September 26, 2023 — Meeting Transcript

Okay, well, good evening, everybody. Welcome to our seven o'clock meeting. Before we move forward, I just want to recognize our MIAC students that are in the audience. Thank you so much for coming. Can you guys stand up and just shout out your names for us? Because I can't remember.

Okay.

Great, great, great to have you here. Okay, well, would you like to call the roll?

Alderman Berkowitz. Here. Alderwoman McAndrew. Here. Alderman Buse. Here. Aldermen Rick Hummell.

Alderman Berkowitz. Here. Alderwoman McAndrew. Here. Alderman Buse. Here. Aldermen Hummel.

Here.

Mayor Harris. Here. City Manager David Gipson.

Mayor Harris. Here. City Manager Gibson.

Here.

City Attorney O'Keefe. Here.

Okay, now's the time on the agenda for public requests and petitions. So if anybody in our audience would like to talk to us about something not on our agenda tonight or anybody online, do we have anybody online that is... Our audience. Okay, anybody online that would like to talk to us about something not on our agenda? That would be fine. Now's your chance. Yes, Tony, you're in two places. You're online and here. Absolutely. Oh, somebody's using your... They're using your identity. All right. I don't see any people that want to comment, so we'll move into the city manager's report.

All right. We do have one matter of unfinished business on here. Do we need to postpone that with it being on the agenda so we could entertain a motion to postpone the first item on the agenda, which is the amending article for Article 1, collection service and regulations. Article 2, recycling of Chapter 235 to a date uncertain.

We need a motion. Anybody?

I'll move to postpone the hearing on Bill No. 6986.1 until further notice.

Second. Do we need a roll call for this?

No, ma'am.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Okay, very good. Thank you.

Okay, next is property tax levies. We have received updated assessed value information from the county assessor now that the board of equalization process is complete. The county advises that there may still be some changes in overall values due to new construction and further appeals. However, the county has said there will be no changes before October 1st, which is the statutory deadline for the city to file our tax rates with the county collector of revenue. The assessed values in commercial new construction decreased slightly because of the Board of Equalization process. An amendment to the ordinance introduced on September 12th will be needed to accept these levy changes. A redline version of the amended bill and revised tax tables were provided in the packet. Staff recommends that the ordinance be amended and approved.

Okay, so I'll open the discussion. Any comments, questions from any of you all can go in order of seniority. No for Ira. Moving on down. None? Yes.

Just a process question. I think we talked about this before, David. So we'll pass this and then we'll get a new number at some point. And then we'll then have to modify if the number means that the levy needs to change. Or do we go with the number that we approved tonight, no matter what happens? We'll go with the number we approved tonight. Okay.

Okay, very good. All right. Well, then we can have a motion. Well,

I'm going to introduce Bill No. 6989.1 to approve.

Motion to amend bill 6, 8, 9, 6, 9, 8, 9 by the text of bill 6, 9, 9.1 would be in order.

Okay. And then, okay.

All right. I, so I still move.

Sorry about that. Ira. Just for my edification. So we have, we have this and we have bill number 6, 9, eight, 9.1. Second reading.

Bill 6989 was read for the first time at the last meeting. There's a substantive amendment, so we need to amend the bill before second reading so it can be acted upon as amended.

Okay, very good. It doesn't affect the readings, the fact that we did a first reading without it? No, sir. Okay.

All right. I will second that amendment. And do we need a roll call? No. So all those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Okay. Now we can introduce the amended bill for the second reading.

Is it known as an amended bill or is it just a bill?

It's 6-9-8-9. It's as amended.

As amended. Okay. I introduce Bill No. 6989.1 as amended to approve the proposed property tax levies for tax year 2023, fiscal year 2024, to be read for the second time by title only.

Second. Any discussion or questions? Okay. Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 6989 has amended second reading and consideration for adoption an ordinance of levying and establishing the rate of annual taxes for general municipal purposes, police building debt service, general obligation debt service, and special business district purposes to be collected by the city of Clayton, Missouri for the year 2023. All those

in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Oh.

It doesn't say that. It doesn't say that. Sorry.

