March 24, 2026 — Meeting Transcript

Good evening, everybody. It's Tuesday, March 24th. We're going to start our meeting off tonight with a discussion on the Hanley House. And I'll welcome Alex Elmstead, who's the Executive Director of CCF, and Tony Searing, our Director of Parks and Recreation.

Hi, Council. Okay. I'm going to launch right in, okay? And then Tony's going to jump in as I go, okay? Okay. So right now, the kind of reopening plan and timeline is for 2027. City-funded essential construction is at approximately $225,000 underway through 2026. The preliminary goal is to do pilot tours beginning in 2027 with one time per month privately funded by CCF. I'm exploring a partnership with the Missouri History Museum, so it's possible that it could be underwritten or helped or partnered with them, but that is not confirmed yet. And then in conversation with Tony from Parks, we're reaffirming all the feasibility for this 27 timeline. I should also state that the fundraising goal with the matching $100,000 from the Hanley family, we've raised $130,000 so far. That's including the Hanley match, and there's approximately $70,000 yet still to raise to meet our goal, $110,000. Excuse me. In terms of kind of the construction and restoration timeline or what's happening, the funded projects are, as Council already knows, roof replacement, waterproofing and tuck pointing, window repair and replacement, porch repairs, and still $180,000 remaining for those funded projects. And then the unfunded projects are the interior restoration, the wallpaper, the plaster projects, fire suppression system and alarm updates. That's kind of a major one. But then just kind of repeating what I already said, the city's investment has been the lion's share here. Some strategic projects kind of underway is really the Hanley House exhibition at the Center of Clayton. If I had my power to just kind of get this done at the beginning of 2026, I would have had it done because I know a lot of people swing in and see and like, well, what is this? I live in Clayton. I had no idea of all the things that we know. It's drawing awareness and attention to this incredible historic asset that most residents probably don't even know exists or have never been there. And then additionally, because those objects, photographs, et cetera, that story has been closed since 2020, we're bringing those objects out to be put on display and contextualizing it with kind of the campaign, the reopening and things like that. um additionally one of the things that i haven't vetted through david yet but one of the things i'm going to kind of think about too is with the center of clayton simply in city hall we have a really wonderful painting from family house and doing and communicating a similar type of story uh similar to the one that's happening at the center of claydon but like so Lower scale, easier to do, but just a way to kind of draw attention and awareness. This city hall is a high traffic space as the center of Clayton, but just to have that kind of synergy there. Another thing is Cordell Whitlock, formerly of CCF's board, has also communicated in helping to do not only kind of shepherding and production and videography, but the storytelling of Hanley House. If folks are familiar with our Clayton Neighborhoods video, it's a similar type of thing. So a video piece that could be utilized both for news coverage that could be used on site, but then also could be shared with funders as well. So something just really tangible in terms of the story that could be shared. And that is something that we're going to be working on here as well. I'm already in those conversations with Cordell about it. This is kind of the major one that's coming up. So save the date if you don't have it on your calendar already, May 9th through the 13th. I am aware one of those days is Mother's Day. The Hanley family is coming, just living descendants from the Hanley family are coming in, one of which is Susan Hanley. She lives in Seattle, Washington. And then also her brother, John Hanley, who lives in Minneapolis. They're basically coming in. They've come in before to see the Hanley House when we did some other funding campaign years ago before my time. But this is all in alignment with kind of her matching gift. We'll probably line up some donor visits, probably an event at the next door neighbor's house that faces Hanley House, our board member. And just really draw engagement. Another big one as well is replanting a tree, basically a ceremonial tree where the black oak stood in the family's honor, just to kind of like cement that type of legacy and things like that. This The black oak tree has a lot of history. You know, when the house was actually built in 1855, the tree had already been 200 years old. In 1968, it was recognized as the largest and oldest species in the state of Missouri, which is pretty incredible. The tree has died. So the thinking is that planting the seed and the legacy for it to grow again, you see them in historic photographs and to be able to kind of just symbolize the rebirth of this house under the new chapter of fundraising and reopening. So hopefully we'll do some real simple kind of like PR press, you know, mayor remarks, digging into the ground, clapping and then just kind of people enjoying Hanley Park and the house that day.

Alex, can I stop you? Yeah, please.

Please.

If May 12th is that during we do have a city meeting that evening. So were you thinking during the day or?

Yeah, so May 12th, Tuesday, I was thinking, I think it's going to be like in the morning. Oh, okay. Yeah, like a morning event. And I'm kind of deferring to my public relations people, like when it's best for press to do these types of things. But I've been told that Tuesday morning is best. Okay. Uh, so I don't have any more slides and then I'm going to stop. Uh, the other thing in terms of kind of tour operations, some comparative models we're aware of, you know, there's a lot of historic houses. There's one in every city seems to have one, but the Sappington house in Crestwood and a lot of these houses are their own independent nonprofits that run that are open to the public, but they do their own fundraising campaigns and they're volunteer led and driven. Yeah. it's my recommendation or it's our recommendation to when you start this type of project to kind of do it on a smaller scale, professionalize. We're not reinventing the wheel. We have all the details in terms of like the tour guides and how to get it started again. It's really just coordination and logistics of kind of doing it every month and kind of getting a rhythm and a flow to it, and then building upon that and doing that with a professional paid operator first, again, on a small scale once a month, and then building up on that and reassessing it in a six-month period and seeing how that's working. But allowing that to occur first before you kind of bring in too many volunteers, too many cats that kind of manage and herd, and also the reliability of volunteers. You know, people leave, people don't show up, et cetera, et cetera.

Alex, can I ask, I may be getting ahead of your presentation, but the Sappington House and others, I always remember that what was somewhat unique about the Hanley House was not only the history, how it related to the city, but also that they were slave quarters and that to the extent there used to be high school tours that came to the Hanley house that made it a more broadening experience. And I just, I don't know, are the other, when you say comparable places in St. Louis County city, et cetera, are they, are there any that are comparable in that respect? It's a

good question. Not that I'm aware of. It's my understanding that in terms of these slave quarters that, I mean, in the state of Missouri, it's less than 2% that oftentimes these historic homes still have standing slave quarters. It's because Hanley House is made out of brick. Whereas the other slave quarters oftentimes were made out of other materials that they were lost in history. So there's some in St. Louis County and things like that, like Chesterfield and others, parks that manage those types of properties. But it's a rare, there's some in Jefferson City, but it's a rarity. And it's a big, it's a big important piece that has also driven some fundraising as well from that. This is really kind of my last slide, and then I'll stop, and Tony and I can take questions. Really what's next is finalize these exhibitions to just draw awareness. Start working and producing some type of a video, even if it's a minute long. uh really make sure that we're coordinated in terms of the construction and the timeline i think in term what tony and i have talked about is that 2026 is really the construction year and that allows all that to be wrapped up so you don't try to force public into a space that it's under construction both liability wise logistic wise everything it just allows it to just kind of maintain and finish those projects And then the Hanley visit, you know, then we also hand Hanley Fall Festival, which I think is really popular, which I want to continue through CCF. And then starting to begin that operational planning with, like I said, either Missouri History Museum or through a specific contractor that that runs tours like this. I think that's I think that's all my slides.

Great thanks a lot. I mean i'm excited to hear the plan. I wasn't sure to what I didn't know to what extent there was And I think the main thing I want to ask about is what you know and can share about how the family considers the history of enslavement and like how they will talk about that and to what extent. I want to ensure that It's not glossed over or hidden. So I'm curious what we know about their perspective.

Yeah, let me try to scratch the surface of the answer and then you come back at me. I've had conversations with Susan about this very thing. She is actually a professor of Japanese history. So she is an academic herself and very much understands the intellectual rigor and not wanting to gloss over those things whatsoever. Additionally, I've expressed and talked with her about that there have been the beginnings of this before we had the match. There was a lot of donors interested in giving to those specific things, honoring the Jackson family, right? And being able to tell that story not only on that site, but also I know we've talked about it in terms of Remembrance Park, right? So if we were thinking about... who are the people that have made Clayton possible? It's like, okay, well, yes, Ralph and Hanley's, but it was the slaves that helped them make their homes possible. And at one given time, getting into the history or getting too far into the TMI of it is, there were three children and a woman living there. After extensive research, and I'm not giving up, I still don't know the children's names. I can't find them. Now that's not uncommon because those records just weren't kept, especially after emancipation, the children left, they're gone. They say the woman stays on as a domestic servant and things like that. This is all very normal. So we know Lydia and Lizzie, but we don't know the Children's names. The other things that we've started to look at too, is that if we can figure out where they're buried, that can also help in understanding kind of those types of lineages and histories as well. And that is something I also want to talk with and work with the Missouri History Museum about as well. So we're better, smarter people, Washington University, African American Studies, History, and others can help dig deeper because I feel like we've only kind of surface level hit it.

Great. Thank you.

I seem to remember, and I may have my timing off, that like 15 years ago, I participated in a tour. We had won a school prize. maybe a middle school from somewhere, it wasn't Clayton, somewhere else that did a tour. And I think Sarah Omloff dressed up as a character. I don't remember, was a member of the family. Cindy Berger did as well. I think at least on occasion, Scott Bolton dressed up as maybe as Hanley or in any event. But I remember that the tour contrasted the house itself with the neighboring somewhat adjoining slave quarters and certainly did make the point very strongly that this was, you know, this is part of the history of the Hanley house. And I mean, at the, at the time I thought, you know, well, this is great. This opportunity for, for kids. I don't know how it seemed to me. It was a pretty active program 15 years ago, but a lot of different schools did have these kinds of tours. And I was thinking what a great educational opportunity and lessons to be learned. And that to me is still what's really potentially appealing going forward is And somehow doing that again, if there's a way to do that.

