CHAMOIS — Chamois Alderman Shawn Mitchem addressed a big concern at the board’s meeting on Feb. 2, noting several people have been bitten by dogs in the city.

“I tried to handle it with the cops,” Mitchem said. “Basically, we had a dog-bite thing going on. We had someone who got bitten. We have someone with three baby pit bulls, and they are meaner than crap, and they’ve been biting people.”

Mitchem said that he was going to his mailbox one day, and an older lady was walking up the street holding the back of her hip and she had been bitten.

“I was mad because that’s just wrong,” Mitchem said.

Mitchem called 911 and tried to get in touch with City Marshal Riley Davis.

“Both Osage County and Riley showed up and we went over there,” Mitchem said.

Mitchem explained that the Osage County Sheriff’s deputy took reports, Lewis helped Mitchem move the three dogs back into the pen, and fix the area where they had gotten out. Mitchem said that he told one of the relatives of the owner of the dogs that this was something that just couldn’t keep happening. To date, the dogs have bitten three people.

Mitchem said he called the Osage County Health Department but nothing could be done.

He then talked to Dr. Kyle Kuschel with the Osage County Regional Vet Clinic, which has an option for the city of Linn. The clinic keeps a catch pole and kennel for when Linn has a problem with mean dogs. Mitchem described this as a “nuclear option.”

The cost of the catch pole is estimated at $89 and the cost to kennel the dog is $30 per day. The clinic will charge the cost for emergency hours of $130 per hour before 10 p.m., and $155 after 10 pm. Dr. Kuschel will store the catch pole and the kennel at the vet clinic and the cost for everything would be covered by the city.

“The dogs’ owner doesn’t take care of the dogs,” Mitchem said. “He doesn’t feed the dogs. This is a big problem. We can’t have old ladies being bitten and bleeding, but this is an option.”

“Those dogs are hungry,” Mayor Marie Slusser said.

“They are very skinny,” City Treasurer Theresa Walter added.

“It’s really not the dogs’ fault, but we have to do something,” Mitchem said.

Aldermen discussed how different people around the city have periodically tried to feed the dogs because of the owner’s neglect.

“We’ll have to make up an ordinance and make sure we have the right paperwork,” Slusser said.

“Those dogs are chewing through the fence,” Mitchem said. “There are adults getting bit; imagine if there were little kids. It’s not the dogs’ fault; it’s the owner’s fault, but I feel we need to do something.”

In other business, Alderman Cheyanna Wolfe had a lot of wide-ranging criticism for the board. Wolfe apologized for not bringing up these issues earlier in her term.

“We lack wholeheartedly in communication with residents and between ourselves, and between one another,” Wolfe said. “I believe if we are going to be estimating residents’ water and sewer usage, we should be communicating with those individuals with an explanation as to why their bill is being estimated, and if there are unexpected charges that they can have a heads-up.”

“I don’t think we have very many bills that we are estimating anymore,” Mitchem said.

City Clerk Megan Birmingham confirmed that some residents’ bills were being estimated, though she did not have an exact number.

“A lot of people have brought it to my attention that we lack communication with the residents, and with the city in general,” Wolfe said. “I do feel we lack that. We have a Facebook page. We send out bills. We can send out letters. We just lack basic communication.”

Wolfe added that she understands emergencies come up and office hours for City Hall may need to change at the last minute, but she asserts that it is the city’s responsibility to communicate those changes with residents.

She proposed having City Hall open only a couple of days a week.

“The phone is not ringing off the hook, and they do not have people coming into the office every day to make payments,” Wolfe explained. “As long as the work is getting done, and we’re open for residents who want to pay their bills in cash, I don’t see why it would be a problem.”

Wolfe went on to say that the internet service at City Hall is horrible and expensive.

“We’re paying over $200 a month for an internet that hardly ever works,” Wolfe said. “We can’t use our computers. QuickBooks can’t update properly, which is probably one of the reasons it is not doing well.”

Wolfe looked into a couple of options and asked Walter if she had found an alternative internet service.

Walter explained that she had looked into several systems. She thought the one with the most potential may be T. Mobile, which would replace the city’s landlines with cell phones.

“Then we wouldn’t have to use our own cell phones,” Walter said. “I get Facebook messages. I get texts. I get emails on my personal email. I get stopped on the street. I get stopped at Jerry’s Stop & Go. If we had cell phones, our personal stuff could be off limits.”

Walter said that she got a rough estimate for the service to include cell phones, and it was less than what the city is currently paying for the internet and landlines.

“I think the cell phones would be beneficial to everyone,” Wolfe said. “If anyone had to be out of the office, they could just put up a sign to say to call them on the cell phones. We need something more efficient than what we have. We are paying $200 per month for something that doesn’t work. That’s a big issue.”

Wolfe added that both Birmingham and Walter had offered to cut down the number of hours they are working to help with the budget.

“We need to look more closely at the budget,” Wolfe said. “Our budget is a hot mess right now. We are going to have to make some cuts somewhere. Personally, I do not believe we need a filing clerk.”

Wolfe was referring to part-time filing clerk Lillian Wright, who was hired on Dec. 6.

“I don’t believe she needs to be here,” Wolfe continued. “We’re paying out a lot of money, and I see what she is doing, and she’s not getting a lot done. No offense to her, but I’ve offered my time to come in, and so have other people.

