October 25, 2022 — Meeting Transcript

Okay. Well, welcome to our meeting of October 25th. And our discussion session is going to focus on sustainability. And so I think I will just turn it over to David and he might just turn it over the liaisons, but we'll see.

Yeah, absolutely. So we've had some conversations for a months now about the Sustainability Advisory Committee. We've struggled to get quorums and get recommendations out of that particular group. So I think the objective here with this discussion this evening is to reaffirm our commitment to sustainability, perhaps talk about that committee and how it functions, and also how we provide additional support to help them in their mission. So this was something that was asked for by Alderwoman Patel and Alderman Lentz has been in these conversations as well, and they're the current board liaison. So I'll turn it over to them to start the discussion and

where I can continue talking. I mean, I think there's a couple of things that I think we've been having these conversations for a while, as we said. You all know that we've struggled to get quorums. We have talked, Becky and I have talked to each of the members and affirmed their interest. We had one who indicated they were on the fence and we've in fact, as is on the agenda today, we're gonna approve a replacement for that person. And in fact, since at the same time, Bill Chamberlain resigned his chairmanship role, he's not resigned to the committee, but he resigned being chairman we have asked Deb Grossman, who is the replacement to step in and take that over. She is very passionate about the topic as you all may know her from, she was on the charter commission. And so she's known to the city and very directed. So I think she's gonna provide some good leadership. But I think one of the things that we keep running into, as Becky has mentioned before, is that we don't seem to have the same level of support staff-wise that other committees get. And that's not anybody's fault. One of the issues is that sustainability cuts across so many different areas. public works and there's a lot of planning issues and having one staff member, it's difficult for them to reach across the aisle so to speak and garner support when the issues aren't just within their area. So that's one of the areas, one of the things that we are looking for. One of the other things, one of the other ideas that we kicked around was CCF and getting more support from CCF. One of the ideas that we came up with, Becky and I came up with was actually asking CCF if they would support an intern that if they would pay for, as their donation, an intern that would be dedicated to sustainability and be able to do some of this research that we need in order to bring forward ideas to get votes on and then make recommendations to the board. I had a long talk with Alex, and he said, he was not, he didn't say no. He didn't say wouldn't do it, but he did say he wanted to see more commitment from the city that this was something that they felt they were gonna do. And, you know, something tangible like having it in the mission statement and that sort of thing. And he, in fact, sent me a copy of a job description for a sustainability director for the history museum, I think. the History Museum. And his point was, you know, here's the History Museum getting a sustainability director, why can't the city do it? I said, well, it's, you know, budget and all that business. But in any event, that's one of the issues that also Bill Chamberlain has pushed since he's been, since he was chair, that, you know, he's put together a coalition of Maplewood and Richmond Heights and a whole bunch of other cities, and they all have dedicated people to sustainability. It may not be a full-time job, but it is someone dedicated and has that responsibility. So when he calls a meeting, people show up, and people from the city show up and are prepared to be engaged in it. So I think that's kind of where we are today. Is there anything else, Becky, that we want to add to that discussion?

Yeah. You covered a lot of the kind of, you know, recent history. And I think what I want to emphasize that we've have seen the city staff. I wanna make sure it's clear that we have seen city staff do a variety of things to work on shifting how the, committees supported. So I would suggest it's like still an experiment, but we're seeing initial like good steps there. So I do appreciate that, you know, and we'll continue to see how that goes. I think, you know, definitely one of the challenges in my mind is what Rich brought up, the fact that sustainability could really touch every single department. And so it's a lot to put on one department head or assistant director to manage that, like that's a lot. And is that how we wanna be handling this? I think I have felt like the board, most if not all members of the board have at various times vocalized a commitment to sustainability, asked questions at different times indicating an interest in us supporting sustainability, being a more sustainable community. And so just wanting to really be clear about that, like what does it mean, right? It isn't really quite in our mission statement. And I don't know that that means we have to change our mission statement. But, you know, what do, what do we think about that? And what areas would we want focus in? I think we, I think that we may have at one time been a leader in sustainability. And I don't think that we are anymore. I think our staff are doing a number of really great things in sustainability, but as a larger community, I don't think like a claim that we could make credibly. And so there's a variety of ways that we could potentially address that and increase that. But, you know, is that what we want to do, right? So I think if what the committee would benefit from is any... aside from, you know, staff who actually has sustainability as like something they're accountable for, like really, really in their job, whether it's their full-time job or a significant portion of their accountability that would be any kind of, you know, like ideas or focus areas that we might want. I think that could be useful. So, yeah.

Just one other thing I would add is that just to build on the fact that that yes, the staff has been great when we have something specific public works has been. terrific and pulling information together and helping us with with that. And at the same time, I think my my impression is that the board of aldermen is very. supportive of sustainable issues. The city has done a lot of sustainability actions and taken a lot of steps. And so it seems a little bit frustrating that we can't seem to get this thing moving in a more focused direction, because I think we have the interest in it all around. It's just even the committee members are interested in it that don't show up. But for some reason, it's just not coalescing. So we've struggled with it.

Go ahead,

Gary. First of all, I work with Debbie Grossman on the Charter Task Force. And she was an excellent colleague on that. She's a terrific addition. Both Becky and I have been in leadership of CCF, so maybe a couple of CCF comments. In my 10 or 11 years, there were sort of the four pillars of CCF, parks, art, history, sustainability. Sustainability clearly was the one that always was the hardest to address. It was much easier to deal with the other topics. I think part of it is just it's much easier to get your arms around a park project, an art project, history project. We had problems, I think, getting people interested in sustainability. Not that people wouldn't say, yeah, sustainability is really important, but getting people to actually work on something was always difficult. So that's just sort of a background. And I think just, again, I haven't been involved with CCF now for more over a year, but I think the idea of an intern being paid for by CCF, I think is probably problematic because if I remember the MOU between the city and CCF, It shifts financial responsibility over time for the executive director much more onto CCF. I think we all know historically CCF had benefited from having people on the city's payroll essentially also work for CCF. But now that we have an executive director, I think the decision is we actually need to shift that financial responsibility away from the city, have CCF share much more in that. So I think it would be, I think very difficult for CCF right now to also assume a financial responsibility for an intern. So that to me is a practical problem of going in that direction.

Um, Yeah, sustainability is just such a huge topic and that's part of it. When Linda Goldstein was doing the committee, it was a lot of benchmarking in how do you involve the neighbors? Were you talking about yard waste? It's just so huge that I totally hear what you're saying. And something like an intern, that idea would give it a more cohesive look at what we're going to do and be able to target certain areas versus always looking for a one-off to do at a specific time, make it more of a true mission of what we do. So that actually did make sense. On the equity commission, there are several members who spend a whole lot of time with a lot of staff support and a whole lot of researching and doing the work and doing the public, you know, the things that are published and things like that. So it does take a good committee and then we do, and excellent staff support when it comes to that. But the intern idea or something along that, where some time can be dedicated and to help the other staff that's doing, that the parks are doing sustainability thoughts every day, but something more direct to keep it cohesive, I think is a really promising idea. And Gary, I wonder when you're looking at the executive director at CCF, that could be a very different position, I would think, legally and all that with then if they were to sponsor a finite position for X period of time, you know, with that in mind, or I don't know what it might look like, but something that would put some arms around this, I think could be really great. And I do, and I agree that I think neighbors and this board and people on the committee and our, and our world needs it. So it's a good thing that we need to be addressing.

