WESTPHALIA — Westphalia aldermen, at their June meeting, approved conditional use for Jake and Erin Plassmeyer’s business, Main Street Blooms, at the recommendation of the Westphalia Planning and Zoning Commission. The Plassmeyers had to apply for conditional use because their property is zoned commercial and does not permit agribusinesses, according to Westphalia’s zoning code. A conditional use license costs the business owner $100.

As part of the approval, the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended several conditions: the business is only allowed to sell fresh flowers; they are restricted from selling fruits, vegetables, or cannabis.

The Plassmeyers outlined the areas on their property where they would grow the flowers for sale, including the existing garden and four additional raised beds for a total of 796 square feet. That will be the maximum space allowed without requesting an additional variance. The spaces would be maintained and manicured after the growing season. All the required documentation would be provided for the city’s business license, and conditional use is not transferrable if the property is sold.

Alderman Lori Asel questioned why a flowerbed couldn’t be moved if the Plassmeyers stayed within the square footage they originally outlined.

Mayor Tammy Massman responded that this was the recommendation of the Planning and Zoning Board and that deviations from the plan would be considered a violation of that code.

The Plassmeyers were asked if they thought their business would increase traffic flow in their neighborhood or cause any traffic problems. They didn’t think so, noting they will have an area designated for customers in their driveway. The Plassmeyers are planning on a porch pick-up or flower stand in their yard to sell bouquets. They will not have a self-pick option for customers.

“I don’t have an opposition to the business,” said former Alderman Mike Kliethermes. “I guess my opposition would be to why it is even an issue. Every house on Main Street has been a business at one time or another.”

Kliethermes said the point of planning and zoning laws was to keep things from changing, and instead, he feels that they have locked the town into rules and regulations that do not work for everyone. He noted that zoning laws require anyone who does not follow the planning and zoning laws to be charged with a misdemeanor.

“Why has this never been an issue in the past?” Kliethermes asked. “Why is it even an issue for someone to sell flowers out of their house? This is trite and silly.”

“I think the answer is they are bound by the zoning rules,” City Attorney Dougg Stultz said.

“Can we modify the zoning rules, so this isn’t an issue, because the zoning laws, in my opinion, are silly,” Kliethermes said. “Is this really what we want to do as the city of Westphalia? I don’t have a problem with them. I’m already surrounded by businesses in my residential area.”

Neighbors of the Plassmeyers came to the meeting in support of the business and wrote letters to the Board of Aldermen and Planning and Zoning Commission voicing their support.

Erin Plassmeyer noted that she initially thought there wasn’t a need for conditional use since selling flowers is specified as an acceptable business in the planning and zoning code in her property zone.

“If she wanted to establish a floral shop at her residence, because of how things are currently zoned, she could put a floral shop in,” Massman explained. “The reason conditional use is being presented for consideration is solely based on the growing of the flowers on the site.”

Massman explained that aldermen and the Planning and Zoning Commission were simply following the process and procedure of the city of Westphalia.

Alderman Plassmeyer abstained from the vote.

In other business, Aldermen Asel asked the city’s lawyer if he felt that Massman holding the position of mayor and city clerk posed a conflict of interest.

“I don’t,” Stultz said.

“The city clerk is an appointed position,” Asel said.

Stultz explained that there are two different types of city clerks — one elected and one hired as a clerical position. He explained the latter is how he would classify the city clerk position in Westphalia.

“It’s an appointed position by the mayor who oversees the position,” Asel said.

“They refer to this position as city clerk, but it is a secretarial position,” Stultz said.

“It’s called a city clerk,” Asel repeated.

“I don’t see a conflict of interest because the definition of what she is doing is secretarial work,” Stultz said.

“Even though the job has never been addressed as secretary, we’re going to address it as secretary now so she can hold the position?” Asel asked.

“I don’t agree with you,” Stultz said. “I don’t see a conflict of interest.”

Kliethermes added that at any time, the Board of Aldermen could fire the city clerk.

“The power is in the board,” Kliethermes said. “If they are unhappy with the clerk, they can fire the clerk.”

Massman noted that aldermen had verified that there would not be a conflict of interest for her holding both positions when she first took the position.

