[55:24] until 7 [snorts] o'clock.

[55:29] Okay.

[55:41] Step outside.

[56:17] Look at this.

[56:24] So nice. >> I'm going to do this first.

[56:35] » How are you?

[56:44] » This this your number? Oh, it's a citizen.

[56:49] » It looks Yeah, you guys have good taste. >> Oh, yeah.

[56:54] That's funny. >> If you see your

[57:22] Yeah. Okay. Okay. Fair enough. >> Fair enough.

[57:28] » Fair enough. I will do that.

[57:36] » Well, I didn't put a whole lot.

[57:42] Yeah.

[58:01] » I got second building.

[58:21] All right, I'll do it. >> All right.

[58:32] I don't know if I have the due date on my

[58:42] » I'll cram it in

[58:56] Yeah.

[59:08] So I know

[59:13] my wife was

[59:21] I don't know whatever

[59:33] we going school day

[59:48] What about

[1:00:07] everything in

[1:00:17] else they were. I guess you can say,

[1:00:22] » "How's it going?" >> Oh, yeah.

[1:00:28] » You know what? >> I just got back from vacation. We were

[1:00:33] Northern Europe. >> Beautiful.

[1:00:36] » Yeah, I know. I could actually get a tan. That's what

[1:00:45] » No. No. It was sunny days. Yeah.

[1:01:00] » Yeah.

[1:01:04] » Yeah. We need that. Yeah,

[1:01:10] » they got some interesting >> analysis of the

[1:01:16] election.

[1:01:31] » Oh, no. I say I got some

[1:01:39] wonder

[1:01:52] that's what that's what the analyst I don't know how they come up with that.

[1:02:01] » So

[1:02:06] Yeah. >> Last day. That's where they used to let

[1:02:13] in.

[1:02:18] » $34,000. >> Yes. You came in from a certain period

[1:02:23] from Italy. >> Good evening everyone. Welcome to the

[1:02:28] Monday, August 31st, 2026 St. Charles County Council meeting. We will start

[1:02:33] tonight with an invocation. Uh Larry Rice is with us, the director of New

[1:02:38] Life Evangelistic Center. He's going to lead us in our prayer and our pledge of

[1:02:42] allegiance will be led by me. If you please stand and remove your caps.

[1:02:47] Larry, good to see you. >> Thank you. Good to see you.

[1:02:50] Father God, we're coming to you tonight asking you to open our eyes and our

[1:02:54] heart to the suffering in our communities. Lord, help us, Lord Jesus,

[1:02:58] to remember that you said as often we've done it to the least of these, even so,

[1:03:01] we've done it unto you. I thank you, Lord, for each one that is here. And I

[1:03:05] ask that you be with each one of the councilmen and women and the decisions

[1:03:09] they make. We ask you to guide and direct us. In Christ's name we pray.

[1:03:12] Amen. >> Amen.

[1:03:14] » Please join me in the pledge. Pledge algiance to the flag of the United

[1:03:18] States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under

[1:03:24] God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

[1:03:28] » Thank you. May be seated. Please call the role.

[1:03:30] » Councilman Swanson >> here, ma'am.

[1:03:32] » Councilman Brazzle >> here.

[1:03:33] » Councilman Hammond >> here.

[1:03:35] » Councilman Elum >> here.

[1:03:37] » Councilman Hollander >> here.

[1:03:38] » Councilwoman York >> here.

[1:03:39] » Councilman Baker >> here. Starting off tonight with

[1:03:42] conditional use permits. Starting with bill 5516.

[1:03:47] » Bill number 5516, an ordinance granting conditional use permit cup 26-05

[1:03:54] for years used automobile sales to 501 partnership, Kenneth C. Hawkins and

[1:04:00] Margaret J. Hawkins, Ronald S. Bowers and Ruth Anne Bowers property owner and

[1:04:05] Daniel Clelesner applicant. We had the presentation in public hearing uh three

[1:04:10] weeks ago and uh the record is now closed. Any final discussion on this?

[1:04:15] Seeing none, please call the role. >> Bill number 5516, an ordinance granting

[1:04:20] conditional use permit CUP26-05 for used automobile sales to 501

[1:04:26] Partnership. Kenneth C. Hawkins and Margaret J. Hawkins, Ronald S. Bowers

[1:04:30] and Ruth Anne Bowers, property owner, and Daniel Clener, applicant. Councilman

[1:04:35] Swanson. Yes, ma'am. >> Councilman Brazzle.

[1:04:38] » Yes. >> Councilman Hammond.

[1:04:39] » Yes. >> Councilman Elim.

[1:04:41] » Yes. >> Councilman Hollander.

[1:04:42] » Yes. >> Councilwoman York.

[1:04:43] » Yes. >> Councilman Baker.

[1:04:45] » Yes. >> Bill 5516 passes. That gets us to bill

[1:04:48] 5517. >> Bill number 5517, an ordinance granting

[1:04:53] conditional use permit cup26-06 for a landscaping contracting service to

[1:04:59] Theodore Hafner, property owner and applicant.

[1:05:02] » As with the last one, public hearing was 3 weeks ago. Public record is closed.

[1:05:06] Any final comments? Seeing none, please call the role.

[1:05:10] » Bill number 5517, an ordinance granting conditional use permit CUP26-06

[1:05:16] for a landscaping contracting service to Theodore Hefner, property owner and

[1:05:21] applicant. Councilman Brazzle, >> yes.

[1:05:24] » Councilman Hammond, >> yes.

[1:05:25] » Councilman Elum, >> yes.

[1:05:27] » Councilman Hollander, >> yes.

[1:05:29] » Councilwoman York, >> yes.

[1:05:30] » Councilman Baker, >> yes.

[1:05:32] » Councilman Swanson, >> yes, ma'am. Bill number 5517 passes. Up

[1:05:36] next is a public hearing on the 2027 to 2031.

[1:05:42] Wow. 2031 capital program and strategic plan.

[1:05:46] » Arie Dino. >> Uh I think before we do the public

[1:05:50] hearing part there, I think Mr. Summer is going to come up and he's going to do

[1:05:54] a presentation. Then >> we'll entertain Mr. Dino's comments.

[1:06:01] Claire, did you guys give us hard copies on this? Do we have them?

[1:06:05] » We can get one. >> Yes, I think everyone probably want one.

[1:06:09] » You should all should have received electronic copies once it's approved by

[1:06:13] the con county council. You will get a hard copy.

[1:06:16] » Well, can we get a hard copy before it's approved so they can read it?

[1:06:20] » Yes. >> Yeah. Okay.

[1:06:21] » Well, you're going to approve it this evening.

[1:06:24] » I thought we weren't approving it this evening.

[1:06:27] » We're voting on it tonight. >> Yeah. You're I'm sorry. You're approving

[1:06:30] the the plan this evening, but again, until the budget is finalized in two

[1:06:34] months time, I mean, again, it's a resolution of the council. So, the plan

[1:06:39] is just a plan until the budget is finalized in two months time.

[1:06:43] » To that point, it's important for everyone to understand what Mr. Summer's

[1:06:48] going to talk about the plan. We're going to have a public hearing on it.

[1:06:50] What's before the council tonight is a resolution which basically says we we

[1:06:56] saw the plan. Anything that's in there has to come back individually.

[1:07:02] Everything that's in there has to come back individually before the council and

[1:07:06] will be voted on individually. This is not a blanket approval of we're about to

[1:07:12] sign off on the next four years of everything. That is not what this is.

[1:07:15] Just to be clear, this is only a resolution that we're voting on tonight.

[1:07:20] » Everybody cool? >> Excellent. Mr. summer.

[1:07:24] » So, with that, I apologize. You guys are reading my notes already, but sorry

[1:07:27] about that. >> That's okay. Hey, this evening before

[1:07:29] you, you have the St. Charles County capital plan program and strategic plan

[1:07:33] for 2027 and the years that follow that. This currently is a five-year proposed

[1:07:39] capital plan that will not be fully funded in for the 27 year until the

[1:07:43] operating budget is approved by the county council later this year. The plan

[1:07:48] covers equipment maintenance upkeep, major repairs, and construction projects

[1:07:51] from 23 different funding sources for the 29 different county departments and

[1:07:57] 18 county buildings, the family arena, the highway sheds, emergency

[1:08:01] communication towers, and 19 current county parks. This is a $96 million plan

[1:08:07] for the calendar year 2027 as opposed to 89 million for the prior year 2026 and

[1:08:14] $105 million plan for the year 2025. Basically, the items in the plan that

[1:08:21] have a value of a million dollars or more include $1.8 $8 million for flood

[1:08:26] resiliency at the airport of which 95% will be reimbursed by the FAA,

[1:08:33] $5 million for the Henis Park Construction and Development,

[1:08:37] $1.5 million for the Heritage Museum Center Construction,

[1:08:42] $1 million for the National Equestrian Center for Repairs and Improvements,

[1:08:48] $6 million for the Pet Adoption Center at the National Equestrian Center, $5

[1:08:53] million for the Spring Bend Park phase 2 completion

[1:08:58] 1.2 million for the f finishing of two new courtrooms for the circuit courts

[1:09:04] $1 million to begin courthouse annexation renovations

[1:09:08] $7 million for the justice center phase three renovation $1.3 million ballot

[1:09:14] tubulation system for the election authority

[1:09:18] 1.4 4 million for the fleet vehicle replacement program,

[1:09:22] 1.3 million for the Microsoft licensing for Windows and Office 365,

[1:09:28] 1.4 million for the vehicle and equipment road and bridges, and once

[1:09:32] again, $40 million for transportation plan planning during the calendar year

[1:09:37] 27 for the road and bridge improvements and the maintenance. So, if there's any

[1:09:41] clarification needed, I know some of the department heads are in the house

[1:09:44] tonight. be glad to answer any questions you have, but once again, this is just a

[1:09:47] plan. It will not be funded until later this year.

[1:09:51] » Mr. Baker, I know we we cut 3 million out of the budget from uh capping the

[1:09:56] personal or removing the county's portion of the personal property tax. Is

[1:10:00] that a is that a correct amount? Was it about 3 million?

[1:10:04] » We removed 3 million. >> Are you talking about on road and

[1:10:08] bridge? >> Right.

[1:10:09] » Um >> can you pull that microphone down,

[1:10:12] please? Sorry.

[1:10:14] » Um, it's it's more than that. [clears throat]

[1:10:17] That's that's about our >> So, where is where where is that? I

[1:10:20] mean, >> that will be reflected when you get the

[1:10:22] operating budget in November. >> That's going to be the operating budget

[1:10:25] in November. Does not it's not it [clears throat] doesn't impact the

[1:10:28] capital budget. >> Does notffect the capital budget.

[1:10:30] » All right. Thank you. >> How much Oh, I'm sorry.

[1:10:33] » Go ahead. >> Um, so Mike, how much is in the next in

[1:10:37] the next year? What's in parks total? >> The parks total? I don't have the plan

[1:10:42] in front of me. Uh, Councilman York, do you have your hard copy with you

[1:10:45] tonight? >> 32 million.

[1:10:47] » 32 million is what I'm hearing out of the back

[1:10:50] » for just one year. >> The park says

[1:10:52] » for just one year.

[1:10:56] » Councilman Baker, is your put into this capital improvement?

[1:11:00] » No, that's that's that's something separate that would

[1:11:02] » Is that not supposed to be in here? Is that something different? That one

[1:11:05] that's the the road board what that was. But

[1:11:10] » um >> I'm just going to say that I'm not going

[1:11:12] to vote on this tonight because I was under impression that we we usually got

[1:11:15] hard copies. I always thought where we could look through it not after it voted

[1:11:20] on because how can we review it if we don't have hard copies prior to because

[1:11:24] you know it's it's how many pages and it's I'm just saying I mean you guys can

[1:11:28] vote for it but I'm not because um >> it was emailed out. I know I was out of

[1:11:32] town in the University of Oklahoma last meeting. I miss this meeting with my

[1:11:36] daughter. So that's why I missed it. But I I thought we would have had hard

[1:11:40] copies just to review. I might have to say it, but I'm not prepared. I'm just

[1:11:44] saying. >> Okay.

[1:11:45] » Yeah, >> we did this last year and I think it's

[1:11:48] the same way those of us who aren't used to doing it.

[1:11:52] » I like the hard copy to write on, but that comes later and uh we do it all by

[1:11:58] computer right now. >> Right.

[1:12:02] Any other questions? Yes, Mr. >> Yeah. So, you know, I I know I' I've

[1:12:06] brought this up to Rob and the highway department, but I I've looked through

[1:12:10] looked through the capital plan and I and I I've said this a lot and I know

[1:12:15] there's no no recourse at least right now. But we funded some storm water

[1:12:20] studies that people are getting flooded. Uh, I mean, every time it rains, it's

[1:12:25] it's pretty bad. And I'm not seeing any any avenue to to to try to address that.