Bridget, do you have any comments? Well, I was just curious. You guys mentioned other communities around us. So is that somebody that works in a particular department or is this somebody that their primary focus is? Or maybe their 50% focus is sustainability actions around whatever city we're talking about. Is that?

Yeah, I don't know that we know for sure. I believe that some communities in our like bordering us actually have staff like call like and sustainability is in their job title, not just their responsibilities. Do you actually know, David?

I'm not aware of any. I haven't had a chance to consult with the other managers to figure out exactly how they're running it, but I wasn't aware of any cities locally here that had somebody 100% dedicated to it. I think in a lot of cases, it's somebody on staff and that's a percentage of their job is could be the Sherpa for those items. St. Louis does. St. Louis City does and St. Louis County does as well.

I mean, I understand that. I just, I mean, I do, I think the intern would be a great idea. I think it'd be probably a little bit of a, well, I don't know, maybe it wouldn't be like reaching out to WashU to find a graduate student who would be interested. I mean, it seems like students all over are going into efforts to try to figure out how to make our world more sustainable. So maybe it wouldn't I agree. Finding the funds might be a little tricky, but you know, that's, that's always a problem. So, I mean, I think it's important. I think I, I mean, of course, like everybody else has talked about it, of course I'd be in support and I think we do need to find a way to, you know, I mean, even parks and rec, you know, talking about how to be more sustainable in our parks, you know, so it's not, I mean, and I know everybody said it has touched every department, but I think we do need to find a way to be better about rallying around the committee. I mean, it's been a couple of years since I've been on sustainability and it was very frustrating because you just don't have anybody bringing forth anything. And I know everybody knows this already, but it's hard to... get even the chair to be like, okay, what can we talk about today? You know, so whereas like for Parks and Rec, like Tony leads our charge every year. You know, Anna leads the charge in plant, you know, the plant, you know. So, you know, and on and on. So, I mean, I of course would be supportive of an intern or just some way that we can find to better support this committee. I'm just not sure the best way to do it. That's why I think about like somebody even on staff, which I know we're having a budget problem, but figuring out how we can devote somebody who can touch all those different departments. Because I worry about the temporary basis of an intern, that it would only last for a little bit, how long it would last and then what would happen after a particular intern time is done.

It sounds like CCF in some ways just needs to hear that this is one of the priorities that we would have for

it. Well, I think, and I think Rich alluded to this, but I think one of the, and Gary did too in his comments about CCF and, you know, that As CCF has struggled to figure out like what it means to have a pillar of sustainability. I think, you know, the question is to to us like what does it mean to us and if and as their role is to you know, partner with us on things that we plan or authorize. I do think it is incumbent upon us to identify priorities, right? Like, do we want to focus on like, would we want to be like, like a new green building district or actually become a green dining district, or I don't need, I don't know. Right. Like, like all the different things that we could do you know, do we, what would we want to do so that we could then, because if we provide a little bit more direction or planning or ideas, you know, then they can work on whether it's projects or programs or efforts that would support that. Right. But we need to set the direction. Like that's our job, not theirs.

Oh,

I'd

like to offer Ira a chance to make any comments. And then I actually have a couple of comments I'd like to squeeze in. Yeah, go ahead. I already have anything.

Yeah, no thanks rich and Becky. You know you voice all the frustrations I had when I was involved with sustainability. You know it's it's and it's so historically we've had former mayor who once said to me, you know, I don't mind having sustainability as long as it doesn't cost us any money. And, you know, it's a fine thing to sit on. And in fact, that mayor had decided to disband sustainability until some of us suggested that that probably really wasn't a good idea because we really do need it. And a lot of us really believe strongly that it would really be helpful to the community. So, but I think we're almost in the same position. It's like, okay, we're okay as long as we don't have to spend money. But We have to, I mean, if we're gonna make this viable and as Becky says, if we're going to make it a priority, I'm sorry but we're just gonna have to spend some money. We don't have a department of sustainability. We'd have a department of public works And that tends to be the person who sits on this committee and then they sit for the meeting and then they leave. And I think it's in one ear and out the other. It was the way it was when I was there. And it was very frustrating. I raised it several times and we didn't do anything about it. So I'm really happy for this board. Because I remember as people got on, I remember thinking to myself, you know, this is a board that's going to get something done when it comes to sustainability and equity and other issues that I feel strongly about as well. And so I was very encouraged. But I think over the same token, and I understand our budgets are stretched and all that stuff. And I remember encouraging CCF to please take a look at that, you know, the sustainability leg that they have. And JJ and I had tons of discussions about it. And I think that's when they came up with the cabs, the cab idea from the Metrolink, an electric cab. But maybe CCF can go ahead and go out and raise money for an actual person with experience in sustainability who could help run our commission. You know, just go out and raise We've got to fit it in somewhere, or it's going to continue to frustrate all of us. I just have a feeling that's the deal.

Okay, so I just have a couple thoughts. One is, I just want to reiterate that I know that we're frustrated with the committee and the way things have been going, but I do want to stress that Clayton, we may not be doing what Denver is doing or whatever, but we are a very sustainable community. We are Tree City USA. We have solar panels on our police station garage roof. We have done the energy benchmarking. We've been a Green City, won the Green Cities Challenge every year with the Botanical Garden's I mean, we are and our staff is investing in this sort of thing. I mean, our parks group, I think of Justin with his monarch butterfly email that he sent me. I mean, just, you know, we do have the expertise here and we do have people that are committed on our staff. I think Becky, you're right. We need to maybe set some priorities for everyone, for the committee and for staff. And that would move things along faster. But I also agree that with Susan that one of the reasons the Equity Committee, and we keep comparing to them, one of the reasons they are rocking and rolling is because they have members on their committee that do a tremendous amount of work on their own. And we've never really had that kind of person, or maybe we've had one, but that's not sort of the tone of the Sustainability Committee thus far. It could be, it could be, but also I love the idea of an intern because it's for someone to just do the research because the research is very time consuming. And I want to suggest that, you know, when we, a number of years ago, I worked with a chamber of commerce to set up an intern program for, for, for young people, professionals working in Clayton and, and, The way we set it up and structured it, it had to have some backbone. It had to have some structure. And Washington University gave us an intern that helped organize it. And the value of that, if you totaled up the hours or something, it was pretty sizable. So I think we should reach out to our educational institutions and ask them to volunteer an intern. And they can... there's an expense there, they can back that up. I think we would find that sustainability is such a popular category, environmental sustainability is really what we're talking about, that I should think that we would get some positives responses there. Also, I'm going to reveal an idea that we had on the phone this morning, but again, what's happening with equity is that it does touch every area And so what we do is we rotate staff members through there at their meetings, depending on the agenda. And we could easily do that with sustainability. And I think that was your idea, but I'm telling it. So it's just, I think there are a lot of things we can do. The idea that we have to have a director of sustainability that we pay, we don't have a director of equity. that we pay, but look at how much has gotten done there. So I don't know that that's necessary right now. I think we are so tight on funds. But I would love to jump in and help if you want me to, to reach out to the universities with you. But I think that's a viable thing. And also in terms of priorities, you know, I have brought one thing forward that we're going to get all of our groups together, sustainability and The plan Commission and ourselves to hear about from the US Green Building Council about energy benchmarking for our downtown. For our largest buildings, our largest energy users and the city of St Louis is doing that and it's a great program that we could copy so anyway as a lot of a lot of talking, but I think there are a lot of things we can do, and with some energetic people on the committee. we can put our heads together and put some help for them together.