“When our previous clerk resigned, there was no one there to fill the vacancy of employment,” Massman said. “I volunteered, and the board approved it. The board can say it’s not okay.”

“I think they need to be separate positions,” Asel said. “We have no checks and balances. We have a mayor working as the city clerk. I started thinking that I’m saying yes to all these budget reports. Can we see a checking account statement?”

“Our checks and balances are through our accounting firm, which is also approved through the board,” Massman said. “There are checks and balances in everything we do here.”

Stultz suggested that Asel request this be placed on the agenda for next month’s meeting.

Asel requested that Stultz be at the next meeting to answer additional questions.

• Aldermen have discussed renovating the existing City Hall building, starting with replacing the roof and tuck-pointing the stone. Alderman Wieberg worked with All Seasons Roofing to get an estimate for a new roof and reported that their estimate was $25,520 and an additional $3,200 from Frank Rustemeyer Masonry for tuck-pointing. Mayor Massman reached out to Weathercraft, a roofing company in Jefferson City, and received a quote for $18,775 for the same scope of work as outlined by All Seasons Roofing. Alderman Stanley Heckman received an estimate for $52,500 from Missouri Builders.

Massman asked aldermen if they would like to move forward with repairs to City Hall.

“To me, the question is, where do you see City Hall in 15 years?” Wieberg asked. “In 20 years? I foresee the city growing with a full-time city clerk with a building where the files are kept and the city’s computer.”

Currently, the city clerk works out of their home where city files and the computer are kept.

“That’s my view for the city as well,” Asel said. “Make a spot where people can get information about activities coming up and brochures on local businesses. We could have a city clerk to help people with business licenses. Instead of us just being here once a month. I would like this to be a historical landmark for people to come to. I think that is what is needed: a place where people can come and have the city center feel since we don’t have a square. Our City Hall should be that spot.”

“A full-time clerk will exhaust funds quickly,” Massman warned.

Wieberg agreed that he could see how it would be a burden on the accounts as well as remodeling and maintaining the building.

“We’ve already got a part-time clerk,” Asel argued. “We could have part-time hours, and then the work could be done at home like it’s always been done.”

It was pointed out that City Hall does not have a bathroom or heating and air conditioning.

“The old firehouse already has a bathroom in it,” Wieberg said. “We could have the city computer there and the city files. All kept in a nice, controlled environment.”

“Yes, we would have to put money into (City Hall), but we can space it over time,” Asel said. “But, to say that we are never going to change and just let this building go and never have a town center for people to come to. We can’t just do things the way we’ve always done them.”

“Before we approve anything on roof repairs, we want to look at the project as a whole,” Heckman said. “What do we really want to do with this building? Get a rough number for the whole project before we say yes to the roof repair.”

“I think that is a good idea,” Alderman Jake Plassmeyer said. “You don’t want to be in this for half a million dollars sometime down the road.”

“The city owns three buildings,” Wieberg said.

“That are only being utilized to half their capacity,” Heckman added.

Aldermen agreed to table roof repairs for now. Wieberg requested that discussing moving City Hall to the old fire station or staying at the current location and repairing it be put on the agenda for the July meeting.

Heckman suggested that Asel and Plassmeyer need to look at the other two buildings the city owns.

“When we are talking about repairs, everyone needs to know what we are talking about,” Heckman said, noting that he, Wieberg, and Massman are familiar with all the buildings.

Massman noted that she suggested this at the May meeting and offered to unlock the building for Asel and Plassmeyer to investigate.

“We need to figure out if we want to stay here,” Wieberg said.

“And how much it would cost to remodel this,” Heckman said. “That might be enough to scare us one way or another. All the buildings are going to need repairs at some point.”

Massman asked who would like to solicit bids for the City Hall remodel.

“I suggest whoever wants to stay here should solicit the bids,” Wieberg said.

• Asel wanted specific corrections made to the meeting minutes from the May meeting before she would vote to approve them.

“I think there are some errors in there, some quotes that I didn’t say,” Asel said.

Massman asked which quotes she was referring to.

“I can’t say about every single thing, but I feel that some of it is out of order,” Asel explained. “I do record the meetings so I could go back and follow along. I feel some of the quotes are wrong. The minutes say that the process is too hard. I did say that, but then there is no mention of what Delbert says.”

