FREEBURG —  Freeburg’s trustees unanimously approved Scott Knoll to be the new mayor at their meeting on Monday, April 10.

Trustees Darryl Haller and Glenn Haller were also sworn in for two-year terms.

In other business, trustees approved a deficit budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year. The new budget estimates the village will bring in $373,478.84 and anticipates expenses will total $493,485, which is $120,006.16 over budget.

Trustees approved spending all $88,805.68 from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) on street repairs, with the remaining $31,200.48 to be paid from reserve accounts.

The new budget has nearly the same projected income and expense as the 2022-23 budget, with the exception of street repairs. Trustees approved spending $305,165 on the city streets compared to $127,373.69 last year. Trustees have discussed the desperate need for street repairs in the last several meetings.

Village Clerk Nicki Bax noted that trustees could revise the budget as they see fit throughout the fiscal year.

• Trustees approved two ordinances that paved the way for the village to put a $4 million bond issue for the sewer and wastewater systems on the Aug. 8 ballot.

Ordinance #201 combines the existing waterworks system with the existing sewer system and allows that all future improvements, extensions, and maintenance to be combined. City Attorney Nathan Nickolaus and Bartlett & West Engineer Kyle Landwehr explained that this is a standard legal process required to proceed with the bond issue.

“The biggest benefit to combining your systems is you can use the bond proceeds to combine projects in water or wastewater,” Landwehr explained. “If you don’t use all of the bond for wastewater, which you won’t because you are getting a grant, whatever is leftover, you can use five to 10 years from now for a water project.”

Ordinance #202 calls for the bond question to be put on the ballot in August and formalizes the wording that will request voters choose yes or no for a revenue bond for the village of Freeburg to extend and improve the sewer and waterworks systems.

The deadline to file for the Aug. 8 election is May 30.

Landwehr hopes to hold several public meetings regarding the bond issue in the weeks before the election.

“I usually like to do that closer to the elections just because it is fresh in people’s minds,” said Landwehr, who hopes to hold the meetings in mid-July.

Landwehr will have a cost analysis available at that time.

“If people don’t see it, they’ll think we are raising their taxes, but we’re actually saving them money,” Trustee Darryl Haller said. “People just have to understand what we are doing.”

The village needs approval of the bond issue to apply for grants to pay for the sewer project.

“The thing is, too, it’s one of those deals that if it doesn’t pass, we’re going to be in deep doo doo — both literally and figuratively,” said Trustee Shane Zimmer.

Landwehr noted that voters recently approved two bond issues for several communities that Bartlett & West works with in the area.

“It’s one of those things; if you do the public meetings and hand out some flyers and get the facts out, it’s pretty easy to pass,” Landwehr explained.

He will work with Bax to get everything submitted to Osage County Clerk Nicci Kammerich. A comprehensive flyer will be mailed to village residents.

Landwehr has addressed the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) amendments to the wastewater facility plan and is working on the final approval letter.

Trustees approved paying Bartlett & West $35,312.65 for the current installment for the work on the wastewater facility plan.

• Bartlett & West has helped Public Works Director Doug Hamacher to set up a free trial account for a Geographic Information system (GIS) to help map the manholes for the wastewater system. The village approved setting up a permanent account for the GIS program that would cost $500 annually. Bartlett & West agreed to help Hamacher set that up within the next month.

• Trustees hired Derek McCubbin as the backup operator for the water and sewer departments as required by DNR. McCubbin will be paid $60 per month and $40 per hour if he is called in to help with a two-hour minimum. McCubbin will not charge for phone calls or consultations with Hamacher.

“Doug can always call and bounce things off of me,” McCubbin said. “That’s how things work in this industry.”

McCubbin has been in the wastewater business for 14 years and wastewater management for the last three years.

“I’ve helped a lot of little communities like this,” McCubbin said. “You all have a nice little community here.”

McCubbin lives in the Brazito area and holds a Class A wastewater license, a drinking water license, and lab certifications.

Trustees agreed to stop paying for former backup operator Todd Feeler’s cell phone immediately.