Did you want to say something? No, go ahead. Well, I was going to say that we have made a connection and actually it was through Deb Grossman from a couple of months ago with a professor at WashU who has a class on environmental TAB, Mark McIntyre:" issues and he's going to bring the the team in of kids in to do an assessment of our public buildings so i'm hoping that through that connection we might pull one of them out hopefully get some interest there. TAB, Mark MCIntyre:" So that is happening, we actually had that discussion bill becky and I about rotating staff members. And even to the point where we thought, you know, if we're struggling to prioritize, maybe when it's public works turn, It's all infrastructure. When it's planning's turn, we focus on the ordinances and how we can do other things. So we sort of talked about that as a way to set the priorities. And I think that's really what this committee needs is it just needs the board, just like CCF needs their list of how to go, you know, what they should work on. I think the sustainability committee needs a list of things that really would be, would be exciting to the board. So we don't have to, we don't have come up with it now, but

anyway. Yeah. And that makes sense too, because there, there are a lot of things that our departments are being responsible for when they come to you and you're building on what's already there. When you do, as you're suggesting, Rich, you know, this is what we're already doing. This is where it could go. And then And this is best practices somewhere else. And so it gives us something more aspirational because you can always put too, and you mentioned ordinances, you can always build in that lens, like at the end of any decision or presentation or restaurants or whatever, this is what we ask. There's certain pillars we always ask for, or if it's an overused word, but there's certain things we always ask to see where they are in sustainability. And looking at our ordinance with a WashU person or even just policies and practices would be very, very effective, yeah.

So no, so I'll just say, well, yes. Based on all of this, I've taken some notes here. So what I'd like to do is I've got the meeting for Thursday on my calendar here. I've tried to go to two previous meetings where we didn't have quorums, so that didn't work out so well. But so assuming Thursday night, we have everybody there and I hope that we do. I plan to attend that to observe questions what's going on, how the meetings run, that sort of thing. I'd like to work with Public Works and also with Alex and sit down with them and talk through this a little bit and talk through some of these ideas. I want to research what some of these other cities locally are doing, how much time they have dedicated staff members spending on it. One of the advantages that the Equity Commission has is they've got Andrea and I who are generalists that understand what's going on. If something comes up, we know exactly where that will be routed, what department, who should take care of it and that sort of thing. Where it gets a little bit difficult with interns is they don't have any of the organizational knowledge. And a lot of times they have no idea how local government works. So you'll say something, they don't understand a zoning code. They may not understand what a public works department does. So there is advantage to having people within the building that understand the organization helping in that regard. So I'd like to have a conversation about what that looks like and what the mayor had mentioned was kind of this this more committee type approach was, you know, maybe at 10 we put it on the calendar to attend agenda setting meetings so equity commission we get together and we talk about what's going to be on the upcoming agenda and then plan accordingly. If we had something like that with sustainability and we knew we had a planning related topic and maybe something that would touch parks operations, then we would make sure we have representatives from those departments there that could carry those projects forward. So really tailoring the staff that attends to the items that are on the agenda. So I plan to attend Thursday. I think I'd like to do some research on how to best do this. I think we have some ways to put that together within our public works department. We've got a ton of knowledge about how this has worked historically. And so we'll talk through it and figure out a path forward. But I think we've got a lot here to go off of.

Thank you. Just one thing I just thought of really quick is that we could ask our directors to submit their ideas for sustainable projects, you know, that probably been thinking of things all along that they just couldn't fit in their budget or didn't have time to research and could just send an email out to them asking for those.

No, I think that's a good suggestion. And one other thing I will point out is we've got items that are on upcoming agendas. We've got the climate collaborative, solar panels, energy benchmarking lights out. So there are things that are coming up and I'd love to have recommendations from sustainability behind those. But the other thing I would stress is the comprehensive planning effort, which is the physical land use plan for the city. you know, looking out into the future, there's going to be a big sustainability component and certainly a role for that committee to play in that overall process. So there's going to a lot of movement within the next 12 months, really, with sustainability. The

committee has a lot of interest in bike and ped too. Right.

So we really need to get, I think we need to get organized. So the

question is, what does it mean for the committee to be involved in that process and for the committee to get information about that?

So we really need to get organized fairly quickly so that we can hit the ground running with all of these different items. So we'll get it going. Thank you.

Sounds good. I think it was a good discussion. Okay, I think we can move right into our seven o'clock meeting. So welcome everybody to the seven o'clock business portion of our meeting for October 25th. Will you go ahead and call the roll? Alderman

Lentz. Here. Alderman Berkowitz. Here. Here. Alderman McAndrew. Here. Alderman Patel. Here. Aldeman Gary Feder. Here. Mayor Harris. Here. City Manager David Gipson. Here. The Attorney O'Keefe. Here. Thank you.

Lentz. Here. Alderman Berkowitz. Here. Here. Alderman McAndrew. Here. Alderman Patel. Here. Aldeman Fader. Here. Mayor Harris. Here. City Manager Gibson. Here. The Attorney O'Keefe. Here. Thank you.

Okay, before I do anything else, I just wanted to take a minute to make a comment about the tragic shootings yesterday. Just to say and have it in the record as Clayton residents and also St. Louisans, we are deeply saddened by the shooting at the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School yesterday. To my knowledge, I asked Chief, this is the first school shooting in our area ever. So we've crossed a really sad threshold here. But unfortunately no city is immune to this sort of thing. I read about all the controls that they had at that school and still someone got in and did that. But just to say that our thoughts and condolences go out to those families, the students, the teachers, the greater St. Louis public schools in general and the entire community. Everyone is brokenhearted about this and not something we want to see in our town. So just to make a comment. All right, so we could go ahead and approve the minutes from last meeting if we had a motion.