“The meeting minutes in and of themselves are not necessarily a transcription of the meeting,” Massman said.

“I realize that, but you put so much in here,” Asel said, referring to the meeting minutes. “I feel like some of the quotes are wrong. You wrote that Aldermen Asel did not want any restrictions for homeowners, and that’s not on the recording, and I never said that.”

“I’ll vouch for that,” Alderman Delbert Wieberg said. “She didn’t say that.”

“You have that the attorney provided me with a code book,” Asel continued. “Yes, he walked towards me, but I motioned that I had it. It’s tabbed and highlighted right here.” Asel pointed to the binder in front of her.

“Are you wanting just that one line stricken from the meeting minutes?” Massman asked.

“I have to give you every line that I want taken out of the minutes?” Asel asked. “I’m not going through each little thing, but I do want it taken out that I don’t want any restrictions for homeowners. I don’t want to take the time to take out every little thing that was moved out of context and when it was said.”

“If they are not approved tonight, we can make modifications,” Massman said. “We just have to attend to it. As for the context, we’ve had this conversation before about trying to be inclusive and trying to capture all the context.”

Massman explained that she felt the same was true of the articles that were in the Unterrified Democrat, that they sometimes lacked context.

“If there is something specific that you want stricken and taken out of the meeting minutes, now is the time to attend to that,” Massman continued. “Moving forward, I think that there is going to be quite a drawback in the conversation and context portion versus what we are only required to record.”

Massman noted that she was continuing the tradition of the city clerks that went before in reflecting the conversation and context of the meetings so that they told a complete story.

“If we need to, we can only record according to the statute, the motions made and, or approved,” Massman said.

“That is the way it should be,” Asel replied. “I think that is a good idea.”

Massman noted that she sent out the meeting minutes to be reviewed prior to the meeting and that corrections should be addressed before the meeting.

“If you see discrepancies, please let me know so that we don’t have to detain actual business,” Massman said.

Aldermen approved the minutes with one line omitted that said Alderman Asel did not want any restrictions for homeowners.

• Westphalia’s residential trash customers can expect a 4% rate increase beginning Nov. 1.

• Mayor Massman reported that she requested a new quote for workers’ compensation from Missouri Employees Mutual (MEM) when she realized that the quote included workers’ compensation coverage on sewer system employees. Mid Mo Operations carries its own workers’ compensation. Massman forwarded this to the MEM. The new quote is down to $396 from the original $1,000  anticipated for the monthly premium.

Aldermen approved using MEM for the city’s workers’ compensation insurance.

• Aaron Lachowicz of Mid Mo Operations reported that the sewer system was overall in good shape, though some repairs were made in the past month. The check valve was replaced on the blower for a total cost of $600. The oil was changed in the blowers, and they were greased, along with the gearbox on the clarified driver. Lachowicz noted he would need to pick out new belts for the blower. Mid Mo Operations is still working with vendors to acquire a replacement for the bad ballast on the Ultraviolet (UV) bulbs.

“The existing lights are still providing adequate UV protection,” Lachowicz said. “I’m not really worried about it.”

Mid Mo Operations is also unable to get additional gaskets to fix the three remaining manhole covers. Lachowicz reported that the lift stations have been operating properly, and they are currently working to prepare to put in the new decant line.

Lachowicz reported that the patches on the air header are working, but they will need additional work in the future.

Wieberg said that the brush and weeds were growing up around the access road to the sewer plant. Lachowicz agreed that the road was becoming overgrown, and it wouldn’t hurt to clear some of the brush.

• Aldermen approved the following expenses for the month: city fund ($17,484.45), sewer system ($9,164.36), and special road district ($369.40).

• Westphalia had the following receipts for the month: city ($8,819.50), sewer ($8,850.95), and special road district ($8,186.89).

• The city had the following account balances: city checking ($166,615.24), sewer system checking ($59,804.03), special road district checking ($63,630.71), and special road district savings account ($5,115.77).

• Westphalia holds the following certificates of deposit: city ($441.313.53), sewer system ($524,628.76), and special road district ($525,227.63).

• The next regular meeting will be held on July 24 at 6 p.m.