Council hears collapsed building blocking theater exit

The El Dorado Springs City Council met in regular session Monday, March 4, 2019, at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Members present were Mayor Brad True, Mayor Pro Tem Randy Bland and Council Members Jim Luster, Nick Bland and Cory Gayman.

Personnel present were Bruce Rogers, City Manager and Kandi Baldwin, City Clerk.

Jon Cummings was present from KPM CPAS & Advisors.

Rogers presented the copy of the check register for February in reports and written communications.

Jon Cummings, with KPM CPAs & Advisors, presented the audit for the 2017-2018 fiscal year.  Cummings went over the different funds and statements and found the audit to have overall good results.  Cummings suggested that the Council look at the water rates in the future for a possible rate adjustment.  Rogers commented that it has been 11 or 12 years since an adjustment has been made.  Cummings also stated a need for internal control reviews, due to the limited staffing.  Rogers asked about hiring another employee and Cummings gave his opinion and stated a general fund employee would be difficult to do.  Cummings also mentioned the need to be on alert for cyber attacks, to always be aware of suspicious emails.  Gayman asked for information on this topic, Cummings stated they are working on getting that information for their clients.

Resolution 19-02;  A resoulution selecting an engineering firm for Municipal Airport planning and construction services, was presented and read in full.  Rogers explained this would approve airport consultants, Burns & McDonnell, for projects initiated within a five year time frame.  On a motion by Luster, seconded by Gayman, the Council voted unanimously to approve the resolution.  “Yes” votes were True, Luster, N Bland, R Bland and Gayman.

Resolution 19-03;  a resoulution approving an agreement with LEICA Geosystems Inc, to host a GPS antenna, was presented and read in full.  Rogers stated the LEICA antenna would be attached to a building in town.  The antenna is an 80 inch antenna that doesn’t interfere with radio frequency.  LEICA will pay the city $1500 per year to place the antenna.   Rogers spoke with other cities that already have the antenna’s and found the fee to be fair. The City’s attorney has reviewed the contract and made a couple of changes.  On a motion by True, seconded by N Bland, the Council voted unanimously to approve the resolution.  “Yes” votes were True, Luster, N Bland, R Bland and Gayman.

Jackson Tough, Chamber of Commerce, was present during the public forum.  Tough mentioned the need for cyber security and stated the Chamber will be presenting on the subject at their July meeting.  Tough also wanted to thank the City Crews for a fantastic job during the ice storm.  He was one of the many people affected by the outage and he appreciated all their hard work.  Tough stated Clean-Up ElDo is in its 4th year and will either be set for April 20 or April 27.  The date will be set after the meeting on Thursday, March 7, at 10 a.m.  He would like to see the bulky trash pick-up dates set after the cleanup.  Tough mentioned May 2 is the National Day of Prayer, and the Chamber and Ministerial Alliance are going to hold it in the City Park.  Tough stated the City Wide Garage Sale will be held  Friday, May 3, and Saturday, May 4.  He asked the Council for the fee to be waived for the sales that weekend, as it has been in the past.    

During the City Manager report, Rogers mentioned the Sidewalk Project pre-construction meeting was held and a notice to proceed was given for April 1, giving them 120 days to complete the project.

Rogers stated he has received calls about tree limbs that are in peoples yards from the ice storm, wanting to know when the City will be picking up the limbs.  He said the City is not responsible for picking up these limbs, it is the responsibility of the owners.  Rogers mentioned the City should not openly compete with company’s who have businesses doing this work.  If the City Crews go in and trim the limbs around transformers, they will clean those limbs up.  He suggested the homeowners call the Chamber in advance of the Clean-Up ElDo event for help with cleaning up the trees.

Rogers mentioned he wanted to caution people about the solar systems people  are installing on their homes. Rogers states he thinks the salesmen may be misrepresenting knowingly or unknowingly the savings associated with the solar systems.  Customers are not seeing the savings  on their bills, also  customers are being told if they generate surplus kilowatts, the city will bank them and give them back later.  This is not correct.  The City buys them back at less than retail and they receive a metering credit on their bill.  Rogers contacted 2 other towns, Nixa, Mo said that 90% of the Solar customers have expressed frustration, also Willow Springs solar customers aren’t getting the results they would like either.  Rogers mentioned the City has to buy new meters to install on these homes, but homeowners are not seeing the results like they wanted.  He just states he wants to caution people before making a decision and contact him at City Hall for questions before purchasing these systems.

Rogers mentioned the building collapse on St. James Street.  The NE corner of the building had a failure.  Mike Norman, owner of the building, is in contact with his insurance company engineers and is waiting to proceed.  Rogers said Norman wants to clean-up but has to wait for the insurance to determine if the building can be repaired.  The Opera House has an emergency exit that cannot be used at this time due to the collapse, they have been notified and told if there is more than 50 occupancy then they have to have a second exit.  Volunteer firemen have monitored when movies are playing in case of emergency.

Rogers told the Council he has been getting quotes on Work Comp Insurance.  The insurance has gone up considerably the last couple of years due to the firemen getting hurt and the substation fire.  The cost has gone from $50, 000 to $143, 000.  Rogers believes the current provider will go from $143,000 to $168,000 next year.  The City received a quote for $121, 000, which is a better agreement than what we have.  Rogers mentioned that he was getting health insurance quotes also.

During the Mayor/Council report, True had nothing to report.  Gayman had a citizen contact him regarding a problem reported to the Police Department recently.  Rogers responded that all he could say was that it was an ongoing investigation.  Gayman also wanted to commend Rogers for assisting Mike Norman with the building collapse.

At 6:35 p.m., on a motion by Luster, seconded by Gayman, the Council voted unanimously to adjourn.  “Yes” votes were True, Luster, N Bland, R Bland and Gayman.