I think the contractor would help facilitate and re-engage those schools as well. I mean, that's part of something that you would do is you would say, hey, Clayton High School History Department. we are now open and integrate into your curriculum. Come visit us. Hey, Kirkwood. Hey, et cetera. To be able to kind of start and maintain that through the educational systems. And then there's the layers of, you know, every audience, older adults, neighbors, residents, et cetera. But you would try to figure out how to start and pilot something i think there's gonna of course there's interest i know we get pinged all the time can you open the doors can you give me a word like people see it and want to be in it and experience it so um yeah

So I'm wondering, Alex, you studied, it sounds like, several other local historic homes. And I'm wondering from an ability to generate private support in the future, are there any other significant attributes or assets that this home has from either a historical or architectural standpoint? What can you point out that would help maybe draw more interest?

Yeah, okay. So Rick, you're going to have to stop me because I am a history background here. I believe that this house is just as important as the Ulysses S. Grant home and the Gateway Arch. The reason why I believe that to be true is because it is the reason why the county seat of government exists today, and it actually dates back to westward expansion, not just the Civil War era. Right. So we have and you can go look at the deed. We have the property deeds and things like that. The land is signed over by President Andrew Jackson. Right. So it dates that far back. And that is important because that tells the story of westward expansion, Louisiana purchase and the ideas of how St. Louis is formed and shaped. I believe it has the ability to be a national park site. I don't believe that the residents would want it to be that right because it draws more it draws more tourism it draws more visibility it draws all these types of things traffic right it draws just eyeballs and traffic. But it could draw more protections, more funding, more visibility, more everything if you go in that type of direction. But I think there's a way to balance this incredible asset, preserve it, not necessarily move that way, get some more accreditations like... the Lewis SS Grant Home has national landmark status. We don't have that. We're on the National Register since 1968 when the city bought it, but we don't have national landmark status. So we can get different accreditations like that. Additionally, this city has an ordinance as well about a historic district. I don't care about the private properties. I don't want to dictate what they do. But you could say, here's a historic district and a public asset that's owned by the city, Hanley Park and Hanley House. You preserve it in perpetuity. You recognize its kind of accreditation and its value. And you create just a symbol around it in terms of things that you already have in your home. uh in your arsenal if you will

those things sound like very important recognition what i'm wondering is when you and i'm assuming you have if you haven't then it's an opportunity but when you talk to the missouri history museum do these things resonate to the point of saying we want to financially support you or do they simply find it interesting

That's a good question. I don't think they're going to finance, they don't want another project to manage like another building and facility and things like that. But I think they're willing and understand the value of the partnership and the alignment to their brand as it pertains to westward expansion and celebrating Missouri and St. Louis history. So maybe not financially, but it might be more advantageous and supportive than we might realize in terms of how they can help us.

So perhaps you've done this already, but I like comparing to other structures, whether it's in our area or in other places. to look at models of success, to see if that's a model that would fit for us. And I guess I'm really wondering at the end of the day, what best case success might look like? Is it, for example, in your opinion, 100% private support or will municipalities always need to support these kinds of things?

I'm going to try to answer it, Rick. It's a leaky boat. It's a historic home built in 1855. It's always going to be a money pit, right? However, it's the oldest asset in Clayton that sits in a public park, which adds value to the homes, the neighborhoods, and the downtown. So the question is this risk proposition of how much money you want to throw at it, and you're always going to be throwing money at it, both public and private. I think I'm going to try to answer the success piece now. I've talked with Tony and Justin about this. Parks in the city is really, really good at managing the land, the parks. The county, the St. Louis County does manage these different historic facilities and things like that. But the expertise to manage a historic asset like that and also the bandwidth and the cost is high and way above the city's bandwidth. So the best way of success would be some type of partnership which would take the facility asset out of it, where you could figure out a funding mechanism like an endowment where like, okay, a rail just broke. Every year we have $10,000 to fix the aesthetics, paint the shutters, do these types of things that allows it to just sit and grow and fund it. And then it's not taken away from parks and recreational time because they're focused on the parks, not necessarily maintaining facilities. Not only facilities, but historical facilities, which require a whole level of expertise.

So let me just stop and then I don't want to take up any more time. But so that's the opportunity. Is there a model in our area that you can point to that has been successful doing that?

Not off the top of my head. All right. Thanks.

Yeah, I just had a couple questions for the funding also. So the amount that you had left to complete the interior project was on one of your slides was like $100,000 or something like that. Is that something that is going to be done by January 1st, 2027? Yeah.

Yeah, so the match grant was like $110,000 and we basically funded about $70,000 of it. And so we have to kind of fundraise to get that match, and then we get the match once we fundraise that amount. So I'm kind of thinking about it being a total of $70,000, but the hard part is just getting basically half of that because once we get that, it matches. So that's the remainder.

And so we just need to get $35,000?

Basically, yeah.

before the end of this year or actually probably before that, because you need to get materials and actually do the work.

Um, no, not necessarily because we already have a substantial amount of money that can be allocated to various different things. Right. So, um, It's all based upon allocation to the needs. I think a tour program and reopening is a big need. I think that's what people want to see is that instead of just throwing money at, you know, a building that never opens or isn't functional, it just feels as though it would be good after seven years that you reopen it and you have some type of activation. Right.

Well, I guess that's my next question is like when it is finished and open for tours and you were saying we were going to hire a, you know, operator for at least six months, where does that money come from?

Private CCF.

Okay. And so that's already been allocated.

That's, that's, that's what my intention is to do is, is to allocate it for that operator to, to run tours.

But there's already money there to do that.

Yes. Okay. Great. Yeah.

Thank you.

I just want to follow up, if you don't mind, because I'm confused about the money now. There was a slide that showed the dollars a little bit, and obviously it wasn't meant to be an accounting report. But can you clarify what the Like, what is the match? And like, how much do we need to get the match their minimum and maximum? What?

Yeah. This year, this hundred fundraising year to date. That's, that's how much Sorry about that. That's how much we've raised so far.

And so does $130,000 include the $100,000 from the family that we only get if we match it?

That's correct.

Okay, so we've raised $30,000. Is that...

Let me look at this math here. Fundraising year-to-date, $130,000. Oh, I'm sorry. That's why that's confusing. So that should be... Fundraising year to date is... Let's see. It's $110,000 match gift and we have raised 70,000. That's why it's confusing as those numbers were wrong.

Okay. So the offered match is 110,000 from the Hanley family.

Correct.

And then outside of that, CCF has already raised 70,000?

70,000 is inclusive. We have been receiving disbursements as we go. Maybe that's the way to clarify it. Okay. So we've been receiving disbursement as we raise the money. So like, as we raise the from the Hanley family, they were okay. So I just raised 25,000. Can you disperse 25,000? Okay. So if we've got 70, we've raised 35 and

they've given 35 of the one 10.

Correct. Now you got it. Yeah, these numbers. And

the total could end up being

220. That's correct. Yes. Correct. Correct. You got it.

Thank you. And then that 220 would likely be used for that because a lot of what Tony, you guys are doing is more outside. because we're doing, it's like waterproofing. Yeah, I mean, roof stuff, some roof, I think the roof stuff on the slave quarters.

Yeah, so the $225,000 that was originally budgeted for the exterior renovations As we've talked about, we've had to reset because we haven't been getting great bids and great bids. So we started with the foundation waterproofing and restoration that had to be done. That's about $40,000-ish right now. So when Alex mentioned earlier that there was about $180,000 left, that would be for the next priority, which is going to be the roofs. And then it's going to be for waterproofing the chimneys and the exterior brickwork for that. Then after that, the priority would be the windows and the sills. And after that, if there's still enough money left, it would be for the porches. The porches, while not ideal, are things that we potentially could do in-house if we have to, and they are not structurally affecting the building as it is right now. That's why it's a little bit lower on the priority list.

And then before, you know, because we had always talked about, I mean, I guess it was a person, like we didn't have the person to do it, but before, you know there was just a big concern about fire suppression. So is that less of a concern now? Not that we don't want fire suppression, but we can still open the house and provide tours without having that fire suppression.

That is correct. The fire suppression system about 10 years ago was quoted to be about $400,000. So if you Similar to when we do our earth planning right now, we extrapolate out a 2% per year escalator, which in today's money would then be at $500,000. So who knows if that is even, is it going to be even more than that? And Alex and I were talking, is there any different technology that maybe would allow for that as well? But that is a pretty hefty item.

Yeah.

Yeah. But the building still could be open without it.

And then are there like, are there historical items still in that? Like the furniture, it's all still there. I guess it still is standing the way it was before.

Yes. And I think one of the things on, on one of the slides said certainly before the Hanley family comes, we will have a deep clean and, With a cleaning company who would come in and who is, you know, versed in cleaning historic homes. So yes, we will make sure just from it's being, it's just settled there for the last seven years. So yeah, it but almost all that is still intact in there.

Okay,

okay.

Yeah, and Alex, because you mentioned a bunch of different things that could possibly help, like the national landmark status, different accreditations, making it a historic district. I'm just wondering... Like I, you know, as you know, I live across the street. So I literally walk through this area like two or three times a day at least because now I have a dog. So I'm just kind of curious because I don't, this house means a lot to me. It means a lot to community. I think it means a lot to the region. And I just want to make sure that we're doing whatever we can, whether that is... So I'm just curious if out of those things, or maybe it's all those things, what you think would be best to pursue? Because it doesn't sound like, you know, like, because... In my mind, you're looking at the Sappington House, which seems to be thriving. You've got volunteers. People are taking care of it. but it's not, I mean, I know it's in a park, but I guess it exists by itself. Like is a model like that feasible for us or because it, cause I, and I can't, is that Kirkwood Sappington house? Is that, I don't, Crestwood. Okay. So, I mean, they found a way to at least extrapolate the house separate from the park. So is that, would it be a model for us to make it

uh no i wouldn't do that i wouldn't remove the house by any means uh but

i don't mean remove it i mean like somehow make it separate from the park i don't mean physically

oh yeah you know but i found a way to conceptually yeah no

if they i mean they've found a way to make it separate i guess

so i'll also say in terms of just counsel this is all just uh brainstorming, frameworking right here. I think the things that we know is that it costs a lot of money to keep and maintain. And again, it is a leaky boat. It will continue to be one. Construction costs are only going up. inflation is only going up. It's only going to just cost more money. So I think the best model is to somehow, I think, let me try to answer the question. I think somehow the model would be like the reserve fund of some sort that would be able to generate revenue to pay for various different ongoing, both cosmetic or substantial repairs.