That's okay. Alderman Berkowitz. Aye. Alderman McAndrew. Aye. Alderwoman Buse. Aye. Aldermen Gary Feder.

That's okay. Alderman Berkowitz. Aye. Alderman McAndrew. Aye. Alderwoman Buse. Aye. Aldermen Fader.

Aye.

Aldeman Rick Hummell.

Aldeman Hummel.

Aye.

Mayor Harris. Aye. Thank you.

Okay. Bill number 6990, the budget.

Yes, in August, the Board of Aldermen received the city manager's proposed fiscal year 2024 operating and capital improvement budgets. As part of the budget process, the board is required to hold a public hearing to seek public input prior to formal budget adoption. The public hearing was held at the Board of Alderman meeting on September 12th, 2023. The Board of Alderman has studied this proposed budget and the public has had opportunity for reviewing the budget document. Staff recommends approval of the fiscal year 2024 operating in capital improvements budget.

Okay, very good. Any discussion? Questions? Very good. Alderman Berkowitz.

I'd like to introduce Bill number 6990 to approve the proposed fiscal year 2024 to be read for the second time by title only.

Second. Any discussion? Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 6-9-9-0, second reading and consideration for adoption. An ordinance adopting an annual budget for fiscal year 2024 commencing on October 1, 2023 and appropriating funds pursuant thereto.

Alderman Berkowitz. Aye. Alderwoman McAndrew. Aye. Alderman Buse. Aye. Aldermen Gary Feder. Aye. Aldeman Rick Hummell. Aye. Mayor Harris.

Alderman Berkowitz. Aye. Alderwoman McAndrew. Aye. Alderman Buse. Aye. Aldermen Fader. Aye. Aldeman Hummel. Aye. Mayor Harris.

Aye. Thank

you.

And I just want to thank again, Karen, you and your team for doing such a great job pulling all that together. It was a lot of long months of work, I realized by everybody, but especially you guys. All right. Hands-free driving.

Yes, this ordinance will prohibit drivers from physically holding or supporting a cell phone with any part of their body, manually typing, writing, sending, or reading text-based messages, recording, posting, sending, or broadcasting video, including video calls and social media posts, and watching a video or movie. The ordinance will allow drivers to use voice-operated or hands-free features on electronic communication devices. The ordinance conforms to the Missouri Hands-Free Law, which took effect statewide on August 28, 2023. The Missouri General Assembly preempted local regulations from deviating from state statute. This is a secondary enforcement ordinance, which prevents a driver from being stopped by law enforcement solely for a violation of this section. Staff recommends approval of the ordinance.

Okay, very good. Any discussions? Ira, you're frowning.

No, I just remember, I thought we had discussed this many years ago, but that we couldn't pass this because the state overrode us on doing this.

Now the state has passed. Now the state's passed it. So we're

conforming to the state. Okay, good. That's correct. I must have missed the meeting when we talked about it.

And the secondary enforcement part is indefinite. It's not like there's an expiration of that. It's always going to be a secondary.

It'll be codified that way. And that's the way we're just mirroring what the state has now passed and put into effect on August 28th.

Good. Good. Excellent. What happens if we don't, I don't like, do we have, do we have a mirror ordinance for every state law? Is that, how does that work? What's the logic there?

No, it works. The purpose of this is to allow our officers to deal with offenders in our municipal court as opposed to relying on the state to prosecute or going to state court to testify and support the case. So when we see traffic regulations like this, we generally will enact our own for among other reasons to simplify and facilitate enforcement in our own municipal court. Unless we have an ordinance, the offense cannot be prosecuted in the municipal court. In this instance, the state has announced a preemption of the field of telecommunication devices in motor vehicles. So we are exactly matching exactly what the state statute says, which was changed from when we adapted it, again, exactly what the state said a few years ago. And now we are mirroring the new statutes.

Okay. And just kind of like the point is that like either way our officers could enforce this law, but in this case, what it does is it enables us to handle it through the local court system too. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate the clarification. Good question.

Okay. So I think we've had the report. Any other questions? Yeah.

Only because we have time. So I'm not familiar with the verbiage of this being a secondary enforcement ordinance. I suppose that is to be differentiated from a primary enforcement ordinance, meaning that a primary one is one you can stop somebody for, but a secondary one is one that you can't. That's what that means. That is correct. Thank you.

