LINN  — Linn aldermen approved the bid totaling $461,999 from PlayPower LT Farmington, Inc. for the Universally Accessible Playground Project after City Clerk Carrie Grellner said that she had received final approval from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on the estimate.

With the approval of Bill #20232-020, aldermen also authorized Mayor Dwight Massey to enter a contract with PlayPower LT Farmington regarding the project, and the city is ready to move forward. Massey asked one of the aldermen to consider acting head of the project; no one immediately volunteered.

In other business, the aldermen approved a bid from Jeffries Electrical Services, Inc. for $47,960 to install a new variable frequency drive (VFD) cabinet at the wastewater treatment facility. The project would include a climate-controlled enclosure that would house three 40-horsepower, 480-volt variable torque Eaton Power VFDs, a control power transformer, VFD keyboards for programming, and individual, fast-acting fuse blocks for each drive. The estimate also includes the installation of a new conduit and wire from the new VFD cabinet to the existing blowers, demolishing the existing blower conduit and wire, using the current breakers, and the installation of the cabinet.

Massey explained that Jeffries Electrical Services is the same company that initially installed the existing electrical system at the wastewater treatment plant in 2009-10.

“Very quickly after it was built, we started having controller issues with the blowers down at the lagoons,” Massey explained. “Basically, everyone agreed it was an incorrect application. There was no type of controlled environment whatsoever. That equipment will see anywhere from 120 to 135 degrees down to close to freezing and constant humidity because of where they are located.”

Massey added that the city has constantly been replacing parts in the electrical system as they wear out or fail.

He noted the engineers and operators agree the soft starts put in place on the motors to bring them online slowly are being overworked and wearing them out.

“We know the controllers have been a problem for a long time,” Massey said.

Jeffries Electrical Company believes this project could be one of the solutions to correcting system problems.

• Aldermen approved Police Chief Sam Ford’s request for about $2,500 to cover expenses to finish the installation of the Missouri Statewide Interoperability Network (MoSWIN) radio systems not covered by the grant. Upgrading the radio system and moving to the MoSWIN radio system started in February 2022. The radio system uses cellular signals instead of radio waves. The city has invested over $52,000 to install MoSWIN radios in all patrol vehicles.

“We’ve been fortunate to cover the $52,000 through grants,” Ford said. “The problem is the radios are just in the cars. We have all these radios in all the cars, but there is no base structure that we can talk to. We can talk to each other, but we cannot talk to dispatch.”

Ford can have the radios interconnected and set up with dispatch for an additional $17,343.92. The city has been awarded a grant that will cover $15,000 of the cost. The system could be up and running in about eight weeks.

In other police department news, Ford reported the city is down one patrol car due to radiator problems. Ford checked at both Fennewald Auto Center and Jim Butler; the vehicle will not be able to get into the shop until Sept. 19. Fortunately, since the city is down several officers, they have been able to cover with patrol cars already in service.

K9 “Brownie” has been assigned to Officer Cody Schmitz, who completed his probationary period three weeks ago and is interested in being a handler. Schmitz and Brownie will be sent to certification training in Jefferson City in October.

Ford said he had extra officers on hand for the Taste of Osage County and the End of Summer Party held at Linn City Park on Sept. 9.

“It was completely unneeded,” Ford said. “There were absolutely zero issues that needed law enforcement. There were lots of handshakes and introductions. It was an incredible day.”

Grellner agreed, noting the events were well attended and went well. Next year’s Taste of Osage County is set for Sept 14.

• Aldermen approved an easement with Cable America to allow the company to utilize an area measuring eight feet by 12 feet near the end of the city’s utilities building and a conduit to run across the property to Hwy. 50. The easement was approved with the condition that it be reviewed and approved by City Attorney Kent Brown.

• Utilities Supervisor Derrick McCubbin reported the city has been having trouble with the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) communication system. He believes that the issue has been resolved, and he is again receiving notifications.

McCubbin updated aldermen about progress on the washed-out spot on Fifth Street.

“We core-drilled that area in 15 different places,” McCubbin said. “We had it all set up to fill with slurry, but it is solid. It is not undermined at all. We could not find a void.”

• Boy Scout Stuart Massman from BSA Troop 17 is working on his Eagle Scout project and received permission from aldermen to put a book box at the Linn City Park and Maguire Park.

“I wanted people to come by and bring a book and take a book since the library has moved out of town,” Massman said. “I thought it would be a good idea to put some form of library back into town, so people don’t have to drive so far to get a book.”

Massman presented a prototype of what he plans to build, noting he would mount each of the small libraries on a post embedded in concrete. The structure has a hinged door and a shelf to keep the books organized.

