META  —“We have some very exciting news,” said Meta City Clerk Deidra Buechter, deferring to Mayor Emily Sommerer, who told aldermen at their June meeting that the city has been awarded Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for the stormwater system. “We just had to keep it quiet for a little bit.”

“They will be sending out forms for us to sign accepting the money and all that good stuff,” Buechter noted.

Meta was deemed as being in the eligible/waitlisted category for the drinking water system through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The State Revolving Fund (SRF) decision won’t be known until October, Buechter said.

As for the lead service line inventory, questionnaires have gone out. “We sent out a hardcopy, we have told them about it on their water bill, and there is a banner at the top of our webpage that will take them directly to the survey,” she said. “I will try to put the survey code on the back of the water bills next month. I don’t know how that will work, but I’m going to try.”

Alderman Otto Wankum asked about having residents take photos of their lines. Buechter said she understood that only those questioning the type of line in their home were asked to provide pictures.

Bartlett & West would likely do it, but City Attorney Nathan Nickolaus said the more people do it themselves, the more money the city saves.

Resident Lois Doran said she’s heard a lot of people ask why the city doesn’t hold a town hall meeting at the Meta Civic League to talk about it.

Buechter said the requirement to inventory lead lines comes from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and there’s nothing the city can do to change that. “We can kick our feet and stomp and scream that we don’t want to do it,” Buechter said.

“What the federal government says goes,” Alderman Steve Sherrell interjected.

“I would assume, and I don’t know for sure, but I would assume they would try to withhold some federal funding if we did not comply,” Buechter added.

Nickolaus told Doran it was easy to determine the type of line, asking, “You know where your water shutoff is?”

“Downstairs,” Doran replied.

Nickolaus suggested she go down and look at it. “It’s going to be copper, lead, or plastic,” he said.

“I don’t want to speak for you all, but I would assume that’s probably why you’re not having a public meeting telling people about this lead service line — because there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it,” said Buechter.

Sommerer agreed.

The inventory must be completed by Oct. 16, 2024.

In other business, aldermen continue to battle water loss.

Buechter told the board that meters need five times the diameter before and three times after the meter. “Ideally, the pipe doesn’t have a bend before the meter,” she added. “So, it’s not an ideal situation in the pump house. That could be causing the problem, and there’s probably a check valve that’s not any good. There should be a check valve somewhere, and it’s probably not working properly because there should not be any backflow.”

“I’ve thought all along it was our problem,” said Sherrell.

Buechter noted that Bartlett & West Engineer Blake Wilbers suggested that even if the city gets more SRF money to redo the system, it will be about two years before Meta can begin construction. “So, he would suggest budgeting about $10,000 to have a plumber come in, redo these areas, and put in a new check valve.”

Maintenance employee Kenny Loethen asked if the check valve would be placed in the well or the ground.

“I’m not sure,” Buechter replied. “I just know it’s before the meter.”

She added that when Flynn inspected Meta’s pump, the operator checked some of the check valves and didn’t think one was working properly.”

“So you’re pumping it out, and it’s going back down into the well,” said Nickolaus.

Buechter agreed that seemed to be the case.

Loethen said the check valve is designed to prevent that from happening, but a failed unit could be the cause of the city’s continued water loss.

“The meter tells me every month there’s backflow in this town,” said Buechter.

Loethen suggested Buechter contact Flynn or another contractor to determine what they would charge for the service.

She agreed. “I think that would be the first step to get to get some pricing on it,” Buechter said. “I mean, if it’s a check valve, that would probably be a cheaper fix than redoing the piping right now.”

Mayor Pro Tem Lawrence Hoffman asked if the city always uses Flynn and wondered if B&H Well Drilling handles this kind of problem.

“I can call and find out and get some prices,” Buechter replied. “That’s the best place to start.”

“I don’t know if they mess with anything that size,” said Hoffman.

As reported last week, Meta’s water loss was 43.96% or 243,546 gallons.

“That is a lot of water,” said Hoffman.

In related news, someone hit a fire hydrant across the Sugar Creek bridge, and Buechter suggested the city charge them for the repair kit.

“Absolutely,” said Nickolaus.

“They didn’t just bump it,” said Wankum.

The hydrant was knocked from its moorings and landed in a yard, which is consistent with the unit’s design.

Aldermen, by consensus, agreed with Buechter, who will prepare a cost and send a bill.

Sommerer noted the individual agreed to pay for it and asked the city to send him an invoice.

• Aldermen agreed to enter into a technical assistance contract for floodplain administration with Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC).