It's interesting. it's an interesting twist of things yeah okay any other discussion all right so we'll take a motion

introduction

an introduction yeah introduce it yep

I'd like to introduce bill number 6995 to approve an amendment to chapter 340 with the addition of a new section 340.300 prohibiting drivers from using handheld electronic communication devices to be read for the first time by title only.

Second. Further discussion. All right, Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 6995, first reading and ordinance and acting section 340.300 of the Clayton City Code relating to hands-free driving.

Just a voice vote, correct? Okay, now I'm paranoid. Okay, all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, very good.

I'd like to move that the board give unanimous consent to consideration for adoption of bill number 6995 on the day of its introduction.

Second. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? All right. Let the minutes reflect. The board has given unanimous consent.

I'd like to introduce bill number 6995 to approve an amendment to chapter 340 with the addition of a new section 340.300 prohibiting drivers from using handheld electronic communication devices to be read for the second time by title only.

Second. Any discussion? All right, Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 6995, second reading and consideration for adoption. An ordinance enacting section 340.300 of the Clayton City Code relating to hands-free driving.

Alderman Berkowitz? Aye. Alderwoman McAndrew? Aye. Alderman Buse? Aye. Aldermen Gary Feder? Aye. Aldeman Rick Hummell?

Alderman Berkowitz? Aye. Alderwoman McAndrew? Aye. Alderman Buse? Aye. Aldermen Fader? Aye. Aldeman Hummel?

Aye.

Mayor Harris?

Aye. Okay, last but not least, we have our consent agenda. And just want to point out, we actually finally have someone to fill that sustainability committee slot from Ward 2. So anyway, any discussion about anything on the consent agenda? Alderman Berkowitz.

I'd like to move to approve the consent agenda with the items as listed in our agenda for tonight.

Okay. Second. Any discussion? Okay. City clerk. Yes.

Alderman Berkowitz. Aye. Alderwoman McAndrew. Aye. Alderman Buse. Aye. Aldermen Gary Feder.

Alderman Berkowitz. Aye. Alderwoman McAndrew. Aye. Alderman Buse. Aye. Aldermen Fader.

Aye.

Aldeman Rick Hummell.

Aldeman Hummel.

Aye.

Mayor Harris. Aye. Thank you.

Okay. That might be our new record, but we're not done because we have time. We can do a round table. So how about if we start with our senior alderman and mayor pro tempore.

Thank you. Actually, I don't have anything to discuss since the last meeting. I haven't had a parks and rec meeting or anything. We did have a livable communities meeting I think at some point before, and it was very, it's very instructive. And apparently the, our consultants are moving forward and gathering information and learning about the city, figuring out what we all want, what we need. They've laid certain, I'll call them interesting puzzles along around the city for people to fill out and figure out what they want. So it was a good meeting. That's all I have to report.

Very good.

I had a plan commission meeting last week. Really the big part of the meeting was there's a new home that is being proposed to be built in Polo and it's pretty significant in size. So the neighborhood came out in full force and was respectful, but overall against the size of it. So we'll see what happens when the homeowner comes back. So that was kind of the definitely the big part of the meeting. Although I will say that Kathleen Gunn did a nice job. I think she's already given a presentation to the sustainability committee, but she talked about just discussions about prohibiting the use of gas lamps in Clayton. A lot of them are decorative. So she did a nice job of just talking about that and presenting to the planning commission or ARB. So-

Did plan commission or ARB take any action?

No, I mean, they thought it was a good idea. So I think it will be, I think Ana was going to explore it a little bit further. And I said, well, have you talked to sustainability about it? She's like, we've already been there. So I think the next step was Ana was going to kind of, you know, maybe. I think maybe bring it to us. David, I can't, forgive me. It's going

to be more information gathering. Right. And that's exactly what sustainability was doing, was trying to find that ordinance perhaps in effect. Right. Other areas and get an idea of what's the overall consumption. Right. You know, that those lights utilize. What's the pollution output? Those sorts of things. And that's what was discussed.