So, I mean, you're thinking like some sort of massive donation that generates interest. I mean, we're far from there right now. So I just don't want to still be here a year from now. And yes, we've done some touch-up work. I want to make sure that we're all thinking of ways to brainstorm how to take care of this house. And that's not just on you. I mean, that's on all of us to figure out how to do that. So I'm just curious. I would just love to hear if there's which ones of these that you think would be the best way to go down to take care of this house without maybe potentially not getting a million dollar donation, which would be amazing. I just don't know if that's happening. If

I was talking to my PR professional, it would be about awareness, which is crazy. So it's not actually answering the thing about the structure itself. It's just making sure that people know of the structure itself and that there is a need. And that there's a philanthropic vehicle called CCF that people can channel funds to, to help with it. You understand that you pay taxes and that you do this, whatever, but to be able to do that and to draw attention and awareness to the assets, you know, you mentioned the slave quarters, there's all these other, it's in this incredible park too, right? Right. So a lot of people don't even know it exists. Right. I don't, it would be interesting to figure out, I would turn the question on the city and say, wouldn't it be interesting to see if how many through the communications channels of the city and the residents, do they even know it exists or have they visited? And to see what that data looks like, because that would be very revealing data, you know?

Yeah, I just you know, I mean, when I've talked to I think, you know, Jeff Ward, like, you know, when he and I have talked about it, we've certainly discussed ways to, you know, he talks about like public history, private history. And apparently WashU has more of a private history element. I mean, he's a professor at Jeff Ward, whereas UMSL is more private. um, experiential, I guess, public history, which would potentially fit this better. Um, not that, I mean, he was suggesting that it would be great to have WashU students somehow become part of the tours. And then you'd also have potentially awareness of institutions who might have more you know, abilities to attract grants or attract, you know, I don't know, like, and of course the history museum would be great too, but they're, you know, they got their own stuff going on too. I mean, they'd be a great resource, you know, but thinking about that too. And, you know, he had this grand idea of like having it actually become a museum where there's like, and I mean, eventually making it so that there's, you know, you'd have to make sure that Obviously, that there is fire suppression and waterproofing if you put actually historic documents in there and really make it a place where there's, you know, sitting rooms. And, you know, I mean, it was, you know, he, of course, had, you know, great visions for it. So I don't know. Those were some of the things that, you know,

Yeah, and I would add and say it's always a question for the municipality itself and what the goals of the asset should be. If you were to ask me, because I have a history background, I want to do the baseline of saying, I just want to make sure it doesn't burn down. The fire suppression and alarm system, the reasons why you have that and it's so substantial is that it could just burn down and it could be gone. An 1855 house could just be gone. So I want to make sure that that doesn't happen. And then I want to make What I would say and what I've heard from the city and parks is that there's only so much bandwidth and there's only so many funds, city taxpayer dollars wise and everything else is that how do you inject the capital into it in the ways that it is philanthropic? When it closed down in 2020, I think everybody kind of went, okay, it's closed down. Don't talk about it. It's like that's when I wanted to talk about it the loudest because that's when the need was there. And it still is, but it's like, okay, but that was 2020. And just to communicate that need similar to the Y-Down Boulevard and things like that, that's a need. And we have this mechanism through CCF to be able to channel that need.

Well, and I guess too, and David, maybe this is a question for you too. I think we obviously are doing these things to take care of the house on the outside. Obviously, Alex, you and Colleen and everybody are doing your best to bring the Hanleys here, inject funds, bring awareness. But I'm curious, how do we, as a city, think about the best way, practically speaking, whether it's landmark status, accreditations, historic district, who who can investigate that you know how can we think about the best way to do that and i don't know whose job that is um so it's just trying to figure out how we can take care of this house without relying on a one million dollar donation you know

i think we need to have a more in-depth discussion on what those various accreditation measures are yeah what what what that actually gains you uh to go through and try to get those distinctions let's i think we need to talk about what the benefit might be um some are going to be more intensive than others the local ordinance would be the easiest one to pass um we could pass it and say yes this is a locally designated historic structure doesn't do a whole lot for it especially that we own it and we control it um if it was a privately held property that had historic value, you would put that type of protection on it to make sure that the owner didn't go in and put some modern addition on it or something like that. So while we could put that designation there, I don't know that it does a whole lot for us. It doesn't open new funding opportunities or anything else. So I think we can talk about those different processes that we can go through and try to figure out what might be most important. But our priority has been, at least from a city standpoint over the last six years, that we haven't been having tours and other things is let's try to keep it structurally sound. Let's buy time until we're ready to do that again. We don't have a designated person anymore to give those tours the way we did prior to the pandemic. So we really just kind of want to regroup, make sure that the structure is in good shape and then, you know, take it from there. And we're really fortunate to have a partner like CCF that can, go out and find somebody, you know, get somebody a professional under contract to give those tours and go out and be a fundraising arm for us. Because as Tony said, our capacity within our department is rather limited as to what we can do. So it's a long answer, but I think we need to spend some time really focusing on what do we want out of it as a city and then try to divert our resources and energy there.

I just want to observe, I think it was like a year ago at CCF, we talked about what was going to be the priority project. And that was before the tornado and the Shaw Park project was just very, very conceptual at that point. Nobody knew where that was going. So Hanley House kind of, I think to some extent by default became the number one priority item. And of course we had the tornado and now we're at a point in time where the Shaw Park project has really evolved and So I think part of that is, what's the... What's the strategy? Each one of those requires, I think, ideally some private funding. And they all are different. I mean, it's like apples and oranges and bananas. I mean, they don't have a lot in common, those three projects. Wynon Forest, I think, and I know there's a committee dealing with that, tends to hopefully attract a lot of individual gifts from people who live nearby, probably more so than corporate gifts. Shaw Park, just because of the magnitude of it. And lots of potential naming opportunities lends itself to hopefully to local corporate giving. And then there's Handley House. And I think part of what needs to happen is just an overall strategy of who are the potential donors? Are they both corporate and individuals? And to some extent, how do those fundraising efforts avoid competing with one another? Because there's only so many donors and now that we're kind of revving up the Shaw Park effort and why down is obviously revving up now suddenly Hanley becomes to some extent competition for the other two. So I think a lot needs to be thought about, you know, again, what's, what's the fundraising plan and how do we distinguish that from these other two projects, which are vastly different, but do have that monetary components. Yeah.

Gary, it's also a question of benchmarking success, right? So one could say as it pertains to the story of Hanley House is that it closed in 2020. And if you can reopen it in 2027, you're reactivating this asset, you're retelling and communicating the asset and the awareness and the story, and you're fundraising the need, which will continue. It will always continue, whether you have a million dollars or ten dollars. The answer is the target prospects fundraising wise are people that care about history. And it's like that many people. It's not a lot. But those people do. They're the same donors that care about the Missouri History Museum and these types of things. And those things thrive and exist. So they're out there and they are targeted, but you kind of have to see this. This is why this Hanley visit is really, really important because this is a key donor. There's living descendants here. There's a story here and their funders. So it kind of has this nice little package around it. And if we can engage not only them on the individual level, but also donor to donor, I think we can inspire kind of that upward trajectory of what the next chapter looks like, what success looks like beyond kind of opening. Yeah. Because, yeah, in terms of the accreditation, you can do accreditation stuff all day long. But at the end of the day, if you ask me the question, I'm a fundraiser, so I'm a storyteller. So I'm going to want kind of like what that communication of the story is to be able to better sell it to raise more funds.

I'm wondering about another potential resource. You had talked about the federal government. I'm wondering about, I was just checking, I see that we have a state historic preservation office in the state of Missouri. And so in here it talks about supporting local governments. I'm wondering whether there's any merit to making it a state park, whether there is any funding available from the preservation office. Is there any distinction by aligning with them in some way that we can build more momentum? Is that a resource we've looked into?

I've looked into it, but I'd also defer to Tony on anything related to parks and the adjacency of all those types of opportunities.

have not looked into that. I know we did have conversations with St. Louis County and They were not interested in taking that over under their umbrella. So, yeah, I haven't looked into that, but we could certainly look at it, and I guess then that would be up to this group if they wanted to, I guess, cede their municipal parkland to state parkland.

Well, it doesn't necessarily have to be that. I just wanted to first check out the resource and see what the range of possibilities are.

We can look into that. To that point, like do historic tax credits, like do we qualify for historic tax credits to do this work? To maintain the building? With the

federal designation that does make it eligible for tax credits, we'd have to look into whether or not we could get any for this particular project. A lot of times when you see that there's some sort of, well, a lot of times they're not passive projects. Not this is totally passive, but this isn't generating jobs. This isn't generating anything like that. So to get it from more of a passive perspective, project where you're just preserving a building, a lot of times they'll get into when you're going for those credits, the actual end use of that structure. So if it's just tours, I don't know how appealing that project would be, but that's something we can take a look at.

Because homeowners of historic homes can qualify for historic tax credits, right? I mean, I know people who have used that to get new windows.

I don't know where this one falls into that whole We need to take a look.

Yeah, I have no idea what the criteria is. But, you know, I know it can happen for personal homes and it can happen for former office buildings. What else? Like, does this fit into some categorization?

I do want to say one thing, too. When you look at Sappington and you look at the Daniel Boone home that's in St. Charles County, and the St. Charles County government now owns that. So Lindenwood owned it for a little while. St. Charles County acquired it from Lindenwood because Lindenwood was having trouble just paying for it. But we kind of always just skip straight to the donation part of it. I think the one thing that's good about CCF having this committee, and I think it's something we need to build on, is those structures have just a group of champions around it. Before you even get to the fundraising part of it, there are people that are really, really passionate about both of those structures that really drive all of it. So that when you go out and you try to seek donations, it's not the city or CCF just going out and saying, hey, we'd like money to get this. There's a really... organized group that's very, very passionate about it that really does the driving in a lot of those cases. And I think that's something that we need to spend some time, and I know CCS working on that, kind of establishing that group around this house because the ones that are successful around us, that's really how they've gone about accomplishing that. And I know Sappington House has just a ton of volunteers and they love it. And they're there three times a week. And that's all they want to do is tell the story of Sappington House. And, you know, we don't really have that here getting behind the Hanley House. I think if we did, we probably would have had this conversation. you know, a few years back when we shut it down in 2020 and things started to open up again. There's just not that group here within the community that is driving that. So that doesn't cost you anything. That's just time and effort of trying to put that group together.

