November 23, 1998

Present: Mayor Scott Fleetwood
Alderman Herman Davis - absent
Alderman Delmar Guthery
Alderman Don Davidson
Alderman Leon Harris
Marilyn Alms, City Clerk
City Attorney, Carl Smith

News Media: Keith Moore, Herald Publishing; Art Corum, KKOZ

Guests: An attendance register was provided for guests to sign.

CALL TO ORDER: Meeting called to order by Mayor Scott Fleetwood

ROLL CALL: Upon call of the roll, the following aldermen were present: Delmar Guthery, Leon Harris, Don Davidson, Herman Davis absent due to illness.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes of November 9, 1998, meeting were mailed to Aldermen for their review. Motion made by Don Davidson to approve minutes. Second to the motion by Leon Harris. Motion carried. All in favor.

COMMUNITY BETTERMENT AWARD PRESENTATION: The award plaque won in the MO Community Betterment competition was presented to the City, by Peggy Baird, for first place in Category 5 for 1998. This is our 3^rd year in a row to win first place in this category. Heath Kirklin presented second place youth group award in Category 5. Peggy Baird presented Viola Blechle Good Neighbor Award for helping the community of Mansfield organize their Community Betterment group.

Peggy Baird of Chamber of Commerce asked about changing the starting point of the Christmas parade from the north end of the Industrial Park at Copeland to the Walmart or Rudy’s parking lot, across the junction of Hwy 5 & 14. They traditionally have used the parking lot at Copeland to organize the Christmas parade, but Copeland will have crews working that day. They are considering using the Walmart or Rudy’s parking lot, or else Rawlings & Dollar General (Don Farris) property. It is the opinion of the mayor and the aldermen that it would be better to use Rawlings/Dollar General, rather than Walmart, across Hwy 5.

FISCAL YEAR AUDIT REPORT BY DAVIS, LYNN, MOOTS: Audit report for the Fiscal Year ended June 30, 1998, was presented by Larry Brown of Davis, Lynn & Moots, CPA firm. He gave clean audit opinion. He cautioned we need to amend budget throughout the operating year.

Park Fund – we need to do budget amendments.

State auditor recommends that monies from electric revenue not be used to pay for general fund expenses. The water rate increase is helping bring the enterprise funds back to positive balances. We need to get rid of indebtedness of notes payable on City cemetery.

EXCEL REQUEST: City Clerk submitted request for City to pay her registration to attend the 1999 EXCEL Community Leadership course - $140 registration fee.

Motion made by Don Davidson to approve request by City Clerk. Second to motion by Leon Harris. Motion approved. All in favor.

BILL #11/98.16 – PROPOSED ORDINANCE #561: An Ordinance Establishing Minimum Regulations Governing The Design, Construction, Alteration, Enlargement, Repair, Demolition, Removal, Maintenance and Use Of All Buildings And Structures; Providing For The Issuance Of Permits, Collection Of Fees, Making Of Inspections; Providing Penalties For The Violation Thereof; Known As The Building Code; And Repealing Existing Ordinance #297 Section 2 Of The City Of Ava, State Of Missouri.

Bill read by City Clerk. Aldermen had questions about Section 3 Additions, Insertions.

Motion made by Don Davidson to approve first reading of bill. Second to motion by Delmar Guthery. Motion approved. All in favor. Record of vote: Davidson, aye; Guthery, aye; Harris, aye.

Motion made by Leon Harris to table second reading until next meeting. Second to motion by Delmar Guthery. Motion approved by vote of all ayes.

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT BIDS: Two bids received to build building at airport for electric department.

Hannaford Electric…..$28,107

Freeman Builder……..$23,461

Motion made by Leon Harris to approve proposal by Freeman Builders for $23,461. Second to motion by Delmar Guthery. Don Davidson said he will abstain from vote because he is related by marriage to Mr. Freeman. City Attorney advises should there be a tie, because one aldermen is absent and one is abstaining, Mayor can vote to break the tie. Motion approved. Record of vote: Harris, aye; Guthery, aye; Davidson, abstain.

RADIO COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT: Bid from Radiophone to purchase pagers at $388 each. Fire Chief Woods said fire department has purchased refurbished units for around $179 each – do not need charger, can use battery.

Alltel has pager service at $8 each per month

Mr. Harris asked about warranty on Radiophone equipment. Fire Chief Woods said their pagers do not include the vibrate feature, just squelch feature. With Alltel, if pager is lost, employee would have to pay for lost unit – we would not be required to sign any annual contract, like with telephones.

Motion made by Leon Harris to try the Alltel pager lease program. Second to motion by Don Davidson. Motion approved. All in favor.

HANDHELD RADIO BIDS: Two bids received for seven handheld radios:

Team Electronics – P 1225 Unit – (7) units – base price…..$4,550

Radiophone – 16 channel – 5 watt – (7) units – base price...$3,969

Three police officers need lapel speaker microphones at $70 each; extra charger - $30; extra battery - $83.

