CHAMOIS — At their Feb. 2 meeting, Chamois aldermen accepted a proposal from Luke Buhr, the owner of Luke Buhr Excavating, to plow snow for the remainder of the season using city equipment. Deer Creek Trucking also bid, proposing a rate of $30 per hour using city equipment.

Mayor Marie Slusser wanted to use Deer Creek Trucking because of the lower hourly rate.

“I’m not sure Deer Creek Trucking is still interested,” said City Clerk Megan Birmingham. “Luke already helps us out with water and sewer issues, and he has called about the job.”

Before the last snowstorm, the city did not have anyone to plow the city streets, so they held an emergency meeting and hired Jake Shockley, a former employee, for $40 per hour to use the city’s equipment to clear the streets. City Treasurer Theresa Walter informed the board that she had not been able to add Shockley to the city’s insurance because he was not a city employee. Shockley did not submit a bid to continue working for the city in that capacity.

Slusser recommended tabling the issue until Birmingham could reach out to Deer Creek Trucking to see if they were still interested.

“My issue with that is we keep putting things off,” Alderman Shawn Mitchem said. “We put things off and put things off, and then we have a snow, and we’re in trouble.”

Birmingham offered to contact Deer Creek Trucking during the meeting.

Slusser suggested tabling the issue again until the city had more information.

“The problem I have is, we were going to start this in October, and then November,” Mitchem said. “Other places had contracts in place for snow removal before we even got bids. Then we are like, ‘Oh crap, we have an emergency!’ That’s my problem with tabling it.”

“We didn’t have any bids for most of these meetings,” Slusser said.

“I know, but I don’t want another emergency popping up,” Mitchem said. “I’m concerned we’re going to get a lot of snow, and people won’t be able to get out of their driveway.”

“At the same time, we can find out if Deer Creek Trucking is interested over the next couple of weeks before the next meeting,” Slusser said. “We still have another meeting this month.”

“And what if it snows tomorrow?” Mitchem asked.

“If an emergency comes up, we will handle the emergency,” Slusser said.

Aldermen tabled the issue until they could talk to Deer Creek Trucking.

Later in the meeting, Deer Creek Trucking responded to Birmingham and withdrew its bid. Slusser asked what Deer Creek Trucking would charge to use their own equipment for snow removal, and that bid was $115 per hour. Aldermen approved the submitted bid from Buhr.

Walter asked who was allowed to charge things to the city’s account at Jerry’s Stop & Go and Chamois Ag.

“It should only be approved charges,” Slusser said. “We don’t have a maintenance person.”

Walter said that there were two receipts at Jerry’s Stop & Go, and one at Chamois Ag from when Shockley plowed snow.

“He told me about those after the fact,” Slusser said.

“I would like to know who can charge things because as the bills come in, I need to make sure what we are paying,” Walter said.

“Technically, no one should be charging anything without approval,” Slusser said.

“But if you hire Luke Buhr for snow plowing, can he charge things?” Walter asked.

“The charges should be approved,” Slusser said. “We should set limits so that he can’t buy food and drinks, but fuel only. Anything else needs approval.”

Walter said that she would like to have the receipts brought to City Hall and that they should be signed.

In other business, Walter reported that the city had brought in $13,380.53 from Chamois Day, including donations, sponsorships, and the raffle. The city spent $5,283.70 and has a total of $8,096.83 in the account for Chamois Day; $1,800 that was pledged has not yet been received.

Walter noted that Unterrified Democrat Reporter Theresa Brandt had been asking about the financial side of Chamois Day for several months.

“I went back through and looked at the city’s minutes and my notes, and I can’t find anywhere where the aldermen voted on taking over the sponsorship of Chamois Day,” Brandt said. “I know that at one point it was going to be run by the committee, and then the mayor said it was a city-sponsored event, but I can’t find any record of a vote.”

“The whole thing was dropped on us,” Slusser said. “We didn’t have a lot of choices.”

Brandt pointed out that the event was consistently referred to as a city-sponsored event and that the aldermen should have voted on sponsoring it.

