FREEBURG — On Sept. 11, Freeburg trustees denied a request by resident Leona Weider to cut down several trees contiguous with the village’s property line.

Weider, who lives on Old Vienna Road, contacted  Village Clerk Nicki Bax and asked if she could cut the trees down because they were causing damage to her vehicle. Trustee Shane Zimmer went to the property and believes that according to available maps, the trees are three-quarters on the village’s property and only a quarter on Weider’s property.

At the start of the conversation, most of the trustees supported Weider if she was responsible for cutting them down and that it was not done at the village’s expense since Freeburg has a long-standing practice of not cutting down live trees.

“I’m against this all together,” Trustee Darryl Haller announced. “Those trees have been around for hundreds of years. Those trees they are talking about cutting down are the same size as when I was a kid. How are they damaging her property? It’s hard for me to cut down trees that are established. We’re not going to get those trees back. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.”

Haller pointed out that he believed Weider was parking on the village street when the walnuts were falling off the trees and hitting her car.

“That was my thought; why all of a sudden is the tree causing a problem?” Bax asked. “She’s been living there for years.”

Haller pointed out that it would probably require a survey to find out whose property the trees are on. He was also concerned about who would be responsible for damages to village or personal property if the trees were cut down.

“The village probably shouldn’t spend any money trying to figure out whose tree it is,” said Trustee Jamie Kaesik.

Trustees agreed that since the village does not know who owns the trees and they are not dead, they would deny permission to cut them down. Haller invited Weider to the next meeting to discuss the matter in more detail if needed.

In other business, trustees agreed to make some needed upgrades to the village park and nature trail. Haller had received a phone call noting some metal was sticking out of the railroad ties surrounding the playground. Trustees instructed Utilities Supervisor Doug Hamacher to remove the old railroad ties and replace them with new ones.

They also agreed to add a culvert and clean up the nature walking trail at the park. Holy Family Catholic School in Freeburg would like to use the park for its Christmas play this year with a lighted trail and the students caroling outside along the path. They requested permission from the trustees to use the park for that evening.

“If they want to use the trail, it has to be safe,” Haller said, explaining that he and Hamacher had recently been on the trail with a UTV and had to use four-wheel drive to get through it.

“It probably needs to be fixed anyway,” Zimmer said.

“It was nice years ago,” Haller said. “We can give them permission to use it, but they have the right to use it anyway. We need to invest in a culvert and clean it up.”

Trustees instructed Hamacher to start cleaning up the trail and putting in the culvert.

Hamacher told trustees that the door to the men’s bathroom in the park has the screws holding the hinges to the frame coming out, and he wasn’t sure how to repair it. Haller said that he would look at it with Hamacher at some point. For now, the bathrooms are closed for the winter, so it shouldn’t be a big issue.

• The survey has been completed for the property for Cyle and Emily Reinkemeyer. The Reinkemeyers have run-off damage to their house, and the city has Verslues Construction ready to put in curb and gutters and a drainpipe to hopefully fix the problem. The village will need the paperwork signed as soon as possible to keep the project moving forward.

“As soon as that is done, Verslues is ready to roll,” Haller said, noting he had talked to him at the Parish Picnic, and he was ready to get the project started.

• The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) asked the trustees to review the planned route for Hwy. 63 and see if it impacted any historical areas. Mayor Scott Knoll mentioned the lookout tower, and Zimmer brought up several Indian burial sites on the Hilkemeyer property.

“This is going to take our town off the map,” Zimmer said. “We are going to be like Loose Creek. It’s going to completely bypass all our businesses. I’m 100 percent against this if we have any say in it.”

“Little towns get hurt when they do this,” Hamacher agreed.

Haller brought up how many wrecks he has seen on Hwy. 63 over the years.

“It there is a way to straighten the highway out, I’m for that, but they could straighten the highway out and still go through the towns,” Haller said. “This is nice to see the plans, but there is really nothing that we can do.”

