CHAMOIS — Chamois aldermen officially voted to approve the appointment of Marie Slusser to the position of alderman at their meeting last Wednesday night. Slusser will fill the seat left by Alderman Jeffrey Connor when he resigned at the April meeting. Slusser took the oath of office at the May meeting, but aldermen never voted on her appointment.

“Reading through the statutes, we found out that the mayor can go through and appoint someone, but the board still has to approve it with a two-thirds majority vote,” Alderman Sara Mengwasser said. “While we already swore her in, we still have to vote on it.”

Unterrified Democrat (UD) Editor Neal Johnson urged aldermen to make the appointment retroactive to cover anything that Slusser has participated in since she was sworn in.

“Otherwise, everything she’s done since she’s been sworn in isn’t legal,” Johnson explained. “It shouldn’t affect anything since you didn’t have any tie-breaking situations, but just to clarify your paperwork and make everything legal, it would be good to add that.”

Johnson and UD Manager Jacob Warden addressed aldermen about concerns that they have about how the board is conducting city business.

“We’re here to help you,” Johnson said. “We’re not here to drag anyone down or make anyone look stupid. We want to help you stay out of trouble.”

Johnson noted that the UD has had some concerns brought to their attention that may need clarification or may need to be changed. First on the list was the appointment of Alderman Slusser to the board. Johnson explained that he had addressed this issue with Mengwasser and was glad to see that the issue had been resolved. Johnson noted that he had emailed a list of concerns to City Clerk Megan Birmingham and would like for her to share the UD’s concerns with aldermen.

Johnson suggested that aldermen and the mayor take some time to review Robert’s Rules of Order and be very specific about the motions that are made to conduct city business. He noted that he was happy to see that Robert’s Rules of Order was on the agenda.

“You guys have made three motions so far, and not one of them has specified what you are making a motion for,” Johnson said. “When you make a motion, it should be spelled out and clarified for the room. There should be no questions about what you are making the motion for.”

Johnson noted that he had heard a rumor that the aldermen planned to close the meeting to discuss Mayor Michael Edwards’ legal problems.

Aldermen and the mayor said that there were no plans to close the meeting.

“That was presented to me as a possibility, and I wanted to make clear that was not a legal exemption,” Johnson said of the Sunshine Law, a copy of which he forwarded Birmingham and encouraged aldermen to look through it carefully.

“The Sunshine Law is more important than you think,” Warden added.

He detailed how a resident had sued Maries County because they had violated the Sunshine Law. According to Warden, the lawsuit cost the county several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“It was a mess,” Johnson added.

“Luckily, the guy that sued the county realized how big of a problem that it was going to be for the county, and when the appeal judge came out, he said he didn’t need to hurt the county that much,” Warden explained.

Warden also explained that the city of Belle is currently under review by the Attorney General’s Office for not following the Sunshine Law.

“They are in a situation where the worst-case scenario is going to cost them seven to eight million dollars,” Warden explained. “They could lose all of their grants for 10 years.”

Warden noted that because of these issues, his plan is to work with the Missouri Sunshine Coalition to offer training to elected officials in the area. While nothing is currently planned, Warden hopes to set this up soon.

“I obviously can’t offer you legal advice, but the Sunshine Law is something I deal with almost every single day,” said Warden, who offered to help the board with any questions they might have.

“Most of the issues are just ignorance,” Johnson said. “People just don’t know.”

Johnson noted that the board should take special care in what things allow them to go to a closed session and that when the board is in closed session, aldermen are limited to the topic at hand.

“Each of you is an elected official and is responsible for saying this is a topic we can’t talk about right now,” Johnson explained. “Most of us (in the media) are well-versed in the Sunshine Law. We want to make sure our communities are protected.”

Warden explained that he has been trying to communicate this idea to Belle aldermen for the last six months and feels like he has not gotten through to them.

Johnson said he had also heard a rumor that the mayor and aldermen were charging things to the city’s account at Jerry’s Stop & Go.

Utilities Supervisor Justin Bathke explained that there was an account set up at Jerry’s Stop and Go for the city, but it was used for fuel for the city’s vehicles and equipment.

