FREEBURG —  Freeburg trustees listened to a tentative proposal from representatives of the Holy Family Catholic Church on expanding the school building on the parish grounds.

“We basically want to give a heads-up to the village before we get too far into things,” Parish Representative Ryan Luebbert explained. “We want to get you guys on the same page as we are, and hopefully, we can work with you on the parts of the project that need some cooperation.”

Neither the parish nor trustees know who owns the manholes and sewer lines running through the parish grounds. The new building would be constructed over the sewer lines, which will need to be moved.

“We don’t know where the village sewer line starts and where it is private,” Luebbert said. “Obviously, we are going to have to relocate them. We need to know where your line starts and where our lines start.”

Public Works Director Doug Hamacher noted that the manholes on parish grounds are not on the village’s sewer maps.

Trustee Darryl Haller said his best guess was that the sewer manholes and lines on parish property were private and not owned by Freeburg.

Hamacher explained that the village is only responsible for the water main and meters; relocating the water lines would be Holy Family’s responsibility.

Trustee Shane Zimmer asked if the expansion would require additional sewer or water needs.

“We are projecting some growth,” Luebbert said. “We’re looking at 20 to 30 more kids in the next 10 to 15 years. That’s a 20 percent increase. There would also be the potential for weddings and stuff like that, so there would be a higher capacity. That’s stuff we would have to work out with the engineers.”

Luebbert also explained that current plans for the new building put it on the property line with the village. The parish would need a construction easement, but ideally, the school would like to purchase some of the land from Freeburg. He pointed out that the property in question is on a slope and of little use to the village.

Zimmer said that allowing the parish to purchase some of the property on the slope would alleviate issues with the setback ordinance.

Luebbert said the parish was unaware the village had a setback ordinance in place. He also noted that currently, the propane tanks for the school are sitting on village property.

“We obviously will need to resolve that and get them back onto parish property,” Luebbert said.

Current plans, including the size of parking lots and the new building, are still in the planning stages. One of the big new features of the expansion would be a circle driveway, allowing parents to drop off and pick up their kids more easily.

The parish is aware there will be more run-off with the extra road, parking lot, and building.

“That is our next issue; we’re adding a lot of improved areas, so there will be a lot of site drainage issues,” Luebbert explained. “All of the water is going to have to go down through village property.”

Holy Family proposed bringing all the water into an underground detention center beneath one of the parking lots and then dispersing the water onto city property where there is natural drainage. Luebbert noted this would require an additional easement from the village.

The school is currently having a water issue with water coming off the street and into the building.

“We don’t know if the drop inlet is undersized or if the street has been raised too much,” Luebbert said.

Haller blamed the drainage issues on leaves from several Sycamore trees.

“That probably doesn’t help,” Luebbert agreed.

Hamacher said that he cleans out the drainage area regularly.

Luebbert surmised the drop inlet is undersized.

The parish would like to drastically lower the street’s elevation to allow the water to dissipate more naturally across the street.

“Maybe that is something we could do to solve both problems,” Luebbert suggested.

Haller was cautious about making decisions before Holy Family’s plans were finalized.

“We all know what needs to be done for the community to expand, for our kids, and the growth of the community, but we need to make sure before we make a decision that the expansion is going to happen,” Haller said. “What I see is in the next 60 days, the parish will have more answers.”

Parish Spokesman Paige Lafferty pointed out that there was an upcoming meeting to discuss the expansion on Oct. 17.

“It would be better for us to make a decision after that,” Haller said.

“At this point, we just want the village to be aware of what we are planning,” Luebbert said.

The parish has just started fundraising for the project and has no schedule to begin construction.

Trustee Glenn Haller said that he thought the plans looked good, and initial planning seemed to be going well.

“We’ll definitely work with you guys,” Haller said.

“This is exciting,” Zimmer said.

Later in the meeting, Village Attorney Nathan Nickolaus suggested that trustees move cautiously when offering help for the parish expansion.

“Obviously, you would have to provide easements and possibly deed them some land, but the moving of the lines ought to be on them and not on the village,” Nickolaus said.

There was a brief discussion of whether the village owned the lines.

“They can’t (construct) a building over a sewer line,” Nicholaus said. “The line has to be moved whether it is our line or their line.”

“They are the ones doing something that is going to cause the line to need to be moved,” Bartlett & West Engineer Kyle Landwehr said.

He noted that when mapping the sewer line and manholes with Hamacher, they looked at those lines. They are very old and in poor shape but probably still in use.

Landwehr suggested the village would have to do a dye test to determine the water’s origin.

• Hamacher replaced a faulty water meter for T&L Zip Stop.

“I guess the meter was running without water (going) through it,” Hamacher explained.

He installed a new unit, and since the faulty meter is less than 10 years old, it is still under warranty. But T&L Zip Stop had about twice its typical water usage. Hamacher noted that this month’s reading would also be higher than usual since he had just replaced the water meter.

Village Water Clerk Cindy Struemph averaged the business’s water usage over the past six months at 33,300 gallons per month. Trustees approved billing the customer its average water bill for this month and next.

Hamacher said he had replaced three meters this month, all less than 10 years old.

Struemph also noticed two other water customers that had unusually high usage. Trustees called both customers so they could look for a leak. Hamacher planned to follow up with the customers the next day.

• Landwehr updated trustees on the Wastewater Facility System Improvements. He congratulated the trustees on the passage of the bond issue.