Radios that police department now use will be handed down to other City departments. Our radios in use now are 2-channel without scanner. The sheriff’s office new radio equipment has 6-channels with scanners. There is a four week delivery time.

Motion made by Don Davidson to purchase seven handheld radios from Radiophone at $3,969. Second to motion by Leon Harris. Motion approved. All in favor.

Fire Chief Woods asked if there is any way fire department can get new radios. ISO requirements for insurance rating take into consideration communications equipment – fire department needs four scanning radios.

Mayor Fleetwood referred to budget for fire department and indicated there is monies allocated this fiscal year for equipment and capital expenditures. Alderman Harris said we can probably get a better price now since we are buying the other seven radios.

Motion made by Leon Harris to approve purchase of four handheld radios for fire department. Second to motion by Don Davidson. Motion approved. All in favor.

RECORDS STORAGE BUILDING: Mayor asked if Aldermen were in agreement to advertise for bids on blocking-up overhead door openings, and do some further renovation to the building. Aldermen were in agreement.

VIDEO TRAINING EQUIPMENT: MIRMA (Missouri Intergovernmental Risk Management Association) scores points on our risk-management evaluation. Part of this point system is based on showing training video tapes. We are planning a video tape library and will have a program to show new hires.

We have a proposal from Walmart:

Sanyo 25" T.V. …..$219.96

Orion 2-head VCR.. 89.96

T.V. Cabinet……... 48.00

It is recommended we purchase 4-head VCR rather than the 2-head VCR.

Aldermen were in agreement to proceed with purchasing this equipment. No motion was made, but all are in agreement.

INDUSTRIAL PARK ROAD EXPANSION: Public hearing is scheduled for 3:00 P.M., Wednesday, November 25, at Ava Community Center, for pre-application of CDBG & EDA grant monies to build road linking two industrial parks to MO Hwy 5.

ANNEXATION REQUEST: Will schedule for 8:00 A.M. Thursday work session.

PEDDLER’S & SOLICITOR’S LICENSING REQUIREMENTS: City Attorney said with liberalism of the law, he will need to research if we would be able to completely prohibit peddlers from selling within the City limits. Clerk provided copy of Chapter 70 and old ordinance #456 for aldermen to review.

MUNICIPAL COURT: City Attorney has approached County Court to ask permission to move City Court from basement of police department to the court room at County Courthouse. The Circuit Judge, Moody, has blocked this effort and will not agree to this request. The County Commissioners will not disagree with the judge.

One alternative to using the Courthouse would be to rent the building next to the police station. We have contacted the owner of the building and we would be able to rent the building for $225 per month. City Attorney recommended the Mayor and Aldermen write a letter to the judge stating the City’s position on this question.

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE: Accounts payable cash requirement report was submitted to Aldermen for their review. Motion made by Don Davidson to approve accounts payable expenditure of $21,680.60. Second to motion by Leon Harris. Motion approved. All in favor.

CLOSED SESSION: Motion made by Leon Harris to move into closed session for discussion of personnel pursuant to MoRS 610.021(3).

City Attorney requested "Caller I.D." be installed at police station. Aldermen were in agreement to this.

Use of video cameras in police cars was discussed. City owns three video cameras.

Chamber of Commerce lease expires at end of year – we have been in a contract the past calendar year to pay $14,000 annually, or $1,200 per month to the Chamber office. Mayor & treasurer have been working on budget figure and recommend $700 per month.

Ric Buchanan’s contract as leagues director is up for this season. Mayor asked what City’s direction will be on handling the soccer & softball programs for next season.

Janice Lorrain, part-time office help, has been working out well. Mayor asked if Council would be agreeable to her working more hours. There was discussion about workload at City Hall, and Clerk requested more help be allowed – suggested another part-time employee.

Boot/glove money for employees was discussed. Every year we have given certain employees $60 per year to go towards the purchase of safety gloves & boots. Mayor asked if Aldermen wanted to continue this policy, or have Mayor take over the purchase of these supplies.

OPEN SESSION/ADJOURNMENT: Motion made by Leon Harris to move to regular open session. Second to motion by Don Davidson. Motion approved. All in favor.

During closed session Mayor asked about continuing boot/glove money to employees. Motion made by Don Davidson to allow $60 per employee for boot/glove money. Second to motion by Leon Harris. Motion approved. All in favor.

Bill Mackey has requested permission to set a 40’ box trailer on City-owned property next to water tower by Copeland for a clothing drive for people in country of Honduras. Aldermen did not object to allowing the trailer to be parked on City property.

Electric department superintendent and crew foreman will be attending a seminar in Jefferson City for electric department.

Motion made by Don Davidson to adjourn meeting. Second to motion by Delmar Guthery. Motion approved. All in favor.

Meeting adjourned.

On December 14, 1998, minutes were:

_____Approved by Board of Aldermen as written

_____Corrected or amended by Board of Aldermen

___________________________________

Mayor Scott Fleetwood