Johnson suggested that aldermen elect a mayor pro tem to serve as a backup in case Mayor Edwards was not available. Johnson explained that a mayor pro tem should be appointed and voted on after every election and serve in the position for one year.

“It protects the city in the event the mayor is not here or is incapacitated or sick,” Johnson said. “If you can’t be here, the mayor pro tem can open the meetings and act as the mayor. We really believe a mayor pro tem is important to have on the books.”

Later in the meeting, Slusser was approved as mayor pro tem. She nominated herself for the position, was appointed by the mayor, and approved by a vote of the board.

Johnson said that he had seen a Facebook post indicating the city was sponsoring a movie at the park on July 15. The post was on Mayor Edwards’ personal account. He noted that former Mayor Elise Brochu, who was also in attendance at the meeting, had originally set up movies at the park but wasn’t sure of how things stood since there was no mention of it in the last meeting’s minutes.

“Is it sponsored by the city?” Johnson asked. “Do you guys sell concessions? Does that money go back to the city? Did the mayor make the decision, or how did it come to be that you had movies in the park?”

Alderman Jim Wright said that Brochu had started it.

“And we continued it,” Mengwasser said.

“So, it was basically grandfathered in,” Slusser said.

“Since we didn’t know about it, it would have to be that way,” Wright added.

Brochu explained that the event and budget for the city-sponsored movie in the park, which she thought had been in 2018, were approved for that event only.

“It’s easy to say it was grandfathered in, but if it was just for that summer, the future stuff would have to be considered separately,” Johnson said. “There needs to be a budgetary allotment approved by the board. It needs to be cleaned up so everyone is on the same page.”

Aldermen discussed movies in the park following the discussion with Johnson and Warden.

“We’ve already done one movie,” Edwards said. “But we’ve got two more movies scheduled, and it’s going to be $1,500 for the licenses.”

Birmingham explained that even though Chamois wasn’t charging admission because of copyright laws, the city would still need to pay to show the movies in a public venue.

Slusser asked if there had been a big turnout at the first movie night on July 15.

“There was a lot going on, so not really,” Edwards said. He thought that the Osage County Fair may have been one reason why there weren’t a lot of people at the event.

Slusser said that she had totally missed the event. Wright said that he didn’t know anything about it either.

“It seems like a lot (of money),” said Alderman Lance Gerloff.

Birmingham noted that the revenues from the concession stand could help offset the cost of the movie. At the first movie in the park event, the concession stand profited $100 with an all-volunteer staff of Edwards, Birmingham, Bathke, and part-time Utilities Worker Rusty McCoy.

Mengwasser noted that the profit from the concession stands at the ball games could also go toward funding the movie.

“That’s still $400,” Gerloff said. “Couldn’t we have a donation box sitting there, and when it gets to a certain point, then we have an event? Instead of just taking the funding away from other projects. It’s a good thing, but there is only so much money to go around.”

Brochu suggested aldermen ask the school or local churches to purchase the movie license through them since they typically get a cheaper rate.

“Maybe you’ll save yourself $500 in vandalism if you have events at the park,” Brochu said.

Birmingham noted that she thought there had been a lot less vandalism at the park since the events started, even though the city has only sponsored two events so far this year.

Slusser asked if the Lions Club would partner with the city to share the cost. She also suggested that some local businesses might want to chip in on the movie cost.

“It’s pretty expensive,” Slusser added.

Edwards said he could talk to the Lions Club at their next meeting on Aug. 14.

Slusser asked if there had been other movies planned for the summer.

Edwards said the plan was to show another movie on Aug. 12 and Aug. 26, but noted these dates had not been made public. However, UD Reporter Theresa Brandt noted that Edwards had posted those dates in the comments on his personal Facebook account.

“We’ve got the money in the budget, don’t we?” Edwards asked.

Bathke argued that while he is in favor of the movies in the park, he is worried about using all the money budgeted for the park for the license since that leaves him little left over for repairs.