Yeah. And it just, it seems like we could have that, you know, and yeah, that could be Clayton residents, but it could also be just people in the broader community who care deeply about history. So I I don't necessarily know who those people are, but like you said, you've mentioned the History Museum a lot, talking to people and inviting them to come when the Hanleys are here. I think that might be something to at least generate discussion about what can we do? We want to take care of this house. What can we do?

And there's examples of those champions all over. I mean, another donor who lives in University City... but lives on the handy Han Hanley tract or land. And it's like, well, I, my property is on the Hanley land, which was expansive in the university city. It's just knowing them, engaging them, getting them involved, inviting them and getting that coalition together and making them strong. And that is the point of the Hanley House Committee is to do that type of thing. So certainly if council runs into those residents and people, you push them my way so we can get them engaged and active, not only as they don't have to donate, but the network needs to be strong.

Does anybody else have any final questions or comments? Maybe it's something we can put on, it can be a retreat topic to really kind of dial down what, you know, outside of, you know, trying to create, like generate some champions and of course hope for awesome donations, but also like, again, just making sure that we're doing our best to take care of what is I think a really historical treasure in the area. So.

Yeah. And let me know what I can do more as it pertains to kind of that May 12th date, public relations wise and communications wise, because, um, I could just be in touch with Lindsay and others, but just making sure that that is central because a lot of these things that we're talking about are all going to be that this is the opportunity, you know, in May. And, um, The other thing to say to this council and I guess residents, she does not have any children, the living descendants. So, you know, she's in her 80s. She's looking to engage with the legacy of her family and things like that. So I'll just leave it at that. And this has come up many times.

Great. I know somebody who will be able to help a lot with PR behind you. Alex, thank you so much for updating us and all your words. Tony, thank you very much as well. And we have about 10 minutes. Oh, of course. Come on up. Come to the mic.

Goodman, thank you for having this conversation. Hanley House has been important to me for a long, long time. I'm sorry to say it's been a long time. But David, in response to what you're referencing, we did have that. We had a wonderful relationship with Clayton High School. The AP history teacher would bring us over and we'd stand in front of Hanley House and they would say, oh my gosh, there are only four bedrooms and there were 10 children. How did that work? I mean, they were amazed at what life was like during that period of time. So I think once it closed, we lost that momentum. I think it's a true asset for Clayton. It's a true asset. I think we need to make the community aware use it in a way that's beneficial to Clayton and to St. Louis and to our region, I think we can do that. We're just kind of starting over.

Well, and there used to be student groups all the time. I mean, there were school buses parked all the time in front of us. And not Clayton school buses. I mean, St. Charles, like Kirkwood. I mean, school buses came from all over.

There was actually a time when we worked with HEC-TV. And they positioned cameras inside the house. And we had students on the East Coast and the West Coast who participated in a tour by Sarah Unlaw. And it was amazing. So if we can think of it as an asset for our community, something that we can promote as a reason to come here when people come stay at the Ritz, come see our historic home. I think there's great potential. It's just, you know, we have to get through all the things you've been talking about that include funding and support from you. I

had just a comment. I remember, Judy, I think going back to maybe 2010, the early days of CCF, that of the various areas of CCF, Iowa sought the one which there was the greatest level of enthusiasm, was the history piece. You know, yourself, I think Cheryl Verde, Bob Pastor, who unfortunately passed away. But there were a number of people who were, I think as it was described here, were really devoted to the Hanley House more than anything else. And I do wonder if there isn't a nucleus here of somehow creating that again, because there was such a dedication to the Hanley house and to Clayton's history.

I think that's accurate, and I think we can do it again. And the Hanley family visit is kind of that opportunity to bring awareness, the Hanley family, get the media there to tell the story, and take that as kind of a new beginning.

Yeah, I hope so. That would be great. Thank you.

Nice to be

here. Nice to see you. Anything

else you want to talk about?

No, we'll just take a five minute break before we start at seven. Good evening. We're back for our seven o'clock portion. If the city clerk could call the roll.

Council member Buse. Council member Patel. Here. Council member Gary Feder. Here. Council Member Rick Hummell.

Council member Buse. Council member Patel. Here. Council member Fader. Here. Council Member Hummel.

Here.

Councilmember Yorg. Council Member Waldman. Here. Mayor McAndrew. Here. City Manager David Gipson.

Councilmember Yorg. Council Member Waldman. Here. Mayor McAndrew. Here. City Manager Gibson.

Here.

City Attorney O'Keefe. Here. Thank you.

The first part of our agenda is an opportunity for anybody to address us on a matter that is not part of our agenda. Is there anybody online or in the audience that would wish to do that? I'm seeing nobody come up. The first item on our agenda is a public hearing for a new... a new lounge in Clayton. So I will open the public hearing and request proof of publication.

Thank you, Mayor. This is a public hearing to consider an application for a conditional use permit submitted by Tracy Collins on behalf of Uplevel Industries LLC for the operation of a bar and music lounge known as Mr. Meyer's Live and Vinyl Lounge. The subject property is located on the east side of North Merrimack Avenue between Forsyth Boulevard and Maryland Avenue. The property has its owning designation of High Density Mixed Use, or M3, and is developed with a multi-tenant commercial building. The bar would open at 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Closing hours vary from 11 p.m. on Wednesday and Sunday. 12 a.m. on Thursday to 1 a.m. On Friday and Saturday, the proposed bar measures 3610 square feet and would include an estimated 129 seats. There are two employee parking spaces in the rear alley. The owner has engaged a sound engineering consultant to provide a sound abatement plan. The plan includes installation of acoustic panels, additional insulation and specialized speaker systems to focus and control the sound. The plan protects adjacent tenants as well as the surrounding properties. The plan commission considered the request at its meeting on March 16th, 2026 and voted unanimously to recommend approval as requested. Staff recommends that the city council approve a conditional use permit for operation of a bar per the conditions outlined in the resolution.

Thank you. I'll open the discussion. Are there any questions or comments from anybody up here on the council?

Yeah, I have a question. I was like going by trying to identify the actual property and I think it looks like it's just north of Ivy. And there's like a little door. It was hard for me to imagine where there's 3,610 square feet. But I...

The owner-operator is also here with us, so he can answer a lot more questions about operations. But it's below Ivy, so it's actually the basement space. So the door is the door just north of Ivy's entrance, and then you would go down the stairs, and then the space will go beneath Ivy and Avenue.

Okay. That helps.

It was really struggling. Yeah, it was

Miso, if any of you recall that place, and there was another short-timer use.

okay and I think I mean like those businesses um like do have we heard anything from them are they like there's not people living there right it's not residential I'm just trying to think yeah

I mean I did reach out um to Brian Carr who owns Avenue and to Julie Blackaby who owns Ivy just because I wanted to make sure that they were aware of it um their landlord owns the whole building and I know he was aware of it so I was kind of surprised that Brian like was not aware of it um They are supportive. I think they think it's great for Clayton. I don't know if they're on Zoom or anything. I don't want to speak for them. I think their biggest concern, and maybe the applicant can speak to that, is just think concern just about noise, making sure that especially earlier in the night before their dinner crowd has left,

that

they're not hearing. So I think the acoustic, and I know it says in the staff report that there's an acoustical or an engineer that you've engaged, but I think just, you know, we have two really successful restaurants and we want to make sure that diners are not.

Yeah. My name is Brian McCormick, founder and operator of Mr. Meyers. So we've top priority is we want to be good neighbors. We want to add to the building, not subtract from it. So we brought in a gentleman who is probably the leading audiovisual installer for high-end luxury home entertainment systems. So think of if you're in your basement and there's loud booming bass coming from your movie lounge, you don't want to hear it throughout the house. So we're focusing on sound containment, High-end sound is very easy to contain. That's stuff you'll hear, like guitar amps and stuff like that. Low-end bass is what we're worried about because that travels through the walls of the building. And therefore, no matter what we do inside our space, if it's going through the walls, there's nothing we can do. we're actually building isolation boxes for those bass speakers. So they'll be suspended, decoupled from the building and we'll mic them through these soundproof boxes and back into our system. So everything will be tampered down and contained yeah it's very nerdy stuff i learned more about it in my one hour consulting uh overview with this guy but um we actually went out and did some due diligence in los angeles austin texas went and looked at a space that's trying to do what we do in a hotel and ask questions about what they did to make sure that they were not interrupting the guests so again it is top priority and um We will engage with the other guys as much as possible and keep them up to date. And we will have a full proposal from the audio consultant, I'm sorry, that can address the main issues that we're trying to, so...

That's awesome. Thanks so much for being here. I mean, it seems like a great concept. We've been trying to attract and create different opportunities for folks to enjoy the play aspect of Live, Work, Play and Clayton. And so I'd love anything you can share about your experience doing this kind of work and what attracted you to Clayton as a place to do it.

Yeah, I'll give you a quick rundown of myself and my other partners. So my background is in the live music industry. I used to run and operate the Old Rock House from 2010 to 16. Booked and promoted about 1,300 different concerts throughout that time in almost every venue across St. Louis as well. I went on to work for Red Bull Music and came back here, went to Minneapolis and came back in 2019. My partners are Matt Longville, who owns STL Barkeep. He owns and operates Off Elm in Webster, High End Cocktail Lounge, and then the Vandy, kind of a funky cocktail lounge in the Grove. And then our third culinary operating partner is Nate Hereford. He was the executive chef for Niche when they won the Spirit Award. So depending on our opening date, it'll be almost exactly 10 years to him returning to downtown Clayton with his first higher-end menu in St. Louis since he left Niche. He owns and operates Chicken Scratch now, but Wynn worked in San Francisco and Chicago as well. So yeah. We are looking to bring a really fresh energy to Clayton. I think the time is right. We look to be leaders in what your guys' goal is to enhance that 5 p.m. to midnight energy in Clayton and make it feel more like a vibrant downtown area. And so I don't think this is going to be our last place. This is kind of the start for us working together. We've known each other for a long time, so we're excited to get started.

