Linn aldermen at their Feb. 13 meeting agreed to move forward with the sewer extension for the Stonegate Subdivision and the State Tech Country Club Renovation. Aldermen authorized Bartlett & West to prepare a design-build contract on the two projects that is anticipated to cost $412,000.

The city plans to pay for the two projects using the funds received from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Linn was originally slated to receive $293,000 from ARPA, of which $160,000 has already been received by the city with the remainder slated to be allocated later this year. The remaining $119,000 would come out of the sewer operating fund.

Mayor Dwight Massey was not happy with the price tag on these projects but with construction progressing, he and aldermen felt they needed to make decisions to keep the projects on schedule.

Massey brought up the possibility of funds becoming available from the infrastructure bill or other grant money that might become available.

“If you can wait a year, that money looks hopeful,” said Bartlett & West Chief Operations Officer Bob Gilbert. “But these projects can’t wait a year.”

The water extension for the State Tech Country Club renovations was put on hold for the time being. The Osage County Public Water District #3 would like to assess whether they would like to supply the water for this project.

“Currently the Country Club is (in) Osage County Public Water District #3’s territory, so they get first dibs,” Gilbert explained. 

Initially, Osage County Public Water District #3 did not believe that it could service the water needs of the project but last month decided to reevaluate. 

A sewer extension for the Community Christian Church will be reevaluated later since the scheduling for that project is more flexible.

Linn aldermen have also authorized Bartlett & West to redesign the Jaegers Wastewater Regionalization Project. Aldermen were not able to secure an easement from property owner Tom Kuster and so the project will be adjusted to avoid his property.

“I spoke with Tom yesterday and he has those same concerns about his driveway, about his land being torn up, and about what he is going to get out of it,” Aldermen Bill Turner said. 

Bartlett & West Project Engineer Hope Drennan did not believe that the redesign was going to be a problem. The project is slated to go out for bid on March 2. The project schedule was cleared with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and should still make all the deadlines for the grant.

“This project was bid before COVID-19, so we could not see the amount of inflation,” Drennan explained. “DNR should be able to cover any changes in cost and even with all of the crazy pricing, we’re still going to be covered 100 percent by the grant.”

The initial cost of the Jaegers Regionalization Project was estimated at $646,960.

In other business, aldermen approved a pay request and close-out for the Community Development Block Grant (CBDG) for the First and Fifth Street Improvement project. The final, authorized pay request was approved for $648.

* Aldermen approved a temporary liquor license for St. George Catholic Church for the Spring Fling on April 13 and the annual picnic on June 26.

* City Treasurer Janelle Jaegers was authorized to add the designated department code number to the appropriate grant. The grant fund will still be deposited in City Fund #11 but this will allow the auditors to differentiate between governmental and business type grants more easily. 

* “We had a hell of a snowstorm,” Utilities Superintendent Larry Fredrich reported. “We kept overtime down to a minimum and I think we did really good.”

Fredrich noted that there had been several calls of people complaining that their cars had been plowed in with snow. 

“There was a lot of snow,” Fredrich said. “There were a lot of cars that got plowed in and it will happen again if we get a lot of snow. If you park in the street, it’s going to happen.”

Fredrich said that there was a problem with cars that were parked in intersections. There is a state statute that requires cars to not be parked within 30 feet of an intersection during snow removal. Ordinarily, cars are restricted from parking within 20 feet of an intersection per city ordinance.

“We are going to have to get some of that enforced,” Fredrich said. “We need to look at that and make sure that people know it. We have to have enough room for those trucks to move around and we have to be able to get rid of snow.”

Aldermen are trying to decide if they will put up additional signs or increase the distance cars need to be parked from the intersection to 30 feet all the time, and not just during snow removal.

“But that’s going to make some people upset because they can’t park in front of their house,” Fredrich said. “It’s not ever easy.”

* City Clerk Carrie Grellner investigated the cost of the electricity for the Linn sign on the west side of the city. The cost of the lights to illuminate the top of the sign will be $37.56 a year and the cost of the electricity to run the digital sign will be $122 per year. 

Grellner had no cost estimate on how much the sign will cost the city.

* Linn plans to get a quote from a company that will look at all the city’s ordinances as well as the proposed traffic ordinance and make sure that all the ordinances are legal, correct typographical errors, and make sure the ordinances are tailored to the city.

“The traffic ordinance that was proposed last month was quite a mess,” Alderman Bill Turner said. “Things need to be up to date.”

Grellner will get an estimate for someone to go through all the ordinances initially and then do an annual review after that.

“It is a fairly expensive process,” City Attorney Kent Brown warned.

* Residential spring clean-up will be on May 13. 

* The License Fee Office will start using UPS to deliver packets to the main office. Currently, employees send two packets a week through the post office and the cost is anywhere from $8.75 to $9.50 per week. UPS will deliver the same packets for $5.30 per week.

* Aldermen approved outstanding expenses for the month totaling $102,879.76.

* Linn had the following ending balances in their governmental fund accounts: general ($253,911.81), pool (-$6,928.52), park ($85,419.64), police training ($3,117.18), general fund-improvements and equipment ($27,846.09), park-improvements and equipment ($28,410.50), and pool-improvements and equipment ($13,985.14).

* The city had the following ending balances in their business-type funds: water ($412,471.30), water replacement ($114,757.17), sewer ($311,573.04), sewer replacement ($79,485.30), and grants ($60,889.42).

* Linn holds nine certificates of deposit totaling $1,089,313.47.

* The next budget and planning meeting is scheduled for March 1 at 5 p.m., and the next regular meeting is scheduled for March 15 at 5 p.m.