WESTPHALIA — Westphalia aldermen rescinded a motion from the October meeting to pay for a land survey so there would be undisputed legal boundaries for the city’s property and what is private property owned by Bill Rodeman and the Westphalia Senior Citizen Center. Central Missouri Professional Services estimated the cost for a survey of Linn Street to be $5,000 or more.

“In order to look at an actual legal survey of the roadway itself, they would have to survey property on both sides of the road and all the properties that adjoin, which would include having to look through every deed for those properties,” Mayor Tammy Massman explained. “I don’t think during that meeting anyone anticipated it would be that costly.”

Massman’s request for a title search is only estimated to cost up to $500.

“In that search for the deeds, there is nowhere in any of the deeds that show any increment right-of-way, and it doesn’t indicate any responsibility for maintenance beyond the actual street itself,” Massman said. “They could not locate anything denoting responsibility of the city for right-of-way or for maintenance in general.”

Massman said Central Missouri Professional Services asked her why the city was paying to survey land they didn’t own. Massman explained that in the past, it was always the property owner’s responsibility to prove that the land was not theirs to maintain.

“You’re pushing it back to say why are we paying to survey land we don’t own but it is up to us,” Alderman Delbert Wieberg said. “We don’t have to take care of the ditch. We can let it grow up.”

“Are you guys willing to spend $5,000 to survey the roadway, and if it’s proven it’s not ours, we just spent $5,000,” Massman said, adding $5,000 could go a long way towards maintaining a ditch.

“That’s what I was saying at the last meeting; can’t we just work together?” Wieberg said.

Wieberg added he believes that the Rodemans just want to maintain the ditch easily and cut the grass with a riding lawn mower.

Alderman Stanley Heckman noted that he was concerned about the city maintaining property that wasn’t theirs and increasing liability for the city.

Massman cautioned aldermen about spending money on residential things that should be their personal responsibility.

“What is the alternative?” Wieberg asked. “If the city maintains it, how far off the roadway do we maintain?”

Massman agreed, noting that other residents may feel they deserve the same maintenance agreement, which could become a problem for the city.

“My gut tells me we still have to have the survey to establish the easement and then make that part of the deed,” Massman said. “We have to know whose land it is to establish responsibility because the deed searches do not even have a defined width for the right-of-way.”

Massman suggested the city look at the properties individually instead of associating them with the roadway to reduce the cost of the land survey.

“I think we survey the Senior Citizen Center Complex to prove where the line is,” Wieberg said.

Heckman pointed out that they had done guttering and curbing on the other side of the property and didn’t ask permission from the city at that time.

“They are only asking about it when it concerns the ditch,” Heckman said. “Basically, it is the same amount of highway right-of-way, and they didn’t bring that up as any concern or for our consideration.”

“The ditch is a nuisance to them,” Wieberg said.

“I don’t think we are being fair,” said Alderman Lori Asel. “I think they did try to talk to the city about it, and they had to take these steps because we weren’t doing anything about it.”

Heckman, Wieberg, and Mayor Massman agreed they had never addressed the issue at a meeting.

“I don’t think this is just an issue of mowing it,” Asel continued. “I think they pointed out that the culvert is collapsing. I think that is the issue; it’s overflowing and not draining properly, and they don’t believe the whole ditch is their property.”

Aldermen and Mayor Massman agreed that the culvert under Linn Street was the city’s responsibility and needed to be addressed.

The board voted to have just the Senior Citizen Center Complex surveyed to establish boundaries.

“Wouldn’t it make more sense if the city did some kind of long-term fix for this?” Alderman Plassmeyer asked. “Any city street that does not have a concrete sidewalk gets surveyed, and we get some sort of maintenance agreement, and then things are set in stone. You can go back to the survey for a reference at any time.”

Massman issued a word of caution, noting how expensive such a project could become.

“But you have to have it surveyed to know where the property lines are every time a road gets paved, patched, or whatever,” Asel said.

“It would probably be expensive,” Plassmeyer said.

“It would be very expensive because you would have to have every property surveyed and include the easement in every deed to stipulate maintenance responsibility for every piece of property in the city,” Massman said.

“That would be a big undertaking,” Wieberg said. “I think we have to take one problem at a time.”

Massman asked Plassmeyer to do some brainstorming on his idea and present it to aldermen at a different time.

Asel expressed concern that Central Missouri Professional Services may be more expensive than using a surveyor within Osage County. Mayor Massman said she would check prices but did not think there would be a big difference.

In other business, Westphalia will request bids for the four-inch pipe for the air manifold for the wastewater system to be replaced with a stainless-steel material.

Wieberg noted that when he was down at the sewer plant helping to replace the air headers, he noticed the air manifold was badly rusted.

“It’s paper thin,” Wieberg reported. “As a matter of fact, there is a hole pretty close to the diffuse line.”

Wieberg explained that replacing the air manifold would require removing the catwalk and that the project could now be bid for replacement in the spring.

Massman noted that the city could use the rest of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for this project and dip into reserves if needed.

Wieberg said that recently, he had read in the UD that Argyle had raised its sewer rates significantly.

“What I don’t want to see is our sewer system getting so dilapidated that the operatives aren’t making their specifications on samples, and there isn’t enough money to fix it,” Wieberg said.

Massman noted that much of what is being replaced at the sewer plant was original in 2005. Once replaced by stainless steel, it should last a significant time.

Mid Missouri Operations Operator Curtis Wheat noted that he would need to price the gearbox shaft for the clarifier rake and have it replaced.

“We noticed that the gearbox shaft has quite a lot of play in there,” Wheat said. “It’s doing okay now, but it’s probably one of those things we should look at replacing in the next couple of months.”

Wheat said he thought the cost would be from $500-$1,000 for parts plus the labor to install it. He will call with the estimate as soon as possible. Mayor Massman will ask for approval from aldermen by phone so that the project can be completed by the next meeting.

Mid Mo Operations is checking on the blower mower and hoping it comes in shortly so they can install it.

Mid Mo Operations has completed most of the manhole inspections. Wheat said that they had not pulled the covers off of the manholes that were bolted down so they didn’t ruin the gaskets. Aldermen agreed they could perform a visual inspection of those manholes. Wheat said that they found a couple of gaskets that needed to be replaced, and the manhole by the school needed to be dug up and shifted over a foot.

Ultraviolet lights have been removed for the winter, and the quarterly reports have been submitted.

“The system overall looks healthy,” Wheat said. “Everything looks good.”

• Aldermen approved the following expenses for the month: city ($2,288.94), sewer ($6,946.98), ARPA ($2,642), and special road district ($369.40).

• The city had the following receipts for the month: city ($11,675.08), sewer ($8,955.15), special road district ($15).

• Westphalia had the following ending account balances: city checking ($166,958.14), sewer system checking ($65,735.13), special road district checking ($70,716.52), ARPA checking ($60,530.57), and special road district savings ($5,117.83).

• The city also holds the following certificates of deposit: city ($445,633.43), sewer system (528,815.01), and special road district ($531,539.18).

• The next meeting will be on Dec. 19 at 6 p.m.