I will move to approve the minutes from October 11th.

All those in favor? Oh, wait, do we have a second? I thought usually Ira does it, but do we hear him?

No, I don't do seconds on the minutes. Who

did it? Okay, great. Thank you, someone. All those in favors?

All right. All right.

Now's the time for public requests and petitions. So anything from our listening audience or in-person audience, any topics that are not on our agenda tonight that you'd like to address us about? Now's the time. I don't see any. So we can move on into the city manager's report.

All right, thank you, Mayor. The first item is the building codes. This is an ordinance to adopt the 2021 International Building Code, Mechanical Code, Plumbing Code, Residential Code, Energy Conservation Code, Fuel Gas Code, Swimming Pool and Spa Code, and the existing building code with amendments. The City of Clayton has been using the Building Officials and Code Administration, or BOCA, building mechanical plumbing and national electric codes with local amendments since 1957. In 2000, several organizations merged to create the International Code Council, and we've been adopting international codes since 2001. The 2021 international codes are the latest model codes presently available and have been or will soon be adopted by other surrounding communities. It is anticipated that these codes will be adopted by the majority of jurisdictions in the United States, as well as Canada and Mexico. The International Code Council or ICC updates the various codes every three years allowing for new design practices, technology and products to be addressed. Clayton has been under the 2015 code since their adoption in 2015. Many of the changes are not significant. However, in this age of rapid and significant advancements in technology, it is especially important to stay up to date. In addition to the actual codes contained in the ordinance are amendments that are designed to take into consideration circumstances and standards, which are particular to Clayton. The amendments therefore allow for meetings to Clayton's individual needs while assuring that the city is utilizing a nationally recognized standard for code implementation and enforcement. Other amendments contained in the ordinance or those that have simply been transferred from the previously adopted codes and will continue to be enforced in the same manner. The subject codes and amendments are required to be available for public review and comment for 90 days prior to their adoption. The codes, along with the fire codes, have been available in the city clerk's office since July of 2022. Staff conducted two public information meetings, the first on July 13th and the second on September 27th, 2022. At these meetings, the fire department staff and building staff give presentations regarding the proposed changes and answer questions. Staff recommends that the Board of Aldermen approve the first reading of the ordinance adopting the 2021 International Building Mechanical Plumbing Residential Energy Conservation Fuel Gas Swimming Pool and Spa with amendments and the existing building code with amendments pursuant to the attached ordinance with an effective date of January 1st, 2023. And Anna Krane, our Director of Planning and Development Services is here this evening if you have any specific questions about the building codes.

All right, thank you, Mayor. The first item is the building codes. This is an ordinance to adopt the 2021 International Building Code, Mechanical Code, Plumbing Code, Residential Code, Energy Conservation Code, Fuel Gas Code, Swimming Pool and Spa Code, and the existing building code with amendments. The City of Clayton has been using the Building Officials and Code Administration, or BOCA, building mechanical plumbing and national electric codes with local amendments since 1957. In 2000, several organizations merged to create the International Code Council, and we've been adopting international codes since 2001. The 2021 international codes are the latest model codes presently available and have been or will soon be adopted by other surrounding communities. It is anticipated that these codes will be adopted by the majority of jurisdictions in the United States, as well as Canada and Mexico. The International Code Council or ICC updates the various codes every three years allowing for new design practices, technology and products to be addressed. Clayton has been under the 2015 code since their adoption in 2015. Many of the changes are not significant. However, in this age of rapid and significant advancements in technology, it is especially important to stay up to date. In addition to the actual codes contained in the ordinance are amendments that are designed to take into consideration circumstances and standards, which are particular to Clayton. The amendments therefore allow for meetings to Clayton's individual needs while assuring that the city is utilizing a nationally recognized standard for code implementation and enforcement. Other amendments contained in the ordinance or those that have simply been transferred from the previously adopted codes and will continue to be enforced in the same manner. The subject codes and amendments are required to be available for public review and comment for 90 days prior to their adoption. The codes, along with the fire codes, have been available in the city clerk's office since July of 2022. Staff conducted two public information meetings, the first on July 13th and the second on September 27th, 2022. At these meetings, the fire department staff and building staff give presentations regarding the proposed changes and answer questions. Staff recommends that the Board of Aldermen approve the first reading of the ordinance adopting the 2021 International Building Mechanical Plumbing Residential Energy Conservation Fuel Gas Swimming Pool and Spa with amendments and the existing building code with amendments pursuant to the attached ordinance with an effective date of January 1st, 2023. And Ana Crane, our Director of Planning and Development Services is here this evening if you have any specific questions about the building codes.

All right, I'll open up the discussion. I'll first just ask if there's anyone in our audience or listening that has questions about this. I don't see anybody. So board, do you have any questions or comments regarding this? All righty, Alderman Lentz. You've read the entire thing, right? Yeah. Are

we moving? Ready to

move. Nobody has any questions or comments.

Okay. Well, then I'll introduce Bill 6919 to approve the adoption of 2021 International Building Mechanical Plumbing Residential Energy Conservation and Fuel Gas Codes with amendments to be read for the first time by title.

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

Bill number 6919, first reading and ordinance providing for the repeal of sections 500.1010 and 500.020 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Clayton, Missouri, relating to buildings and structures and enacting in lieu thereof new sections 500.010 and 500.02 on the same subject with certain modifications as hereinafter sent forth and establishing penalties for the violation thereof.

All those in favor? Any opposed? Okay, so that completes the first reading and we will do the second reading.

That is correct. November 8th.

The International Fire Code.

The Clayton Fire Department has traditionally been a leader in fire prevention activities, including the adoption enforcement of up-to-date fire prevention codes. The Board of Aldermen adopted the current fire code the 2015 International Fire Code in 2015. While there are a few changes over the current fire code, the proposed code incorporates updated reference standards and fire protection requirements to remain consistent with the city's proposed building codes. One of the new proposed code sections addresses life safety and educational buildings. A regional school safety task force approached the area fire marshals to assist with premises identification. The intent of this code section is to create consistent premise markings in all schools in St. Louis County. Assistant Chief and our Fire Marshal, Paul Mercurio, has reviewed the 2021 International Fire Code. Local amendments needed to meet the specific needs and requirements of Clayton were identified and included in the ordinance. These amendments were minimal and covered local concerns and administrative issues. And again, these codes were kept in the City Clerk's Office since July of this year for review. Staff recommends that the ordinance be read and approve for the first reading only. And we do have our assistant fire chief and fire marshal, Paul Mercurio here this evening if you have any questions about the fire codes.

Okay. I'll first ask our listening audience any questions from you? Don't see any. So from our board.

I guess I'd like to just ask Paul, I think the last time we did this approval was when we had the issues with the sprinklers and all the multifamily multi-residence buildings. Could you just give an update on where that conversion stands? Is it progressing? That

was going to be my question.

There you go, Chief, if you could just make sure that green light's on.

