The City of Tarkio Board of Aldermen met Wednesday March 19, 2025, at Tarkio City Hall. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited at 6:00 p.m. Clerk Danielle Kephart did roll call: Mayor Jeff Agnew and Councilmen Scott Walker, Jeff Olson, James Navin, and Scott Poppa were all present. Visitors were: City of Tarkio employees – Police Chief Tyson Gibbons and Building Inspector Jesse Payne; Tarkio Board of Public Works employee Danny Martin; Park Board member Karly Hicks; Atchison-Holt Ambulance District representative and Tarkio Chamber member Ashlee Driskell; Boy Scout Scoutmasters Matt Schlueter and Tim Vette and Scouts Josh Schlueter and Owen Vette; and citizens Dan and Sally Vietze.

Mayor Agnew asked for the approval of the February 12, 2025, regular meeting minutes as distributed. The motion was seconded and approved.

There were no additions, deletions or continuances to the agenda.

Ashlee Driskell spoke on behalf of the Atchison-Holt Ambulance Board, reminding everyone about the upcoming election and the tax levy that the ambulance district is proposing. There will be a public hearing to answer questions on Tuesday, March 25, at 6:00 p.m. at Community Hospital-Fairfax in the hospital board room in Fairfax, Missouri. The citizens of the county are encouraged to attend and get as much information as possible.

Ashlee also spoke on behalf of the Tarkio Chamber. They will be ordering Senior 2025 banners to hang on Main Street for the month of May. They are asking for sponsors for the cost of the banners. These banners will be given to the graduates after they are taken down.

Boy Scouts Josh Schlueter and Owen Vette were present to earn merit badges and speak on a few local issues. Josh spoke to the board about Chestnut Street by the high school being so narrow and a hazard for students when going to and coming home from school. Mayor Agnew informed Josh that the city would be looking into the concern and could possibly add this to the yearly street matting project. MoDOT would need to be contacted as well due to the street being adjacent to the highway. Owen Vette spoke to the board about the water main break issues the city has had over the past year. He asked why these problems kept happening and asked if there was a plan to fix the issue. Mayor Agnew and the board let Owen know that the water lines in town are very old, but that the water company is working on getting some grant funding to help fix these issues permanently.

Candidates for the April 8 election are as follows: Scott Walker, North Ward alderman; and Jeffrey Olson, South Ward alderman. There will also be a tax proposal on the ballot:  Shall the City of Tarkio, Missouri, impose a sales tax of one-half (1/2) of one percent (1%) for the purpose of improving public safety?

Mayor Agnew gave the first reading of Bill 321.25 Ordinance No. 307.25: An Ordinance Adopting An Amended Budget For The City Of Tarkio Fiscal Year April 1, 2024, To March 31, 2025. Walker made a motion to approve Bill 321.25 Ordinance 307.25 and the motion was seconded and approved.

Mayor Agnew gave the second reading of Bill 321.25 Ordinance No. 307.25. Olson made a motion to approve Bill 321.25 Ordinance 307.25 and the motion was seconded and approved. Bill 321.25 Ordinance 307.25 was adopted.

Mayor Agnew gave the first reading of Bill No. 322.25 Ordinance No. 308.25: An Ordinance Adopting A Budget For The City Of Tarkio’s Fiscal Year April 1, 2025, To March 31, 2026. Olson made a motion to approve Bill 322.25 Ordinance 308.25. The motion was seconded and approved.

Mayor Agnew gave the second reading of Bill 322.25 Ordinance 308.25. Poppa made a motion to approve Bill 322.25 Ordinance 308.25 and the motion was seconded and approved. Bill 322.25 Ordinance 308.25 was adopted.

Mayor Agnew spoke to the board about Tarkio City-Wide Clean-Up. Dates need to be set so the public can be informed when the event will take place. The board decided to hold clean-up days Thursday, May 15, through Saturday, May 17. Times and the specifics on the event will be discussed at the April 16 meeting and then sent out to the public.

Clerk Kephart asked the board to review a needed change to the employee policy regarding uniforms for city workers. The section needs to be more specific to the police department, not to all city workers. The board gave Clerk Kephart the go ahead to fix the handbook and bring back the change to be reviewed and approved in April.