“We don’t need Riley,” Wolfe went on. “It’s nothing personal against him; I just don’t think we can afford him.”

Alderman Shawn Mitchem asserted that he thought the city needed a law enforcement presence.

“With some of the people that are in this town, and some of the issues going on, we need something,” Mitchem said.

Wolfe contended that the same issues happen in every town.

“I understand that, but if we have no police presence in this town, people are going to go wild,” Mitchem said.

“It’s going to go right back to the way it was,” Mayor Marie Slusser said.

“There are things going on all over town now,” Wolfe replied. “It’s just as easy to get the Osage County Sheriff’s Department down here.”

Mitchem said that the Osage County Sheriff’s Department took at least 20 minutes to respond.

“It doesn’t matter,” Wolfe argued. “Riley isn’t always here. We are pissing away more money than we have.”

“We are hemorrhaging money,” Alderman Lacey Garret agreed.

“The budget is the thing we need to get fixed,” Wolfe said. “That’s more important than a police presence down here. Riley is not bringing in any money. We’re having to pay (attorney) Amanda Grellner, and we’re not getting anything back.

“I have nothing against Riley,” Wolfe added. “I love the guy to death. He is an amazing man. I hate the sh*t that goes on down here as much as anyone else. I have kids of my own, and my little sister lives down here now.”

“There are people that are afraid to walk the streets,” Mitchem said.

“I get that; it’s scary, but the problem is we’re not going to be able to afford to do anything about it if we can’t fix the budget,” Wolfe said. “If we don’t get our budget under control and start fixing things now, we’re going to have to give our city to the state. I didn’t think about it for a long time, but at the end of the day, we need to fix the budget.”

Wolfe noted that the money the city is paying Grellner to review tickets and ordinance violations is not helping the situation.

“We have to figure out the budget,” Wolfe repeated. “It’s scary not having a police presence down here, but we are going to have to figure it out. It’s going to be scary, but we are going to have to come together and figure it out. Poor Riley; I think he is dealing with more than he can muster up. I love the guy to death and if we could keep him, that would be great, but we have to figure the budget out.”

Wolfe then asked what was going on with the city’s dump truck.

“I was told there were some disgruntled members of the Board of Aldermen over the dump truck being moved,” Garret said. “That truck has been discussed for a long time. It was brought up when Mark Mehmert was still working here. The fire department has asked for it to be moved for months. It was sitting near the helicopter landing pad, and it got moved.”

Wolfe asked what the city planned to do with the truck since it hadn’t been used in years.

“The plan was to ask for bids on it, but it has our cold patch in it,” Slusser said. “It was moved and why someone would move it all the way back to a field where there is grass and everything grown up around it, I don’t know. It needed to be brought back to the city garage or someone from the city should have been contacted. Whether we were going to fix it or get bids on it, I don’t understand moving it back to the creek. I don’t understand that concept.”

“No one knew where the dump truck was,” Mitchem said. “We heard the fire department moved it.”

“Did anyone reach out to the fire department to ask them about it?” Wolfe asked.

“To an extent,” Slusser said. “I just asked them if they knew where it was and they told me. I have been busy and I haven’t had a chance to talk to them. Lacey (Garret) was there when they moved it.”

“I was not there when it was moved,” Garret said. “I did not know where it was. I was facilitating a board meeting at the time, and I had no idea what they were doing.”

Garret said that the city dump truck was currently located on the fire department’s property.

“It needs to be moved back to city property,” Slusser said.

“I think someone should have reached out to let us know it was going to be moved, but if people had asked multiple times, I don’t know,” Mitchem said.

Slusser asked who the fire department had asked to move the dump truck.

“I remember them reaching out to us and asking us to move it,” Wolfe said. “They’ve called the city.”

Birmingham agreed, noting that it had been brought up a couple of months ago at a city meeting.

“It probably just got pushed back,” Slusser said. “It doesn’t matter that the fire department moved the dump truck. It doesn’t matter who was there or who was a part of it. We need to figure out how to get it to the garage and get the cold patch out of it so we can use it.”

Wolfe asked if there had been any thought of selling some of the vacant lots that the city owns, which the mayor brought up months ago. Slusser said that she was working on that but had been busy.

Wolfe also asked if aldermen could be informed when there were emergency situations because she always feels like she is in the dark about what is happening.

Mitchem said that he knows that there are residents who have no idea who governs the city.

“I get approached all the time,” Garret said. “People know I am an alderman.”

“I’ve had two or three people come up to me and tell me they have no idea who the aldermen are,” Mitchem said.

“People come up to me all the time to talk,” Garret argued. “They know who the aldermen are.”

“I’ve had to introduce myself to people,” Mitchem said.

“I don’t have time to introduce myself to everyone,” Garret said. “I don’t have time for that. We are listed on the website.”

Wolfe agreed that there were probably people in the city who didn’t know who she was since she was young.

Walter suggested that maybe the city could have a couple of events with aldermen available to visit with residents.

“It’s something we could do at Chamois Day,” Wolfe agreed. “I need to take the time out and introduce myself to folks around town. I’ll take accountability for that.”

The meeting ended with Slusser saying that she shared several of Wolfe’s concerns and had planned to bring them up for discussion as well.