That's awesome. I'd be more excited now. What are you targeting for opening? I would imagine it's still early. Okay. Maybe. No, I mean, fair. I just was curious.

The good thing is there's a lot of infrastructure still in place from MISO. Like we don't have to do a lot of plumbing. The bar infrastructure is still there. So we're kind of building space and we're just making it look better and more functional to what we're trying to do. So it's not like we're digging up concrete or tearing down a bunch of walls. So we're hoping to move pretty quickly.

Awesome. And it sounds like you might have, based on your partners, like a kind of like fun cocktail menu and offerings. And I mean, do you expect it to be like full restaurant?

We'll have at least a 10 item menu. Okay. I would say it's like our twist on a tapas bar. So shareable, communal, less entree sit down, like four course, more like sit at a table of four and share four or five plates.

I can't wait.

Yeah.

Thank you.

I think it's a very exciting project. I think about 25 years ago, we took about 200 records and gave them to, I don't know, Goodwill or someone knowing that no one would ever listen to records again. No one would ever have a record player. And then about a year and a half ago, one of my grandsons told me that I obviously didn't know what was going on because vinyl is really in. It's the best music you can possibly have. And he has a record player and he has I don't know, 100 record albums. None of ours, by the way. But anyway, I think this is very exciting. A couple of things. I did not go to the planning and zoning meeting, but I did listen to it afterwards. And I thought just a couple of things I thought were interesting. It was a very good discussion. But one that was mentioned, which you might want to comment on. is the elevator, because there was a question about accessibility, because you have steps going down. And sort of relatedly, is that the only way out? Because an emergency, that could be a fire hazard. And I think it was explained that there is another way There's a second way to get out of the basement other than going up the steps. So maybe you want to comment briefly on those two things.

Yeah, and coming from the live concert industry, risk mitigation is kind of in my brain. So thinking of how to get people out, it's with the two exits. We can divide the room and have that plan in place where everyone knows to move this part of the room out that door, this out that door. But as far as the elevator is concerned, we are a basement. We are going to have to get people who are not comfortable or cannot do stairs up and down. And so there is an existing lift gate. We are going From my experience in the entertainment world, if someone is in need of extra assistance and is buying a ticket to a concert, sporting event, something like that, their inherent nature is to call ahead and make sure that they are aware with what they're walking into or showing up to. And so our simple solution is have them meet our door person at that back door in their car, unload right out. And that's communication that we can have We'll have a door person up front and at the bottom of the stairs, so through communications with walkies, we can let them know. But in terms of anything besides additional signage, I think that's our best solution from an internal standpoint.

My final question is my grandson, who is now 17, would like to know, does he have to wait until he's 21 to have access? An

adult, yeah. I'm with an adult over 21. All

right. It looks like I might be there. Thanks. Thank you.

I'm very excited about this opportunity, and I mostly have curiosity questions as opposed to really anything. The only one I'm a little concerned about just from an operations standpoint is crowd capacity and managing crowds. I'm hoping that that becomes a problem that you're so successful. So it says there's room for like 129 seats or so. So first question is, are these generally going to be ticketed events or are these going to be open events? How does this work?

Yeah, so we built the model at 100 capacity. And I think when we initially had our discussion, we even talked about 99 without having to have the suppression systems. But we will have, think of it as four seatings. So a four to six happy hour, that'll be no cover charge. We'll be playing records in the background. People can come in after work, sit down, have a couple of drinks. Our first ticketed time will be 6 p.m. So 6 to 8 p.m. is our first seating. They'll come in. It'll not reserve their seat, but it will reserve them a seat there. So they can sit down, order drinks, order dinner, enjoy one of the sets of music, and we flip the house. Then the next ticketed comes in from 8 to 10. We're trying to sell those out in advance, so we limit our walk-up variance or variability. And then once that, that set is over, we flip the house again at 10 o'clock and then we open it up free from 10 to close. And that's back to the vinyl sets as well. So.

And then, so who's, is there someone's job to make sure that you don't exceed capacity? And I'm more concerned just about the problems that overcapacity

brings. So with the ticketed set, we will scan everybody that walks in the door. So we will have a running count of how many we have in the door. Um, Again, the two-door people will be communicating on radio on exits. That will be prevalent when we have happy hour or late night when there is not a ticket. So we know if two people are leaving, we can let two people come in from the top. And there is those two doors at the top of the stairs. I know it's weird not looking at it, but they can either go out into the alleyway or go out through the front door so we can have an exit and an entrance to keep people not from running into each other and also... know how many people we have in the room

right have you um do you require any special um signage and if so have you applied for that yet or i'm just curious what your signage may be

we're gonna have a pretty minimal look like it's gonna have that speakeasy vibe to it um when we flip it on at night it'll show our logo but during the daytime but we will have to apply for an additional sign but i don't expect it to be more than an eight inch by eight inch box

okay um is this type of music that you anticipate? Is it a wide range or is it a more just a certain genre of music?

Rooted in jazz, funk and R&B.

Okay. So how'd you come up with the name? What's the story there?

Jack Meyer was my best friend who passed away two years ago. And he was like my music guy that I went to hundreds of concerts with. And so I started working on this the day after his memorial service. Um, cool thing about that is his sisters were our first equity partners we took on and they're giving us his like thousand record collection to live in house. So that's

great.

Yeah.

Real tribute. A

lot of meaning behind it. Big question.

Well, I hope you promote that because that's what makes places really interesting is how they get their names. So I need to go there.

Max records will be there. And that's pretty special for a lot of people.

That's great. That's all I have. Thank you.

Very excited to have you guys here. I think this is something that a lot of residents have been talking about, you know, like you were saying that after five, you know, entertainment venue is really important. And just, you know, to kind of piggyback a little bit from an operational standpoint, you have a similar venue. So this is understanding that you already have, right? Of how it all works. So

yeah, between the three of us, we've, we've ran a lot of these types of places over the course of our collective 60 year careers, I guess. So yeah, I mean, it's, this is our second nature. And this is something unique. There's nothing, there's not gonna be anything like us here in St. Louis. And we've drawn a lot of inspiration from places we traveled. So

yeah, it sounds awesome. Very excited.

And I just ask, are you dark on Monday and Tuesday or what day?

If demand asks, we'll apply for more. A similar place in Kansas City does this seven days a week, like 4 p.m. to I think 2 a.m. some nights, and it's always got people in it. So we hope the demand gets there, but we also all have kids and need days off.

So for now, five nights, two days off or whatever.

Thanks, Brian. And then I just, you know, it sounds like the acoustic measures of, you know, that you're, you know, going to take all the necessary. And then I'm sure if there were problems, you guys would address them with. Yeah.

And we'll even include them in like the testing process. That's great. Yeah.

I'm sure they'd really appreciate that. So. wonderful well like everybody said it's very exciting um when you first came to city hall to kind of talk to us you know you just never know if things are going to happen so i'm really excited that you've really moved and you're really far down this path so um thank you for bringing what seems like a great project to clayton so we appreciate it

and excitement i know it's not always like that especially

yeah thank

you

Awesome. There's no one else? Council Member Patel? If I could just note... Yes, and I will close the public hearing first. We

do have another venue in Clayton that plays vinyl. The Hi-Fi by Upshot Coffee plays vinyl records. Okay.

Before that's read, I think I had noted, and I don't know if it's been fixed, that I think in our resolution, it suggests that the hours are from Wednesday through Monday. And I believe Monday is not applicable based on what the applicant has said.

I think the hours in the resolution are wider than what they're initially starting with so that they don't have to come back if they decide to add that additional day. If they came back on Monday.

Understood. That's correct. Never mind.

I will now, I'll close the public hearing. Thank

you. I move to approve resolution number 20-26-04 granting a conditional use permit for 16 North Merrimack for Mr. Myers Live and Vinyl Lounge.

Second.

Any discussion?

All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The vote passes 5-0. The next item on our agenda is a number of things on our consent agenda. I'll open the discussion. Are there any questions or comments up here about any of those items? Any questions or comments from the audience or online? Seeing

none, Council Member Patel. I move to approve the consent agenda.

Second.

Any discussion?

Council Member Patel. Aye. Council Member Gary Feder.

Council Member Patel. Aye. Council Member Fader.

Aye.

Council member Rick Hummell. Aye. Councilmember Waldman. Aye. Mayor McAndrew.

Council member Hummel. Aye. Councilmember Waldman. Aye. Mayor McAndrew.

Aye.

Thank you.

Moving on to our business matters. The only item of old business that we have is related to 121 South Merrimack. Mr. City Manager.

Yes, this item was first read two weeks ago. School Lot Development LLC is requesting the issuance of revenue bonds to fund the acquisition and renovation of the property 121 South Merramack Avenue. The project aims to convert the existing building into approximately 118 market rate apartments with related amenities. The attached ordinance would authorize the city to issue taxable industrial revenue bonds in a principal amount not to exceed $60 million. These bonds will provide funds for the cost of acquiring, constructing, and improving the facility. The bonds are limited obligations to the city, payable solely from revenues derived from a lease agreement with the company. They do not constitute a general obligation or indebtedness of the city and are not payable through taxation. Staff recommends second reading and approval of the ordinance authorizing the city to issue the series 2026 bonds and execute all related documents. And I know that we have the applicant here this evening, if you have any questions.

Thank you. I'll open the discussion. Are there any questions or comments from the council?

My only question is, in the intervening two weeks, have we received any public comment at all about this? I personally have not. I don't believe our city clerk has either. Okay, thank

you.

Are there any questions or comments from the audience or online?

