FREEBURG — Freeburg trustees approved a bid from Jefferson Asphalt for $122,554.80 to mill down and repave East Oliver Street to Old Vienna Road, Lewis Street to North Chestnut Street to East Walker Street, and East Oliver Street.

Trustees also received a $164,530 bid from Mo-Ark Asphalt Paving of West Plains for the same scope of work. The initial paperwork did not include wording stipulating that Jefferson Asphalt would mill the entire street down. However, Public Works Director Doug Hamacher was able to find an email that stated that the company had left that wording off the estimate but that the milling was included on all the streets they recommend milling. The two streets that did not include milling were North Chestnut and Oliver Street due to the thickness of the existing asphalt. Hamacher was confident that Jefferson Asphalt could complete the project this year.

Trustees also requested that Hamacher get a bid to cut out the new street they approved at the last meeting. The board had voted to open the street to Sam Welschmeyer’s property and take over the road maintenance at the July meeting.

In other business, trustees approved Resolution #135 authorizing Mayor Scott Knoll to apply with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Clean Water State Revolving Fund Program for financial assistance under the Missouri Clean Water Law. The application will be filed for improvements that need to be made to address E.coli and ammonia removal and improvements to reduce inflow and infiltration in the city’s wastewater system.

• Freeburg Volunteer Fire Department Chief Brady Evans addressed trustees about their new rating from the Insurance Services Office (ISO). The fire department received a 6 out of 10, with the higher the number, the worse the department scored.

“We get a rating as a whole,” Evans said. “It gives you a grade based on performance and other things that affect your insurance premiums.”

Evans explained that the water supply is worth 40% of the whole score. While the department received a partial score for this category, there were areas of concern. Evans explained that the fire department didn’t get any points for maintenance of the fire hydrants.

“That’s just maintenance of the hydrants, more or less,” Evans said. “It’s cracking them open a little bit and making sure they work, and that is supposed to be done yearly. There needs to be a plan in place with documentation that states everything was done and when it was done.”

Trustee Shane Zimmer asked whose responsibility it was to maintain the fire hydrants, and Evans said it was the village’s responsibility, particularly Hamacher’s.

Hamacher said that he had spoken with someone with Missouri Rural Water who was supposed to come out in the spring and show him how to perform hydrant maintenance, but when the individual ended up changing jobs, Hamacher had to reschedule the training.

“But that ain’t going to change the flow rating,” Hamacher said.

“No, it’s not going to change the flow rating, but we can get specific points for testing and maintenance,” Evans said.

“If I write down what I did,” Hamacher added.

“Right,” Evans agreed. “Right now, we don’t have anything. I know there is stuff that I need to work on at my end but just say we could get five points of credit for the inspection and maintenance, we could potentially go up a class.”

Fire departments only face ISO inspections every five years, but Evans said that they are expected to show improvement.

“They want to see that you are maintaining all of your hydrants,” Evans added.

“I knew we should be doing it,” Hamacher admitted.

“If you ever see a hydrant drain, they are pretty nasty,” Evans said. “Some of them clear out fairly quickly, and there are (some) that take a while. It can come out looking like sludge. Maintaining them would keep all the sentiments from building up inside them.”

The village has 28 hydrants, which must be drained in a particular order.

Evans recommended that the village contact the city of Vienna and look at how they keep track of their maintenance schedule.

Zimmer noted that they would have a more significant water loss than normal the month the hydrants were cleaned out.

“Yeah, you’re going to have a water loss, but it still needs to be done,” Evans said. “I’d like to get us down to a 5 rating.”

City Attorney Nathan Nickolaus insisted that an ISO score of 6 is very good for a volunteer fire department.

Evans went on to explain that the next area of concern is the city’s water supply.

“I know you are concerned with the village’s sewer system now, but the water system is going to have to be next,” Evans said. “A lot of the lines, when we test them, don’t have much pressure behind them. If something would happen at Quaker, I don’t know if the village would have enough water.”

Trustee Darryl Haller asked about using water out of the lake.

“We can’t get to it,” Evans said. “Linn might be able to get their vacuum truck to pull out of it, but it would take them 20 minutes to get here. The water lines just can’t handle it, but we’ll save that for down the road.”

Evans thanked trustees for their time.

• Trustees refused to credit money for former Village Clerk Alan Gradel’s water and sewer bill. Gradel has been watering his grass through July and has a bill for $356 for water and sewer this month. He approached the village about installing in a second meter for his lawn sprinklers at his cost of $900 nd then he would not be charged sewer on that account.

Gradel typically averages about $55 per month for water and sewer.

Zimmer said he was unsure about crediting the account because the village did not credit residents who watered their gardens.

“All that I have to say is if you open this can of worms, I’ll probably find a different job because I’m not going to be doing everyone’s credits and listening to everyone complain because that’s what will happen,” said Water Clerk Cindy Struemph.

Haller said he believed the village would get more of these requests as the sewer charges increase because of the new sewer project.

“If I water my garden, I get charged for it,” Trustee Glenn Haller said. “If he watered his grass, he should get charged for it.”

Trustee Jamie Kaesik worried that their decision today would set a precedent for future requests.

“If one of our employees is concerned, then I’m concerned,” Zimmer said.

“If they read in the paper that they get a break because someone was watering something, other people are going to say they watered their yard or garden,” Struemph said. “I have people call me about $5 credits.”

Haller said that maybe the village could look at other ways to charge for the sewer bill in the future.

Nickolaus will send examples of different billing systems to the village to be discussed at a future meeting.

• Zimmer asked if it was legal to put speed bumps on some of the village streets to slow down traffic.

Nickolaus noted that the speed bumps had to be properly marked and signs placed appropriately, but they were completely legal.

“The difficulty with speed bumps is they are hard to plow snow over,” Nickolaus said. “Other cities are getting around this, including Meta, with removable speed bumps. Meta says they are working.”

Zimmer said he is concerned with several areas where drivers ignore speed limits and stop signs.

“There are people speeding on the back roads, and we’ve got kids playing in the streets,” Zimmer said. “Multiple people have come to me with this same problem.”

Nickolaus gave Hamacher a website that sold removable speed bumps, and Zimmer asked the other trustees to look around town and see where some might be placed.

• Knoll asked Hamacher to put up American flags around town before Constitution Week, Sept. 17-23. Hamacher plans to put them up at the end of August so they are also visible for Labor Day.

Haller also asked Hamacher to repaint the school crossing signs before school started.

• Trustees approved outstanding bills as follows: general revenue ($7,019.50), American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) ($21.11), sewer ($400.17), and water ($1,100.44).

• Freeburg had the following account balances: purchasing ($116.05), sewer checking ($33,069.06), general revenue checking ($34,546.35), sewer money market ($268,768.36), general revenue money market ($456,440.88), ARPA ($86,974.91), water revenue ($13,802.85), water replacement ($1,375.06), and water money market ($762,562.52).

• The next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 11 at 6:30 p.m.