• The village received a bid for $13,600 to cut in the new street at the Sam Welschmeyer property. Hamacher has received only one bid so far from Knoll Grading. The bid included two 30-foot pipes to use as culverts, and two inlets. The area would be graded, seeded and strawed and the rock necessary to make the road. Hamacher was trying to get other bids but had not received them in time for the meeting.

In July, trustees voted to open the street at the Welschmeyer’s property and take over the maintenance of the road.

“I thought this wasn’t going to cost us anything when we voted on it,” Zimmer said.

“That’s what I thought, too,” Kaesik said.

Haller did not believe the street required culverts or that the area needed to be seeded or strawed after the work was done. Trustees also wondered about the distance of 400 feet listed in the estimate when they did not think the street was that long.

Hamacher will get additional bids that do not include the culverts or seeding of the area. Hamacher will also look at the cost if the city hauled the rock and contracted someone to grade the area.

• Hamacher reported that streets should be paved and sealed over the next several weeks, with everything completed by the middle of October.

• Knoll, Bax, and Bartlett & West Engineer Kyle Landwehr had a virtual meeting with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to discuss what the village needed to do to set things up for the recently approved wastewater project. 

Knoll mentioned that it was hard to hear and understand everything DNR was discussing but said Landwehr was aware of what was needed. One requirement is the village will have to hire a financial advisor for the project soon.

“This is something that they strongly advised,” Knoll said. “For the grant, we must turn all our books over to them, and we will have to adjust our rates. It will be an ordeal.”

Knoll noted that all the financial advisors on the list were from St. Louis or Kansas City.

“Can’t we use someone from Jefferson City or someone with local connections?” Zimmer asked.

Knoll was unsure of what exactly the qualifications were for the financial advisors. He will ask Landwehr to be at the next meeting and explain what steps the village needs to take next.

• Village Attorney Nathan Nickolaus’ law firm, Lauber Municipal Law, LLC, has raised its hourly rate from $125 to $175.

• Trustees requested that moving forward, anyone who does work for the village would need to send in their bills for payment in a timely manner. Monthly bills are ideal, but the village will also accept bills sent on a quarterly basis.

• The village will look into purchasing several cheaper options for removable speed bumps. Hamacher looked into the speed bumps the city of Meta purchased and found some cheaper alternatives.

“We can start with a few cheaper ones and see if they hold up,” Knoll said.

Trustees are hoping to have speed bumps in place by next spring.

• Hamacher was instructed to purchase stickers for the stop signs around town that have faded.

• Esther Rosner and Rose Hilkemeyer with the Daughters of the American Revolution presented trustees and special guests with coloring pages created by Holy Family students. Pages with messages of gratitude were presented to individuals representing firefighters, EMTs, police officers, and veterans.

“Operation Gratitude is where we are trying to get kids involved when they are young to show gratitude,” Rosner explained.

She asked the individuals to hang up the drawings in prominent places so everyone could see them.

“There is nothing better than a little person coming up and saying thank you,” Rosner said. “I know if you were asked why you do what you do, you would say it is no big deal, but it is a big deal to the community. We want to say thank you and that we appreciate you.”

Hilkemeyer thanked trustees for all they do to help celebrate patriotic holidays, including Constitution Week, by putting up flags and signs.

“I want to thank all of you and the Holy Family kids for getting involved,” Hilkemeyer said. “I was excited to see what they wrote.”

• The water report showed 15,908,018 gallons pumped and 15,404,553 gallons sold for a loss of 4%.

• Trustees approved the following bills: general revenue ($7,679.55), American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) ($17.03), sewer ($1,068.89), and water ($4,363.62).

• Freeburg had the following ending account balances: purchasing ($551.85), sewer checking ($26,878.13), general revenue checking ($30,687.55), sewer money market ($279,939.57), ARPA ($87,328.29), water money market account ($483,906.23), and water replacement ($1,375.06).

• The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 2 at 6:30 p.m.