Seeing none, Councilmember Patel. I introduce bill number 7136, authorization of the issuance of taxable industrial revenue bonds for the 121 South Merrimack Project Series 2026 to be read for the second time by title only.

Second.

Any discussion?

Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 7136, second reading and consideration for adoption. An ordinance authorizing the city of Clayton, Missouri to issue its taxable industrial revenue bonds, 121 South Merrimack Project Series 2026 in a principal amount not to exceed $60 million for the purpose of providing funds to pay the costs of acquiring, constructing, and improving a facility for an industrial development project in the city. Approving a plan for the project and authorizing the city to enter into certain agreements and take certain other actions in connection with the issuance of the bonds.

Council Member Patel? Aye. Council Member Gary Feder?

Council Member Patel? Aye. Council Member Fader?

Aye.

Council member Rick Hummell? Aye. Councilmember Waldman? Aye. Mayor McAndrew?

Council member Hummel? Aye. Councilmember Waldman? Aye. Mayor McAndrew?

Aye. Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor, can I just ask since Michael is here, I'm just curious now what the timeframe is for the project now that it's been fully approved, if you can give us any sense of your timing. Oh,

time frame. Like if there's now that the things have been approved.

Now that we're through this process, what's your time frame? We started three weeks ago. You

started even before things got approved.

Yeah, we already have the first floor floors cleared out. All the parking garages, the abatement is done on those. We'll have the first floor main lobby will be fully abated by Friday. The second and third floor are cut down to just columns. That's next. The buck hoist goes in a couple of weeks. We... we need a building permit okay but uh we sent those comments for the last couple of comments on the building permit that went in yesterday uh i mean we're there so this i promise not to come back here again okay

I won't hold you to it, but any guesses to occupancy when you think you might be ready to have some people in there? April 27 sounds, March, April 27 sounds

about right. Really? Wow. Thank you. I mean, we have a 12 month construction schedule at 30 days for what ifs. And I mean, yeah, it's about, about April of 27. Sounds

good.

Thank you.

Thank you. Just to clarify for the record, you did not do anything you shouldn't have done before you had approval.

We already

had. I know that's what I mean. I just, the language that we use up here kind of made it sound like you worked ahead of our approval. Yes. You did

not.

Just for anyone paying attention. You mentioned in the last meeting that you had started to do some work. I mean, you own the building.

We got a permit. We paid for it.

I believe it. Thank you very much.

Any other questions?

All

right, guys. I appreciate it. Have a nice night, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you.

You too. Thank you. Good point. All right. The first item under new business is an intergovernmental agreement with MST. Mr. City Manager.

Yes, the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District or MSD established a municipal stormwater grant program following voter approval of a dedicated stormwater funding source in April of 2024. The program provides funding to municipalities for projects that address localized flooding and erosion. The participation agreement establishes the terms under which the city may apply for and receive grant funding. The agreement will also apply to the previously established OMCI areas and associated funding. The agreement does not approve any specific project. It allows the city to submit applications to MSD, which will evaluate projects based on program criteria, technical requirements, and available funding. Staff recommends that the City Council approve the ordinance authorizing execution of the Municipal Stormwater Grant Participation Agreement with MSD and any related administrative actions.

Thank you. I'll open the discussion. Are there any questions or comments from the council or from the audience?

Yeah, I'm just confused. I don't have any problem with this. I'm just wondering how is this different than what we would have done before? Or is it simply that it's a new program from 2024 and we haven't had anything and now we have to actually approve something? That's

correct. So prior to this, all we had were those OMCI projects. We approved some at our last meeting and you would do that on a project by project basis. So it was a specific project and every agreement, we would have an application process and then an agreement for each one of those. This is a blanket approval so that we can apply for various projects as we go forward, so it's really just much more efficient

So from a oversight standpoint, the theory is since we're not expending any city money, it's just we're granting the authority to proceed. And therefore, we shouldn't have any or don't need to have accountability for something we're not spending money on.

We'll come up with the individual projects and submit those projects to MSD. MSD would need to approve and fund those projects.

They'll oversee it, but we don't need to. That's correct.

Yeah, and it's a reimbursement program. So it's still part of our capital planning process. There's just not an application and an agreement directly with MSD for each project.

Okay, thank

you.

Council Member

Patel.

I introduce bill number 7143, approving a contract with Metropolitan Sewer District for the Proposition S program to be read for the first time by title only.

Second. Any discussion? Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 7143, first reading in ordinance approving an intergovernmental agreement for municipal stormwater grant participation with the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District for the funding of future stormwater improvement and erosion control projects located in the city of Clayton, Missouri, and actions related thereto.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

I move that the council give unanimous consent to consideration for adoption of bill number 7143 on the day of its introduction.

Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The vote passes 5-0. Let the minutes reflect that the council has given unanimous consent.

I introduce bill number 7144, approving a contract with Metropolitan Sewer District for the Proposition S program to be read for the second time by title only.

Second.

Any discussion? Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 7143, second reading and consideration for adoption. An ordinance approving an intergovernmental agreement for municipal stormwater grant participation with the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District for the funding of future stormwater improvement and erosion control projects located in the city of Clayton, Missouri, and actions related thereto.

Council Member Patel. Aye. Council Member Gary Feder.

Council Member Patel. Aye. Council Member Fader.

Aye.

Council member Rick Hummell.

Council member Hummel.

Aye.

Councilmember Waldman. Aye. Mayor McAndrew. Aye. Thank you.

The next item on our agenda is a contract for a community development block grant for some ramps, some new ramps and sidewalks.

Yes. The public works department requests approval of construction contract with Kingsland concrete contractor LLC for the 2025 CDBG curb ramps and sidewalk project, which will improve sidewalk accessibility in the 7,700 block of Bonham Avenue. Two bids were opened on October 29th, 2025 Kingsland concrete submitted the lowest responsive responsible bid at $62,580. We also are requesting, um, Authorization for change orders up to $6,200, which is roughly 10% of the project for unforeseen conditions or quantity adjustments. The project is fully funded through the St. Louis County Community Development Block Grant Program or CDBG program, including the contingency amount. All construction costs are expected to be paid directly to the contractor by St. Louis County, resulting in no financial impact to the city. The work is anticipated to begin this spring and will be substantially complete within this calendar year. Staff recommends approval of the ordinance authorizing a contract with Kingsland Concrete Contractor LLC in the amount of $62,580 plus a contingency of $6,200 totaling $68,780 for the 2025 CDBG curb ramps and sidewalk project. And Matt Malek, our public works director is here to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you all up in the discussion. Are there any questions or comments from the council or anyone in the audience?

I have a question. I'm just kind of curious. I know we get grants from St. Louis County for parks work and stuff like that. I'm less familiar with this one. Can you like, is this something we do regularly? And I just haven't noticed. We do it. What other projects?

Yes. And it's something we've just started more recently bringing before the city council for this contract, because even though it's not a financial impact, it does, we are still entering into a contract with the contractor. but it is paid directly. Once we get an invoice, we hand it to St. Louis County for them directly to pay the contractor. It's the community development block grant program is funded through HUD federally. And we get a set disbursement each year, $22,500, I believe is our set amount. What we've started doing is they allow you now to bank that build up to get a project that's at least of some substance and then utilize it. So you, It used to be an annual project, but now we can probably do one about every three years is what you'll see.

Awesome. So thank you for making me not feel like I wasn't paying attention. But so basically we have at least $68,780 banked in this fund. And

they let you go forward into the next upcoming year. Their approval process is a very lengthy one. That's why it's called the 2025. We applied in 24. Yeah.

Thank you very much. Mr. Painter, any...

Second.

Oh, you're...

I looked up and just said second to everything.

Any questions or comments?

Yeah, I'm just curious how we pick this particular block as opposed to any others. And are there other blocks that need the same kind of attention and it'll just come out of a different budget?

different budget. We do sidewalk inspections as well as incorporate improvements to sidewalks with other projects that we're doing that have grant funding. Every year, we also have an ADA improvements project that address similar items in residential and commercial areas. We also rely on our ADA transition plan that we been chipping away at for many years, but the sidewalks are one of the bigger pieces that are left. This area is being in the downtown, you get higher traffic. So it's just usually a higher priority, but it's usually based off inspections reports or ADA transition plan

for priority. So I guess my question then is, is just do we have a significant amount of similar work that still needs to be done in the central business district? Or does this kind of tidy things up in that area?

I wouldn't say it tidies up for the entire area. This is one of the areas that has been in the same, under the same, it's not been redeveloped in many years. It's mostly in front of the sevens building. So it's not an area where we have streetscape where we've had a lot of other redevelopment in the city and that has been refreshed. This does not install streetscape, but it addresses issues with the tree grates and the unevenness in the sidewalk in those areas.

Great. Thank you.

Thanks Matt. Councilmember Patel.

I introduce bill number 7144, approving a contract with Kingsland Concrete Contractor LLC for the 2025 CDBG curb ramps and sidewalks project to be read for the first time by title only.

Second.

Any discussion?

Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 7144, first reading. An ordinance approving a contract with Kingsland Concrete Contractor LLC for the construction of the 2025 CDBG curb ramps and sidewalk project.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Council Member Patel? I move that the council give unanimous consent to consideration for adoption of bill number 7144 on the day of its introduction.

Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The vote passes 5-0. Let the minutes reflect that the Council has given unanimous consent.

I introduce Bill No. 7144, Approving a Contract with Kingsland Concrete Contractor, LLC, for the 2025 CDBG Curb, Ramps, and Sidewalks Project to be read for the second time by title only.

Second.

Any discussion? Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 7144, second reading and consideration for adoption. An ordinance approving a contract with Kingsland Concrete Contractor LLC for the construction of the 2025 CDBG curb ramps and sidewalk project.

Council Member Patel? Aye. Council Member Gary Feder?

Council Member Patel? Aye. Council Member Fader?

Aye.

Council member Rick Hummell? Aye. Councilmember Waldman? Aye. Mayor McAndrew? Aye. Thank you.

Council member Hummel? Aye. Councilmember Waldman? Aye. Mayor McAndrew? Aye. Thank you.