[1:12:31] And so, that's that's my biggest concern about this capital plan. But, I mean, if

[1:12:35] we get another go at it back in November, that's fine. And and and

[1:12:39] that's what you're saying, right, Mike? Is that we get a I mean, we get another

[1:12:42] go at this in November. >> Anything that's proposed in the capital

[1:12:46] plan, they will come to us individually. This is showing you this is the proposed

[1:12:51] plan over the next four years. key proposed plan over the next four years.

[1:12:56] Anything that's in here, for example, the $22 million road projects, we are

[1:13:00] not approving $22 million in road projects tonight. It's just there is $22

[1:13:06] million in road projects over the next four years that are in this particular

[1:13:10] plan. Every one of those road projects like it has always been, every one of

[1:13:16] them has to come back to us for individual approval just like we do with

[1:13:22] this is not our budget that we are approving like we do in November,

[1:13:27] December. >> Every item in the capital plan will be

[1:13:30] included in the operating budget that [clears throat] you'll see later on this

[1:13:33] year >> and just

[1:13:34] » and you'll get that the first week of November. What I would like, I'm not

[1:13:36] saying we're going to fund it and this is I just like to see if if we were to

[1:13:40] fund these these specific problems that we have which Cinnamon Hills is 7

[1:13:45] million. I mean it's it's it's no it's not small change. I would just like to

[1:13:50] see how we go about doing how if you were to present us addressing it. I'd

[1:13:55] like to know what would be impacted. Is it the road? Is it slab repair? Is it

[1:13:59] you know and just I just would would like to see a plan. Now whether that

[1:14:04] plan gets adopted I just you know I just like

[1:14:06] » and all that detail will be included in the operating budget.

[1:14:09] » Thank you Pat. >> I remove myself but I I just want to

[1:14:13] reiterate that we will have time if we want to change something in this portion

[1:14:18] of it if we will be able to do that while we're doing the the whole budget.

[1:14:23] This is one part of the budget. This is the

[1:14:26] » this is a proposed proposed capital plan for the next four years. proposed

[1:14:32] capital plan for the next four years. This is not approving the capital plan

[1:14:37] for the next four years. >> But even if we want to change something

[1:14:40] in this plan, we can do it before when the when the budget

[1:14:46] » when they come before us, you will you will amend them before then.

[1:14:50] » Correct. >> Yes. Correct. And

[1:14:53] » Mr. Chairman, it's it's just like the the thing we do on the u uh on the

[1:14:58] property tax in April. we pass a resolution saying this is what we intend

[1:15:03] to do for our property tax but and we're required to do that by a resolution but

[1:15:10] then later on in the year we actually do

[1:15:14] approve it. So this this is the same sort of idea. I mean the whole idea of

[1:15:18] transparency, you know, uh this is this kind of give people an idea of what

[1:15:23] we're thinking of doing the next 5 years. Now whether we do any all all of

[1:15:27] it or any of it, it's going to be up to four people on sitting up there. And

[1:15:32] once the resolution is done and you get the hard copy, for those of you who want

[1:15:38] hard copies, if you have issues with anything that is in there, that's when

[1:15:43] you can start talking to the administration about revising something

[1:15:46] that you want done, adding something else that you want done. This again, I

[1:15:51] cannot stress enough this is not a finalization of a plan. Mr. Brazil,

[1:15:56] » I was just going to say for the record, I remember last year uh on the capital

[1:16:00] improvement plan, there was items on it that I didn't agree with and and I was

[1:16:05] told to me, well, you voted for it on the capital improvement plan, so it's

[1:16:09] harder for you to, you know, they thinking that you're going to back out.

[1:16:12] You know, well, you supported it once, so that's why when you guys are saying

[1:16:16] that um well, it's just a resolution doesn't really count. That will be said

[1:16:21] at the time we're talking about it. Well, you supported it once, so that's

[1:16:24] what I'm just I'm telling it was said last year. So, that's just for the

[1:16:28] record. You know, >> to be fair though, that was a capital

[1:16:31] improvement plan that we did approve and then the issue came up with an

[1:16:36] individual >> program that got done that was in the

[1:16:40] capital improvement plan. >> I'm not talking about Vegas. I'm talking

[1:16:43] about No, that was No, that's a different

[1:16:45] » Okay, fair enough. Any other Yes. Yes. And if I if I can just add one more

[1:16:49] thing, it's important that the county council look at this uh between now and

[1:16:53] then, but also we want to make sure the county council approves the resolution

[1:16:56] because the department heads need this information because their operating

[1:17:00] budgets, the first draft are due to the finance a week from Friday,

[1:17:06] which would include all the information in here.

[1:17:09] » Any other questions or comments? >> Thank you.

[1:17:12] » Sarcastic remarks. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Summer. Now, Mr. Dino,

[1:17:31] » this isn't a swearing in moment. It is not.

[1:17:34] » Okay. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, members of the county council. My name

[1:17:37] is Arie C, ACOV, county public advocate. First of all, because of the

[1:17:42] controversy, and I also was unaware that it was going to pop up on the agenda,

[1:17:47] um, but I did find out uh today that it was on there, and I did some background

[1:17:51] and some research, but I'd request Councilman Brazzle and Councilman Baker

[1:17:57] to u or continue the public hearing uh till the next uh September meeting of

[1:18:04] the county council. that would give additional fairness to the public to

[1:18:08] weigh in, to digest, to read the proposed capital improvement plan from

[1:18:13] 2027 to 2031. I think it's only the right thing to do in uh light of the

[1:18:20] circumstances. This is the first time I've heard the

[1:18:23] council actually have a few even a minute discussion about the capital

[1:18:27] improvement uh plan. Usually it's rubber stamped and passed through whatever is

[1:18:33] uh presented by department of finance and the county executive. It's usually

[1:18:37] rubber stamped and passed through without discussion, debate, factf

[1:18:42] finding and zero interaction on capital improvements. I think last year as

[1:18:47] counciloman Brazzle said the first year that there was some remote interaction

[1:18:52] and some discussion. These are not minute dollars we're talking about.

[1:18:57] These are hundreds of millions of dollars and they have uh a lot of

[1:19:01] ramifications and a lot of direction which I'll get into here in a moment. Uh

[1:19:06] but I would like to see a workshop, a number of workshops set up with the

[1:19:10] county council to actually have some interaction, discussion, debate, do some

[1:19:15] research, ask staff the in-depth questions because you have to be

[1:19:19] accountable and responsible for every dollar spent on the project. And I'll

[1:19:23] tell you one project at the election authority so far has failed us and I'm

[1:19:27] asking that the facility department hold that contractor accountable which I'll

[1:19:32] get into in a moment. So the first issue that I want to bring up is fleet

[1:19:36] management. Our county we are now 433 uh citizens and I believe that we have

[1:19:43] roughly uh over 500 vehicles uh countywide in terms of all departments.

[1:19:49] It's to the point where we need to establish and build our own fleet

[1:19:52] management uh department which we have two personnel in the department of

[1:19:57] finance but we need to actually be bringing the the work inhouse under roof

[1:20:03] like our some of our municipalities do. Uh the vehicle maintenance and repairs.

[1:20:09] Um we currently uh uh contract with Firestone is one that I know of for sure

[1:20:15] cuz I see county cars sitting out of Firestones, but I'll tell you what,

[1:20:19] they're in the business of make money and they're making 30 to 40% of what it

[1:20:23] would cost us actual cost to replace tires, brakes, uh oil changes, and do

[1:20:30] the maintenance and the proper uh things to keep our our fleet in top shape.

[1:20:36] So instead of paying that out uh with that additional profit, I think we need

[1:20:40] to have a plan to build our own fleet management facility. The city of Ofallen

[1:20:46] will be opening up their own fleet division and uh their own standing

[1:20:50] division uh a building uh in a couple months. We need to keep our vehicles

[1:20:56] longer. And what I mean by that is they are meticulously

[1:21:00] maintained uh probably better than any uh citizen across our county. They are

[1:21:07] maintained. We have record management that tells them when the oil changes

[1:21:10] due. And I can tell you from talking and interacting with county employees. If

[1:21:14] they don't get it in there on that date, fleet management is bothering or the

[1:21:17] fleet employees are bothering them to get it over to Firestone or to get it to

[1:21:21] the appropriate contractor. And they have low mileage. These vehicles that

[1:21:26] we're selling at the family arena, uh they have very low mileage.

[1:21:31] Transportation and planning department, uh they want a new vehicle this year. Uh

[1:21:35] they want $30,000 in the capital plan. And I think that that is ludicrous.

[1:21:40] They've never had a vehicle. Number one, uh they don't have one currently. And

[1:21:45] why can't we repurpose a used vehicle, a used police car or a used health car or

[1:21:51] assessor's car with low mileage? Why can't they access the fleet uh the fleet

[1:21:58] uh and check out a vehicle like the election authority does? Why do we have

[1:22:01] to go out and spend another $30,000 for another vehicle? So, I would ask that

[1:22:06] you ex that from the uh transportation and planning department.

[1:22:11] um the county corrections and holding facility uh across the street or down

[1:22:16] down the hill on Second Street. You know, that's a dinosaur building. That

[1:22:20] building was outfitted and built for a population of 150,000 actually a 100,000

[1:22:27] uh population and we have outgrown that building. But yet this county council

[1:22:31] and this administration uh mainly Joanne Lyum is pushing for 156 thousand 156

[1:22:39] million dollars to put in a dinosaur building that we could we have the land

[1:22:44] out on Tom Janever behind the county police and the emergency management

[1:22:48] agency and we could build the envy with top technology and the envy across the

[1:22:54] country for about 75 to $80 million a brand new facility. But we keep pumping

[1:22:59] this money into an old dinosaur down on Second Street that isn't even fit. And

[1:23:04] do we want our prison population to be in our downtown urban area of St.

[1:23:09] Charles City? So $156,000 over the next four years is a waste of

[1:23:15] money. We just floated a $50 million bond uh to pay for part of the

[1:23:20] renovations and I think we're just pouring it right down the drain. the

[1:23:25] county family arena, the cost uh of upkeep and maintenance keeps going up

[1:23:30] and up and up. As a matter of fact, in this fiscal year, you you want to spend

[1:23:35] another $1.3 million. It doesn't make a profit. I I know we keep hearing from

[1:23:40] Bob Schnear. It's his pet project. I think he wants to keep on to that

[1:23:44] because it gives him a consulting job at $7580 an hour when he's collecting

[1:23:49] loggers as a retired county director of assistant or assistant county director

[1:23:54] of administration. Funding and upgrades and replacement of

[1:23:58] the county equestrian center located in Lake St. Louis. Those studies that I've

[1:24:02] read state that we have to come up with 33 to $35 million.

[1:24:07] We have not discussed that. I've not heard the county council have any

[1:24:12] discussion or debate of where that over $30 million is going to come from. The

[1:24:17] Joanne and and Ryan Graham, the parks director, boy, they want to just stick

[1:24:21] it right down your throat and say you're going to do it and they think they got

[1:24:25] it in the bag. But I've heard no discussions of fiscal financial

[1:24:29] management of where the money and the funds are going to come from to pay for

[1:24:32] that funding and upgrades and or uh I'm sorry, funding for renovation of the St.

[1:24:37] Charles City Hall. As you all know, we took ownership of the city hall,

[1:24:41] including the parking garage. And again, those studies that I saw from St. St.

[1:24:46] Charles City of why they're abandoning that building and building a new city

[1:24:50] hall is it's going to take 30 to $35 million to retrofit and renovate that

[1:24:55] building. And so, again, we've had no discussions. All I've heard is Joanne

[1:25:00] like tell the courts people that we bought the building and don't worry

[1:25:05] about the money. We'll find the money. But I haven't heard it. You're the ones

[1:25:08] who are accountable for fiscal responsibility and fidiciary uh

[1:25:12] accountability. And I haven't heard a debate here before the county council.

[1:25:18] Uh the construction of the western animal control facility in western St.

[1:25:22] Charles County and I believe it's going to be in Lake St. Louis at the

[1:25:26] equestrian park. Uh from the figures that I've seen that the the county's

[1:25:31] needs and and wants, it's going to be5 to 7 million. And I think I heard our

[1:25:36] director of finance uh state that it's going to cost uh $6 million to build

[1:25:41] that uh shelter. Again, I've heard no one not one ounce of iota of where the

[1:25:48] funds are coming from because guess what? The people behind me and our

[1:25:51] citizens are sick and tired of tax increases and we don't want another tax

[1:25:55] increase, another burden on our shoulders. Building and opening up of

[1:26:00] the park in the city of St. Paul on Hackman Road. We've owned that property

[1:26:03] for I'm gonna say 15 years now uh from Babe

[1:26:09] Hackman. When are we ever going to open up that park to the public? It's a

[1:26:13] beautiful piece of property. It's got a lake on it. Uh, I believe there's not

[1:26:17] much that needs to be done to open it up, but yet it's sitting there in

[1:26:21] reserve, not being open to the public because Babe Hatton, as part of her will

[1:26:26] said to the county that she wanted that to be a public park, and you are not

[1:26:30] honoring her wishes when you took on that responsibility of that park. Why

[1:26:34] Ryan Graham and the parks board is sitting on that property, it needs to be

[1:26:39] discussed. And I ask that you finish the other half

[1:26:43] of the parking lot improvements of our county election authority facility off

[1:26:47] of Missouri 79. I ask that you correct the flooding

[1:26:51] issue, which the flooding issue has flooded now 34 of the handicap

[1:26:55] accessible parking spots with unresolved contract obligations that still are not

[1:27:01] done by the current contractor. You know, I asked Steve Elman and Steve

[1:27:05] Elman worked out with the county uh counselor because county counselor gave

[1:27:09] me a hard time about seeing the plan to that parking facility cuz I worked it

[1:27:13] with the presidential election trying to get people as fast through the the

[1:27:17] process [clears throat] as we could and park them. And not once did county

[1:27:22] facilities contact the employees of the election authority and ask what would

[1:27:26] work and what doesn't work. I've asked to see those plans. I've been to

[1:27:29] Christine's office at least twice asking to see those plans and they still

[1:27:34] haven't gotten back to me when I can come and see the plans. So, if somebody

[1:27:38] can make that happen, I'd love to see that uh uh go to fruition.

