WESTPHALIA— Westphalia aldermen last Tuesday accepted the resignation of Alderman Ron Patterson during a closed session prior to the board’s regular meeting. Patterson was not in attendance at the meeting but a letter of resignation mailed to City Hall was opened prior to the meeting, read by Mayor Tammy Massman, and unanimously approved, effective Sept. 16.
Patterson did not give a reason for stepping down from the board, and there were no comments or explanations for the resignation provided by the mayor or aldermen.
In other business, aldermen approved a bid from Raithel Brothers Construction Company for concrete work to the curb and off-street parking areas on East Main Street. The street repairs will continue the repairs from where they had stopped the work from the last time.
Massman had reached out to three construction companies for a bid on the project. While one company declined to bid, Raithel Brothers Construction Company submitted a bid for $24,187.66 and Stark Construction Company submitted their bid for $58,590.
“There is a pretty stark difference there,” Alderman Mike Kliethermes joked.
“Yeah, there ain’t much choice,” Alderman Danny Wilde said.
Massman noted that the companies were hoping to begin the work in late October or early November and that there was enough money in the account to cover the repairs.
Kliethermes also reported that NutraAg, LLC (formerly Westphalia Milling Company) was hoping to start tearing out part of their driveway next week. NutraAg, LLC planned on tearing out half of the driveway at a time so that the street could remain open and they could continue to get the trucks through during the repairs.
“Do we want to try to piggyback onto their project for repairs on Mill Street or do we want to let it go?” Kliethermes asked.
“My suggestion would be to see how it falls out,” Massman said. “It may be best if we let them do their section and then we look at ours.”
Aldermen agreed to wait until NutraAg, LLC had completed their repairs before the city of Westphalia makes any other improvements to Mill Street.
Kliethermes had an additional area of concern for no-parking areas in the city. He noted that the curbs in the city painted yellow sometimes represent caution only and at other times refer to no-parking areas.
“Is there a way to paint “no parking” areas red with a white overlay of “no parking” (on the curbs) so that the areas are clearly designated that hey you are not supposed to park here?” Kliethermes asked. “It may be beneficial to look at some of these areas.”
Massman and the rest of the board agreed this was a good idea and suggested that it could be a service project for scouts or CCD group.
* The city of Westphalia is planning on performing a smoke test on the city’s sewer system on Oct. 9. All the city’s sewer customers will be receiving a formal letter in the mail along with additional information on who to contact if they have questions or concerns.
Residents can request a copy of the sewer ordinance from the city and they will be provided to the customers in an email to save on postage.
Sewer Operations Manager Phil Peaks is purchasing the needed supplies and looking into signs to inform area residents that there is a smoke test.
Massman has solicited people to help assist the day of the smoke test and is also coordinating with the Missouri Rural Water Association for any additional concerns.
Massman will also be notifying the Osage County 911 office, the Westphalia Fire Protection Department, and the Osage County Sheriff’s office to make sure that everyone is aware of what is going on.
City Clerk Kerry Bax will also be posting notices about the smoke test.
* The St. Joseph’s Fall Supper to be held on Oct. 18 will include a drive-through meal and a quilt auction. Massman has been contacted by the Fall Supper chairpersons and they are not asking for street closures like they did for the parish picnic earlier this year.
“They are just going to utilize signage and possibly appoint some persons to a work detail to assist with flagging traffic,” Massman said. “The streets will remain open.”
The parish is not planning liquor sales at the event.
* Aldermen approved the fall cleanup to be scheduled for Oct. 24-25. The dumpsters will be in the Millard’s Funeral Home parking lot as they have been in years past.
Bax will plan on posting flyers and put the information in the parish bulletin.
* Alderman Kliethermes suggested that Westphalia hold a citywide clean-up in late October or early November once the leaves have fallen off the trees.
Massman thought that this would be a good project to reach out to local youth groups to see if anyone had an interest in helping with the city clean-up as a service project.
Kliethermes suggested that it may be challenging to find a place to dump all the leaves and debris that are picked up.
“Maybe there would be a local that has a farm that would be willing to have that kind of stuff for fill,” Massman suggested.
Massman will reach out to local youth groups to see if anyone is interested in helping with the city clean up. A date will be set later.
* Peaks was not at Tuesday’s meeting but he did send in a report that Massman read to the board.
Peaks noted that the treatment plant was running well. Mid Missouri Environmental Services will plan to do the last land application of the year by the end of October.
Peaks believes that the sewer system is in good shape going into the winter months.
Peaks did report that Mid Missouri Environmental Services had to make repairs to the Devin Street Lift station last month because the pumps were plugged with “rags” and the cutters had to be replaced.
“Is there any idea where the ‘rags’ may have come from?” Kliethermes asked.
“I don’t even know if he specified if he meant rags, like cloth towels or rags like feminine products,” Massman said.
Everyone chuckled for a minute and Alderman Wilde noted an instance in which children flushing things down the toilet had ruined the plumbing in an entire house.
“It’s really not funny,” Wilde said.
“Please don’t flush everything down the stool,” Massman agreed.
* The city approved the following expenses for the month: city fund ($2,154.12), sewer system ($5,879.99), and the special road district ($1,287.05).
* Westphalia had the following receipts for the month: city ($13,594.50), sewer ($6,516.46), and special road district ($10,015.49).
* The city has the following account balances: city checking ($135,780.15), sewer checking ($11,661.99), special road district checking ($72,030.29), and special road district savings ($5,108.04).
* Westphalia has three certificates of deposits in the following amounts: city ($436.174.21), sewer ($516,204.02), and special road district ($519,724.64).
* The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 27 at 6:30 p.m.