Yeah. I mean, in fact, what was discussed at sustainability was that no one was opposed to the idea, but also that no one on the sustainability committee was interested in like taking on that effort. Like they're working on some specific things related to the strategic planning that they did. And so there was no like official request or recommendation from the sustainability committee on it. Just.

Yeah. I think it was positive. No action. Right. I think it

i i don't have much i the global communities was uh beginning of september i thought it was reported on that but maybe not so ira hit the big points there's we've got the representation on there they're still at the study and getting to know our community stage so we'll be looking forward to turning that into some ideas but it was it was a good first meeting

very good okay becky you got anything there

Yeah, we had an Equity Commission meeting and the primary activity or discussion topic was the comprehensive plan folks coming and giving an update. So I don't recall anything like that. new or different from what we've heard in the presentations that we've seen. And then Gary and I had a follow-up meeting with Chris Schmies, who's the chair, as well as Rob Whitney. They've been working on something with the chamber and a few members of the business community to try to do a survey of the businesses in Clayton to kind of ascertain like where they're at on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and whether they're interested in any type of like anything like in terms of like discussion or information sharing or something, um, within the Clayton community. They seem to think that there's some interest there. And so running like a survey to try to figure that out. Um, I think that's the main thing Rick and I met with some neighbors who are we're talking about there's a few different people in our ward interested in traffic safety and the process that we established a little while ago to go through that and they're going through that and have some feedback for us that we're going to talk to Matt about. And I think that's it. Thanks.

Um, a couple, a couple of additional things on the equity commission. We have our new voting member, Karen Schuette from board one filled a vacancy for a few months. So that was good to have that filled. Um, There is an upcoming, we have the commission has a lot of subcommittees and one of them is on housing. And so one of them is actually been working. We've had one meeting with representatives from the city of Webster Groves with their mayor, Laura Arnold, and some other folks to sort of deal with some of the issues we've been dealing with. And there's an upcoming meeting next week to meet with them again. I think there's particularly interest at the commission level in the effort we're gonna be making to look at our PUD ordinance, and specifically people on the commission are interested in this whole issue about how we deal with affordable or attainable housing. the points that are available. We all know in the last six months we've had projects come on board which have one or two units, and that's been the product of the PUD. But trying to, you know, for the Commission to offer some input on how we might deal with that, maybe to make the involvement of those kind of units a little bit more substantial as opposed to merely sort of symbolic, which I think they are now. And finally, it's been a while, but I would mention that our city attorney gave a program on parliamentary procedure. And it was actually, I thought, very interesting. He did a great job.

I should have attended for sure.

It was a Zoom call, so he couldn't see me sleeping. But I did find it very interesting, but that's my problem. But anyway, he did a great job, and so I just wanted to give him a shout out on that.

Great. So the Clayton Community Foundation had their opportunity to participate in the comprehensive plan as well. And it's apparent that the consultants continue to evolve their presentation as they go forward. So while it was similar in many ways, there were a few new facts that were presented as they went through it. Just a couple of takeaways that were a little bit different. Their focus was not only on getting performing arts centers, performing art facilities here in Clayton, but just cultural organizations in general. How do we get that? The whole idea being that we've got to find a way to get foot traffic that has something to do other than restaurants and office. And so whether it's retail, even though we know that's a really hard business, but what else is there? And they'd really love to see if we could come up with model communities or something that would be a parallel to whether every city has its exceptions and differences, but that was at least their contribution to all of this to try to push for that, to see that so that we aren't trying to reinvent the wheel. And then in addition, Becky already mentioned the neighborhood traffic calming proposals. And then we had a Board of Education, Board of Aldermen breakfast this morning. And one of the takeaways of that whole thing was the fact that the new student resource officer for the elementary school seems to be working very, very well. They were very pleased with that. The officer himself seems to be a great fit as well as the program. So it was good to hear that that was working well.