[1:27:44] Councilman Baker brought up flood water, surface water control, M4 guidelines at

[1:27:49] the state and county level requirements, catch basins, erosion control, and

[1:27:54] neighborhood mitigation. We have uh in our county six watersheds

[1:27:59] that crisscross and go into several municipalities and villages in

[1:28:04] unincorporated neighborhoods. We need to look and present this project as a

[1:28:09] countywide issue. You know, we need to either form some type of uh um uh board

[1:28:16] or commission to look into these issues. We need to stop flooding our

[1:28:21] neighborhoods. We need to look at development and responsible growth in

[1:28:25] our county from west, east, south, and north. Water is a real big issue here.

[1:28:31] We need to address this issue from a regional and a county perspective

[1:28:35] because we are being surrounded. We are surrounded by the Missouri River, the

[1:28:39] Mississippi River, and the Quiver River. And so, uh, we really need to look at

[1:28:44] each watershed. We shouldn't be looking at it from municipality by municipality,

[1:28:49] which some of them have a half cent sales tax, directing it towards those

[1:28:53] issues. We need to look at it as a regional county issue. And I think

[1:28:57] citizens are tired of it being put on the back burner after the back burner,

[1:29:02] year after year after year, because guess what? It's getting worse and

[1:29:05] worse. St. Charles City hit a 1,000-year flood for the last three times this

[1:29:11] summer in June and July. And one house flooded two or three times. The same

[1:29:16] house in a neighborhood in St. Charles. If you look at the footage on TV with

[1:29:21] the news media, there were cars where the water was all the way up to their

[1:29:25] doors. We have to solve our flood issue and our flood mitigation issues and have

[1:29:30] better retention and detention uh structures and capital improvements and

[1:29:36] comply with the M4 regulations. County road projects, you know, it

[1:29:43] depends on who you are, what your political muscle is, what type of power

[1:29:48] you have or access to cover to county government is how you get funded through

[1:29:52] the county roadboard. I'm opposed to funding and paying for private roads for

[1:29:57] mercy complexes in both the city of Wville and the city of Ofallen which

[1:30:02] will cost approximately $3.5 million in each entity. We should not be paying for

[1:30:09] a private hospital that makes hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of profits

[1:30:15] and is a 401c3 designated uh not for-profit

[1:30:19] corporation. They have to spend down certain funds to be in compliance with

[1:30:24] federal uh uh federal treasury or revenue codes and they can't keep a lot

[1:30:31] of assets. So, they have the money to build these roads on their own

[1:30:34] initiative. But no, they're crying poor to county government and to the county

[1:30:38] roadboard uh road board. And I'm asking when it comes to this county council

[1:30:42] that you defeat each one of those projects in the city of Ofallen and the

[1:30:47] city of Wville and tell Mercy that they have the hundreds of millions of dollars

[1:30:51] in their coffers to pay for that $3.35 million road on their own initiative.

[1:30:59] Springbend Park phase one uh I and I know Councilman Baker uh started the

[1:31:05] initiative. I'm backing and supporting him 100%. It's about public safety and

[1:31:10] keeping families off the roadways. There was a presentation made last week which

[1:31:14] I uh was at the county road board asking for a sidewalk and a multi-use uh path

[1:31:21] and I guess there was resistance at that county roadboard and I'm not so sure

[1:31:26] it's going to get passed. And I would ask and challenge Councilman Baker to to

[1:31:31] with every threshold of his being to stand his ground, dig his feet into the

[1:31:36] [snorts] sand, and ask that that puts gets put into the capital improvement

[1:31:40] plan this year. I didn't see Ryan Graham at that meeting, but I did see the

[1:31:45] county uh engineer at that meeting and I don't think he's really thrilled about

[1:31:48] doing that project. It's about the safety of our residents and our families

[1:31:53] to be off of the streets walking to this major uh park that we're getting ready

[1:31:59] to open up and it's pending before the county road and I would ask that we get

[1:32:03] that into the capital improvement project.

[1:32:05] » Mr. Dino, I appreciate you walking us through every item there, but we've got

[1:32:10] a lot of people who want to speak tonight. Can you get to the end of it,

[1:32:14] please? I'm just trying to be considerate of everyone else who's

[1:32:18] standing behind. I understand I'm coming to that point. Thank you. So, just to

[1:32:22] sum it up, our building upgrades for just 2027 is $13,315,000.

[1:32:29] Our road and bridge construction is $40,400,000.

[1:32:33] And so, I'm not sure what the definition is. If finance could more uh put those

[1:32:37] parameters out between now and the next two weeks, classification summarized by

[1:32:42] year. What is that classification? What exactly does that word mean in

[1:32:46] terms of our capital improvement plan? Funding source summarized by year and

[1:32:51] I'm just going through the highlights. Mr. Chairman, capital projects are going

[1:32:55] to be $4,341,000. The family arenas is uh $1,227,000.

[1:33:02] Park use tax is $32,452,000.

[1:33:07] And transportation and planning is $40,230,000.

[1:33:13] And finally, I just want to re reiterate what I stated that I would ask

[1:33:17] Councilman Baker or Councilman Brazzle to please continue the public hearing to

[1:33:22] allow citizens to weigh in between now and the next meeting and that you

[1:33:26] schedule a workshop session to talk about in depth about these issues

[1:33:30] because you're well paid a public salary, pension, and expenses. And I

[1:33:35] think that the public deserves to hear the debate of these hundreds of millions

[1:33:39] of dollars worth of projects that we're getting ready to spend over the next

[1:33:42] four years. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Next week,

[1:33:45] » that's the only [applause] speaker card I got. I don't know if there's anyone

[1:33:47] else. >> Anyone else to speak in the public

[1:33:51] hearing? Seeing none, that will close the public

[1:33:54] hearing for the uh capital program and strategic plan. Uh with that, I would

[1:34:00] entertain a motion. Yeah, I'd like to make a motion to move the oral report

[1:34:04] from the county executive off in front of public comments. Do I have a second

[1:34:09] there? >> Have a motion. Do I have a second?

[1:34:11] Second. All those in favor say I. >> Any opposed?

[1:34:15] » Okay. >> Mr. County Executive

[1:34:18] M. >> Sir, we

[1:34:23] just public comment still happening. We didn't Yeah, we just switched.

[1:34:27] » It didn't go away. >> Yeah, we just switched it.

[1:34:29] » We just flipped them. You're all good. I know you've been waiting patiently. I

[1:34:33] appreciate that. >> Two years.

[1:34:36] » Yeah, Mr. Executive. >> I'd like to um

[1:34:41] ask the uh chief of police to go ahead and uh give the report for me tonight.

[1:34:47] » Chief Chief FZ, >> he's coming. And

[1:34:51] » I think he's brought some other folks with him as well if they'd like to be

[1:34:54] available. It's up to him.

[1:35:01] So, what what I wanted to bring your attention, I know you saw it in the

[1:35:03] media [clears throat] several weeks ago, just a few weeks ago, uh during an audit

[1:35:07] of the license plate reader system, we found a uh an employee, one of our users

[1:35:11] that had uh unusual amount of uh inquiries into the license plate reader

[1:35:16] system. So we immediat when it was brought to my attention we immediately

[1:35:19] took u uh initiated internal affairs investigation uh suspended that user's

[1:35:25] access to the system and as well as all the other databases that she had access

[1:35:29] to until we completed our investigation. Um immediately it placed that employee

[1:35:33] on unpaid leave of absence while the investigation played out. Um

[1:35:37] simultaneous to that we I initiated a criminal investigation. and I outsourced

[1:35:41] that to another agency. So there was a outside look and transparent look at it

[1:35:45] and that investigation continues today. Uh subsequently to that the employee

[1:35:50] opted to resign. Uh so I think the message is here and that'll be presented

[1:35:55] that case will be presented to prosecuting attorneys at some point in

[1:35:58] time uh in the next few weeks. Uh I think the message is uh with all the

[1:36:02] news around license plate reader systems is the system worked. Uh we conducted an

[1:36:06] audit. We we found uh something that didn't look right. We dug into it. We

[1:36:10] took immediate action. So, uh, we also did a more comprehensive audit into all

[1:36:15] of our users and found no other unauthorized inquiries into the system.

[1:36:20] » Happy to answer any questions. >> Any question?

[1:36:22] » All the flock cameras have been cancelled and you guys bagged them all.

[1:36:26] » Yeah, the 29 flock cameras we had have been uh the legal council has sent

[1:36:31] notice to flock that we're discontinuing that and uh those were bags were placed

[1:36:35] over those cameras. And you pointed out there's 125 private flock cameras in St.

[1:36:42] Charles County. >> Yeah, there's uh the fusion folks

[1:36:44] advisor there are fusion folks the Rick folks advis there's about 125 over 200

[1:36:50] flocks camera systems in the county still municipal and private and 125 of

[1:36:56] those or so are privately owned >> which you have no control over the

[1:37:00] county. >> No, we have no control of that. No

[1:37:03] » no [clears throat] >> any other question Mr. Yeah, Chief, how

[1:37:07] are you going to uh assure the the the residents of St. Charles County that

[1:37:11] something like this isn't going to happen again?

[1:37:13] » Well, so, uh, prior to all this happening, we were already in the

[1:37:16] process of reviewing and editing, updating our audit, uh, policies and

[1:37:20] procedures for all of our, uh, criminal justice data systems to include license

[1:37:24] plate readers. Uh, so all this kind of happened at the same time, but um, I

[1:37:29] think this proved that it works. And while you always hope to be able to head

[1:37:33] off a problem, I think the earlier you can identify the problem and eliminate

[1:37:37] it uh the better. So while we were able to do that in this case after uh many

[1:37:42] many uh unauthorized inquiries were made into the system, we would have liked to

[1:37:47] caught it sooner and I think in the future with our our updated practices uh

[1:37:50] I think we'll be able to do that. And I think u I said really my message is that

[1:37:54] uh we held ourselves accountable in this case. uh we brought it out to the to the

[1:37:58] public to the media uh to let them know that hey we we found this despite all

[1:38:01] the bad news out there we found it uh we hold ourselves accountable and we'll

[1:38:04] continue to do that >> and the difference between the Genex is

[1:38:08] that what you call them >> genetex

[1:38:11] you're owned by the county resident >> yeah we have Genitech license plate

[1:38:14] readers and uh they are owned the camera is owned by the county the data is on

[1:38:18] our server in our cloud uh there's no third party vendor involved in that

[1:38:24] » and chief you might also So explain that there's um a a control on the front end

[1:38:30] when somebody asks for data. >> Yeah. So we've really restricted a

[1:38:33] number of uh users uh in the county to just the investigative elements of the

[1:38:37] police department and uh the the Rick as I call it the regional information

[1:38:41] intelligence center which were partners with the St. Louis County. It's a

[1:38:44] real-time crime center. When they need to look up historical data uh they have

[1:38:48] to call the Rick and they have to give the justification the reason why they

[1:38:51] need this this information. uh there's either going to be a report number or

[1:38:55] case number or something associated with that. So that gets logged in so that

[1:38:58] right away there's two people talking. There's one asking questions, there's

[1:39:01] one justifying before the information is even provided and that's to our

[1:39:04] detectives and investigators. >> Any other questions?

[1:39:10] » Yes, sir. >> Mr. Executive.

[1:39:14] » Yeah. Uh, Chief, uh, one other thing, the the cameras that we now have,

[1:39:20] including the the flock cameras we got rid of, they they were all on rightway.

[1:39:25] They were not on anybody's public anybody's private property.

[1:39:28] » The existing license plate readers that we have with the Genitech brand are all

[1:39:32] on public rideway. >> They're all on public rideway. They're

[1:39:35] not on private property. But there are other private individuals can have these

[1:39:41] cameras, but we have no control. HOAs, a lot of the retail stores, you'll see uh

[1:39:44] you'll see license plate readers there, mostly flocks. Uh that's what the HOAs

[1:39:48] get. That's what most of the retail shops get.

[1:39:51] » So So it would be up to them if they want to get rid of those. It would be up

[1:39:56] to other cities if they want to get rid of their flock cameras, but we've gotten

[1:40:00] rid of the 29 that we controlled. >> Correct.