Clerk Kephart also asked the board to make some changes to the current RV Park rental contract. The current contract states that there will be no refund for early departure. Some of the windmill workers pay for a month in advance and do not end up staying as long as they thought they could. Clerk Kephart would like to have that taken out of the contract. Changes to the length of stay also need to be made. Currently, as long as the renter has a permanent address elsewhere, they can stay for 12 months and then must ask the board for approval to stay longer. However, there have been some instances where people rent an RV spot and have asked to use this as a permanent residence for longer than a term of one year. The board would like the contract changed to state that no stays may be longer than six months without prior approval from the board. The city does understand there are contractors that do come stay for long periods of time and they will make exceptions depending on the specific situation. The pet policy in the contract also needs to be changed to state having animals, other than a cat or dog, must be approved prior to spot rental. The council would also like it stipulated that if the renter is a long-term renter, not only here for a day or two, a copy of shot records and a picture of the animal need to be given to City Hall, just in case there is an incident with the pet, or the pet is lost. This way it is easier for animal control to be able to assist in finding the animal if needed. Kephart will get the changes made and bring them back to the April meeting for approval.

Department Reports

Jeff Olson, Tarkio City Buildings – Jason Burke gave a quote for the doors at the Tarkio Community Building. To replace all the doors, the cost will be approximately $8,870, plus the labor cost. The board thinks this would be a great upgrade to the building. Olson will let Jason know that the city would like to move forward and get everything in order to get this started as soon as the doors come in. Olson also received a quote from Delmar Schebaum for the shed at the RV Park. The board would like to make some changes to what they want done to the building. Olson will take the changes back to Schebaum and get another estimate.

Scott Walker, Tarkio Volunteer Fire Department – The new generator has been installed at the fire department.

Scott Poppa: Tarkio Parks/Pool – The Glow In The Dark Easter Egg Hunt will be held April 18 on the Tarkio Tech campus. Donations will be taken until April 7. The Parks Par 3 Golf Tournament will be May 31. A new auto-fill pump will be ordered for the pool and the pool fill date has been set for the week of April 14.

James Navin, Jr., Tarkio City Streets – Street Superintendent Jamie Quimby’s report was presented:

• Repairs/Equipment – There were no major repairs made in the last month.

• RV Park – There are no campers at this time. A lot of work has been done at this location in the last month. Two trees were removed and all trees have been trimmed up and made as safe as possible. Some cement that was in the way of mowing was also removed. Quimby has talked to Meek & Sons about raising the sewer hook-ups and placing an elbow at ground level for camper use. The pipe going up will be a couple feet above ground level so they will be visible and less likely to be run over or broken. Quimby would also like to order five dump truck loads of gravel so that they can create parking areas for campers, instead of them parking in the grass and creating mud holes. He is also going to order site markers so that each site’s number is visible.

• Weather Events – There have been a few weather events since the last meeting. Quimby believes that the crew was well prepared and everything went well.

• Potholes – Patching of potholes has started with the warmer weather. The crew will be continuing this as spring continues.

• Sand Bin – Some of the cement blocks that were donated to the city were used to replace the old sand bin near the dog pound. This sand bin is used during the rodeo for the event field. Quimby also talked with a board member and they are getting rid of the old wood posts and bridge planks they had stored near the dog pound.

Danny Martin, Tarkio Board of Public Works – Several areas have been prepped for concrete to be poured where water lines were fixed. The public works guys will be out checking meters periodically.

Mayor Agnew, Gould Peterson Municipal Airport – There was nothing to report.

Chris Niles, Animal Control – There was nothing to report.

Chief Gibbons, Tarkio Police Department – Tarkio PD and the Atchison County Sheriff’s Office will be working with Tarkio Tech on a law enforcement training center that will offer both civilian and law enforcement training classes.

Clerk Kephart, City Financials – There was nothing further to report.

The meeting moved into executive session per Chapter 610.021 Section 3 hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting a particular employee, etc. Following discussion, the executive session closed and the meeting returned to open session.

The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m. The next regular Tarkio City Council meeting will be held Wednesday, April 16, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. at Tarkio City Hall. Citizens are encouraged to attend.