Massman said that he has donations to initially stock the book boxes, and then as people take books, they could drop off a book for someone else. Massman has received donations from other BSA families as well as family friends.

“I’ll put those books in to start, and during regular maintenance, I’ll put new books in, and people will add books as they go,” Massman explained.

Massman also explained that he would check on the library boxes several times a month.

Alderman Bill Turner volunteered to contact the Park Board and see if they had any ideas or preference of where to place the boxes. He also volunteered to help Massman set the boxes once they were ready for installation.

• Aldermen approved Bill #2023-021, amending the city’s investment policy as advised in the last audit.

“Last year, the auditors wrote us up for our investment policy,” said City Treasurer Janelle Jaegers. “We were not following our investment policy correctly, so in order to comply, we have to make some changes.”

Aldermen approved removing a sentence under the title “General Objectives” that read, “The city will diversify its investments to avoid incurring unreasonable and avoidable risk regarding specific security types or individual financial institutions.”

They also approved changing line five under “Diversification” to read, “Anywhere between 80% to 100% of outstanding investments shall consist of certificates of deposit of financial institutions.” The line read “No more than 90%” before, and the rest of the line “with no more than 5% from any one financial institution” was taken out.

Aldermen also approved taking out “104%” that followed #1, Item C, which talks about the total collateral market values repurchasing amount.

Jaegers noted that she had discussed these changes with Massey after the audit and simply forgot to make the changes until now.

• Resident Jerry Williams attended the meeting and asked if anyone had time to look at the problems he is having in his yard from water run-off. Williams had been at the August meeting, and Mayor Massey had promised to meet with him at this house and look at the situation.

“I haven’t had a chance to get there, and that’s my fault,” Massey said. “I do apologize.”

Williams said he understood but would like someone to come out and look at the situation.

“I haven’t done anything except remove the trees,” Williams said. “I wanted you to be able to actually see it because it is eroding.”

Massey set up a time with Turner to meet with Williams at his property.

• The city will send letters to the Millard Funeral Home noting the gravel in their back parking lot is washing out and onto the street and into other’s property, causing a nuisance. The letter will ask the owners to come up with a solution.

• Linn will also consider condemning a house damaged by fire earlier this summer.

• The city will send letters to property owners on Court Street, where the shrubbery is growing out into the street, making it hard for people to see around while driving. Grellner noted that she had contacted the property owners, but the issue had not been resolved. Mayor Massey asked Grellner to send them a formal letter requesting they trim the bushes.

• Aldermen approved renewing the city’s basic membership with Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) for $978.79, which includes 15 service hours. The membership cost increased by $25 from last year.

• Grellner will coordinate with aldermen, Chief Ford, and City Attorney Brown so they are ready to review the City of Linn’s codes and ordinances that have been digitalized by General Code. The city has until the end of the year to complete its review and make changes.

• Aldermen approved Grellner’s request to order a year’s worth of paper through the MRPC bulk paper order. Grellner said she would like to order 20 cases of white paper at $35.29 per case. Grellner will double-check the price with other sources before ordering.

• The Linn License Fee Office will be closed on Oct. 7 and 9.

• Grellner called Pools Unlimited, and they will get back to her on when they will close the pool for the season. Linn Lions Club member Tracy Winslow reported that Christine Miller has agreed to teach swim lessons next summer.

• Park Board President Neil Loethen sent an update on the parks. He reported that State Tech and Linn R-2 are using the Linn City baseball field. New grass has been sown in the outfield at Maguire Park. Loethen plans to work on several areas of the walking trail washed out by recent rains. Several boards have been replaced in the bleachers at City Park. The skate park fencing is slated to be completed in September, after which the basketball and pickleball courts will be painted. Loethen has also received a grant for planting trees and will be planting trees and shrubs at both parks. Several dead and damaged trees along the walking trail need to be removed.

• The city and Linn Police Department will celebrate Halloween this year at City Hall.

• Aldermen approved outstanding expenses totaling $396,302.72.

• Linn had the following ending balances in their governmental fund accounts: general ($586,184.84), pool (-$38,520.41), park ($106,077.44), police training ($2,472.58), park-improvement and equipment ($19,214.09), and pool-improvement and equipment ($1,948.24).

• The city had the following ending balance in their business type funds: water ($517,208.20), water replacement ($66,368.36), sewer ($500,532.55), sewer replacement ($21,454.81), and grants (-$348,766.70).

• Linn has nine certificates of deposit totaling $1,279,947.92.

• The city will hold a public annexation hearing at 4 p.m. on Sept. 27 at City Hall.

• The next regular meeting is scheduled for Oct. 17 at 5 p.m.