[1:40:03] » Okay. Thank you. >> Any other?

[1:40:08] » Seeing none. Thank you, Chief. We appreciate it. Anything else?

[1:40:12] » No, sir. >> Uh, with that, that'll wrap up our oral

[1:40:16] report from the county executive. We'll go back to public [clears throat]

[1:40:19] comments. So, public comments uh tonight are 3 minutes each. Uh, the camera is in

[1:40:25] the camera. Gee, the uh clock is in front of Mr. Swanson there. Um, that

[1:40:30] will countdown when it gets to zero. I will thank you for speaking and we will

[1:40:34] move on to the next speaker. Normally we do three, four, three against on an

[1:40:40] issue, but I understand tonight um the issue that we just talked about has got

[1:40:44] a lot of attention. So we're going to allow more speakers tonight just to

[1:40:48] allow everybody the opportunity to speak. So our first speaker is

[1:40:51] » is Larry Rice regarding the pet adoption facility fund.

[1:40:56] » Welcome Reverend Rice.

[1:41:01] » Thank you for this uh opportunity. I believe that the time has come that

[1:41:06] perhaps the council will benefit by getting to know some of our growing

[1:41:09] numbers of homeless individuals in St. Louis County which actually we've see

[1:41:13] that the number have tripled within the last 3 years. The reason I bring that up

[1:41:18] is because we do have one pet adoption center. Now we're spending money for a

[1:41:21] second pet adoption center and we don't have a single shelter for human beings.

[1:41:25] And what we're looking for is equal protection under the law for the human

[1:41:28] beings getting the same consideration that the dogs do. What I have tonight

[1:41:32] with me is an individual that had no other place to go. He was in St. Peters,

[1:41:36] Missouri. He's going to speak to you just for a few minutes to help

[1:41:39] personalize some of the issues that growing numbers of individuals in St.

[1:41:43] Louis County are facing. And that is homelessness. There's some 9,000

[1:41:47] individuals in this county that are one paycheck away from being homeless. The

[1:41:50] number continues to grow each day. Often people don't consider those who are

[1:41:55] without a house until they find themselves in a similar situation. We're

[1:41:59] seeing those numbers grow rapidly each day. Many of those that we now have in

[1:42:03] St. Louis have come from St. Charles County. Uh some of that is described

[1:42:07] here about the growing numbers of people that are [clears throat] homeless. Our

[1:42:10] newspaper that has been made available to you. We have outreach teams that go

[1:42:14] throughout the city finding many of these anywhere from uh as these unhoused

[1:42:20] individuals that they deal with come from all over the region and

[1:42:23] homelessness is a regional issue. But I believe that St. Louis County has I mean

[1:42:27] St. Charles County has some unprecedented opportunities to make a

[1:42:30] big difference. For example, at the intersection of Highway 40 and 70,

[1:42:35] there's actually a 240 bed nursing home that uh is has been on the market for a

[1:42:40] number of years that Mayor Nick of Winssville introduced us to. And also um

[1:42:45] we will prepare the architectural plans for an 80 bed shelter with no cost to

[1:42:49] the county and try to present that to you in future meetings. But I believe

[1:42:53] it's absolutely essential that we take into consideration our fellow human

[1:42:56] beings hurting at this particular time. When we only see them on street corners

[1:43:00] or we only see them out there in an impersonal way, it's easy for us to

[1:43:03] develop negative conclusions about these individuals. Homeless are some of the

[1:43:07] most discriminated group of individuals in our country today. Often people will

[1:43:11] think of them as drug addicts, alcoholics. There are some of that that

[1:43:14] have fallen in the ranks of that, but many are women, children, men that have

[1:43:19] lost their jobs, and quite a few numbers of individuals with mental uh issues

[1:43:24] that we continue to see the state cut back its mental health programs. And so,

[1:43:28] as a result, individuals are struggling at this particular time. And again, I'd

[1:43:32] like to have you in a few minutes hear from one of those individuals. And we

[1:43:36] hope to continue to share with you as you explore the provisions for the

[1:43:40] future of St. Charles County to please include the unhoused. It's absolutely

[1:43:45] essential that the unhoused citizens of St. Charles County have a shelter.

[1:43:49] There's no shelter at all in this community. The animals have one now.

[1:43:52] They're going to get a second one. I'm pleading with you to please consider the

[1:43:55] human beings. >> Thank you, sir.

[1:43:58] » Brandon Smith.

[1:44:02] » Brandon Smith. [clears throat]

[1:44:08] » My name is Brandon Smith. I was working a full-time job and living with my dad

[1:44:12] in St. Peters. I was fired from my job because of my mental illness. And a few

[1:44:17] days later, my dad had to be hospitalized and then put in a nursing

[1:44:20] home. I couldn't afford the rent and soon found myself homeless. It was

[1:44:24] awful. I found myself begging from fast food places and ended up getting

[1:44:28] trespassed from a few of them. I was so desperate, I stole food from a 7-Eleven

[1:44:32] and ended up getting a stealing charge. I slept under pavilions and unparked

[1:44:37] benches. The police were constantly telling me to move. I finally ended up

[1:44:42] in a crisis center in Wsville. The best they could do is drop me off at a men's

[1:44:46] shelter in St. Louis that was already full. I ended up following a homeless

[1:44:50] man back to his tent community where I stayed for a few days. And that's where

[1:44:54] I had to hang out. And one day in St. Louis, I went to a McDonald's to get

[1:44:58] some shelter from the rain. I ended up getting mugged there and put in a

[1:45:02] hospital. And thankfully my mom showed up and uh told me about the program, the

[1:45:08] New Life Evangelistic Center program, and that saved my life. Gave me food,

[1:45:13] sheltered, helped me with my medication, and helped me get to court. I thank God

[1:45:16] every day for such a wonderful program. If St. Charles County had a shelter for

[1:45:21] humans, and not only for dogs, I would not have ended up in St. Louis. I'm

[1:45:26] asking you for the sake of hundreds who still remain homeless in St. Charles

[1:45:30] County to please recognize our needs and open a shelter for homeless human

[1:45:33] beings. >> Thank you, sir. [applause]

[1:45:40] » Jake Jackson regarding flock cameras.

[1:45:47] Good evening, members of the council. Uh, tonight I'm here to once again speak

[1:45:51] about the issue of flock cameras. The last time I spoke before you on this

[1:45:54] issue was back in May. And since then, the public outcry against these cameras

[1:45:58] has grown undeniably exponentially. When I spoke, I talked about how such a

[1:46:02] surveillance system could be misused. And now, just this month, our worst

[1:46:06] fears have been realized. This month, the chief of police discovered that a

[1:46:09] civilian employee uh made unpermitted searches of the flock surveillance data.

[1:46:15] Since then, the chief has dis discontinued the use of the county's

[1:46:18] flock hammers and has terminated the employee. I'd like to commend how the

[1:46:21] chief responded to the situation and I support his decision to discontinue the

[1:46:25] flock cameras. As a constitutional conservative, this

[1:46:29] is exactly why I believe that we have a constitution in the first place. Our

[1:46:32] founders recognize that if you don't put handcuffs on government, flawed human

[1:46:36] beings will always resort to testing limits of power to their own ends at the

[1:46:40] expense of others. We were told by the county, quote, "We control the system

[1:46:44] and we were assured that there were safeguards in place, but the breach

[1:46:47] happened anyways." That's why I've always supported a complete ban on

[1:46:51] government using these kinds of cameras in the first place that could track and

[1:46:54] log the movements of law-abiding citizens. And I do not believe that

[1:46:58] implementing quote common sense safeguards is the answer.

[1:47:02] Government simply should not have access to such a powerful tool that allows us

[1:47:05] to surveil, track, or log the movements of law-abiding citizens. Pure and

[1:47:09] simple. Citizens can't possibly consent to it. I don't consent to it. It's been

[1:47:14] reaffirmed through numerous Supreme Court cases, including a new case over

[1:47:17] the summer since I last spoke, Chhatri versus United States, where the Supreme

[1:47:21] Court ruled that accessing the location history of a citizen through a third

[1:47:25] party constitutes a fourth amendment search and therefore requires a warrant.

[1:47:30] That's why I've drafted a bill that would uh prohibit government from using

[1:47:33] cameras capable of identifying, logging, or tracking the movements of law-abiding

[1:47:37] citizens. And since my last speech, I've gathered 1300 online signatures and I

[1:47:42] have in my hand right here the physical signatures of 300 legal adult residents

[1:47:46] of St. Charles County and support of prohibiting government use of flock

[1:47:50] cameras. And I'm also proud to have the support and signature of Congressman Bob

[1:47:53] Bonder as well. This isn't about banning a brand. It's about prohibiting

[1:47:58] government from using sophisticated cameras that could track citizens.

[1:48:01] Privacy is a concern, but privacy is a pretty broad issue. The issue here is

[1:48:05] government uh capturing citizen location history and passively storing that

[1:48:09] information in a database without consent or even a warrant. Now is the

[1:48:12] time to restore public trust by abolishing the use of these kinds of

[1:48:16] cameras. We can keep our communities safe without violating their god-given

[1:48:20] rights. Mass surveillance does not make St. Charles a great place to live. Stand

[1:48:24] with your constituents in the Constitution and get rid of these

[1:48:27] cameras now. Get rid of them now. Thank you. Thank you. [applause]

[1:48:36] Paul Paul Cruz.

[1:48:45] Well, thank you for letting us speak. I have a homeless ministry

[1:48:51] [clears throat] in West St. Charles County around Wville and Fallon and Lake

[1:48:56] St. Louis for about 21 years. I'm here with Larry Rice. Uh, I get 15 to 30

[1:49:03] calls for help from the homeless every day, even on weekends. So, I'm here to

[1:49:10] tell you that that there is a bad problem with the homeless.

[1:49:16] We have We're like the uh first responders and safety net for the

[1:49:21] homeless. We're the only agency that has an emergency shelter for the homeless.

[1:49:29] I mean, all these other agencies, they don't have emergency shelters, but

[1:49:33] we use motel rooms for emergency shelters because there's unlimited

[1:49:39] supply of motel rooms. They're just expensive.

[1:49:43] We we have to pay $65 a night or $400 a week uh to put homeless in there. And

[1:49:49] sometimes we get two people, sometimes they get we had a family with nine kids,

[1:49:56] 11 people had to buy for I had to buy two rooms for that family. We helped

[1:50:01] [clears throat] them. They finally got to their own place.

[1:50:05] But just to give you an example of the misery and the terrible situations, I

[1:50:11] got a call from a lady. She said uh her husband just beat her up.

[1:50:15] She has three kids in her car. They were crying.

[1:50:21] She was crying.

[1:50:24] And I had no idea what was going to happen. But I told her, I said, "Just go

[1:50:28] to the motel and we'll get you stabilized. We try to stabilize them

[1:50:31] with food, clothes, little transportation, cell phones, and we'll

[1:50:36] we'll try to figure something out." So I called a abused woman's shelter, and

[1:50:41] they just had one lady move out, so she was able to move in. was a huge fine. I

[1:50:46] mean, unbelievable situations and we're just drowning and homeless. There's 750

[1:50:51] homeless people walking around in these three counties right now on the street.

[1:50:57] Can you just imagine sleeping out outside in the woods on a rock on the

[1:51:01] ground? You have a rock for a pillow, no food, nobody to help you. I mean, it's

[1:51:06] awful. And Larry's trying to get something going with some buildings and

[1:51:10] some beds for these people because we just can't afford our car our calls will

[1:51:15] double or have doubled and in the last few months. I don't know what's

[1:51:20] happening but uh we just we just can't afford to help all these people and

[1:51:24] we're trying [clears throat] and we just somehow we need help with more rooms and

[1:51:29] uh just more people to help also. Thank you and God bless.

[1:51:34] » Thank you.

[1:51:38] Jonathan Hansel.

[1:51:51] The government on every level, federal, state, and local, has the duty to

[1:51:56] protect the rights of citizens and primarily today the right to privacy.

[1:52:03] I've never interacted with my local government before other than voting and

[1:52:08] paying taxes, of course. Um, that's how important this is to me.

[1:52:15] I think we don't install a camera to watch everyone everywhere and then

[1:52:22] demand that it has reasonable safeguards.

[1:52:27] On my commute uh from my house to here, I'm tracked by no less than 11 flock

[1:52:35] cameras. I don't think my commute needs three times the number of cameras that

[1:52:39] are in this room. That's that's primarily what I wanted to

[1:52:45] talk about. But u I also wanted to echo Larry Rice's call for uh a homeless

[1:52:52] shelter. Uh Larry Rice's ministry actually saved my sister's life. Uh he

[1:52:58] doesn't know. I haven't told him yet, but on multiple occasions, he saved my

[1:53:04] sister's life. And I'd like to see lives saved here in this

[1:53:09] county, too. Thank you. >> Thank you,

[1:53:14] [applause]

[1:53:17] » Brian Kramer.