All right, the next item on our agenda is exciting, tree planting. uh mr city manager yes

i apologize this will be a longer summary but i know there are a lot of people in town that are really excited about this or have a lot of questions about it so i'm going to cover just about everything that was in the report there the department of public works requests approval of a contract with sunnyside nursery for the city's fiscal year 26 tree planting program and a multi-year tornado reforestation planting program the base scope of work includes the planting of 108 trees as a part of the city's fiscal year 26 standard tree planting. Planting locations are within public rights away, including tree lawns and common areas. So again, the 108 trees that are listed here, that's our regular replanting we would do in any given year. The proposal also included an ad alternate. This is the fiscal year 27 through fiscal year 29 tornado restoration tree planting project, which would plant 595 trees over a maximum three-year period as a part of the city's post-tornado canopy restoration. The contract sets priority planting zones and annual minimum targets, but allows trees to be planted earlier if available, and they meet our specifications. All tree species and locations have been selected by the City Forester. All planted trees will include a one-year warranty with replacement of failed trees included. Additionally, In both the base bid and the ad alternate bid, each tree will receive a watering bag. The bags will provide slow, direct watering to the root zone, improving moisture consistency, and increasing survival during establishment. Instructions will also be provided to residents on how to water and care for the new trees. Due to the number, we're going to need help from residents, so we're going to be sure that we educate everyone on what to expect with the new trees that go in. Under the contract, the contractor will work with city staff each year to finalize the annual planting plan by early spring, with planting occurring during the fall and winter planting season. The first trees planted as a part of the ad alternate for tornado reforestation will be in late 2026 or early 2027. Stump grinding is scheduled for the spring or summer preceding each planting year. However, stumps may be ground earlier if feasible. So that'll take place between now and the fall. We're trying to use our crews where we can, but we also have a project currently out to bid for contractor help on stump grinding. Our crews are stressed already with the amount of pruning work they have, plus we have spring leaf collection coming up and some other things. So we're going to be looking for some outside help potentially for stump grinding. We've got about 500 stumps citywide that still need to come out. The project was solicited through a formal request for proposals or RFP process in accordance with the city's purchasing policies. Proposals were received on March 6, 2026, and the city received six proposals from qualified contractors. Sunnyside Nursery was determined to have the lowest responsive and responsible proposal with a base bid of $40,320 for the base bid, so that's the 2026 standard tree planting, and $267,750 for the ad-alternate which is the three-year tornado restoration plan for a total amount of $308,050. The department is also requesting approval of a $10,000 contingency to address unforeseen field conditions, adjustments to locations or additional tree replacements as needed. Staff recommends approval of the ordinance authorizing a contract with Sunnyside Nursery Incorporated in the amount of $306,000 plus a $10,050 contingency for a total project authorization $318,050.

Thank you. I'll open the discussion. Are there any questions or comments from the council?

I have a question about the, so it sounds like the city forester has already selected the tree species and locations. And Matt is nodding his head yes as he approaches.

That is correct.

Yeah. I know that we had a diagram and a plan that showed precisely like which trees, where trees or damaged and kind of phased the work, to what extent do we have documented what tree will be planted when and where that we can share with residents?

So right now, the plant or the Proposals that were requested gave guidelines to say, to identify those areas, each street, each zone. And we said in area one, two, three or four, you had certain targets that you had to hit each planting year. This gives some flexibility to the contractors to be able to source or grow the trees locally to determine, okay, that's a certain type of tree. If I grow that locally, I can get it at a good competitive price and I can put it in in year two. So we're giving them some flexibility, but the areas that were hardest hit get 50% of the trees each year at a minimum. Then we go down to 25, 15, and 10, the following zones. So Y-down, for instance, each year when they plant trees, 50% of them essentially should be on Y-down is the way it splits out. But we won't know the exact location. If it would end up being a total of three years, I couldn't tell you what the last tree would be planted right now is. We do give some flexibility to the contractor, but we had targets in there for distribution.

Okay, so just to make sure I'm hearing understanding correctly because I know I want to be able to explain this well. We have identified what tree goes where and we have identified zones that we expect the contractor to plant a certain percentage of the trees that they plant each year in. So what we could potentially have available to share with residents is, but it will be up to the contractor to decide precisely which trees they can source and plant in each of the three years. Like as long as they meet our criteria. And so we would, like you would be able to tell me like what tree is targeted for planting in front of my house. And I could know whether it's an area that gets, like whether it's a one, two or three. And that still doesn't tell me whether it gets planted in the first year or the third year.

That's

correct. But I'll have an idea of like, how prioritized my street is based on its impact or like... With the

zone number, you would have an idea of that. But just... Yeah, but there could still be... There is some flexibility that we want to give to the contractor. I get what you're getting at. Yes, you would have the location and the zone.

Yeah. And... I'm sorry, the

species and the zone.

The species, yeah. How easy would it be to share the species with people? Because they're very interested in that.

Individually, I mean, posting something... To reach out to individual property owners would not be-

No, I mean post it. Post it somewhere that people can go look if they want to know.

Yeah, that's something we could explore utilizing our website or something else for

sure.

What was I going to add to that? I forget. I was going to

add something. That's okay. I think that's it for now. Thank you very much. What notice will people get before it happens? Any? Like, how do we... Yeah, I mean, like, will it be that a sign goes up that no parking or...

In a typical year, you would... People become accustomed to, oh, you're grinding my stump in the spring. We're going to get a tree in the fall or the winter. That'll be potentially a little bit different depending on how we're able to approach the stumps. So... If it's not a heavily trafficked area that they can get in, they won't post no parking signs to avoid disrupting flow of traffic. But if it feels like, oh, we're not getting an opening, signs will go in. Then they'll get a door hanger generally is the way we've done it with

disruptions. Yeah. Okay, great. Thank you.

I think it's very exciting. We lost a tree in front of our house, and I was particularly interested to see that we're going to receive a watering bag with instructions. So I look forward to that. Hopefully my wife can figure out the instructions.

It'll be installed on the tree. It's mostly just, hey, here's where to put the water.

I will say in all our years, we never had a tornado, and I don't think we generally didn't lose trees. And a question I think people in our neighborhood always had is, Who's responsible for the tree lawn? So I think this has been a good learning experience. And I hope we continue to work on that, that people understand the concept of a tree lawn. Because people, like I said, invariably wondered, am I supposed to take care of mowing that or weeding it? You know, all these questions. And I think this whole process will help people understand what tree lawns are all about.

Answer yes and yes.

I'm very excited to see all these trees come back.

Great. So I'm curious, Matt, how are the tree size specified? Are these all the same? Does it depend on the species? What kind of caliper inches or height? Can it be any kind of tree? What are we going to get?

Yeah, two and a half inches is targeted. It'll be between two and three inches is the target.

Okay. And so does this include, so that I have clarity with the CCF, does this include trees for the median of Y down or not?

That's not, that's excluded because it's part of another project. It does include the trees on the house side exterior of that medium from university to city limits.

Great, thank you. And then, excuse me, I'm confused. It's a, I don't know, just to understand that I don't typically go through in great detail the contract, but on Page 283, it talks about the time for completion. And it says that the contractor needs to start this within 10 days and be completed within 60 days. Yet this is a very long-term contract. So I'm just confused. What does that mean?

I think that was meant to be annually, each planting cycle. We probably, I don't need to look at that exact page, but the idea would be that they wouldn't have three years of plant whenever they want. There's a timeframe depending on the species that we would target for them to plant that tree in. I would have to look at that specific language and maybe something we need to modify to capture the three-year program that we'd be doing.

Yeah, I mean, just I understand that there's stump removal as well as planting. And so I can't imagine all these, you know, they're seasonal. And so just you might want to just take a look at that and see whether this is representative.

And to clarify, stump removal is separate from this contract.

Oh, okay. All right. Thank you. I don't have any other questions.

Just quick question. So to clarify, none of this is covered by FEMA, right? Because they will not cover plantings.

Non-reimbursable.

Okay. Okay. And then just my other question is, so the standard, the 108 standard trees, will those go to any of the tornado damage areas? You know, I know you're talking about like the 50% and everything. So, or will those just go where they normally would have gone?

Those were all removed prior to the tornado. So it's a reforestation of those trees that happened prior to the tornado, some of them might be in the same area, but those are scattered throughout town.

Okay, so that those do not are not part of like the 50%. Correct. Okay. Great. Thank you.

Any questions or comments from the audience or online? Thanks, Matt. Thanks for all your hard work with this. Council Member

Patel. I introduce Bill No. 7145, approving a contract with Sunnyside Nursery, Inc., for the Tree Planting Services FY26-29 project to be read for the first time by title only.

Second.

Any discussion? Mr.

City Attorney.

Bill number 7145, first reading an ordinance approving a contract with Sunnyside Nursery Incorporated for fiscal year 2026 annual tree planting program and the tornado restoration tree planting services fiscal year 2629 project.

All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

I move that the council give unanimous consent to consideration for adoption of bill number 7145 on the day of its introduction.

Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The vote passes 5-0. Let the minutes reflect that the council has given unanimous consent.

I introduce bill number 7145 approving a contract with Sunnyside Nursery Inc. for the tree planting services FY26-29 project to be read for the second time by title only.

Any discussion? Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 7145, second reading and consideration for adoption. An ordinance approving a contract with Sunnyside Nursery Incorporated for fiscal year 2026 annual tree planting program and the tornado restoration tree planting services fiscal year 26 to fiscal year 29 project.

Council member Patel. Aye. Council member Gary Feder.

Council member Patel. Aye. Council member Fader.

Aye.

Council Member Rick Hummell. Aye. Councilmember Waldman. Aye. Mayor McAndrew.

Council Member Hummel. Aye. Councilmember Waldman. Aye. Mayor McAndrew.

Aye.

Thank you.

The last item on our agenda is a contract for the lighting replacement project at the Shaw Park Tennis Center.

