WESTPHALIA —  Westphalia Mayor Tammy Massman appointed Alderman Delbert Wieberg to serve as mayor pro tem and the position was approved by aldermen at their June 24 meeting. Mayor Massman told the board at the May meeting that she was planning to move out of the city limits of Westphalia and would no longer be eligible to serve as the mayor.

“I’ve been doing this for 10 years,” Massman said. “I agreed a long time ago to stay on as the City Clerk and help with whatever is needed.”

Wieberg said that the biggest thing stopping people from accepting board positions is that it might be impossible to find someone to fill the position in the future.

“No one can fault you for not continuing in the position when you decide you don’t want to do it anymore,” Massman said. “There are other people in this town.”

Wieberg will serve as mayor pro tem until the April election. He can then choose to run for the mayor’s position or keep his seat as an alderman. Massman asked aldermen to encourage other people in the community to run for open mayor and alderman positions in April.

“I will do as much as possible to support whoever wins the position,” Massman said.

In other business, aldermen approved the sale of the city’s Bobcat for $6,525 in a sealed bid submitted by Mike Bauer. There was no bid submitted for the city’s truck but Corey Jaegers of Jaegers Lawn Care contacted Mayor Massman noting that he was interested in the truck. He suggested that he may be interested in a deal to trade labor for the vehicle.

The truck had a minimum bid of $4,000 and aldermen will consider advertising it for sale in September and consider Jaeger’s proposal at that time.

• Aldermen approved insurance renewals from the Missouri Public Entity Risk Management Fund (MO PERM) for $6,738 and Workers’ Comp insurance from Missouri Employers Mutual (MEM) for $408, a total of $7,146. That was down from last year’s annual renewal of $7,252.

• Aldermen approved the request for the Annual Car Show to be held on Sept. 5 with the same parameters as last year.

• The board approved Mid Mo Operations to rebuild the gearbox on the clarifier for less than $1,000, as opposed to a new gearbox costing between $7,000 and $10,000.

The gearbox was rebuilt 18 months ago, according to Mid Mo Operations co-owner Curtis Wheat.

“It’s not as bad as it was last time; we are just trying to be more proactive than reactive this time,” Wheat reported.

He also noted that it was necessary to run additional E. coli samples, which passed. Second-quarter samples have been collected and submitted. Wheat also reported that all of the yearly maintenance has been completed, including oil changes, new belts on the blower, and all equipment has been greased and air filters cleaned.

Mid Mo Operations also did thermal imaging of the control panels and found one hot spot on the Hwy. 63 lift station. A loose connection has been repaired.

New belts and parts had to be purchased for the PH buffer.

“Other than those issues, everything looks pretty good,” Wheat said.

Massman said that she had received the $3,000 check back from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for the permit renewal. Wheat was not sure why the check had been returned but his company is reaching out to DNR for an explanation, and they believe they will resend the payment closer to the renewal date. Permit renewal is every five years, and the city needs to renew its permit by the end of December.

• The city has received two liquor license renewals so far, and Massman noted she was waiting for the remaining renewals to come in.

• Westphalia had the following receipts: city ($10,122.89), sewer ($9,217.29), and special road district ($9,335.57).

• Aldermen approved the following outstanding expenses: city ($18,442.60), sewer ($9,534.92), and special road district ($603.40).

• The city had the following account balances: city checking ($139,929.38), sewer system checking ($75,488.80), special road district checking ($77,586.95), and special road district savings ($5,131.22).

• Westphalia holds the following certificates of deposit: city ($461,427.72), sewer system ($545,175.41), and special road district ($549,553.33).

• The next meeting is scheduled for July 29 at 6 p.m.