[1:53:27] Good evening everybody. Um, just for clarification, this is my first time

[1:53:30] talking in form a group and I'm shouting out to Smok and Scan for teaching me how

[1:53:34] to interact with the county. Uh, appreciate the sheriff over there and

[1:53:39] your transparency is very good. Uh, Patty, your district is St. Charles,

[1:53:44] correct? Particularly McNair Park. Is that correct?

[1:53:47] » Part of it. >> And Terry, yours is St. Peters. Um,

[1:53:50] Shatter Creek Drive. Okay, great. Just so everybody knows where we're at. So,

[1:53:55] [snorts] I have a lot of issues going on. And my biggest

[1:54:01] ask is to ban all AI recording surveillance in St. Charles County. This

[1:54:06] is the board that can do that. Like you said, you shut it down. That's great. I

[1:54:10] had to pass five cameras to get here that are not covered. So, I'm still in

[1:54:15] the system. Why that's a problem for me is I agree with Bernie Sanders right now

[1:54:20] and his views on totalitarianism. You can read his comments that he made

[1:54:24] about flock cameras, but please do not be

[1:54:28] fooled by its flock. It's not flock. There are a dozen of these companies.

[1:54:32] Axen, the what was the one with the G? Um,

[1:54:36] » yes, exactly. There are a lot of these out there. So, I'm not going to cover

[1:54:40] everybody because I got what a minute 47. Patty, my research shows that you

[1:54:44] guys have a data center that has launched off, according to what we can

[1:54:49] know, 78 Oh, no, I'm sorry, not 78. 72 requests which come from Thornton,

[1:54:55] Colorado, Saratoga, Buffalo, New York, uh, Craraven County, North Carolina,

[1:55:00] Savannah, Georgia. That's just some of them. Unfortunately, Terry, yours is way

[1:55:04] worse right now. 78 requests, 71 of them have been from out of state that we know

[1:55:09] of. Please look this information up. This isn't a local issue. This is an

[1:55:15] issue that affects all of us. So I beg of you, please, for my children, for

[1:55:19] your children, for everybody who feels uncomfortable, please, please, please

[1:55:25] set some kind of county standard to protect our citizens. I appreciate all

[1:55:30] of you and I respect all of you, but you are our voice and I need your voice for

[1:55:36] my kids. Please, thank you all.

[1:55:44] Brandon Dhy.

[1:55:52] Good evening, council. Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. Uh my name

[1:55:56] is Brandon Dy. I live right off of Brian Road in Ofallen. And I'm here tonight to

[1:56:00] relay a message from a lot of folks out that way who don't want to be surveiled

[1:56:03] every time they leave their house. It's not that we're doing something wrong.

[1:56:06] It's just that it's none of your business where my family goes when we

[1:56:08] leave our house. We as citizens have heard all the arguments that were

[1:56:12] already being tracked on our phones and inside stores, this and that. And sure,

[1:56:15] some of that might be true, but those are choices that we make. What we didn't

[1:56:18] sign up for was our whereabouts to be shared with the government every time we

[1:56:21] leave the house with the police having a pattern of my way of living saved on a

[1:56:25] server without a warrant. They'll say, "But Brandon, if you're not doing

[1:56:28] anything wrong, what's to worry about? If you're not if you're not doing

[1:56:31] anything wrong, you should have nothing to hide." Well, I'm old enough to

[1:56:33] remember 6 years ago in 2020 when going to a park, an entity owned by the

[1:56:37] taxpayers, was a crime. When gathering indoors for a church service, was a

[1:56:40] crime and having a funeral for a loved one was a crime. So, yeah, right now I

[1:56:44] might not be doing doing anything wrong, but what's right and wrong can change

[1:56:47] with who's in office. So, forgive me for not wanting the system in place in in

[1:56:51] case we decide that simply living our lives is a crime. Again, when creating

[1:56:55] government power, the question isn't what should this be used for, it's

[1:56:59] what's the worst it could be used for. And like we've seen right now, we

[1:57:02] already have certain abuses that have caused cameras within the county to be

[1:57:05] bagged. And I'm not saying that these cameras have never helped solve any

[1:57:09] crime, but there's no evidence to show that they really help lower crime rates.

[1:57:13] And even a study done in St. Louis that shows that there was no decrease in

[1:57:17] crime from having these cameras in place. I'm saying that these cameras are

[1:57:20] an inherent danger to Liberty and that this council ought to be proactive in

[1:57:24] protecting its citizens uh and review the contract with Flock under the lens

[1:57:28] of privacy and protection when considering future ALPR systems. And to

[1:57:32] think that these cameras could never be used for nefarious purposes means you

[1:57:36] need a history lesson. Thank you, [applause]

[1:57:43] » Corey Shers.

[1:57:51] Well, good evening everybody. I'm here to beat a dead horse as well. The the

[1:57:55] idea of technology and surveillance, I think of the Benjamin Franklin thing.

[1:57:59] Those, you know, who sacrifice liberty for safety deserve neither. So to me,

[1:58:03] when you do a flock camera, when I leave my house, you put me in a fishbowl. And

[1:58:06] I didn't ask for that. When you said about the cell phone technology that

[1:58:10] might be there, I didn't ask for that either. They just put that on you. I

[1:58:12] don't have a choice to opt out cuz I guarantee it not one person in this room

[1:58:15] has read a EULA of 72 pages just from Apple alone when you sign up for your

[1:58:20] phone and they're tracking you. The other thing about this whole this whole

[1:58:24] thing about this is if you look at crime in totality I was just looking at the

[1:58:28] FBI crime statistics there's 35 last year there was there was 14,000

[1:58:33] murders. It doesn't solve those and it even admits to that. There was like over

[1:58:37] last year um they said 7% of crime in the United States there's 350 million

[1:58:43] people. So if you just took 10% that's 35 million. So you're putting the rest

[1:58:46] of us in a fishbowl for the for the 10%. So you're treating us all like crap for

[1:58:52] the idea of the the few that break the laws. And then you say it's for

[1:58:55] protection. Look at prison and ask a prisoner if they've ever been raped. I

[1:58:59] don't need that. I don't need your protection. I need you to stop making

[1:59:02] agreements that I didn't consent to. And like Patrick Henry says, "Give me

[1:59:06] liberty or give me death." [applause]

[1:59:12] » Vincent Assard.

[1:59:17] [clears throat]

[1:59:23] [cough and clears throat]

[1:59:28] Good evening, [clears throat] council members and fellow residents.

[1:59:32] My name is Vincent Naro. I live in uh St. Charles City, District 6. I'm here

[1:59:37] tonight [clears throat] to demand that the mass surveillance network this

[1:59:41] county has installed be taken down. Every one of you took an oath of office

[1:59:46] under Article 7, Section 11 of the Missouri Constitution. That oath

[1:59:51] requires you to support the Constitution of the United States of America and the

[1:59:56] state of Missouri and to demean yourselves faithfully in office.

[2:00:00] Supporting the Constitution is not optional.

[2:00:05] It is the condition of your service. [clears throat]

[2:00:09] Article 1, section 15 of the Missouri Constitution is clear that people shall

[2:00:13] be secure in their persons, papers, homes, effects, and electronic commun

[2:00:17] communications and data from unreasonable searches and seizures. It

[2:00:22] further requires that no warrant to access electronic data or communication

[2:00:26] cell issue without probable cause and particularized description.

[2:00:32] The fourth amendment to the United States Constitution provides the same

[2:00:35] fundamental protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

[2:00:42] A network that systematically tracks the movements of ordinary residents,

[2:00:47] collecting location data on people who are not subject of crime is a form of

[2:00:52] continuous suspicionless surveillance.

[2:00:58] [clears throat]

[2:01:00] It treats the public as a whole as subjects to be monitored rather than

[2:01:03] free citizens. That is incompatible with the constitutional guarantees you all

[2:01:08] swore to uphold. I'm not opposing targeted lawful

[2:01:13] investigations based on individual suspicion and proper warrants. I am

[2:01:18] opposing the permanent infrastructure of mass data collection that has already

[2:01:22] been installed without the informed consent of the people. Therefore, I

[2:01:26] formally demand that this council number one order the immediate discom

[2:01:30] decommissioning and removal of the mass surveillance network direct the

[2:01:34] permanent deletion of all data collected on residents who are not subject of

[2:01:39] specific criminal investigations supported by probable cause and affirm

[2:01:43] that no similar bulk surveillance system will be operated in this county in

[2:01:47] violation of article 1 section 15 Missouri constitution or the fourth

[2:01:51] amendment. >> [clears throat]

[2:01:55] » You swore an oath to support the Constitution,

[2:02:00] not to expand government power at the expense of the people's rights.

[2:02:05] Taking this network down is how you keep that oath. Thank you,

[2:02:13] » McKenzie. McKenzie B.

[2:02:25] Oh, I'm sorry. >> Mackenzie is

[2:02:30] [laughter] >> it balanc.

[2:02:33] » Yeah, I'm sorry. >> All right. Two Mackenzie's here. Okay.

[2:02:36] Well, good evening. My name is Mackenzie Balinat. I'm on I'm here on behalf of my

[2:02:41] children, myself, and many other concerned mothers that I've interacted

[2:02:44] with both in real life and on Facebook groups across really the state of

[2:02:48] Missouri, not just our county. Um, I'm a mother of multiple children,

[2:02:53] as I said, right here in this community. I'm a lifelong resident of this county.

[2:02:58] I'm speaking tonight not as someone against law enforcement or the law in

[2:03:02] general, as I know a lot of people who are against flocked can be those types.

[2:03:06] I'm speaking as a concerned mother who has also spoken, as I said, to many

[2:03:10] other mothers, and I hope that you'll listen and take this to heart. The

[2:03:14] reality is that flock and cameras like it have been placed near the very places

[2:03:18] that our children play, parks, pools. These are not high-rime corridors. These

[2:03:25] are the spots where our families go to feel safe and spend time together with

[2:03:28] other people in our communities. And just days ago, as we've talked about

[2:03:32] this evening, we saw exactly why this should concern everyone in our county.

[2:03:37] Our own St. Charles County Police, as we've talked about, have discontinued,

[2:03:40] and I commend them for that. After the audit revealed the civilian employee had

[2:03:43] abused the system, that employee was had admitted misuse and was put on leave and

[2:03:48] resigned. As a mother, this hits home. When a system allegedly meant for public

[2:03:53] safety can be so easily turned toward personal tracking. And when so many of

[2:03:57] those cameras set at entrances to our public places like parks, it is no

[2:04:01] longer an abstract conversation. This is personal. Let me be clear, as I said,

[2:04:05] this is not anti police. I support our local officers. I commend them for

[2:04:09] handling the abuse they did find very swiftly. What I do question is the

[2:04:13] expanding of a private, including private, surveillance system everywhere

[2:04:18] that has already been abused right here in St. Charles County. While the company

[2:04:22] itself draws a hardline, Flock, against working with law enforcement on certain

[2:04:26] issues that would actually keep our community safe, like with immigration,

[2:04:29] Flock has refused to work with people on that. The issue is the storage of this

[2:04:34] data at all. It's a violation of our rights. We want there to be no data to

[2:04:39] abuse in the first place. I believe we can support good policing and effective

[2:04:44] policing without accepting every new camera network that comes along. Our

[2:04:48] public places should remain places for families, for our children, not data

[2:04:51] collection points that can be misused. As I said, the collection of this data,

[2:04:56] however briefly stored, is a violation of our rights directly. I urge the

[2:05:00] council to keep this recent abuse and front and center in your minds and put

[2:05:03] the privacy of our families and people of this county first. Your constituents

[2:05:08] will be watching and we urge you to make the right decision and ban flock and

[2:05:11] cameras like it. And we will not be quiet until you do so. Thank you for

[2:05:15] your time.

[2:05:20] David Robertson.

[2:05:31] Good evening. My name is David Robertson. I'm the Republican nominee

[2:05:35] for Missouri House District 97. I'm here to speak against flock cameras and other

[2:05:39] instruments of mass surveillance in our society. One argument often used for

[2:05:44] mass surveillance is if you're not doing anything wrong. What do you have to

[2:05:47] worry about? If you have nothing to hide, then would you mind handing me

[2:05:50] your phone? I can look through all the data this evening. I'm sure most of us

[2:05:53] would not want to do that. We all have things we've done that we're not proud

[2:05:57] of or we have information we don't want shared with others. It's called being a

[2:06:01] human being. I just finished a political race in which many aspects of my

[2:06:05] background were researched and used against me. Do you really think the

[2:06:09] information gained by mass surveillance would not be used against you at some

[2:06:12] point by a tyrannical government? Joseph Stalin's secret police chief barrier

[2:06:17] said, "Uh, show me the man, I'll show you the crime." Another argument for

[2:06:22] flock cameras is they help catch criminals and keep society safe. Let's

[2:06:26] start with the universal truth. The excuse of safety or emergency is very

[2:06:30] often used by tyrannical governments as a means to strip away liberty. Uh, this

[2:06:35] is the truth you're not taught in school. I certainly wasn't. I wish I

[2:06:38] could say I was the first one to notice this, but uh many others have noticed

[2:06:41] it. Let's look at some quotations from our founding fathers and other great

[2:06:45] thinkers which speak to the issue of safety, liberty, and privacy. Ben

[2:06:49] Franklin said, and this has been quoted earlier tonight, "Those who would give

[2:06:52] up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither

[2:06:56] liberty nor safety." Thomas Jefferson said, "I prefer dangerous freedom over

[2:07:00] peaceful slavery." William Pitt said necessity is the plea for every

[2:07:05] infringement of the human fre of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants.

