City Council
During the Monday, March 19 City Council meeting public participation, Larry Griffey, organizer of the Crossroads of America Car Show stepped before the Council and began with a report on the $5,500 the city provided to assist with the car show. Griffey explained to the Council that a special bank account had been set up to handle the money from the city and offered receipts for all monies spent thus far to the Council. Griffey said the deposit for the park has been paid, the barricades have been arranged, dumpsters, water, and port-a-potties all arranged.
Griffey turned the conversation to discussions on Facebook he had begun on the car show page to keep the public informed how the city monies were being spent. Griffey went on to explain to the Council how Councilman Ronnie Jack had made comments on the page, which Griffey described as “cyber bullying”. As part of his statements to the Council Griffey offered to show the Council the accounts for the car show, the food pantry, and his church asking the Council over and over again what more they want from him. Griffey said he had filed a formal complaint against Jack for what he described as Jack’s accusations about improperly used funds. Griffey said the comments Jack made have cost him personally and professionally with losing members in the church and some sponsors for the car show. Griffey provided the Council with a copy of the entire discussion from Facebook. Because Griffey had not been on the agenda for discussion, the Council was unable to address the comments or Griffey directly, but Mayor Darlene Breckenridge assured Griffey the Council would be looking into everything he had brought to them.
The owner of the Red Roof Inn in Cameron came before the Council during the public participation portion of the evening to express his concerns about the rumors and information he has heard about the possibility of another hotel coming to the junction near Interstate 35 and Highway 36. He said there is enough hotels in Cameron to provide enough competition and said he does not believe another hotel at that intersection would bring more business to Cameron. He told the Council he has made major improvements to the Red Roof Inn and has more planned, but if another hotel comes to Cameron, he may not see the need to spend the money as he does not believe the town could support another hotel.
The Council meeting continued with City Manager Mark Gaugh’s report – which included information that the current building at the business park should be completed soon and ready to be occupied and the three-phase electrical line should be run to the park within a couple of weeks. Gaugh has been working on data collection for livability for 20 different Missouri communities in the population range of Cameron with a variety of sources being used, when it is complete, Gaugh will have a presentation for the Council.
Promotional videos for Cameron are in the process – one is being done by CGI Communications, which routinely does municipal videos and the other is being created by students from the high school involved in DRGN. The city provided a little bit of money to the students approximately $1,200 according to Gaugh and the CGI video will cost the city nothing as the company recovers it’s production costs from voluntary advertising by Cameron businesses.
Cameron will host the NW Regional Missouri Municipal League meeting on April 12 – with municipal officials from various surrounding communities attending.
Gaugh told the Council in 2014 the city staff started clipping newspaper articles dealing with any city-related subjects. So far they have two large binders full and have started a third.
Pothole Patching will begin as soon as possible, until the weather warms enough to run the machine patching will have to be done with cold patch, which doesn’t last as long, but may help some until the weather warms.
Gaugh’s final bit of information for the Council during his report was the city will be applying for a grant for drainage on Orange Street.
During the City Manager Report, Paul Beckwith and Kathy Turner came before the Council to talk about the current animal shelter and the number of animals which had gone through the shelter in 2017. According to Beckwith, 299 dogs had been handled by the shelter in 2017, with 128 returned to owners, 38 of which went directly back to the owners with no stop at the pound, 124 dogs were adopted out, going both in Missouri and also to six other states. Puppies for Parole has been an ongoing great program working in connection with the animal shelter. As part of the program 61 dogs have been transferred into the program in Cameron – they come into the program fully vetted, Turner explained to the Council the dogs arrive at the prison, Turner greets them and they go directly into the program with no stop at the shelter at all. Once the dogs are adopted out, the shelter receives all the monies from the adoption fees. It is almost pure profit for the city and the shelter.
Beckwith said 71 cats went through the shelter in 2017 with five being adopted out, five returned to their owners, some euthanized, and 32 transferred to Wayside Waifs.
Beckwith said the shelter is doing well and trying to maintain their facilities until a decision about a new shelter can be made, he said he could offer the Council a lot of numbers if they like.
Councilman L. Corey Sloan asked for clarification that the group working toward a new shelter was indeed still working. Gaugh said the group had met and planned to meet again once the architect was done with the plans, but they were waiting on the architect.
During unfinished business there was a final reading on the bill to authorize Hochschild, Bloom and Co LLP as the auditor for the next three consecutive years for the city – the bill passed unanimously.
The resolution by the City about the Dollar Tree Project was continued, as according to Tim Wymes the plans had just been received and it was not yet ready for discussion by the Council.
As part of the new business of the Council a bill authorizing management of the Cameron Aquatic Facility by the YMCA was before the Council. Councilman John Feightert asked Drew Bontrager if the Park Board had considered putting the management out for bid and Bontrager said it was a great question and actually yes the Park Board had looked into it and discovered, as they had several years ago, management companies who manage pools and the costs were still much higher than the fee the YMCA is requesting of $17,500. This is the 14th season the YMCA has managed to the facilities. Council voted unanimously to approve.
An ordinance authorizing a contract between the city and the Municipal Band was before the Council. Councilman Dennis Clark recused himself from the discussion and vote because of his spouse’s involvement with the band. The rest of the Council expressed their gratitude that the city is able to continue to offer such a service to the community and the remaining members voted unanimously to approve.
Bontrager stepped before the Council again to discuss Bills 2018-9 though 2018-12 concerning hay ground and agricultural ground leases on city owned properties. The term of all the leases runs from March-November with an option to renew for an additional three one-year terms. Bontrager presented all the bids during one discussion and requested the Council have a full reading on all the bills so the winning bidders could begin using the land. Double S. Farms was the successful bidder on ground at the Airport; Gary O’Grady on land at the Dog Pound property; Jerald Utt on land located on Pence Road; and Shane M. Rohde on acreage at the closed landfill property. The Council voted unanimously to approve all the included bills.
A resolution was before the Council to destroy records in accordance with retention schedules in the Missouri Municipal Records Retention Manual. This is an annual destruction of records that “no longer possess administrative, legal, fiscal or historical significance” and are therefore eligible for destruction. The Council voted unanimously to approve.
The final resolution before the Council was a resolution to authorize the Mayor to execute a quit claim deed in favor of Johnny and Donna Feighert. Councilman John Feighert recused himself from the discussion and abstained from the vote. Bontrager stepped before the Council to explain during the construction of the dog park at Beaver’s Park it was discovered during a survey that a fence on the property was not the “true” property line. City staff believes this was an existing issue before the land was donated to the park. The Feighert’s agreed to work with the city to establish a new boundary line. Midland Surveying was hired to complete a new survey and legal description to match the new fence and occupied property line as the true property line. The city attorney recommended the city quit claim deed all of the overlap property, identified as Tract 1 and Tract 2 to the Feigherts and then have the Feigherts deed Tract 1 back to the City. The remaining Council members voted unanimously to approve.
During the miscellaneous comments of the Council, Fire Chief Mike O’Donnell informed the Council the new aerial truck has been received by the fire department.
Councilman Sloan repeated comments he had made earlier during the animal shelter discussion thanking code enforcement for the job they do.
Councilman Feighert asked about having a meet and greet with contractors and construction workers with City staff to discuss ordinances and explain how the process in Cameron Works. Wymes stepped before the Council and said that is something City Staff has been working to put together, but construction has been so busy in Cameron they had not yet gotten it on the schedule, but they did still plan to.
Mayor Breckenridge thanked all those in attendance.
The next City Council meeting will be Monday, April 2 just prior to the Tuesday April 3 election in which three candidates are running for two Council seats.