Yes, 2012, the Shell Park Tennis Center underwent a major renovation, which included replacing the playing surface with a post-tension concrete system and new fencing on all 10 courts. However, due to cost constraints at the time, lighting for courts one through nine was not replaced. The current lights are ineffective and should be replaced with more energy-efficient, full-coverage lighting. Staff and the City Council reviewed two lighting proposals on January 13, 2026, and determined the desired course of action is to move forward with a comprehensive, long-term lighting solution for the courts, installing new 40-foot poles and replacing all existing luminaires. This option fully meets dark sky compliance standards for the tennis center. Equipment for the project has an estimated 10-week lead time, and the installation is expected to take three to four weeks. Staff has reviewed the project specifications and the scope of work for the proposal and believe that Musco Sports Lighting LLC is well qualified to complete the project. They do participate in SourceWell, which is a nationwide purchasing cooperative, and they provide a lump sum bid for each proposal, factoring in a 5% discount on the normal price of their products. Funding for the project is included in the fiscal year 26 capital budget at $441,636, consisting of $266,636 from a municipal park grant and an additional $175,000 allocated by the city. Due to the increased scope and complexity of installing the new poles, staff recommends a contingency of 10% on the project. Staff recommends approval of the ordinance authorized into contract with Musco Sports Lighting LLC and the amount of $460,000 plus a 10% contingency of $46,000 for the lighting replacement project at the Shaw Park Tennis Center for a total of $506,000. And Tony is here this evening if you have any questions about the lights. We did have this on the agenda maybe six weeks ago or so. We ended up pulling it in the last minute because the contractor wanted to... inspect the site again and look at their information they've actually come back with the exact same proposal they had about six weeks ago so we've lost a little bit of time on this project about a month and a half and again it's it's tying up a municipal park grant so this is one we want to get done as quickly as possible uh so we're happy to see this finally before the council

That's exactly what I was thinking about. Yeah, so thank you to your team. You've been doing a lot of lighting work and I appreciate the focus on making sure that we're doing lighting that achieves the needs of the users of the facility without any unnecessary spillage and all that. So That's awesome. I was going to ask where this timing puts us in terms of expected ability to complete the project and close out the grant before the next grant cycle.

Yeah, I had informed this vendor that we had to be done by August 1st, which gives us a couple weeks lead time or a couple weeks wiggle time there. We will be cutting it close. So I think the main thing is we have to tell them if this contract is approved immediately so that they can order those poles, they're confident under three to four week installation time.

Yeah. So they, I'm glad that they know. Yeah. They're well aware. Yes. Yeah. I know

you've been communicating. Thank you very much. No problem.

Given that timeframe, when do you think the three or four weeks installation would occur?

Likely probably in June, mid June to mid July.

Thank

you.

And

then, oh, Tony, I was just going to ask, too, if there's so during the installation, I can't remember. I think you said this before. Will tennis be interrupted in the evenings? It will

be. Yeah. It's going to depend. It will be during the day while they're working. And we've already talked with Clark about that because he'll really have to accommodate tennis camps. But he already has a plan for that. It really just depends on where they're at in the process because at some point in time, they will have to peel back the rollback part of the fence, which Justin and I talked to the project manager about when we walked the site. But he's feeling fairly confident that the interruptions will be minimal.

That's great. Okay. Thank you. Okay.

Awesome. I introduce bill number 7146, approving a contract with Musco Sports Lighting LLC for the Shaw Park Tennis Center project to be read for the first time by title only.

Second.

Any discussion?

Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 7146. First reading in ordinance, approving a contact with Musco Sports Lightning LLC for the lighting replacement project at Shaw Park Tennis Centre.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

Council Member Patel. I move that the council give unanimous consent to consideration for adoption of Bill No. 7146 on the day of its introduction.

Second. All those in favor. Aye. Any opposed? Vote passes 5-0. Let the minutes reflect that the council has given unanimous consent.

I introduce bill number 7146, approving a contract with Moscow Sports Lighting LLC for the Shaw Park Tennis Center project to be read for the second time by title only.

Second. Any discussion? Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 7146, second reading and consideration for adoption. An ordinance approving a contract with Musco Sports Lighting LLC for the lighting replacement project at Shaw Park Tennis Center.

Council Member Patel. Aye. Council Member Gary Feder.

Council Member Patel. Aye. Council Member Fader.

Aye.

Council member Rick Hummell. Aye. Councilmember Waldman. Aye. Mayor McAndrew.

Council member Hummel. Aye. Councilmember Waldman. Aye. Mayor McAndrew.

Aye. That brings us to the end of our agenda. Shelly, do you have anything that you wanted to say? Shelly's the head of the All In Coalition at the school district. But maybe you were just here to listen. Okay. Well, wonderful welcome it's it's nice to see you. And then, are there, we can go around if there's anything that people want to highlight that they. Within their committees or something in the Community.

I can't think of anything. It was too hot this weekend. It's like exciting to see all people out like on demand. And then it was like actually hot.

Yeah, it was very

hot. But I mean, but it's great to see people out and activated with the weather changing. Mr. Bader.

At the Equity Commission, we had a presentation, which I think is annual now by our chief of police and chief prosecutor, essentially reviewing various violations, traffic and otherwise under our code, particularly an emphasis on traffic. And also focusing on the degree of disparity between Caucasian offenders, African-American. That's an issue that I think we've studied over the last few years and I think seems to me made a lot of progress. We heard from Craig Smith, who I had not met previously, who also talked about the process. And Clayton, I was very impressed with what he had to say. We had a Ward 3 coffee, which was successful at Calde's, even though I had to do it without Kami, but we survived. And actually, Kami and I are going to Maryland Walk tomorrow. At 630 because they're having their I think their quarterly or semi annual condominium meeting and so we're going to give a little presentation on what's going on. I do want to say a word or two about Bob Clark, who

Chapman,

Bob Chapman Yes, I'm sorry. I was about to say my good friend.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Bob Chapman, I actually met in 2012 when I was, I think, president of CCF. Mayor Scott had suggested that he was one of those people we should meet because we should introduce him to the concept of CCF. I frankly had never heard of Bob Chapman at the time. I had no idea what Barry Waymiller did. I think it was Patty DeForest and I went over there and we had some slides prepared of some different potential projects in Shaw Park because we thought that was of interest to him. And we really hope just to... have that introduction and that would be the end of it. Um, and he said, uh, what about a waterfall at the corner? And we thought that was pretty amusing, uh, because what the hell we're going to have a waterfall in the middle of Clayton. Um, and, um, and then actually some years later we have Chapman Plaza, we have a waterfall, we have an incredible contribution. Um, and Bob gave, I think, ultimately $7 million to the city of Clayton for that project. I believe what I heard from, I think, our former Mayor Sanger was that the history of gifts in Clayton is that that was the second largest gift in the history of Clayton. The biggest prior to that was when Mr. Shaw gave the property that became Shaw Park. So Bob was an incredible guy. I think over the years, I probably spent almost every other month in Bob Chapman's office as the project evolved from a concept with the help of SWT, who are our consultant on the project. By the way, it was an amazing project. I think Bob at one point actually wanted to have other companies involved and And when that did not necessarily go anywhere, given the magnitude of the dollars, he basically said, well, I'll just do it. And when he said he'd give $5 million, we said, well, you know, Bob, there's one problem, which is people will say that's great. Taxpayers aren't going to have to pay anything for it. But, you know, it's a water project and it will invariably break down and there will be a lot of maintenance costs. And people will say, where's that going to come from? And that's how we got from five million to seven million because Bob agreed to make an endowment over a 20-year period to basically put, I think, $225,000 into a fund over the years. And actually, that's turned out to be a greater amount. But I would just say in closing, the remarkable thing about Bob, and a lot's been written since he passed away, it wasn't just his generosity, but his... And his modesty, he told me how he grew up actually in the city of Ferguson, how he sort of over the course of his career moved to Clayton, how much he loved the city of Clayton. And I remember at one of the concerts in Chapman Plaza when it was all over, I came up to him one night and said, Bob, I just can't thank you enough for your gift. And he said, well, thank you for asking me. And that was Bob Chapman. And he's a remarkable individual. He'll be greatly missed. So thank

you. Gary, thank you so much for saying that. You said it far better than I had intended to say it. So I really appreciate that. He was a great, wonderful steward for the city of Clayton. So he will be greatly missed. And certainly, you know, once time passes a little bit, we can think about ways that if his family wishes to honor him in some way. So but thank you very much for your words. Sure.

I don't have anything to report, but I want to again applaud Gary for bringing that up. The Chapman family and Barry William Miller have been very important to the Clayton community. And so we'll miss Bob, but look forward to the continuing legacy that he will provide to the city.

I just attended the Cool Cities Steering Committee yesterday, and it was just brought up that the next pop-up will be on April 22nd in Webster Groves at 10 a.m., and we'll be discussing accessing solar today, so something really interesting. Another interesting thing that was brought up at that meeting was the introduction of the SWITCH program, which is for homeowners to – a program that helps get a rebate for homeowners to install solar panels or battery storage or EV chargers at a discounted rate. And so it's a brand-new program that Kat Golden with Missouri Botanical Gardens is starting, and she is looking for some municipal partners. And really, it's just like to help us get the word out to our residents. So that's hopefully something we can look at. And then last thing that was mentioned, which was kind of interesting, is campaign election sign recycling. They're not... going to have it after this April election, but they will have it after the November one. But if we can somehow figure out how to collect the ones from this one and store them, then we could recycle them all in November. So that's a great opportunity for that.

Thank you. The only thing I was going to mention is the Metro Mayor's meeting that was before spring break. It was a timely... I mean, it doesn't apply to Clayton as much, but the members of the East-West Gateway came and talked to everybody about data centers. So it was kind of interesting to hear everybody's thoughts on that. And they gave a nice presentation. It seems like there's still a lot of unknowns. The small ones seem less of a concern. The big ones are obviously what everybody's so worried about. But it was interesting to hear really the regional perspective about it and hear from John Posey largely gave the kind of presentation about them. at the meeting. So it was interesting. So that's all I have. David, anything else? I move that we adjourn. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Thanks, everyone.