Very good. Yeah, that was a good breakfast. Okay, well, I don't have a ton, but I will like to report that I've been talking with former Mayor Uchitel in regard to the CEC committee ability to present their results, what they've been doing and how it's been working to the St. Louis County Municipal League. And so I presented that to my board this past week. We had a meeting and I think we're just going to try to find a time to work them into the agenda of a membership meeting, which is a much bigger exposure. So I think that's great. And I actually, given what you just said too about some of the outreach that they're trying to do with the corporate community, I just want to commend them on reaching out now because I feel like we've done a lot of introspecting and I've always wanted them to try to bring the community along too. And so these are two great first steps You have a question?

No, I was just going to add to that, too. I think the Reach Out to Business community is a wonderful step they've been working on for a while, and one of the things that encouraged it was when they did bring together the leaders of our faith-based communities here

and

had a very good meeting with giving them connections with each other, but the whole idea not so much that Clayton, the CEC has to be front and center, but the more within our community we connect each organization the stronger we'll be and it's the same idea with the business and so it is a great thing that they're doing

yeah i like it um and then um along those lines we you know the landscape task force and and also ccf and with input of course from the cec we're finally plant we've planted the marker for the remember the remembrance marker over at the corner of hanley and um at the Centene Park there. And so they're planning, people are at work planning an event to recognize that. And I think there'll be hopefully some marketing efforts behind that and hopefully get the word out and we'll have some attention focused on that. But again, it's an opportunity for CEC to reach out to their network and encourage them to engage and understand what that marker is all about.

Can you remind me what that marker is? I'm sorry. That's

the former, that's the black neighborhood commemoration black neighborhood that was in Clayton a long time ago. Yeah. Okay. Approved all that.

Yeah. I thought, I guess I thought that had happened already. Oh, I'm thinking of the addicts one. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that.

I was like, and it takes a while. So we're just now on that committee, for example, writing the verbiage for the marker for the Philippine village. Then it'll take several months to get the marker. I mean, it's yeah. Okay. And then I do want to report that we had a great meeting with MIAC last week and you guys are off to a really great start. I'm sorry that, I think the two board meetings you've attended have been so short and sweet. We were gonna have a really juicy one on the agenda tonight but it had to be postponed because we need more information. But stick with us. We do some more interesting stuff than we did tonight. And then also, let's see. Oh, I wanted to say that I did meet with the Parks Master Planning Steering Committee a few weeks ago. I don't think I reported on it here. Maybe it was just two weeks ago. I process and to consider the concept but also all the many different interesting parts of it that could become a reality somewhere along the way individually so just wanted you to know for sure that I had done that and last but not least I had a really engaging conversation this morning with Lyle Carson by the CEO of Emerson he's again very excited to be bringing his company to Clayton he said they would be probably moving in September-ish of 24 or fall of 24. Very excited, very interested in helping us create constantly improving quality of life here. Apparently, they really want to be involved in their communities. So we look forward to that. And it was just a great conversation overall. It's great. So that's all I had. David, do you have anything to say about anything?

Nothing this evening. Maybe tomorrow.

All right. All right, guys. Any other business anybody needs to bring up? Okay. Okay. And I'll take a motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

No, we have to go to

closed session.

Okay, let me ask you. Do you want to go into closed session tonight? I do, yes. Okay, all right. Okay, sure. And so we would like to have a motion for that.

I was prepared. I move that the Board of Aldermen hold a closed meeting with a closed vote and record as authorized by Section 610.021, Parts 1, 2, and 3 of the revised Statutes of Missouri relating to legal issues, real estate, and or personnel. Negotiation of a contract pursuant to Section 610.01, Part 12. and or proprietary information pursuant to Section 610.021, Part 15, and or information related to public safety and security measures pursuant to section 610.0 21 parts 18 and 19 of the revised statutes of Missouri.

Second. Alderman Berkowitz.

Aye.

Alderman McAndrew. Aye. Alderman Buse. Aye. Alderwoman Patel. Aye. Aldermen Gary Feder.

Alderman McAndrew. Aye. Alderman Buse. Aye. Alderwoman Patel. Aye. Aldermen Fader.

Aye.

Aldeman Rick Hummell. Aye. Mayor Harris. Aye. Thank you.

Aldeman Hummel. Aye. Mayor Harris. Aye. Thank you.

Okay. All right, everybody. We're going to go into a closed session and really appreciate you two guys coming and everybody else's patience. So thank you. Have a good night.