Council Addresses Issues With Yard Maintenance

By Editor | May 21, 2024

Minutes Submitted

The Shelbina City Council met in regular session on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at city hall.

Citizen Participation:

City Clerk Janice Magruder was asked by a citizen if he could put gravel down on city owned property. City Superintendent Brian Fifer will go and look at it and contact the citizen.

A motion to accept Hawkins Insurance as a recipient of the sidewalk replacement program was seconded and unanimously approved.

Special Announcements

Alderman Chad Wharton stated the customer at 108 South Shelby was wondering if something could be done about the tube under the street. Fifer will go look at it and see what needs to be done with it.

Unfinished Business

A motion to accept the bid of $1,200.00 for the F-350 truck bed was seconded and unanimously approved.

Fifer gave a brief update on the overlay project. Bids are due in by May 24 so he should have more information at the next meeting.

Fifer gave a short update on the sidewalk grant project. It is in the design phase, and he hopes to have plans to look at by the end of June. There was a discussion on one of the citizens’ old iron fence that will possibly have to be moved for the project. The city will wait to have plans first before they address that if it becomes an issue.

There was a discussion on a fence on property lines at 103 Cramer Ave and 409 E College. The issues they are disputing are a civil matter. Fifer was sure that the fence was up before the new fence ordinance was passed and that it would not violate the prior ordinance the city had in place. The council asked Janice Magruder to write a letter stating that the city has no issues or violation of any codes for either party involved, and the dispute is a civil matter to be handled privately without city involvement.

New Business

Fifer addressed issues with citizens not properly maintaining their ditches. He is asking the citizens to be proactive in keeping vegetation trimmed, trash, yard waste, limbs, and all debris clear from the ditches. This would greatly help with water flow for the whole town.

A motion was seconded and unanimously approved for Chariton Valley to provide Wi-Fi at the campgrounds using five satellites for $90 each. In the offseason it will be $20 a month each.

A long discussion on loitering was held. The city would like to make curfew on all city parks. Hopefully this might help with the homeless trying to sleep in the parks. There is just not a real good solution or resources for homeless in small towns. The homeless that are here have been offered as much help as the town can give them. City Attorney Jim McConnell will look into ordinances that could be passed to help deal with homeless and loitering.

The mayor would like Magruder to start reviewing the budget and making amendments to account for the overruns. She will get with Fifer and come up with a plan to move funding around to cover overages.

A motion was seconded and unanimously approved to hire Jaylea Barrick to work at the golf course clubhouse.

A motion was seconded and unanimously approved for the costs of swim lessons at the pool. Five 30-minute lessons for one child would be $75.00, two children $100.00 and three children $125.00. Alderman James Simpson would like to find a way to pay the lifeguards more for swimming lessons. Magruder and pool manager Amber Klusmeyer will get together and discuss what they could off the lifeguards giving swim lessons.

A list of properties that have had nuisance notices sent or nuisance clean up started was presented to the council. There was discussion over how best to get grass cut in a timely manner. McConnell was going to research and see if he could find any legal way to speed up the process and see about any other way of collection.

A motion was seconded and unanimously approved to continue the discount cards for North Shelby High School athletes selling cards using the promotion “Buy One Round of Golf, Get One Round of Golf FREE (9holes or 18holes).

Department Reports:

City Attorney

McConnell announced that the city court being ran through the county went smoothly. They can offer an online court that is going to be convenient for the out-of-town cases. At court there was a defendant that did not speak English, but they got it translated and have a person that would be willing to help next time. He is also waiting for the title company to give him information to finish the paperwork for the property sold on Rawlings Street.

City Marshal

Chief Jeff Brown reported the doctor has him on desk duty until further notice. With his medical condition and two of the officers that will need time off this summer he was asking the council to hire Caleb Klingsmith as a reserve part-time officer. A motion seconded and unanimously approved to hire Klingsmith at $17.50/hour. Brown recently attended a conference and thought he got a lot of good information and he can better serve the community and the city’s citizens with. He delivered some treats to the teachers for teacher appreciation week and to the nurses for nurse appreciation week. Brown made the council aware of the incident that happened early Saturday morning resulting in the suspect ramming the city cop vehicle twice. The estimate for repairs was included with the packet. It looks like the suspects’ insurance will cover the damage and that it might even be totaled out. He told the council Monroe City might be interested in purchasing the Tahoe that was not damaged when they get their new vehicle.

City Clerk

Magruder addressed the issue of citizens that contacted the city hall staff through social media and employees personal cell phones. She asks that the citizens keep in mind that for the staff to better serve them calling the office phone would be better practice and that city hall staff is not obligated to answer personal forms of communication. She highlighted some of the other information in her report referring to the getting ordinances gathered and minutes printed for the ordinance and minute books. She is missing several and is trying to locate them to send general code for the updating of the code book. She is also having issues with the utility bills getting delivered by mail. She continues to encourage the citizens to utilize the online services the city has to offer. She also let the council know that the .gov domain is approved. Magruder asked the council if they would be interested in putting a vote to the citizens for approving a 3% marijuana tax. The council was interested in pursuing that.

City Superintendent

Fifer informed the council that the crews have been working on job orders, dust control, trimming trees, and tube replacements. The pole replacement with MPUA will happen this summer. He indicated that the fairgrounds have two poles that will need to be replaced and the city has a couple of metal poles that they will not use and wondered if the council was okay with giving them to the fairgrounds to use. They agreed to give the fairgrounds the poles and they would have their own electrician connect them. The city will possibly have to help them set one of the poles. The Rum Bucket tournament at the golf course was a success. Fifer thought it made around $5,500. The lake has new signs for camping spots. Fifer informed the council that the city should be looking at replacing the greens mower. He will be looking at trimming the tree behind Nick Broughton’s house.

Other News

The board:

• approved the agenda as presented.

• approved the consent agenda items.

• approved the bills as presented.

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