Yes, I think you're referring to Appendix M. And Appendix M was a sprinkler retrofit for high rise buildings. And then the board took under consideration breaking that down in between residential buildings that are condo owned So we did engage and amend that to modify it, to have those buildings meet that particular section instead of 12 years, six years. It was accelerated. So that affected three existing residential high-rise buildings, 200 South Brentwood, 900 South Hanley, and 710 South Hanley, the Y Hall. 200 South Brentwood. and 900 South Hanley are completed. They've met the requirements. 710 South Hanley, the deadline is next August. They do have all the permits submitted and they have been approved, but they haven't started work yet. They were a little bit behind the other two buildings for what reason I don't know, but they just weren't as on board. And sometimes it's a change in leadership or their board adjust over there. But anyway, and sometimes that's financing. But they are on board and they do have until the end of August of 2023 to comply with that.

And you don't see anything in this more recent update that would cause a similar kind of issue with any of our buildings? No, it

won't. Actually, what it did is we adopted Appendix M. That at that point said if you adopt Appendix M, you had 12 years to do it. This particular code cycle, they took Appendix M out and put it actually into the code. So there's no more options. Anybody that adopts 2021, that retrofit goes into it. It's going to be interesting to see what the City of St. Louis does. If they adopt the 2021 National Fire Code, which I expect they will, they have quite a few high-rises in the City of St Louis that will now start at the 12-year span to retrofit. There's nothing really in this particular 2021 code that's radical, except for we are doing it's advancing automatic sprinkler protection and open parking garages that are over 12,000 square foot, which most parking garages that EV cars and actually how they're making cars with plastics. They're trying to contain these cars before they spread to multiple cars in the parking lot. It's an interesting standard that they've looked at.

Thank

you. Before you walk away, obviously given what has happened in St. Louis yesterday, I'm happy that there'll be some new life safety in our school buildings. How long do you think before, I know that you guys are actively working with the school district. How long do think before all that is done?

Um, Clayton School District, which involves, I guess, five schools, they're already actively working into their budget and working with design professionals to achieve this. We have two other schools. It's going to affect is Wilson School and Central Press. And, you know, they're not as large of schools, but it is still an expense to them. And our Captain Ryan Harrell met with Wilson School last week, and I haven't gotten back with him what kind of feedback he got. But you know, I think what we're asking or what is in the code and again this came from law enforcement, this was law enforcement was the author on this they really drafted this with the educational bodies around in St. Louis County to do this they just kind of pushed it up to the fire department because we're the ones that are enforced particular codes I mean we actually are required the students to have besides the fire drills but also the lockdown drills they have we we monitor that they're doing them we don't really participate but we're there so that this they thought this would be a good way to do it I really believe this is something that can be done at a low cost will certainly alleviate the activities that happen when an active shooter comes into the building. If you think about it, you have to know where you're going, where you are and how to do it. And this is a very good attempt at a low budget means to do that. Obviously people, you could put cameras in your building and other things, but for people to be outside and see where they are and tell, communicate where they are, I think it's going to be, I think this is a very large improvement for life safety for the students and occupants in the schools.

Very good. Any other? Yes. Just a quick follow-up on that. I was curious on that as well. Does this apply to kindergarten through 12 then?

K through 12, yes. Okay,

so like the family center would not be-

Correct.

Included in this or any of-

K through 12. I'm hoping that they would look at this and think about it. But your student teacher ratio is much more- you know, for a daycare under two and a half, you have many more individuals that are under the care and can gather versus schools. They're spread out all over and you might have one teacher for 25 to 30 students. So I think that's why this, what the target they were looking at is just K through 12.

Right. It certainly helped, especially with our larger pre-K.

Yeah.

That it might be included.

And another thing to talk about is the, the, Pre-K, their buildings have different code requirements. They have to have, a lot of them have, if they don't have ready court, have multiple exits outside. They have to be on the ground level. So your daycares have different requirements building-wise than your schools do.

Thanks. Anything else, guys? Thank you very much, Chief. Okay, Alderman Lentz.

I'll introduce Bill 6920 to approve the adoption of the 2021 International Fire Code to be read for the first time by title only.

Second. Any discussion? Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 6920, first reading. An ordinance amending sections 205.070 and 205.080 of the Municipal Code of the City of Clayton, Missouri regarding fire protection and prevention adopting the 2021 International Fire Code. That's the typo we will correct on the final reading. Thank

you. Shall we vote on it anyway?

Yes, ma'am. Okay. Vote on it as read.

Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Okay. All right. Mr. City Manager, Oak Knoll Park.

Yes. A priority project identified in the Parks and Recreation Master Plan is to provide an alternate pavilion in the location of the current uncovered picnic site at Oak Knoll A pavilion in this location at the north end of the park would provide convenient access to the existing parking lot and restrooms, an upgraded picnic site for residents in the east end of Clayton, and may also help to alleviate the demand on picnic shelters at Shaw Park. Staff has reviewed a general design concept for the site and believes Polygon offers the best prefabricated structure that fits within the location and overall aesthetics of Oak Mill Park. Hutchinson Recreation and Design Incorporated is the exclusive provider for Polygon products in the St. Louis area. Polygon participates in Sourcewell Purchasing Alliance, a nationwide purchasing cooperative designed to be a procurement resource for local and state government agencies. As a result, they've submitted a lump sum bid for the pavilion and installation, factoring in an 8% discount from the normal price for their products. The full project scope includes pavilion materials and installation, as well as a new concrete pad and electrical work at the site. The Parks and Recreation Commission has reviewed the design and is in support of the project. The initial design concept included a slate roof for the pavilion, but after further consideration, this ornamental enhancement has been removed from the scope of the project due to the expense associated with slate materials and installation. Pending approval by the Board of Aldermen, the pavilion would be immediately ordered And if there are no delays, the full project could be completed by May of 2023. Funding for the project has been included in the 2023 capital improvement budget and the amount of $110,000. The total cost of the pavilion including installation will be just over $77,000. It is recommended that we include a 5% contingency of $3,850 to be used to cover expenditures to correct unknown issues. Due to the competitive pricing offered under the Source Well Purchasing Alliance, additional expenses for the concrete pad and electrical work will still be under budget. Staff recommends that the Board of Aldermen approve the ordinance allowing for the purchase and installation of a pavilion at Oak Knoll Park through Hutchinson Recreation and Design in the amount of $77,024 plus a contingency of $3,850. And Tony Searing, our Director of Parks and Recreation is here this evening if you have any questions.