[2:07:09] It is the creed of slaves. Friedrich Hayek said emergencies have always been

[2:07:13] the pretext in which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded. The

[2:07:18] sole purpose of government is to protect and preserve the inalienable rights of

[2:07:22] the people. One of those rights is the right to privacy and the right not to be

[2:07:26] searched and surveiled at all times as enunciated in the fourth amendment of

[2:07:29] the constitution. The proliferation of flaw cameras, license plate readers, and

[2:07:34] other forms of mass surveillance in our society remind me of the book 1984,

[2:07:38] which I'm sure many of us have read. Each person here, including the council

[2:07:42] members, should ask yourself a simple question. What kind of society do we

[2:07:46] want to live in? A perfectly safe and sanitized brave new world society where

[2:07:50] you have no freedom of movement or freedom of speech or right to privacy or

[2:07:55] a more dangerous and invigorating society in which you retain those

[2:07:58] liberties. What kind of society do you want for your children or your

[2:08:02] grandchildren to live in? I asked this because the way we're going now, your

[2:08:06] kids will know nothing of the liberties your parents and grandparents enjoyed.

[2:08:10] Make a decision today what kind of society you want to live in and then act

[2:08:14] in that choice and stand up for your God-given liberties. I've already made

[2:08:17] up my mind. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it.

[2:08:22] [applause]

[2:08:24] Teresa Litzenich.

[2:08:33] Hello. Um, I'm Teresa Lindnik. Um, first of all, I I um your microphone sometimes

[2:08:40] it's kind of hard to hear you all up there. So, you're if you could put your

[2:08:44] microphones closer to you, I' we'd appreciate that. I would appreciate it.

[2:08:49] Um, so I'm um I live here in St. Uh, St. Charles City. I'm asking you to ban

[2:08:54] license plate reader cameras. I can imagine I can imagine the tough position

[2:08:59] you are in as a county council. On one hand, you want to support police

[2:09:04] officers. On the other hand, you want to uphold the fourth amendment of our

[2:09:08] national constitution. The fourth amendment prohibits unreasonable

[2:09:12] searches, must have a probable cause before a search, and requires a warrant

[2:09:18] with searches. Amendment four sa safeguards your body, home, private

[2:09:22] papers, and personal belongings. Warrants must specifically detail the

[2:09:27] locations to be searched and the items to be seized rather than granting broad

[2:09:32] authority. Are we ready for a surveillance state? License plate reader

[2:09:37] cameras collect data on millions of vehicles regardless of whether the

[2:09:41] driver is suspected of a crime. These systems are marketed as indepensible

[2:09:46] tools to fight crime, but they ignore the powerful tools police already have

[2:09:52] to track crim criminals, such as cell phone location data, creating a loophole

[2:09:58] that doesn't require a warrant. Some cities use license plate readers to

[2:10:02] issue traffic tickets. What happened to the innocent until proven guilty?

[2:10:09] automatic um automated license plate readers intrude

[2:10:15] um create they they basically create guilty until proven innocent situations.

[2:10:21] » Yeah. >> Our police chief says that license plate

[2:10:25] readers are being used that require two sets of eyes to record plates at the

[2:10:30] station. Imagine being a police employee who

[2:10:34] reads license plates with a fellow employee. I mean, I I appreciate the uh

[2:10:40] two sets of eyes, you know, trying to help this situation, but imagine two

[2:10:45] employees. One employee suspects his wife is cheating. He uses the camera to

[2:10:51] check out where she's been. You want to be um the other employee wants to help

[2:10:59] his colleague know the truth, but has an obligation to tell his boss about the

[2:11:04] infraction. Automated license plate readers put an undue burden on employees

[2:11:10] as well as the public at large. They produce privacy violations, risk of

[2:11:15] misuse, limited benefits, meaning no substantial evidence that they

[2:11:20] effectively prevent crime despite flax unethical attempts to prove otherwise.

[2:11:26] ALPRs are a serious risk to your privacy and civil liberties. These systems

[2:11:32] continuously record your movements without a warrant and ma'am. You have no

[2:11:38] control over how it's used in um nationwide.

[2:11:42] » Thank you, ma'am. >> So, thank you,

[2:11:47] » Arie. already deoff.

[2:12:02] » Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, members of the council. The council held

[2:12:06] a closed session meeting at 6:00 p.m. this date. Your disclosure to the public

[2:12:11] for reasons to go into a secret closed meeting are a direct violation of

[2:12:15] chapter 610 because your staff failed to write the reasons as required by state

[2:12:20] law onto the agenda. You went into close session for 1,

[2:12:26] three, and 13. Are we firing our current illquipped county counselor who lives on

[2:12:31] the hill in St. Louis city not complying with our county home rule charter? and

[2:12:36] are we hiring a qualified and charter compliant county counselor?

[2:12:43] You failed to write these reasons [snorts] uh out for the public to read

[2:12:47] as uh required by state law. There needs to be the utmost transparency,

[2:12:52] responsibility, and accountability when meeting behind closed and locked doors.

[2:12:57] I take that very seriously and I hope you do through your oath of office. The

[2:13:02] meeting held Monday, August 31st, 2021, the county council was in close session,

[2:13:08] keeping the public at bay for an hour. Per chapter 610.021,

[2:13:13] 610.022, 610.023,

[2:13:16] 610.024, and 610.025, 025. I am requesting the written close county

[2:13:22] council meeting minutes. All decisions in closed session of the county council.

[2:13:28] All actions taken by the county council. All directions given to staff including

[2:13:33] the county executive or county director of administration. All votes by each

[2:13:38] individual council person is allowed by law. Any employee related actions and

[2:13:44] other the camera contract. Let's face reality. The fact is Flock sells the

[2:13:50] data for a dollar for a price. They have 120,000 cameras uh nationwide and 156 of

[2:13:59] those cameras, whether it's Flock or another uh brand, are inside St. Charles

[2:14:04] County. We have a female uh a civilian or a

[2:14:09] contracted employee who violated our civil rights and our public trust. Who

[2:14:14] was the civil the civilian employee and the private contracted employee that

[2:14:18] abused and access the flock information to follow and harass innocent citizens

[2:14:24] for personal gain per chapter 610.023 and 610.024.

[2:14:31] I'm requesting the following. the name of that employee, the fired employee,

[2:14:35] the contract related to the county police employee or contractor, and what

[2:14:40] about the 29 flock uh the 29 cameras of the flock contract, financial penalties

[2:14:46] and liability to our county? We need to have a monthly mandated audit. Disclose

[2:14:52] or report to the community. County police department policy for spot checks

[2:14:57] and reason for entry of the license plate. Dumping and destroying all data

[2:15:01] collected within 5 days of any information not related to the

[2:15:05] investigation. And the final issue, we should be purchasing local, not buying

[2:15:09] four Chevrolets in the city of St. Louis for $115,000.

[2:15:13] next week. >> Thank you,

[2:15:14] » David Benitiano.

[2:15:22] » How you all doing? >> Welcome back.

[2:15:23] » I get the feeling you know what I'm here to talk about. Um, unlike Arie, I'm

[2:15:26] going to be real quick. So, I'm here to talk about ALPRs and my concern with

[2:15:30] them is the effect they have on minority populations and our legal immigrant

[2:15:34] communities. Uh, we know that these cameras are being used

[2:15:37] disproportionately to affect those populations and it's not doing them any

[2:15:40] favors. It is creating a system of terror. And so if you talk to anyone

[2:15:44] who's a stalking victim, they will tell you the worst part of their case was

[2:15:48] feeling like they were being watched every time they left their house. And

[2:15:51] that's what we're creating here in St. Charles County. So left, right, black,

[2:15:54] white, none of us want these. Let's take them down.

[2:16:03] » McKenzie Greer,

[2:16:06] » welcome back. >> Thanks.

[2:16:09] Hi, I'm the other McKenzie. Um, I'm here out of concern for the international

[2:16:13] community of St. Charles County. I was in the room months ago when the 287g

[2:16:17] agreement was put into place. Since then, I've been organizing alongside

[2:16:20] other concerned citizens on behalf of our international brothers and sisters.

[2:16:24] The best tool I found to change public sentiment in 5 years of doing

[2:16:27] immigration work is to tell stories to today. Today, I want to talk about the

[2:16:31] stories of immigrant children. One of the first children I worked with here on

[2:16:35] asylum was a boy named Matteo. He and his mom fled an abusive partner in

[2:16:39] Mexico. Matteo is goofy and he loves to sing and frequently sang solos um on

[2:16:44] worship nights at our local church. One of my favorite things about Matteo is

[2:16:48] his dedication to his PlayStation. At around 7 years old, when they fled their

[2:16:51] hometown, his mother told Matteo to throw the most important things in a

[2:16:55] backpack. Matteo just packed his PlayStation. One night, his mother told

[2:16:59] us in tears that the PlayStation haunted her from his backpack every night that

[2:17:03] they had to sleep under an overpass in Dallas, looking for help and shelter.

[2:17:08] Since our work moved here to Missouri, I've met more kids like Matteo. One

[2:17:12] family has more than a handful of kids, but the brightest of them is a girl

[2:17:15] named Mina. Mina wants to be a dentist. Being new to English, we mostly focus

[2:17:20] our time on reading when I tutor her and her siblings. School doesn't scare

[2:17:24] Momina, but the children at school do. In two years living here, she hasn't

[2:17:27] made any American friends. She's told me more than once that white kids won't

[2:17:31] play with her on the playground. Every week, I ask if she's made a new friend,

[2:17:35] and every week, I'm disappointed by the answer. In January, 5-year-old Liam was

[2:17:39] detained by ICE in Minnesota, steps away from his own door. This month, another

[2:17:43] 5-year-old named Liam was pulled over with his father on their way to a Sunday

[2:17:47] soccer game in Austin. He was supposed to start kindergarten, but instead was

[2:17:50] sent to a detention center and deported. And this blood lust for children is also

[2:17:55] close to home. Just 20 minutes from where we're sitting right now, Hillsdale

[2:17:58] police, deputized under a federal immigration contract like our own 287g

[2:18:03] agreement, showed up at Rener Middle School asking about three students

[2:18:06] without a judicial warrant. Council members, these are not abstractions.

[2:18:11] These children with backpacks and PlayStations and worship songs and

[2:18:15] dreams of being dentists. St. Charles County's own 287G agreement puts

[2:18:20] children children in our schools one traffic stop away from being detained.

[2:18:25] Tonight, I'm asking you to reconsider your allegiance to the 287g agreement

[2:18:29] and consider taking up the cause of these children.

[2:18:36] » Alderman Robert Hussy.

[2:18:46] Good evening. My name is Alderman Robert Hussy and here I got Alderman Chantel

[2:18:50] Summers with me. We represent the the city of Wentzville. And first thing I

[2:18:55] want to say to you guys is I appreciate what you guys do. Being an elected

[2:18:59] official sometimes there's some hard decisions that have to be made and half

[2:19:03] the people like you and half the people don't. So I appreciate you guys putting

[2:19:07] in the time and effort and and what you do. Um, what I'm here to talk about

[2:19:12] tonight is a railroad quiet zone in the western part of the county in in Wville.

[2:19:19] Uh, the board has sent us to ask a request from you. Uh, the city of

[2:19:25] Wsville is moving all their railroad crossings to a quiet zone so the

[2:19:30] railroad doesn't blow the horn at 3:00 a.m. as I've gotten many concerns over

[2:19:35] the years from residents about that. Um, when I first was elected, I didn't even

[2:19:40] know there was such a thing. And when somebody finally asked me and and I knew

[2:19:43] the information, I said, "Yes, actually, we could probably help with that." Uh,

[2:19:47] what I need from the county is there is a railroad crossing at Shaper Road. Uh,

[2:19:52] that is just right on the edge of the city limits of Winsville. Um, and and

[2:19:58] that is completely surrounded by unincorporated St. Charles County. Um,

[2:20:02] and also, uh, the county may want to also help Forestell because I know they

[2:20:07] have a couple members that are interested in doing that as well, but

[2:20:10] Forestell is a a small town. Um, so they may need some some help. Uh but with

[2:20:16] that we can actually sleep through the night without hearing the railroad blow

[2:20:21] its horn at at at 3:00 a.m. Um of course in Wsville we have South Point Prairie

[2:20:26] Hupperman Wilmer uh Lynn and Oldtown and East Pitman that we're going to be

[2:20:32] taking care of. We just ask that the county uh take care of Shaper Road just

[2:20:37] on our border. Um so maybe you want to add that to your capital improvement

[2:20:41] plan or or your budget. So, I appreciate your time and and I make that request to

[2:20:47] you, please. And thank you. >> Thank you.