• Resident Dion Becker has sent several texts, pictures, and videos to Bax, noting that recent rain has led to run-off and damage to his property. Bax said she told him he needed to attend a meeting and address the trustees about the issue.

Bax read back the text that Becker responded to her with: “that it wouldn’t do any good because the issue has been a problem for years, and nothing ever gets fixed.” Becker claims that the streets are too high and causing run-off problems.

“What needs to happen is, put a ditch there,” Haller said. “No one wants a ditch, but that would fix it.”

“I agree,” Zimmer said. “We can only do so much. It’s the village’s property, so we can put a ditch in there. I’m so done with this issue. I want it fixed properly. We’ve been talking about it for two to three years.”

Knoll instructed Hamacher to get an estimate on digging a ditch beside the street and report back to the board.

• Bax has received several phone calls and emails over the last month regarding two dogs that are loose near Freeburg Estates.

“One is orange and white, and one is a black pit bull,” Bax reported. “The pit bull looks like it has been injured, and they’ve been hanging around since Thursday. I’ve had messages all weekend long. Apparently, the pit bull is not a nice pit, and they are causing quite a ruckus with the other dogs.”

Bax noted that several residents have called the animal shelter, which will not take the dogs since Freeburg is not in Cole County.

“That’s just waiting for someone to get hurt,” Trustee Jamie Kaesik said.

“We need to figure out whose dog it is, and what do we do after that?” Mayor Knoll asked.

Haller noted that when he was mayor, he would take a picture of the dog that was loose for proof and then track down the owner and ask them to keep the dog on their property. The village has an ordinance that allows the village to assess a $100 fine to residents.

“Read the ordinance, and it will tell you what you can do,” Haller said. “I don’t care if you are Freeburg, Meta, or Linn; no one has dog catchers. No one in Osage County has a way to get rid of dogs.”

“Every little town has the same problem,” Nickolaus agreed.

Haller noted that in years past, fines worked.

“If people are going to have animals, they need to take care of them and keep them on their property,” Darryl Haller said.

• Resident Rusty Calvin asked the board for help with his water bill this month. The property owner’s water line was damaged while doing some construction work, and the leak was not noticed for several days. Calvin amassed a water bill of over $268.43. Trustees approved a $100 credit towards the sewer part of Calvin’s bill.

• Lauber Municipal Law is holding a city official training seminar in Jefferson City on April 28. All the members of the Board of Trustees are invited to attend, as well as city staff. Nickolaus encouraged the new mayor and village clerk to attend. The cost is $30 per person and includes lunch.

“It’s kinda a crash course in things, and it is timed for right after the elections,” Nickolaus explained. “It’s about everything to do with municipal law.”

Trustees approved any board member or staff to attend and that the village would pay for the class. Bax, Knoll, Kaesik, and Zimmer showed an interest in the event.

• Nickolaus also presented trustees with a handout explaining how municipalities collect taxes from the state for legal marijuana sales. At this point, Freeburg does not have a marijuana dispensary in the village limits.

“If someone in town were to start selling marijuana legally, you would have to pass a tax at that time,” Nickolaus explained. “You can put it on the ballot if you want, but if you don’t have a dispensary, it’s not worth the effort right now.”

• Darryl Haller encouraged all trustees, especially the new mayor, to keep an eye on the village’s bank accounts.

Haller noted that he does this two to three times a week as a double-check for the village.

“I can’t move any money around or change anything,’ Haller said. “It is a second set of eyes. Honestly, everyone on the board should be looking at the accounts.”

• The village will post a job opening for part-time help for Hamacher.

• Trustees approved the following expenses for the month: general revenue ($6,025.13), sewer ($2,804.84), and water ($9,237.45).

• Bax presented the village income for the 1% sales tax: January ($15,669.54) and February ($14,160.09).

• Freeburg had the following account balances: purchasing ($147.70), sewer ($25,884.91), general revenue checking ($23,495.47), general revenue money market ($421,295.44), sewer system money market ($271,084.52), ARPA ($86,355.35), water checking ($11,635.79), water replacement ($1,375.06), and water money market ($735,769.79).

• The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 1, at 6:30 p.m.