Aldermen approved $525 to show the second movie on Aug. 12 while hoping to solicit the Lions Cub and local businesses for donations to offset that cost. Birmingham asked the aldermen to include the cost of the licensing for the first movie, for $485, in the motion.

“That’s half of the park funding that’s available,” Gerloff protested.

The motion was amended to include paying for the movie that had already been shown.

Wright abstained from voting on the motion.

Johnson also mentioned that he was concerned with how the board handled the bid solicited from Grayson Light to fix the grandstand damaged in a storm earlier this year.

“If memory serves me correctly, you guys went over the estimate, and it went into the paper, and then you decided to solicit more bids,” Johnson said. “The problem is anyone who reads the paper is going to know what that guy’s estimate was.”

Warden added that the city must solicit bids on any spending exceeding $6,000. Below that amount, the board can gather estimates.

In subsequent business, aldermen approved Grayson Light to fix the grandstand for his estimate of $5,296.56. They thought this estimate was high at the last meeting and asked for additional bids but did not receive any.

Johnson explained that he has been covering meetings since 1997, including the city of Chamois, for a number of years, and he understands how things work.

“It’s easy in a small town, with a small group like this, to find yourself at the same place, and suddenly you’ve got three of you at a picnic or standing around before a meeting, and things drift into city business, and now you have a quorum,” Johnson said. “You can’t discuss city business, how you are going to vote, or whatever. Keep things social. Keep things friendly. Don’t talk about city business before the meeting, and certainly don’t make decisions before the meeting.”

Johnson explained how Osage Ambulance District had problems with this exact issue several years ago.

“I don’t want something like that to happen to happen to you guys because you happen to be discussing something before a meeting,” Johnson explained. “All it takes is one person overhearing you, and they can file a lawsuit with the Attorney’s General against the city.”

In other business, aldermen tabled making any decision on a budget for the new fiscal year until the next meeting. The budget paperwork showed that the city has a net income of over 4,000%. When asked to explain why that number was so high, Birmingham replied that she had no idea.

Slusser thought that perhaps the water project had thrown the numbers off. Brochu wondered if the sewer payments had been entered correctly in Quick Books.

She also suggested the city hadn’t spent as much as planned last year or that other Quick Books entries were incorrect. Brochu also explained that because Bathke was paid less than the former utilities supervisor, the city should have some surplus funds.

“This is pretty hard to follow,” Slusser said.

Birmingham noted that she is having trouble finding things from when the city was without a clerk.

“This is a lot to absorb in just a few minutes,” Wright said.

Aldermen agreed with Brochu’s suggestion they move to table the issue and allow the current budget to stand until the next month so aldermen would have time to go through the numbers more thoroughly.

• Aldermen approved Bill #2023-001, an ordinance that creates the position of police chief for the Chamois Police Department. Mengwasser’s research on various ordinances on the books related to law enforcement in the city of Chamois led to two existing ordinances. 

Ordinance #493 dissolved the city marshal position in the city of Chamois, and Ordinance #590 created a contract with the Osage County Sheriff’s Department to enforce the city’s laws. This new ordinance replaces both of these ordinances.

“What this ordinance does is repeal the contract with the sheriff’s department, recreates the police department, and gives the police department the right to enforce laws,” Mengwasser explained.

Brochu noted that the Sheriff’s Office no longer enforces city ordinances and hasn’t for as long as she had been on the board. Brochu went on to explain that the paperwork had gotten messed up when, as mayor, the board tried to hire a city marshal. The paperwork was supposed to be filed to allow the county court to prosecute offenders. The former clerk had set up the city to have its own municipal court, and Brochu had no interest in adjudicating cases.

“I didn’t want to be the judge,” Brochu said. “That’s a lot of bad will, and you already have enough of that when you are the mayor. I didn’t want to do it, and the board was split.”

Brochu noted that one of the previous aldermen was supposed to help the clerk finalize the paperwork, and it never happened.

Aldermen approved the ordinance hoping it would speed the process of getting a city marshal in place.