[2:20:52] » Tom Rega,

[2:20:57] » can I wait for the two people to come back?

[2:20:59] » They're not going to be coming back. >> Can I step outside this box?

[2:21:05] » Do Do you feel strongly about it? >> Yes, I do.

[2:21:08] » Okay. >> All right. Started up. Uh, first and

[2:21:11] foremost, I'm not prepared for this what I'm doing tonight. I've been looking at

[2:21:15] this most of my day. I did a lot of research. I couldn't find what I was

[2:21:18] looking for. Over dinner tonight, I found what I'm looking for.

[2:21:22] Uh, four years ago, I find a complaint against this county for a problem with

[2:21:27] the neighbor, weed infections, etc., etc. It went on for a year. I couldn't

[2:21:31] get the county response. Sunshine Act, etc., etc. Ultimately, came down to a

[2:21:36] problem with what I felt with Mr. Sullivan is not both. You guys may

[2:21:41] remember me. >> Hey, can you wait

[2:21:46] on his who he is? >> Okay,

[2:21:49] » don't take my time off. >> Can you pause that for a second,

[2:21:53] » please? What did I do wrong? >> Well,

[2:21:57] » I wanted to see who he was. >> I appreciate videotape and everything.

[2:22:00] » So, I appreciate that. >> And I want everybody to see he's the

[2:22:03] acting county counselor and he has been for five, six years.

[2:22:06] » All right, hang on. Hang on. Hang on. I'm going to start your clock again.

[2:22:11] You're not I'm trying to get you to a point. Here's my request for you. Stay

[2:22:16] in that box. Okay. >> I now know what I Mr. Chairman.

[2:22:19] » I'm just He He He violated the space up here

[2:22:25] earlier and went over there and stood next to our clerks when they were

[2:22:28] supposed to be doing something else. And I'm not I appreciate the fact they

[2:22:33] didn't complain about it, but but I don't I don't know. I don't understand.

[2:22:37] I'm going to call you Steve because I want you to be a question. Three years

[2:22:41] ago and you never answered this. >> All right, hang on. You're here to do

[2:22:45] public comment. >> You're here to do public comment.

[2:22:49] » We're just trying to make sure that everybody started. You must live in the

[2:22:54] city. Excuse me. You must live in St. Charles.

[2:22:56] » Sir, turn your comments this way. >> We are here exactly three years ago.

[2:23:02] » Sir, you're either going to speak to the council or you're going to be done. They

[2:23:05] asked me questions. >> They're not. It's our meeting. So speak

[2:23:11] to the council. It's public comment to the council, not public comment to the

[2:23:14] people who came to the council >> meeting county that if you're an

[2:23:17] employee making a couple hundred,000 a year, you're supposed to live in the

[2:23:21] county. >> No.

[2:23:24] » No comment. It's public comment. >> This is for you to talk.

[2:23:28] » Mr. Elman, I asked him. I stood here 3 years ago and I've [clears throat] never

[2:23:34] gotten my questions answered. I have asked for sunshine lawn documents. I'm

[2:23:38] meeting with an attorney tomorrow. You have never ever ever this group and

[2:23:44] again it was not my intent to come here. I'm I'm not prepared. I have no

[2:23:48] documents. I have no paperwork. I have nothing. I had all my notes. But I found

[2:23:51] what I was looking for today. It is a requirement of St. Charles County

[2:23:56] that all employees be living in this county.

[2:24:03] He didn't answer this question three years ago. Neither one of them. Look at

[2:24:07] them. They're laughing at me. I researchers Elman's website. He should

[2:24:10] have retired. He wanted to retire. Mr. Sullivan, I I can give you probably

[2:24:15] 30 emails. Neither one of these guys ever responded to me.

[2:24:22] I'm KC born and raised. Go cheese. I'm not a swifty adoptee, which annoys the

[2:24:27] heck out of me. I moved here 30 some years ago. I spent over $100,000 in in

[2:24:33] taxes in this county. You won't give me the s Roy give me the sunshine documents

[2:24:39] that I'm entitled to that I've been asking for. I filed another complaint

[2:24:44] last week because the problem's gotten worse and worse and worse. The long

[2:24:47] story short is a a neighbor is violating weed code and you guys aren't doing your

[2:24:53] job. I'm sorry. As I said, I wasn't prepared.

[2:24:57] I don't have my documents. I don't have anything. I'm setting over dinner and I

[2:25:00] found the document I'm looking for. I'm coming after you guys. I got an attorney

[2:25:04] meeting tomorrow. [applause]

[2:25:09] Somebody else [applause] works.

[2:25:13] » Sure. Thank you. He makes a couple hundred thousand. Thank you, sir. We're

[2:25:17] done. He lives in St. Louis. >> Thank you, sir. We're done.

[2:25:25] » Why won't you answer my questions? >> Yes, sir.

[2:25:30] » Thank you for coming.

[2:25:34] » Thank you.

[2:25:37] » Coming after you guys, >> final speaker.

[2:25:41] And that will be an eventful wrap-up of public comment tonight. We will now move

[2:25:46] to the consent agenda. Any items to be removed from the consent agenda. Seeing

[2:25:51] none, I would entertain a motion. >> Motion to accept the consent agenda

[2:25:56] » and seconded. >> Motion and second, all those in favor

[2:25:58] say I. I. >> Any opposed.

[2:26:01] Consent agenda is approved. That will get us to our first resolution this

[2:26:06] evening. Resolution

[2:26:11] number 2609 sponsored by council as a whole. A resolution reappointing Luke

[2:26:16] Kho to the board of trustees of the Greens Bottom Levy District number two.

[2:26:21] Whereas the Greens Bottom Levy District number two, which may occasionally have

[2:26:24] been referred to as the Greens Bottom Levy District or the Greens Bottom

[2:26:28] Drainage District or as the Greens Bottom Drainage and Levy District as

[2:26:33] established by the St. Charles County Court on April 16th, 1929, pursuant to

[2:26:38] article 4, chapter 28 of the revised statute of Missouri, 1919. And whereas

[2:26:43] the Greens bottom levy district number two has since been reorganized as a levy

[2:26:47] district organized by a county commission under the provisions of

[2:26:51] chapter 245 RSMO as reflected in the order of June 16th, 1987 of the former

[2:26:57] St. Charles County Commission. And whereas with respect to levy districts

[2:27:01] organized by county commissions under the provisions of chapter 245 RSMO

[2:27:06] section 245.335 provides that county commissions shall

[2:27:10] appoint three directors of levies in such districts who shall be landholders

[2:27:15] within the county for the levy district of which the county is whole or part

[2:27:20] thereof. And whereas section 245.335

[2:27:25] RSMO further provides that when such directors are first appointed, one shall

[2:27:30] hold his said office for the term of one year, one for the term of two years, and

[2:27:35] one for the term of three years, and until their successors are duly

[2:27:39] appointed and qualified, and that the county commission shall annually

[2:27:43] thereafter appoint one director to take the place of the director whose official

[2:27:48] term expires. And whereas pursuant to the St. Charles County chart charter

[2:27:53] article 10 section 10.608 and section 245.335

[2:27:58] RSMO, the county council passed resolution 1014 appointing three owners

[2:28:04] or representatives of representatives of owners of land within the Greens Bottom

[2:28:09] Levy District number two to its board of directors for the staggered terms stated

[2:28:14] in that resolution. And whereas the current directors of Greens Bottom Levy

[2:28:18] District number two are Luke Kho as representative of owner Ducket Creek

[2:28:24] Sanitary District, Larry Ostman and Mark Ostman. And whereas the county council

[2:28:30] now seeks to reappoint Luke Kho to a three-year term pursuant to the pro

[2:28:34] provisions of chapter 245 RSM. Now therefore, be it resolved by the

[2:28:41] County Council of St. Charles County, Missouri, as follows.

[2:28:47] Section one, the St. Charles County Council reappoints Luke Kho to the board

[2:28:52] of trustees for the Greens Bottom Levy District number two for a three-year

[2:28:55] term beginning September 14th, 2026. Section two, after the expiration of the

[2:29:01] term set out above, the council shall appoint or reappoint, as the case may

[2:29:06] be, the director or a successor to serve a three-year term thereafter.

[2:29:13] Any questions or comments about the resolution? No.

[2:29:16] » Seeing none, >> only two,

[2:29:18] » please call the RO. >> Resolution number 2609, a resolution

[2:29:23] reappointing Luke Kho to the board of trustees of the Greens Bottom Levy

[2:29:27] District number two. >> Councilman Hammond. Councilman Elim.

[2:29:32] » Yes. >> Councilman Hollander.

[2:29:33] » Yes. >> Councilwoman York.

[2:29:35] » Yes. >> Councilman Baker.

[2:29:36] » Yes. >> Councilman Swanson.

[2:29:38] » Yes. Ma'am. >> Councilman Brazzle. Resolution 29 or

[2:29:42] 2609 passes. That gets us to resolution 2610.

[2:29:47] » Resolution 2610 sponsored by council as a whole. A resolution adopting the 2027

[2:29:53] through 2031 capital program and strategic plan. Whereas the St. Charles

[2:29:57] County Charter, Article 6, Section 6.301, requires the county council to

[2:30:02] adopt the capital program and strategic plan no later than two months prior to

[2:30:06] the final date of submission of the budget. And whereas the St. Charles

[2:30:10] County Charter Article 6 section 6.201 requires that on or before the fifth day

[2:30:16] of November or the first working day after the 5th of November each fiscal

[2:30:20] year, the county executive shall submit to the county council a budget for the

[2:30:24] ensuing fiscal year. and an accompanying message. And whereas the county

[2:30:28] executive has presented the plan to the county council is required by the

[2:30:32] charter, a public hearing has been held on it, and it has been made available

[2:30:36] for inspection by the public on the county's website under the Department of

[2:30:40] Finance. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the county council of St. Charles

[2:30:43] County, Missouri, as follows. Section one, the plan attached here too as

[2:30:48] exhibit A, known as the capital improvement program years 2027 through

[2:30:53] 2031, is hereby approved. Section two, compliance with the terms of the capital

[2:30:58] improvement program years 2027 through 2031 shall be the responsibility of the

[2:31:04] county executive. >> Any questions or comments about the

[2:31:07] resolution? >> Nope.

[2:31:10] » Seeing none, please call the role. Resolution 26-10, a resolution adopting

[2:31:16] the 2027 through 2031 capital program and strategic plan. Councilman Elum,

[2:31:22] » yes. >> Councilman Hollander,

[2:31:24] » yes. >> Councilwoman York,

[2:31:26] » yes. >> Councilman Baker,

[2:31:28] » yes. >> Councilman Swanson,

[2:31:29] » yes, ma'am. >> Councilman Brazzle,

[2:31:32] » Councilman Hammond. >> Resolution 2610 passes. That gets us to

[2:31:35] bills for final passage, starting with 5518.

[2:31:39] Bill number 5518, an ordinance amending the zoning district map of the county of

[2:31:43] St. Charles, Missouri by reszoning land from a agricultural district to RR

[2:31:48] single family residential district per application RZ26-04.

[2:31:53] » Any questions or comments about the bill? Seeing none, please call the role.

[2:31:57] » Bill number 5518, an ordinance amending the zoning district map of the county of

[2:32:01] St. Charles, Missouri by reasonzoning land from a agricultural district to RR

[2:32:06] single family residential district per application RZ26-04.

[2:32:11] Councilman Hollander, >> yes.

[2:32:13] » Councilwoman York, >> yes.

[2:32:15] » Councilman Baker, >> yes.

[2:32:16] » Councilman Swanson, >> yes, ma'am.

[2:32:18] » Councilman Brazzle, Councilman Hammond, Councilman Elum,

[2:32:22] » yes. Bill 5518 passes. Last bill for final passage 5519.

[2:32:28] Bill number 5519, an ordinance authorizing the county executive or

[2:32:31] designate to execute a memorandum of understanding between the county of St.

[2:32:35] Charles on behalf of the St. Charles County Regional Drug Task Force and the

[2:32:39] Drug Enforcement Administration, St. Louis Field Division regarding the

[2:32:44] reimbursement of certain law enforcement equipment expenses incurred in support

[2:32:47] of joint fentanyl and methamphetamine investigations.

[2:32:51] » Any questions or comments about the bill?

[2:32:54] » Seeing none, please call the role. Bill Number 5519, an ordinance authorizing

[2:32:58] the county executive or designate to execute a memorandum of understanding

[2:33:01] between the county of St. Charles on behalf of the St. Charles County

[2:33:04] Regional Drug Task Force and the Drug Admin Drug Enforcement

[2:33:10] Administration St. Louis Field Division regarding the reimbursement of certain

[2:33:14] law enforcement equipment expenses incurred in support of joint fentanyl

[2:33:17] and methamphetamine investigations. Councilwoman York,

[2:33:21] » yes. >> Councilman Baker,

[2:33:22] » yes. >> Councilman Swanson. Yes, ma'am.

[2:33:25] » Councilman Brazzle. >> Councilman Hammond.