“It probably should have been,” Slusser said.

“The essence of this whole thing is that the aldermen hold the power of the city,” Brandt said. “They vote on everything, especially when there are public funds and public employees involved.”

“It was never brought up for a vote at a meeting,” Slusser said.

Brandt said that it should have been listed on the agenda and voted on by aldermen before the city took it on as a project.

“I didn’t know any of that,” Slusser said. “I understand where you are coming from. I did not know that it needed to be voted on.”

“Almost every decision needs a vote from the aldermen,” Brandt said.

“It will be on the agenda for next month,” Slusser said.

“I was confused about the whole thing,” Alderman Cheyanna Wolfe added. “I thought there was a committee handling it, and then there wasn’t a committee, so it fell on us, and then there was a committee again.”

“There was always a committee,” Slusser said. “We had city employees working on it on the clock, so it was a city event. We should have voted on it.”

Slusser repeated that approval for next year’s Chamois Day will be on the agenda for the next meeting.

• Aldermen approved an annual contract with Mid Mo Operations to continue maintaining the water and sewer system as the previous agreement ended on Feb. 1. Mid Mo Operations’ charge of $2,000 per month remains the same.

Mid Mo Operations offered to renegotiate the contract in the summer if the city needed them to mow and weed-eat the lagoons.

Mid Mo Operations owner Aaron Lachowicz offered to purchase an extra sewer pump that is sitting at the Chamois lagoon for $400.

Brandt pointed out that the city would probably need to put the item out for a bid since it is city property.

“We don’t know anything about the value of the pump,” Alderman Lacey Garret said.

Slusser and the aldermen decided they would rather not sell the pump at this time, but asked Birmingham to investigate how much the pump was worth for future discussions.

Slusser noted that the city had several water-line breaks due to the recent cold weather.

• Aldermen tabled deciding on what to charge the Paddle Group for the use of the park and the campgrounds in September.

The Paddle Group is trying to plan the route they will use for the upcoming float. They will need a place to camp overnight for roughly 50 people with a dinner and breakfast option.

“They really need to know so they can make their plans and decide on what stops they will have,” Birmingham said.

The group will need water and electric hookups.

Birmingham said that there may be school or church groups interested in offering dinner and breakfast options as a fundraising idea.

“They are a non-profit, but they are willing to buy meals and stay locally, and they are willing to pay for the campsites,” Birmingham explained.

“It might be a good project for the community to do to come together,” Wolfe said.

Walter said that normally, the city would generate $125 if the entire campground is rented out.

She suggested that the city contact the group and see if they will agree to pay for a set number of dinner and breakfast plates.

“If they are going to help with a fundraiser for our kids, I think we shouldn’t charge them more than $125,” Slusser said.

“I think it would be a win for everyone,” Mitchem said.

Aldermen tabled the issue so that Birmingham could check with school groups to see if anyone was interested in using the meals as fundraisers.

• The residential bulk clean-up is scheduled for March 25. The event is for residents only.

Republic Services offers the following guidelines for bulk clean-up that must be followed: items must be at the curb by 5 a.m.; items must be bagged or bundled so one person can easily handle the items, lumber must be cut to four foot length and be easy to handle by one person, as many items as possible need to be in the cart, no hazardous waste, no liquid waste, no yard waste, no car parts, no white goods including refrigerators, stoves, water heaters, washing machines, or dryers, and no concrete items.

If any items are in question, they will be left by the Republic Services driver. Anyone with questions may call Republic Services at 573-635-8805.

Birmingham will post the flyer on the city’s Facebook page.

• The city plans to offer a UTV and ATV license again this year. Walter suggested that aldermen set a date in April for residents to come in and purchase their license at City Hall.

City Marshal Riley Davis suggested the city purchase the licenses from the state so that they do not fade, which was a problem in years past.

Birmingham thought that the cost of the licenses was $40 for 50 stickers, but she will check and report back at the next meeting.

“We need to set a date at the February meeting so we can get the word out to residents,” Walter said.

• The next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m.