The City of Tarkio Board of Aldermen met Wednesday, September 13, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. at Tarkio City Hall. The Pledge of Allegiance was conducted. Roll call was done by City Clerk Danielle Madron: aldermen Scott Walker, Blu Dow, Jeff Olson, and Jeff Agnew were present. Visitors were: City of Tarkio employees – Street Superintendent Jamie Quimby, Chief of Police Tyson Gibbons, Park Superintendent Chris Niles, and Board of Public Works employee Curtis Hedrick; and citizen Mike Klosek, Sr. Andy Riley joined the meeting at 7:03 p.m.

Mayor Staten asked for the approval of the regular meeting minutes of August 8, 2023. The aldermen approved the minutes from the August 8 meeting.

Mike Klosek, Sr. thanked the street department for working on getting tree limbs cut in some alleys to make it safer for the trash trucks to travel down them.

Mayor Staten gave the first reading for Bill 301.23 Ordinance 287.23: An Ordinance Adopting An Amended Budget For The City Of Tarkio’s Fiscal Year April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024. It was approved.

Mayor Staten gave the second reading for Bill 301.23 Ordinance 287.23. It was also approved. Bill 301.23 Ordinance 287.23 was adopted.

Mayor Staten gave the first reading of Bill 302.23 Ordinance 288.23: An Ordinance Confirming The Vacation Of An Alleyway Between Elm Street And Main Street From 9th Street To 10th Street In Tarkio, Missouri. Bill 302.23 Ordinance 288.23 was approved.

Mayor Staten gave the second reading of Bill 302.23 Ordinance 288.23. It was approved. Bill 302.23 Or-dinance 288.23 was adopted.

Mayor Staten asked for the approval of a one-day caterer’s license for Just In Time Promotions. Justin Pankau will be doing the beer garden for Friendship Day on September 23 from 4:00 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. The one-day caterer’s license was approved.

Clerk Madron has sent in an application for more ARPA funding for the airport. These funds would reimburse the city for utility bills, hours worked, and other costs incurred by the city. The funds available would be in the amount of $22,000.00.

Mayor Staten informed the board it was time to discuss the annual cost of living raises for city employees. This will be discussed more in closed session.

KC Gunite has sent a quote for the pool renovations that need to be completed. The estimated cost is $222,500.00 plus the cost of discovery to find the leak under the pool. The cost estimate will be approximately $300,000.00.

Mayor Staten asked for the approval of the contract for administrative services for Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Gov-ernments to write the MoDNR/State Parks grant and to perform the environmental review for pool renovations. The cost will be $2,800.00. The aldermen voted to accept the contract.

Department reports

Blu Dow, City Buildings – Travis Hicks turned in a quote for fixing the ceilings in City Hall. The quote was in the amount of $400.00. Dow will contact him and let him know he can start the work as soon as he is available.

Jeff Agnew, Fire Department – There was nothing to report.

Jeff Olson, Parks & Pool: Chris Niles reported that the new backboards and hoops for the basketball court at Stephenson Park have been delivered and will be installed by the parks department. Volleyball poles have been ordered for the new volleyball pit. The crow’s nest renovations at the baseball field will be starting this weekend and will continue through October.

Scott Walker, Street Department – Quimby’s Report:

• Brush Pile – The crew will need to watch the winds and dryness to determine the best time to burn the brush.

• RV Park – There is one camper here at this time. There was one that skipped out without paying this last month. Quimby would like to suggest that the city close this facility on October 31 and reopen in March. Most other RV parks around close for the winter months. When there are people here in the winter, they usually use space heaters (not safe plus added expense to city) and allow the water to drip (added expense to city) so that it will not freeze.

• Cold Patch – The crew continues to use cold patch. There is a limited supply left and it will be used up soon.

• Parks Department – The crew has assisted a bit with mowing and they also assisted with the removal of large maple tree at Niedermeyer Park.

• Signage – Tyson and Quimby have discussed placing stop signs at 12th and McNary (north and southbound) because of people speeding through this intersection. The signs and posts needed have been ordered and this will be done when they arrive. They are also placing some additional speed limit signs on 13th Street.

• Tree Removal and Trimming – There have been more low hanging tree limbs cut and more will be done. There was a large tree limb fall on 7th Street near College on September 4 that had to be cleaned up.

• Friendship Day – Making sure that the crew has everything needed to place enough barricades for this event. Flags will be hung in the area of this event also.

• Christmas Décor – Quimby has been in contact with Evergy about assisting with taking down the old brackets and putting up the new ones. He has also asked if they will assist with installing the last six electrical drops.

• Winter Prep – Quimby ordered eight pallets of salt to add to what they had left from last winter, giving them a total of 17 pallets. This should be enough for this coming winter.

• Curbs – Next month, Quimby will have specs ready for curbs and handicap corners 3rd to 1st streets so that they can be done by next spring when the street matting bid is put out.

• Water Leak – As we are all aware, the Tarkio Board of Public Works had a large water leak on 10th Street that the city assisted with. One of the things that was learned from this is that we don’t have a large enough rock storage for a leak of this size. Quimby has contacted Kamron Woodring with Atchison County and made arrangements so if something like this happens again, they will haul rock to us. As close as can be figured, we used somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 to 83 tons of gravel.

Curtis Hedrick, Board of Public Works – There was a water main break on August 25. The city lost about 140,000 gallons of water. The break has been completely fixed and is working as it should be. The water tower inspection was completed on September 1. The results have not come back from the testing as of this time.

Mark Staten, Gould Peterson Municipal Airport – The building is complete and the final walk-through at the airport is scheduled for September 20 at 11:00 a.m.

Chris Niles, Animal Control – There are currently no animals.

Tyson Gibbons, Police Department – New mobile and hand-held radios have been installed in police department vehicles. The old ones will be used by the street department and park department to have communication during severe weather events.

Danielle Madron, City Financials – There was nothing to report.

A break was taken from 7:10 to 7:15 p.m.

Dow made a motion to enter into executive session per Chapter 610.021 Section 3. Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting a particular employee, etc. The motion was seconded and approved.

Agnew made a motion to close executive session per Chapter 610.021 Section 3. Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting a particular employee, etc. The motion was seconded and approved.

Agnew made a motion to give a 4% cost of living increase to all full-time employees. Walker seconded the motion. Three ayes and one nay were cast. The motion passed.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m. Next month’s regular meeting will be October 11, 2023, at 6:00 p.m.