[2:33:28] » Councilman Elum. >> Yes.

[2:33:29] » Councilman Hollander. >> Yes.

[2:33:31] » Bill 5519 passes. That gets us to bills for introduction. Starting with bill

[2:33:36] 5520. >> Bill number 5520 requested by Mike

[2:33:39] Carlberg, sponsored by Mike Elim. An ordinance designating the Avon Place

[2:33:44] Disaster Risk Reduction Area DR within St. Charles County, Missouri for

[2:33:49] purposes of the local voluntary buyout program funded through community

[2:33:54] development block grant disaster recovery CDBG DR4451

[2:34:00] funds. >> Any questions or comments about this

[2:34:03] bill? Next, we move to bill 5521. Bill number

[2:34:08] 5521 requested by John Lion, sponsored by Mike Elim, an ordinance establishing

[2:34:13] new traffic regulations and establishing penalties for violations thereof.

[2:34:19] » Any questions or comments about this bill?

[2:34:22] Seeing none, we move to 5522. >> Bill number 5522 requested by Amanda

[2:34:27] Brower, sponsored by council as a whole, an ordinance authorizing the county

[2:34:31] executive to execute an intergovernmental agreement with the

[2:34:34] city of Wsville for use of St. Charles County transportation sales tax funds

[2:34:39] for road improvements needed to support the economic development Mercy Hospital

[2:34:44] Wentzville development project. >> Any questions or comments about this

[2:34:48] bill? Yes, sir. >> Just very quickly, I did talk to the

[2:34:50] mayor of Wville and a couple of their other aldermen. They're all in support

[2:34:53] of this. >> Yes, sir.

[2:34:56] » Thank you. >> I guess this Do we think that without

[2:34:59] this funding that they wouldn't come to St. Charles County?

[2:35:09] Steve, >> I don't think it's a matter of whether

[2:35:13] or not Mercy would come. It's a partnership that we do here in doing um

[2:35:19] building the roads. >> It's part of the economic development.

[2:35:21] » It is. >> Correct. It's an economic development

[2:35:23] project >> that I'm I'm still not a big fan of. I I

[2:35:27] mean when we have when we have problems in the county

[2:35:32] call highway in that we still need to address and we're giving money to

[2:35:37] developers or to to private industries. I mean I'm just I I brought this up. We

[2:35:42] talked about this in the budget. I don't support this. I think this is a bad bad

[2:35:46] use of money. >> It's a public road.

[2:35:49] » I Well, okay. It's a public road that they would have to build and that we

[2:35:53] shouldn't be building and we shouldn't be paying for it. I know we do it under

[2:35:57] the guise of, yeah, they're going to hire so many employees and so that's why

[2:36:01] we should do it. I just I just don't like that. I just don't like that. And I

[2:36:05] don't know if the if the council approved this before I became a member.

[2:36:09] I'd like to know how this came about where we we put I think it's $10 million

[2:36:14] of our of our county roadboard money into this pot for to entice uh uh

[2:36:24] a workforce that may or may not benefit the county but in the amount of what

[2:36:30] we're paying for the road. I just I just I just don't like this and and I think

[2:36:34] we need to have a a bigger discussion as a council to see if we still want to

[2:36:39] contribute money for economic development purposes where we can get a

[2:36:43] better use for it for road projects that uh are needed for safety and other

[2:36:49] reason not for not for economic development. But that's my comment. I'm

[2:36:53] sure I'll probably talk about it more before we

[2:36:56] get the final vote, but that's my thoughts.

[2:37:00] Patty, >> can we get a uh like a map or some kind

[2:37:04] of a show us where this is, what the road is going to be and where it's going

[2:37:08] to go? I looked in the information we have so far and we don't have anything.

[2:37:12] » Where's Amanda Brower? >> To look at and to see just where the

[2:37:16] road goes, etc., etc. You can do it at the by the next meeting be fine. Thank

[2:37:21] you. I I would point out that on our roadboard money, half of that money is

[2:37:27] city money and the city gets to make that request. And as Mr. Swanson said,

[2:37:31] the city of Wentzville put this request in and the city, this is the city of

[2:37:36] Wville's allocation of roadboard money >> that is being done with that. So

[2:37:42] » we control this the county council, >> all of the roadboard money that comes

[2:37:45] in, we split half of that money with the cities of St. Charles County and they

[2:37:51] put projects in that they want done in their city and they request the funds

[2:37:58] and then the road board. Yes, Rob. >> The the the funds go to the city. They

[2:38:02] don't go to the um individual uh businesses that may locate on that road.

[2:38:08] The cities request the money and the monies go to the city.

[2:38:11] » Yeah. But normally we put roads in for safety. You know, we've got a lot of

[2:38:14] roads that require safety. We we we've got a I mean we have a a quality of life

[2:38:19] issue that we just heard from the city of Wville with regards to train train

[2:38:23] crossings. I just think that putting money towards road projects that just

[2:38:27] for the purpose of a developer where they would they would pay for these

[2:38:31] funds and I know we're we did it as part of the sale of or the purchase of the

[2:38:35] city hall and I just I just don't think that's that was the intent of when the

[2:38:41] voters passed the halfsent sales tax was for economic development where a

[2:38:46] developer or this case Mercy Hospital would pay for the road project

[2:38:51] irrespective of whether We put funding to it and now we're paying we have the

[2:38:56] citizens paying for a road project that in otherwise would have been paid by the

[2:39:00] hospital and I just think there's better use of that money and I I've talked

[2:39:05] about it here at Nauseium and I'm sure I'll talk about it again in November

[2:39:08] when we get the budget the capital improvement the road projects but you

[2:39:12] know I just I personally just haven't have an issue with with the money going

[2:39:16] that's being set aside for economic development where uh this road would be

[2:39:20] otherwise paid for by the developer. Any other questions or comments,

[2:39:24] » Mr. Chairman? >> Yes, sir.

[2:39:26] » Yeah. So, I think Mr. Baker is referring to the butt four test, which is applies

[2:39:30] to a lot of other economic development stuff, including TIFFs. And just to give

[2:39:35] you a little history on this, this council

[2:39:38] uh and myself before I ever got here have been big opponents of TIFFs. uh

[2:39:45] mainly because the city's got to decide whether or not uh whether or not uh uh

[2:39:51] our money, our sales tax money and property tax money would go into the

[2:39:56] tip. Um the problem is people said, "Well, but what else can we do to

[2:40:03] promote economic development?" And basically I think the first first week

[2:40:08] that I was in this job is when we came up with this idea. And the problem of

[2:40:14] course is you know if somebody wants to come in and and do an economic

[2:40:20] development project yeah they could apply they could apply through the

[2:40:25] regular roadboard pro process and and the county would pay 80% of the cost but

[2:40:31] they'd have to wait three years. as you know, if there's an economic development

[2:40:36] project out there, uh they can't wait for three years. They need to know

[2:40:41] whether they're going to be able to do this or not. So, it's it's the timing

[2:40:46] that created this whole new set of ways to spend roadboard money. and and and

[2:40:53] and and again, uh the the the good part about that from us is we don't

[2:41:00] have to pay 80%. We only have to pay 50. Uh but but yeah, there's been at least

[2:41:05] what six or eight of these. Uh we did one the first the second first one we

[2:41:10] did I think was with St. Charles and then uh and then we did u I think back

[2:41:15] when Duchen uh Drive went went on through to Fifth

[2:41:19] Street. That was the first one we did. Then we did one with Wentzville uh which

[2:41:24] was out by the uh uh the GM plant and there was somebody one of one of their

[2:41:31] suppliers wanted to come in there build a big building spend a lot of money they

[2:41:34] needed a road to get to it and and we did we did it on that we did it on um

[2:41:41] streets of St. Charles because in return for that they agreed not to do a TIFF.

[2:41:48] So um this in a sense is just this is what we have tried to do to promote

[2:41:55] economic development without taking money uh away from our other funds. So

[2:42:02] uh each one of these projects you know has to be approved by you and you don't

[2:42:07] certainly don't have to support it but I just want to make sure that that you

[2:42:10] understand where this all started and what we've been trying to use. But I

[2:42:15] will say you can look around the county and see a lot of developments going on

[2:42:18] where we aren't paying for the roads. And so and I think the idea that these

[2:42:23] things aren't going to happen unless we pay for the roads is I don't know if I

[2:42:26] subscribe to that. So that's my point. >> They're not they're not all equally

[2:42:31] » sure >> deserving. I'm sure if you think this

[2:42:33] one is undeserving, you make the point. Well, I just think it's undeserving of

[2:42:38] the money going to something like this where I mean, you know, I I've got, like

[2:42:42] I said, I mean, I know it's a separate pot of funds, but I've got residents

[2:42:46] that can't sleep at night when it rains because it it floods. We've got roads in

[2:42:49] the county that are dangerous, and we have other things that I think if you

[2:42:53] look at the criteria would meet where we should spend our money before we spend

[2:42:58] it on economic development for a hospital. That's my comments.

[2:43:03] » Any other comments? Seeing none, we'll move on to 5523.

[2:43:08] » Bill number 5523, requested by Amanda Brower, sponsored by council as a whole,

[2:43:13] an ordinance approving a transfer of funds within the transportation planning

[2:43:16] fund of the 2026 annual budget and corresponding intergovernmental

[2:43:21] agreements. >> Questions or comments about this bill?

[2:43:26] » Seeing none, we'll go to 5524. >> Bill number 5524 requested by Travis

[2:43:32] Wali, sponsored by Mike Elim. an ordinance authorizing the county

[2:43:35] executive to execute an agreement with the city of Ofallen, the city of St.

[2:43:39] Charles, the city of St. Peters, the city of Wsville, the city of Lake St.

[2:43:43] Louis, the city of Dardine Prairie, the city of Welden Spring, and the city of

[2:43:48] Cotleville, Missouri to share costs for highresolution geo referenced aerial

[2:43:53] imagery from pic pictometry. >> Any questions or comments about this?

[2:44:00] This is where if you go on the county GIS map and you can select that aerial

[2:44:05] part, that's what this is. That's where you tend to that's where all of those

[2:44:10] pictures come from, which makes it very easy for you to figure out where we're

[2:44:14] going and helps Danny Klesner show clients where their property is. So

[2:44:18] there you go, Danny. Um, with that, that's going to wrap up our bills for

[2:44:23] introduction. We are at announcements and miscellaneous. Mr. Swansy.

[2:44:27] » Yes. Um, executive branch, if you could reach out to the city of Wville to maybe

[2:44:33] learn a little bit more about the railroad quiet zone and what they need

[2:44:36] from us specifically in that area because having to improve some of those

[2:44:41] crossovers. I know when we are moving the railroad track now, part of the deal

[2:44:45] was to stop some of those at grade crossovers. I don't know if the Schaefer

[2:44:49] Road was part of that or not. Uh, but if we could help them out with the quiet

[2:44:53] zone as the two aldermen um asked us to do, I'd appreciate that and then just

[2:44:58] get back with me. That's all I have, sir.

[2:45:01] » Anyone else announcements or miss Mr. Baker?

[2:45:04] » Would it be possible for these LPR cameras to put it to the voters? I mean,

[2:45:08] is that even a possibility to let them decide if this is something that that

[2:45:12] they want in unincorporated county? >> That's always a a possibility.

[2:45:19] And and when's this when's the earliest we could have something like that on the

[2:45:24] ballot?

[2:45:29] » You mean as a as a binding thing or non-binding?

[2:45:32] » Binding.

[2:45:35] » Probably next April. >> It's definitely too late for November.

[2:45:40] » Oh, sure. Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments?

[2:45:47] Just so everybody's clear, when we do public comment, it's for the public to

[2:45:52] comment to the council and you have three minutes in which to talk. It is

[2:45:57] not a debate between someone from the audience and debating with us. So when

[2:46:03] someone stands up and they say, "Why won't you answer us?" I just want

[2:46:07] everybody to understand that's three minutes for you to be heard, not to

[2:46:12] debate with the council. So, I wanted everybody to understand because I know

[2:46:17] from time to time that comes up and people will come up and they want to do

[2:46:21] a back and forth with the council. It's just not the way the meeting works. Uh,

[2:46:27] so I didn't want people I know someone went when I said this is our meeting. I

[2:46:33] didn't mean it's not our meeting as a county, but he was turning around and

[2:46:39] facing the audience and debating with the audience. and I wanted him to

[2:46:43] understand he is here to talk to the council, not to talk to St. Charles

[2:46:48] County. If he wishes to do that, there are other ways to do that. All All that

[2:46:53] being said, um that was an exciting evening. Can we agree?

[2:46:59] » Uh at the end of the day, uh we hope Mr. Hammond is feeling better. I hope Mr.

[2:47:05] Brazzle's horse is okay. Uh, I appreciate everyone's patience cuz I

[2:47:11] know tonight went long for a little while on some comments especially. So,

[2:47:16] thanks for hanging around. With that, I would entertain a motion to dismiss.

[2:47:22] » Motion and second. >> All those in favor? I

[2:47:25] » Good night, everybody. Why are you saying that?

St. Charles County Council Meeting 8.31.26

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