Westphalia aldermen last Tuesday, Sept. 20, voted to have Mayor Tammy Massman look for another company to replace Phil Peaks as the Sewer Operations Manager. 

At the last meeting, the board voted to have Peaks order a new pump for the Hwy 63 Lift Station, have it installed along with a new rail system, and have the station given a total cleaning. At the time of the meeting, none of the work had been completed. 

“I have not heard anything more from Phil,” Massman said. “He didn’t send a report for today. The new pump had been delivered but to our knowledge, it has not been installed.”

“Yeah, we are three weeks past the deadline,” Alderman Delbert Wieberg said, referring to the date aldermen had given Peaks at the last meeting to have the work done.

Massman referred to her phone as she read a text that Peaks had sent her noting the work was slated to be completed by Sept. 17 by Mid Missouri Environmental. Massman had sent this information to aldermen at that time.

“The point is today is Sept. 21 and the work is still not completed,” Massman said.

Aldermen would like to see a full-service bid to take over the sewer operations manager position.

Wieberg was adamant that it was time to look for someone else even if the city had to raise the sewer rates to bring in a company to manage the system.

In other business, Wieberg received authorization from the city to align work to make repairs to the buried manhole across Hwy. 63 near the Westphalia Lions ballpark. Manhole G-1, as it is designated on the map, was determined to have problems when smoke-testing was done. 

Wieberg is planning to pull the cast-iron lid up, raising it with a seven-inch ring and resealing the manhole. Wieberg estimates that there will be about $100 in material costs per manhole and then a couple of hours of labor totaling up to about $300.

Wieberg has identified another manhole that was landscaped around when the parking lot was redone at Dollar General. 

Currently, only about half of the residents that had deficiencies from the smoke-testing have completed the necessary repairs. Wieberg thought this was unacceptable when many of the repairs were minor.

“I agree with you that not everyone has attended to their notices and that we haven’t either,” Massman said.

“We are just pissing away a smoke test if we don’t do anything about it,” Wieberg continued. “I’m not going to go around suggesting residents need to fix their (deficiencies) if we don’t fix our own.”

* Area residents Sue Lauberth and Suzie Dickneite approached aldermen with plans for a Westphalia Christmas on Main Street event to be held tentatively on Dec. 12.

“It’s basically a Christmas Extravaganza,” Lauberth said. “I know we did it eight years ago and we set the date for Dec. 12 because that is the date that St. Joseph has their Christmas program and we all know how many people that draws to the community and the town.”

Lauberth noted that currently, they have a tentative time from 1 to 7 p.m. Proposed events include a tree-lighting ceremony, Santa Claus, a live nativity, craft vendors, musicians, carolers, and a parade.

“It’s kinda sparked from last year when (Westphalia Hills) did the parade and it went over so well and we kinda want to encompass that and kinda parade around the nursing home again,” Lauberth said.

They are not sure when they would schedule the parade. Last year’s parade was held in the evening and most of the participants were decorated with lights. Lauberth thought it looked great but it was hard to see anything except the lights. Lauberth does not have a parade route mapped out and has not contacted the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) about closing Hwy. 63 to cross the parade over from the nursing home so that it could go through to Main Street.

Lauberth and Dickneite had a lot of ideas but were short on details. Massman noted that for aldermen to approve the event, the pair would need more definitive answers on road and street closures and timelines for the event. 

“Typically, when something is proposed, especially for street closures, there is a map, a route, specifics about where things are going to be held, and all the things that would be occurring,” Massman said. 

She also noted that vendors that have a for-profit business that would be participating with items for sale for the event would need to purchase a temporary business license from the city of Westphalia.

Massman and aldermen thought it was a great idea, noting the pair could come back to the October meeting with more definitive plans.

* Westphalia has an application for the city clerk’s position.  City Clerk Kerry Bax announced she was resigning from the position in May of 2022.

Massman would like for the new applicant to start working with Bax as soon as possible.

“I’d like to have them learn the ropes while she’s still available,” Massman said.

The aldermen agreed to revisit the issue at the October meeting.

Anyone interested in applying for the position should submit a cover letter and resume to the city of Westphalia.

* Bax plans to contact the Meramec Regional Planning Commission for guidance on the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Westphalia is slated to receive about $70,000 and aldermen still had questions on how the money can be used. Wieberg recommended that they use the money to help offset the cost needed for repairs at the sewer plant.

* Fall cleanup is scheduled for Oct. 2 and 3. Bax said that there are notices posted and that it was in the church bulletin.

* Aldermen approved the following expenses for the month: city fund ($2,784.22), sewer system ($6,977.62), and special road district ($369.40).

* Westphalia had the following receipts for the month: city ($12,582.09), sewer ($8,556), and special road district ($10,127.11).

* The city had the following account balances: city checking ($162,738.90), sewer system checking ($25,126.21), special road district checking ($85,304.71), and special road district savings ($5,110.60).

* Westphalia has certificates of deposits totaling $958,433.17.

* The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 26 at 6:30 p.m.