“We do that every year,” said Buechter. “In the past, we’ve gotten them to be our floodplain administrator, and I highly recommend doing that again. I’m just not sure your city clerk can handle that.”

Under the contract, MRPC keeps the city updated on floodplain information, and the agency is creating a new floodplain map.

“They want your floodplain administrator to be at meetings to give input on the map,” Buechter added. “They send us an email and ask us for input, too, so it’s not like it’s only our floodplain admin that gets to make suggestions. We get new maps every few years because.”

Sherrell said he attended a floodplain meeting a few years ago and said everything was redone using Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR).

Buechter believes the last map update was in 2015, and MRPC has been working on getting a new one done.

“If we don’t belong to a program like that, if someone were selling their house, that person couldn’t get insurance?” Hoffman asked.

“If you don’t have a floodplain regulation, they can’t,” Nickolaus confirmed. “You have to be in the program for them to get flood insurance. Deidra is right. I know of cities that do it, but they’re larger cities. You don’t have a lot of construction, so you wouldn’t have as much as some other places, but it’s a hassle, and it just causes problems. If someone else is willing to do it, let them do it.”

Buechter noted that some residents want to put something in the floodplain. “Otto and I have talked about it, and we don’t know that it necessarily should come from me that you can’t put anything there, or if you do, and I have mentioned this to them before, you need to check and make sure it’s not in the floodplain,” she added. “But, they have told me recently they are thinking about putting a pre-fab building there or something else.”

Buechter suggested a few aldermen visit with the residents, adding she is happy to provide contact information for Tammy Snodgrass of MRPC, who can explain floodplain requirements.

“I would just hate for us to be in trouble with our floodplain insurance or something like that if they went ahead and built in the floodplain,” said Buechter.

“They wouldn’t get in trouble?” Treasurer Karla Buechter asked.

“They would, but I think we would have to enforce it,” Clerk Buechter replied.

“We could lose our flood insurance qualification if someone did that,” Sherrell said.

“They could kick you out of the program,” Nickolaus added.

“And then nobody in the floodplain could sell their house,” Sherrell said.

With that, aldermen approved the resolution.

• Buechter provided aldermen with a floodplain permit application. “We sign that every year,” she explained. “It’s just for routine maintenance of the culverts and the creek bed.”

In maintenance news, Wankum noted that crews had painted the ballpark bleachers but not the exterior of the bathrooms. He said they are trying to find a sprayer but added that different groups recently complimented the bathrooms.

“So do we just have to stay on top of it,” Wankum said. “We’ve got some things to do, and we’ll get (the bathrooms) done as soon as we can. We’re not shrugging off, but, if there’s a reason to be here, we’ll be here. If not, we won’t.”

• Wankum said crews had cut grass, though there hasn’t been much.

“We got everything looking as good as we could make it with fairly dry grass,” he added. “My theory has always been that if you stay up on things, it’s not nearly as difficult to take care of. There’s not a whole lot going on right now.”

“Not that I want to tell Otto what to do, but I drove around town a little bit before I came in, and I don’t see a lot of the weeds and stuff that we’ve normally been battling,” said Nickolaus. “Maybe because the weeds are all dead, you can see the buildings better. Some of these buildings are kind of in rough shape. There are a bunch of buildings that, pardon my language, look like crap. What I’ve done in some other cities, and what I propose to you, is sort of an appearance code. Can we add some more nuisances? Things like chipping paint. That’s one of the biggest things I’m seeing and rusty metal. You know, a few hundred gallons of paint would go a long way in terms of shaping the town up.”

Clerk Buechter said she spoke with Engineer Kevin Hayes about condemning houses. “He said he charges about $500 a house. I’m just throwing it out there,” she said.

“That’s cheap,” Nickolaus said. “If we were going to do that, what I’d want from him is not necessarily to go inside the house because it’s difficult to get inside their houses, but to look outside and say ‘this is what’s wrong with it.’ And then be willing to come in court or something like that.”

“He said he’s doing a lot of them for Jefferson City,” Clerk Buechter added.

Aldermen agreed they would be interested in having Nickolaus write the ordinance.

• Also, in his report, Nickolaus said he sent out four notices for those violating the nuisance ordinance. One has made some improvements, but other properties are looking rundown. He hopes to know by the next board meeting which property owners are in compliance.

• Buechter presented an update from Bartlett & West, noting that the firm continues to receive and review customer surveys and take phone calls about surveys.

B&W has also populated the GIS map with information received from customers, continues to review scanned records to see if any information is there, and continues to provide on-call services for the water system and any questions the city may have.