Westphalia — Westphalia’s wastewater permit has been put on hold by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) while they see if any modifications need to be made after the discharge pipe was relocated by the construction crew working on the new Pentecostal Bridge project. Mayor Pro Tem Delbert Wieberg expressed his frustration at the Westphalia Board of Aldermen meeting on March 24.

“What I’m upset about is that nobody contacted us about this, except when I went down to talk to the construction crew,” Wieberg said. “We were never officially notified. The engineering firm didn’t contact us; they just moved it. We weren’t officially contacted by the county commissioners.”

Wieberg went to the construction site and realized that a new manhole had been put in, along with a new discharge pipe.

“I heard that they were going to move it, and I thought one of the commissioners was going to contact us,” Wieberg said. “They never contacted us.

“I can’t believe we didn’t get any notice of these drawings or where they were going to move the (manhole) to,” Wieberg continued. “They set another manhole. They moved it, and we can’t get anyone to stick their neck out and say if it is okay or not.”

Mid Mo Operations Owner Aaron Lachowicz had spoken with DNR and said that the rule of thumb is that if the discharge line is moved no more than 1,000 feet, the project would not need to get a construction permit through the agency. He also noted that the new manhole and change to the discharge line were in the approved construction plans, but they had not been shared with the city.

“DNR said in their last email that they are still waiting on some information from the geological survey on that discharge,” said Wieberg, who read a portion of the email from DNR:

“We don’t anticipate any problems, but if they determine there are, there may need to be an alteration to the city’s permit. We will proceed with renewal and modification once we receive the results (of the geological survey).”

City Clerk Tammy Massman noted that the city had submitted its permit renewal last year.

“We have to reach out to DNR and see if we have to update the coordinates of the new location of the discharge pipe,” Lachowicz said. “That may be all we need to do. We can’t do that until the geological survey is completed.”

“I guess we are in limbo,” Wieberg said, adding that it was his understanding that everything would eventually be okay and that DNR just needed the proper documentation.

“We can’t submit any modifications until the geological survey has been completed,” Lachowicz reiterated.

He also noted that it was his understanding that the engineering firm had approval from DNR before they made any modifications to the wastewater system.

No one understood why the city had not been officially contacted about any of the changes to the city’s sewer system.

“I figure we’ll attach an amendment to our permit renewal when the survey is completed and keep moving forward,” Massman said. “In the meantime, we are still chasing down what we are supposed to be doing.”

In other business, aldermen passed a surplus budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year that anticipates total receipts of $299,278, expenses of $323,043, and depreciation of $25,000, leaving a surplus of $1,235.

Massman is waiting for the end-of-the-month interest reports from the bank and the final business licenses to be paid to finalize the budget. She will make the needed adjustments and submit it as soon as possible.

The estimate for receipts is similar to last year’s budget, with a slight increase in the total receipts from the 2025-26 fiscal year, which totaled $291,490.72. The line items for the receipts changed only slightly from last year’s budget. The following line items increased from the 2025-26 budget: general sales tax ($78,000, from $75,000), liquor license ($1,128, from $1,053), vehicle sales tax ($4,400, from $4,200), gasoline tax ($16,500, from $15,000), franchise tax ($24,000, from $21,000), Osage County Road tax ($24,500, from $22,000), and sewer system ($112,000, from $105,500).

The following line items decreased for the new fiscal year: cellular sales tax ($850, from $1,000), business licenses ($1,000, from $1,500), and interest income ($21,000, from $30,000).

The following line items remained the same in the new fiscal year: local use tax ($13,000), motor vehicle fee tax ($1,700), and storage rental fee ($1,200).

Line items for expenses increased from the 2025-26 fiscal year as follows: accounting ($2,400, from $1,500), office/operating expenses ($3,300, from $2,800), payroll taxes ($4,943, from $3,750), contract labor ($30,000, from $28,500), postage ($350, from $300), salt ($3,500, from $2,500), sewer system maintenance/DNR ($40,000, from $38,600), sidewalks ($30,000, from $10,000), sludge testing/hauling ($12,000, from $10,000), street repairs ($70,000, from $50,000), and utilities ($37,000, from $35,000).

Several total expenses decreased from the 2025-26 budget including: advertising ($225, from $425), legal and professional services ($4,500, from $9,000), city repairs and maintenance ($10,000, from $25,000), special road district maintenance and repairs ($1,500, from $4,500), and salary and wages ($20,000, from $22,300).

The following line items remained the same for both budget years: election expenses ($1,500), insurance and safety bond ($8,500), sewer billing service ($5,800), sewer repairs and equipment ($10,000), and storage rental ($1,200).

• Aldermen plan to request bids for street, sidewalk, and off-street parking repairs as soon as possible, hoping to get the work done this summer. Areas currently under consideration include off-street parking on Bridge Avenue, fixing the culvert by the Fick property, repairing Linn Street, and repairing the sidewalk area in front of City Hall.

Wieberg plans to contact four contractors for bids, including Verslues Construction, Raithel Brothers Construction, Stockman Construction, and Advance Concrete.

“In the future, when we get something re-asphalted, we should keep up on sealing the cracks, so we get more life out of it,” Wieberg said.

He also believes that the city will need to start grinding down the streets before repaving them. Wieberg will report back at the next meeting.

• Massman has received 34 of 38 business license renewals. Westphalia business licenses were due by March 31.

• Aldermen approved an increase of $204 for the Missouri Public Entity Risk Management Fund (MOPERM) for property insurance. The increase reflects the increased values that aldermen wanted added to the policy. MOPERM increased the value for City Hall ($120,000), garage ($200,000), Highway 63 Lift Station ($36,000), City View Lift Station ($12,000), Massman Lane Lift Station ($9,000), and Devin Lane Lift Station ($12,000).

“It was a fairly significant increase in property values; I thought it would have been a more significant increase,” Massman said.

The MOPERM policy will be up for renewal on July 1.

• Lachowicz reported that he had completed the routine maintenance to the wastewater plant and found that one of the belts on the blower is showing significant wear. He ordered a new part and will make the repair when the part comes in.

DNR completed its inspection of the wastewater facility and had no major concerns. The agency also completed a Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) inspection, and no deficiencies were found. Lachowicz ordered the Ultraviolet (UV) lights and sleeves approved at the last meeting and was confident they would come in before they needed to be installed on April 1.

Lachowicz also reminded aldermen that their contract with Mid Mo Operations will expire at the end of June.

• Wieberg noted that several people who need to complete community service hours have been doing volunteer work for the city. They have taken the loose salt in the old salt shed and have it bagged up or put in mineral tubs. They plan to cut saplings around the sewer plant and haul the brush off. If they have additional time, they will help clean up leaves and debris in the ditches and gutters. He asked aldermen for other projects that need to be done around the city.

• Wieberg noted that Osage County resident Vernon Schmitz had told him that the school warning light on Main Street had not been working, and agreed to take care of it.

• The city had the following receipts: city ($11,495.34), sewer ($9,371.11), and special road district ($11,190.13).

• Aldermen approved the following expenses: city ($15,161.55), sewer ($8,086.07), and special road district ($329.40).

• Westphalia had the following account balances: city checking ($147,902.94), sewer system checking ($83,285.05), special road district checking ($144,947.60), and special road district savings ($5,136.98).

• The city holds the following certificates of deposit: city ($465,493.01), sewer system ($552,909.32), and special road district ($555,590.65).

• The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 28, at 6 p.m.