• The water project is ready to proceed, with the city receiving the final approval for the Community Block Development Grant (CBDG) grant. The city is responsible for digging a trench along Market Street to allow water to move to a storm drain and out of the lagoons. The city is also waiting on B&H Well Drilling, which is waiting on a special bit that should be delivered in four to six weeks.

• The alderman approved an increase to McCoy’s hours from 10 to 20 per week at the same pay rate of $12 per hour. Slusser suggested that McCoy should be trained so that he could step up when Bathke was not available. Bathke and McCoy will now also be responsible for mowing the cemetery. Aldermen were reluctant to give McCoy over 20 hours per week until they had approved a new budget.

• Bathke asked the aldermen why something wasn’t done about the threat that resident Charles Slusser at 420 Cherry Street made at the last meeting to pour concrete down the manhole to the city sewer.

“Why haven’t we addressed it and taken this to the county?” Bathke asked.

He explained that the city needs to report the threat to the Osage County Sheriff’s Office so there is a paper trail in case something happens.

Edwards said that he had gotten a call from Republic Services, which is going to discontinue Slusser’s trash service because he threatened their driver.

“He threatened to whoop his ass,” Edwards said.

“That’s a threat of bodily harm to a public worker and a threat to our system,” Bathke said. “We have to address it.”

Brochu noted that while she was mayor, City Attorney Amanda Grellner had to send Slusser a letter making it illegal for him to be in City Hall because he was so aggressive with the former city clerk. She suggested that Grellner could resend the letter.

• Aldermen did not decide whether or not they would approve paying for Bathke’s health insurance. Mengwasser and Birmingham had been in contact with Grellner, who told them that if a precedent was set with former employees to provide health insurance, it was only fair to provide the same to Bathke.

Brochu noted that Bathke was only a part-time employee.

Birmingham said that according to an email from Grellner, 32 hours was considered full-time in how it applied to health insurance and that Bathke would be due the amount retroactively to November when he was hired.

Aldermen agreed to investigate different health insurance quotes, along with what is required by the state of Missouri.

• Gerloff questioned why nothing was being done to clean out the ditches to improve drainage in the city.

“We’ve been talking about it, but nobody’s doing anything yet,” Gerloff said. “We’re going to have to get them dug out.”

Gerloff also pointed out that there were lots of potholes all over town. Bathke was reluctant to fill the potholes, knowing that when the water project was in town, the big trucks would damage roads and any repairs that were made to them.

Wright said he would address the Special Road District and see if there is any money to work on asphalt in the city. Bathke said the streets need to be milled down before more asphalt is put in place.

“All that water is running into people’s yards because the roads are too high,” Gerloff said.

Wright noted that even if there is money to work on the streets, they couldn’t schedule someone to come in for another year.

“We’ll just have to keep patching,” Gerloff said. “If it lasts two weeks, it’s better than someone’s front end being torn out.”

“Let’s patch it until we can get it replaced,” said Wright, noting he might have a battery so Bathke could get the dump truck running to help with moving the cold patch.

• Aldermen authorized Birmingham to contact several companies about having the city’s ordinances codified and digitalized so that they could be available online. However, they asked Birmingham to find out the cost of having this done before they commit to anything.

• The aldermen and mayor were presented with a copy of Robert’s Rules of Order. Birmingham also noted there is a video available online that she could share a link to if someone wanted to watch it.

“This is how a board meeting should run,” Birmingham said. She encouraged the aldermen and mayor to read through and study the procedure, reiterating it was one of the suggestions the UD made to keep things running smoothly and legally.

• Slusser suggested that Birmingham should set up all the aldermen with individual city email addresses.

• Birmingham had investigated a debit and credit card reader for residents to make water payments but has not determined how much it would cost the city. She will continue to investigate.

• The aldermen approved outstanding bills totaling $16,394.01.

• Chamois had the following account balances cemetery fund ($10,437.77), general fund ($42,077.44), water fund ($194,377.46), sewer fund ($90,222.14), city CBDG in and out ($1,250), city park ($3,366.59), American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) ($77,213.68), city cemetery ($20,635.87), meter deposits ($22,871.02), and water repair ($29,014.42).

• The next meeting will be held on Aug. 16 at 7 p.m.