Hey. Tony, why don't you come on up because at least I have a question. But I'm going to ask our listening audience first. Anybody listening have questions? Okay, I don't see any. I just want to say the roof. Is the pavilion... Is the design pretty much identical to the one that's now erected next to the pond? No, the one next to the pond is a rectangle. This will be more of an octagon. It's similar in the aesthetic of it, but it does look a little bit different, yes. Well, I mean, I just want to say I appreciate the original request to keep the roof in keeping with the historic buildings that are in that park. And the pavilion, which was privately funded down by the pond, does have a slate roof. And so I understand also why we reduced the budget on it. I think that's prudent. But I wanted to ask you if you could consider seeking out a roof material that mimics slate, that looks like slate. I know there are shingles, architectural shingles that look pretty good. And I also know I've seen some fake slate. And so I just don't know if that's within the realm of this budget or in the wheelhouse of this company. But I just wanted to ask you if you would look into that. I can look into it. Yeah, I don't know much about that type of material or how much it'll cost. But yeah, happy to look into that. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Thank you. Any anybody else have questions or comments?

Hey, I think it'll be a great enhancement for the park. So thanks for all your work on it. Yeah, it will be will be terrific.

It'll be nice. It'll be a nice alternate picnic site in that part.

The park summer committee was excited about it.

And when we we release it, we rent it, right? So it's revenue generating. Yes, I thought so. Okay. My guess is it'll be very frequently used. Very good. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay. Any other questions? Comments? Okay. Alderman Lentz.

I'll introduce Bill 6921 to allow for the purchase and installation of a pavilion at Oak Knoll Park to be read for the first time by title only. Second.

Any discussion? Okay, Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 6921, first reading an ordinance authorizing an agreement for the purchase and installation of a pavilion at the north end of Oak Dole Park.

All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, Alderman Lentz.

I'll move that the Board give unanimous consent to consideration for adoption of Bill 6921 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. Then I'll

introduce Bill 6921 to allow for the purchase and installation of a pavilion at Okinawa Park to be read for the second time by title only.

Second.

Any discussion? City Attorney.

Bill number 6921, second reading and consideration for adoption. An ordinance authorizing an agreement for the purchase and installation of a pavilion at the north end of Oak Knoll Park.

Alderman Lentz?

Aye.

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

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

Aye.

Mayor

Harris? Aye. The treetop playground, Mr. City Manager.

Yes, in October 2010 Treetop Playground at Shaw Park was dedicated as the first inclusive playground in the city of Clayton. This nature themed play equipment was constructed to go beyond the ADA expectations of accessibility and the playground and its surfaces were designed to be accessible for children of all abilities. Since issues have arisen with the existing surface at Treetop Play ground staff has researched potential options that will continue to provide full accessibility and agree that GT Impacts poured-in-place rubber surfacing is the best solution for this playground. Not only is the rubber material used in the application recycled, but poured-in-placed is a permeable, durable, and long-lasting surfacing solution. Cunningham Recreation is the exclusive provider for GT Impacts in the St. Louis area. They also participate in Omnia Partners, which is a nationwide purchasing organization for public sector procurement. As a result, Cunningham Recreation has provided a lump sum bid for the project factoring in an 18% discount from the normal price of their products. The Parks and Recreation Commission is in support of this project. Pending approval by the Board of Aldermen, materials will be ordered in the project scheduled with completion expected in early spring 2023 when temperatures are consistently above 40 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Funding for this project has been included in the city's equipment replacement fund for 2023 in the amount of $170,000. The total cost of the project will be $166,836. It is also recommended that we include a 5% contingency, which is $8,300 to cover any unknown issues. Staff recommends that the Board of Aldermen approve an ordinance allowing for the removal of the existing surfacing and installation of port-in-place surfacing at Treetop Playground and Shell Park through Cunningham Recreation in the amount of $166,836 plus a contingency of $8,300. Okay,

very good. Anybody in our audience have a question or comment? Anybody on our board, questions or comments? No? Okay then.

Just a question since obviously the product to some extent hasn't worn very well. I was just wondering, is there any concern that since we're dealing with the original contractor of the playground project, that we should have some concern that they were involved the first time and now they're back?

I don't think so. When we first researched the surfacing that's in place now is actually tile squares. We thought at the time, similar to a carpet square, that if one of them were to be damaged, we could easily pull it up, replace it with a new square. That really, I believe only happened one time. So it was really the overall concept of the tile square that they've moved away from, not necessarily the port in place. And in fact, Unlimited Play, the company we worked with to develop the all-inclusive playground, they really only use port in place servicing. They're not doing the tile servicing any longer and neither is Cunningham.

You're not worried, I'm not worried.

Okay, very good. Thank you. All right. If there's no other discussion, Alderman Lentz.

I'll introduce Bill 6922 to allow for the installation of poured-in plates surfacing at the treetop playground in Shaw Park to be read for the first time by title only. Second.

Any discussion? The attorney.

Bill number 6922, first reading an ordinance authorizing an agreement for the installation of port in place surfacing at treetop playground in Shaw Park.

All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Alderman Lentz.

I'll move the board give unanimous consent to consideration for adoption of Bill 6922 on the day of its introduction.

Second.

All those in favour? Aye. Opposed? Okay. Alderman Lent.

I'll introduce Bill 6922 to allow for the installation of poured-in-place surfacing at the treetop playground in Shaw Park to be read for the second time by Title Omen.

Second.

Discussion? Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 6922, second reading and consideration for adoption. An ordinance authorizing an agreement for the installation of pour-in-place surfing at treetop playgrounds in Shaw Park.

Alderman Lentz. Aye. Alderman Berkowitz. Aye. Alderwoman McAndrew. Aye. Alderaan Deuce. Aye. Aldermen Patel. Aye. Aldeman Gary Feder. Aye. Mayor Harris. Aye. Thank you.

Alderman Lentz. Aye. Alderman Berkowitz. Aye. Alderwoman McAndrew. Aye. Alderaan Deuce. Aye. Aldermen Patel. Aye. Aldeman Fader. Aye. Mayor Harris. Aye. Thank you.

Flying colors tonight, Tony. All good. All right, the cardiac monitors, Mr. City Manager.

Yes, the fire department's cardiac monitors and defibrillators are on a seven-year replacement schedule within the Equipment Replacement Fund. In anticipation of the fiscal year 2023 purchase, the lieutenants met and conducted the research for replacement. They were unanimous in the decision to recommend purchasing four Zoll X-Series Advanced Cardiac Monitor Defibrillators. The quoted units are an upgrade on the current cardiac monitors, which will allow real-time feedback on the effectiveness of ventilations as it relates to cardiac arrest management and traumatic brain injury. This information is necessary for the immediate feedback and ultimately higher survivability rates for citizens and visitors. Most of the peripheral equipment that is on the current monitors will remain the same for this new equipment, which allowed for a lower quoted amount for the equipment since there was not a need to purchase additional peripherals. Federal purchase pricing was utilized through the national purchasing partners GPO, which is valid until June of 2023. The equipment replacement fund funding for cardiac monitors for this year is presently at $170,000. The total cost for the project is $158,706.12. Staff recommends that the resolution be approved And again, we have Assistant Chief Paul Mercurio here, and it looks like Chief Ernie Rhodes has joined us remotely. Do you have any questions?