“That went really well, and it shows you have the support of the community to move forward with the project,” Landwehr said.

He explained the next step was to draw up a project contract and submit it to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for approval.

“Then we’ll start working on the design,” Landwehr said.

Landwehr introduced the trustees to Brock Goehl who represents D.A. Davidson, which will act as Freeburg’s financial advisor.

“We roughly have 30 projects right now in various stages, from election support to going into public hearings,” Goehl explained. “Anything financial, we are going to review it for the village. We’ll work with your attorney and engineering firm. We like to take a hands-on approach.”

Trustees are considering using an interim loan to pay for part of the project’s initial cost.

“A lot of our clients use an interim loan for upfront cash flow, so the village doesn’t have to pay for all of that,” Landwehr explained.

“We could act as your placement agent and go to different institutions for bids to find you the best interest rate,” Goehl said.

Landwehr added that clients have used D.A. Davidson as the financial advisor for all the projects he has worked on with Bartlett & West.

D.A. Davison would charge a fee of up to 3%, which would be rolled into the loan.

“You will need to hire someone to help as a financial advisor,” Nickolaus said. “I will say I’ve worked with others, but D. A. Davidson is reliable. I’ve never had any problems.”

Landwehr warned the village will need to hire a financial advisor soon so they stay on schedule for the project. He expected the initial cost to prepare for the project would be $300,000.

Haller cautioned about using too much of the village’s current holdings to pay the upfront cost in case of an emergency.

Nickolaus explained that with the interest rate for the State Revolving Fund at 2%, the village would make more interest by leaving its funds in the current money market accounts.

Goehl will return to the November meeting.

Landwehr explained the village will need to solicit bids for the lead service line inventory in no less than 30 days. Freeburg received a grant to cover the project, which is federal-mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It needs to be completed by October 2024. Landwehr explained the village is required to take the lowest bidder for this project.

“The village is only responsible from the meter to the main line,” Landwehr explained. “It’s possible that we may find lead, but it is pretty rare.”

• Trustees approved Josh Hedges to cut in the new street at the request of Sam Welschmeyer for $400. The village initially received a bid for $13,600 to cut in the new street from Knoll Grading that included culverts, inlets, and seeding and strawing the area. Knoll Grading rebid the job to include only cutting in the street for $2,300.

Hamacher estimated the city would need to haul 10 loads of rock to complete the road. The rock would cost an additional $2,000 to $3,000.

• Trustees approved a $1 per hour raise for Thomas Weed following 90 days of employment.

They asked Hamacher how Weed was working out before they voted on the raise.

“He’s really good,” Hamacher said. “He shows up. He stays late if I need help, and he’s learning the system.”

The raise will take Weed to $15 per hour, retroactively to Sept. 21.

• The easement for the Reinkemeyer property still needs to be signed.

“We need to get that easement signed so we can get a schedule with Verslues Constructions,” said Mayor Scott Knoll.

Haller said they could come anytime to his office at Quaker to have it signed and notarized or done at the bank.

“Or I can bring it home, and they can sign it,” Haller said. “We need to make sure this gets done, and we’re not waiting on it.”

“I don’t know why this hasn’t happened in 30 days,” said Trustee Jamie Kaesik. “Why isn’t this happening?”

Village Clerk Nicki Bax said she had contacted the Reinkemeyers to tell them she had the paperwork, and they wanted a schedule of when the construction would start before they would sign the easement.

Cyle Reinkemeyer was concerned about the schedule because the construction would go through a part of his property where this is an old shed that they had planned to tear down. He wanted to ensure he had plenty of notice to complete the work.

“So, you start on it now and get it done,” Kaesik said. “This is your notice.”

The village will contact Reinkemeyer again and let him know that the easement needs to be signed by the end of the week.

Knoll will also reach out to Verslues to see what their schedule looks like.

“There is no point in scheduling the construction until you get the easement signed,”  Nickolaus said.

“I’m pretty easy-going, but this project needs to get done,” Zimmer said.

• Knoll said that a resident has asked him what to do about crumbling sidewalks.

“Each person is responsible for the sidewalks in front of their house,” Zimmer said.

Knoll said the customer had discussed removing the sidewalk in front of her house, which is in disrepair.

“We have an ordinance that says you have to maintain up to the city street, which is why you to take care of your sidewalk and the ditch,” Haller said.

“The sidewalk is the responsibility of the property owner,”  Nickolaus agreed. “I would not allow anyone to remove an existing sidewalk.”

Nickolaus also said that any new sidewalks constructed would have to be ADA-compliant.

• Trustees approved Hamacher purchasing batteries for the dump truck.

• There will be a Trunk or Treat at the Holy Family Church parking lot on Sunday, Oct. 29, from 2-6 p.m., with all ages welcome. Trunkers can set up from noon to 2 p.m. and should RSVP to Paige Lafferty at 573-690-5236.

• Trustees approved the following bills for the month: general revenue ($4,668.68), American Rescue Plan Act  ($23.03), sewer ($2,974.51), and water ($2,360.11).

• Freeburg had the following ending balances in its accounts: purchasing ($510.73), sewer checking ($18,681.89), general revenue checking ($25,175.22), sewer money market ($291,078.34), general revenue money market ($480,318.23), ARPA ($87,663.01), water revenue ($6,371.30), water replacement ($1,334.77), and water money market ($797,090.37).

• Freeburg had a 1% water loss for the month, with 3,319,252 gallons of water pumped and 3,311,478 gallons billed.

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