Any questions, anybody? I just want to say, oh, go ahead, Reg, I'm

sorry. I think, Paul, you recall we did a program a while ago. I wonder if you would give me an update on where that is. I know it's a little bit of a tangent, but

Well, it is related, though. It is related. You know, Pulse Point has been in effect, I would say, I think we were in about 2017, 2016, somewhere around there. And we made a lot of advancements because we've been able to work with our East Central Dispatch Center to provide the funding for that the first year or two. It was self-funded, and I think Rich was instrumental in finding the funding for that. But it was so successful as a regional thing, it moved out, and now East Central picks it up for all of our agencies around us. It's out in our dispatch center to the west and south and north. City of St. Louis, I believe also participates with it, but I don't know that for sure on how they do that. But the success of all the stuff that the fire department brings for these cardiac arrest is really has a lot, is much more successful when people know that there's an AED around and able to start CPR and use the AED. And the pulse point even though we frequently don't get a call for it because it is restricted to public places. So if you're having a cardiac arrest in your house, our dispatch entity doesn't push that out. But if you're having cardiac arrest in a restaurant across the street or in the street or in a public place, anywhere the public can go, then it alerts people. And I don't know the number, but I'd say there's probably 25% of the commercial buildings that we have in our area do have AEDU. within them. All the buildings will wash you. Most of our commercial high-rises, and Nigerians shouldn't say high-rises but there's a lot of business that have them. So the pulse point has been very successful, especially with the survivability rate when people know they're there and being utilized. So I have to applaud Ridge. I know you won low key on that but he brought it to the area and we were the first to do it in the region and it's been very successful.

Thank you.

I didn't know that you brought it.

I helped. Thank

you.

We had somebody that was very interested in it.

Yeah, well, that's great. I don't know if everybody really knows what it is. Do you know it's an app on your phone? You guys know what it is?

I'll bring you up some little index cards that explains it, but it's very user-friendly and it's a great app to potentially save somebody's life. It really is.

Okay, great. I was just going to comment about these monitors that we saw the difference when I attended a CPR class at the fire station. I don't know, last year, and they were talking about these and just the time it can save is critical for that person with a brain injury or whatever. It's a, this

is very high tech equipment and you've seen the price tag on it. They're not inexpensive, but they are worth every penny. They make a big difference. We use them almost on every call anytime we need to monitor somebody's cardiac event. And they're, they're a great tool and we've been having really good success with our, our come with a cardiac, you know, survivability is usually really low, but we're really picking it up. I think it's a lot of the equipment and the resources that the city allows us to have in the training education. So we're proud of that.

Great. You know, maybe we should put something in the city views about this in one of the upcoming issues, you know, about the pulse point and about the new monitors, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah. Okay. All right. Thanks. Okay. So I will open any other discussion. No, okay. Alderman Lentz.

I'll move to approve resolution 2022 an agreement to purchase old cardiac monitors and associated equipment.

Second. Discussion? All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Okay, great. Onward.

Yes, the next item is an appointment to the Sustainability Committee due to the recent resignation of a member of the Sustainability Committee Deborah Grossman has expressed interest in being appointed to serve as a member of the Sustainability Committee. Mayor Harris has reviewed and agrees with the recommendation for appointment to consider the appointment of, oh, staff recommends that the Board of Aldermen consider the appointment of Deborah Grossman of Ward 1 to complete an unexpired term on the Sustainability Advisory Committee through June 30th, 2023, and also appoint Ms. Grossman as the chair.

Very good. And can we do that all together? Or do we need to vote separately on those two things?

You could include that in the motion.

Any discussion, first of all?

I just want to note, I think Angela's last name is spelled incorrectly. I don't know if we correct that at some point, but it's K-E-N, Flotkin, I think. We can double check. But I do want to just thank her for her service. She's served on the committee for years and really contributed a lot to our community as a whole in terms of sustainability. So grateful for that service, as well as looking forward to the next phase of the committee itself.

And we might also say that we really are grateful to Bill Chamberlain for chairing. Absolutely. And he took it on at a kind of a tough time and he muscled through a lot of challenges. So we were very grateful to him and also to Angela. So, all right. Alderman Lentz.

I'll move to appoint Deb Grossman to sustainability committee and also a pointer as chair.

Second. Session. Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Very good. We're done. Did you want, well, we're going to go to the roundtable, but did you want to go ahead and consider the meeting dates at this point?

Yes, if we could. We would need a motion to approve that. The other thing I would mention is we do have a meeting scheduled for November 22nd, which is two days before Thanksgiving this year. And then looking at December. I can't recall June earlier this year. Did we have a motion about the December

meeting? I didn't find anything, but I thought we had mentioned that we would bring it up and get closer.

So I don't know if you want to consider that at the same time, but the December meeting is December 20th. So we have a meeting scheduled two days before Thanksgiving. And then again, as I said on December 20th, I don't know that affects anyone as far as holidays are concerned or anything else, but If we wanted to cancel either of those meetings, we would probably want to do that tonight if we could, just so we had time to adjust the calendars online and get that information out.

Have it on November 22nd. That's the one.

Tuesday, November 22nd. And

December.

We have.

27th.

December 20th. And then we have December 20th. The meeting's on the 27th. I'm sorry. Yeah. So it actually falls after the holiday, but after the Christmas holiday before the New Year's holiday. So it's kind of in that window there where there's a lot of travel. So I don't know what anybody's plans are for that particular time of year.

I won't be available the

27th of December.

Then we just can't meet

on the

27th. I would just suggest that we go ahead and cancel both those meetings. I think that that's what we've done historically pretty much unless anyone objects. Okay, so we can, shall we vote on it?

I would include that in the motion. So approval of the 2023 meeting dates and the cancellation of November 22nd, 2022 and December 27th, 2022. Okay, I will make a motion to approve

the schedule for Board of Aldermen meeting schedule as posted in the agenda, and also to cancel the 11-22-22 and 12-27-22 meetings. Well done. Second. All those

in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Oh, I don't know if we got a second. You did.

Okay.

Okay, very good. So now that concludes all the business items.

That is

correct. And we can go around and see if we have things to share. We'll start with you, Alderman Lentz.

I don't think I've got anything since our last meeting. Well, other than what we have already discussed on sustainability. Thanks.

Alderman

Berkowitz?

Yeah, we had a ARB meeting last week. And apropos to the discussion at our discussion section, the issue of solar panels being placed on front side of houses and face the sidewalk or face the street. The discussion was very lively. A lot of issues brought up, some dealing with whether or not solar panels should be able to go on old houses with tile roofs and how easy or hard that is. Just a couple of issues that came up, but I think overall the discussion was very, very positive. I think the board seemed very much in favor of changing our rules. And I think David went away thinking it's time to draft. So that hopefully will be coming up soon. Right, Mr. David Gipson?

Yeah, we had a ARB meeting last week. And apropos to the discussion at our discussion section, the issue of solar panels being placed on front side of houses and face the sidewalk or face the street. The discussion was very lively. A lot of issues brought up, some dealing with whether or not solar panels should be able to go on old houses with tile roofs and how easy or hard that is. Just a couple of issues that came up, but I think overall the discussion was very, very positive. I think the board seemed very much in favor of changing our rules. And I think David went away thinking it's time to draft. So that hopefully will be coming up soon. Right, Mr. Gibson?

Yes, I know planning staff is taking a look at that. I don't know what the final timeline will be, but it is in progress.

Okay.

As soon as that timeline is known, we'll include it in the agenda item list.

Okay. And I just would also like to say, give a particular thank you to the police officers that charged into that high school and probably saved quite a few lives. The police department was incredibly heroic. And I'd just like to say that for the record. City of St. Louis.

That's it.

Great hold them in. Okay Susan.

Just quickly, the CCF hosted the dedication of the Ralph playton portrait in the history area history museum area of the. Center of Clayton is temporary placement there. And if you haven't walked by and taken a look at it, it's worth doing. They've done a really, really nice job. So thanks for all the work on that to the task force as well. And then, yeah, it's just events. Then the chamber hosted their Best of Clayton yesterday at the Crown Plaza. And we stopped by, saw Becky there and several other people here. It was, hopefully attendance will continue to increase as people get back into going out of their homes for work. But it was very nicely put together and enjoyable to be there. That's all I have.

Yeah, Becky. Thanks. I want to say a couple of positive things, generally a reminder or like reinforcement of the good work that our staff does do in sustainability. I particularly remember being excited to learn about the big bag at Oak Knoll Park that saved mud and water when we did that big project. It's a really cool story. And the park staff was really great about explaining it. um just all that stuff is great and also um kudos to the parks and rec department for what has been so far at least in my experience a great youth soccer season we've had um really good uh like management and organization and reffing officials all of that so thank you for all of that I was able to visit the CCF history exhibit at the Center of Clayton over the weekend. I was out of town for the opening, and I appreciated the history and context that CCF history provided around Ralph Clayton, his life, and what led to our city being named for him. So appreciate everybody involved in that. The on Saturday, you may or may not know that Saturday was United Nations day the 77th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations and there's a parent there's an organization called the United Nations association of St Louis. And they hosted an event at the International Institute in partnership with a foundation called Little Angels Foundation, which was founded by two of our very own residents, Riz Khan and Farah Alam. And over the last, I think, nine years now, they've served... meals, hot meals and good food in the hundreds of thousands of meals to refugees, immigrants and unhoused folks in St. Louis. And so that's just it was a really great program. The UN's focus this year, I guess, or the UN Association's focus is nourishing peace. So it was about food security and how that relates to all things in our community. So then also, in addition to the Best of Clayton event, we had the city-sponsored Blues Home Opener. So thanks to everybody who put that on. That was fun. Another great event and good weather and all of that. So really nice. And then I think I just briefly want to say thank you to the mayor for mentioning yesterday's shooting in your opening remarks. And just, you know, as an elected official, even though we're a relatively small municipality and a state that tries to restrict our ability to do very much at the local level. I'm really thinking about and wrestling with like, what can we do? How can we research or experiment or try something so that we're just not doing the same thing over and over again? And so hopefully work will

continue. Very good. Thank you. Alderman Gary Feder, anything for

continue. Very good. Thank you. Alderman Fader, anything for

us? I attended the official groundbreaking of the Ralph Clayton display and the mayor had some very nice remarks and I thought the presentation on Ralph Clayton was very fair and balanced and I was pleased to see what appears to be in the context of that presentation a commitment to eventually return that presentation in some fashion to city hall and so i look forward to that happening um because i think it really is well done it does provide a lot of information about ralph clayton that has not been provided in the past but i think it does it in an objective and fair way and looking ahead just a couple days we're going to a number of us are going to be attending the polo subdivision annual meeting and that's always a good opportunity to talk about what's going on in our city so That's it for me. Thank you. Well,

I don't have much to add. I don't want to repeat, just echo all the good kudos about various events that we've had, et cetera. I wanted to mention with regard to the Ralph Clayton, that whole project CCF did sponsor that a reception, but I do want to make sure just double underscore that it is the research of the task commemorative task force that put that all of that recommendation and a lot of research together, brought it all together. And then the history group, mainly Katie Lerwick and one other person wrote the copy for that piece. And there's a lot more information online, both with the CCF website in our own. And there are little Q squares there that you can click on and you can get right to it. And I'm hoping that I have gotten permission from tony just today to leave it there for about six months uh so that it has a lot of visibility because a lot of people going through that center and then after that yes we want to eventually bring it back here but um at the reception someone had the idea of having it maybe travel a bit and so i haven't done this yet but um i think maybe our library in clayton would be an interesting place to see if it could be there for a while I don't know, so I think we should kind of check on some of that before we get it back to now give me more time to figure out where to put it. Other than that, I did want to also mention that my act met and they have chosen their projects it's a good group it's a smaller group than last year, but I think that's good. They are going to i'm really excited about this, they are going to. create an education module about local government in Clayton and teach it. They're trying to get permission. If they can't teach it, they'll hand it over to the teachers at the fourth grade level when the kids study state government in our public schools. And so I thought that was great. And then also they're going to do some kind of a winter clothing drive. So they're going to be hard at work. Last but not least... Becky, you gave me a great segue. Today, a group of St. Louis County mayors met. There's an article that just came out tonight in a post about it, but we met to confer about, to sort of align ourselves with stricter gun control laws or help from the state in our urban areas with gun control and to communicate about the formation of a crime task force among the mayors, which will be supporting in whatever way is needed, the task force that's already formed with the Police Chiefs Association. And I know our chief knows all about that, but we need to do something. And we are hoping that with more vocal support from everybody, we can make more progress. So it's a huge concern for every single community. And we talk about it a lot, but we want to actually do something. All right. Does anybody else have any other comments, questions for this? Okay, very good meeting. I think we need to go into an executive session. So if you will read the blurb.

I move that the Board of Aldermen hold a closed meeting with a closed vote and record as authorized by section 610.021 subsections 1, 2, and 3 revised statutes of Missouri relating to legal issues, real estate, and or personnel negotiation of a contract pursuant to section 10.021 subsection 12 and or proprietary information pursuant to section 610.021, subsection 15 and or information related to public safety and security measures pursuant to sections 610.0201, subsections 18 and 19.

Second. Alderman Lentz.

Aye.

Alderman Berkowitz.

Aye.

Alderwoman McAndrew. Aye. Aldermen Buse. Aye. Aldemann Patel. Aye. Aldeman Gary Feder. Aye. Mayor Harris. Aye. Thank you.

Alderwoman McAndrew. Aye. Aldermen Buse. Aye. Aldemann Patel. Aye. Aldeman Fader. Aye. Mayor Harris. Aye. Thank you.

I'm thinking about how terrible