MINUTES OF THE REGULAR SESSION OF THE
BILLINGS ALDERMEN MEETING OF THE
CITY OF BILLINGS, MISSOURI ON
DECEMBER 21, 2017 AT 7:00 P.M.
Present were: Mayor Michael Hodges, Attorney William Petrus, Chief David Taylor, Building Inspector Terry Danley, Water & Sewer Maint. Supt. Randy Poindexter, Water Clerk Gail Steinert, Treasurer Chris M. Hopkins, Laborer Keith Hilburn and City Clerk Ruth M. Haskins.
Citizens and guest present were: Cameron Schweiss with Archer-Elgin.
ROLL CALL.
Fender Present
Huffman Present
Brown Present
Harter Present
Coker Present
Woods Present
Mayor asked everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
PUBLIC PARTICATION. None
OLD BUSINESS.
- Attorney had prepared Resolution 2017-03 for the Library. Motion made by Coker seconded by Huffman to accept the resolution. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions.
- BILL NO. 17-10 An Ordinance for Establishing the Budget for the Fiscal Year January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2017. Motion made by Brown to have the First Reading of Bill No. 17-10 seconded by Fender. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Mayor asked the City Clerk to read Bill No. 17-10 by Title Only. Haskins read Bill No. 17-10 by Title Only. Motion to accept the First Reading of Bill No. 17-10 by Title Only Made by Fender seconded by Coker. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions. Motion to have the Second Reading of Bill No. 17-10 by Title Only made by Coker seconded by Brown. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions. Mayor asked the City Clerk to read Bill No. 17-10 by Title Only. Haskins read Bill No. 17-10 by Title Only. Motion to accept the Second Reading and for Final Passage Thereof, made by Fender seconded by Huffman. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions. Bill No. 17-10 is now Ordinance 17-10.
- BILL NO. 17-11. An Ordinance Amending the Municipal Code of the City of Billings, Missouri at § 700.290 and § 700.300 Regarding Connection Fees For Water and Sewer. Motion to have the First Reading of Bill No. 17-11 made by Brown seconded by Fender. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions. Mayor asked the City Clerk to read Bill No. 17-11 by Title Only. Haskins read Bill No. 17-11 by Title Only. Motion to accept the First Reading of Bill No. 17-11 by Title Only made by Fender seconded by Woods. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions. Poindexter stated Meter size should read ¾ inch instead of ¼ inch. Motion to amend Bill No. 17-11 to correct pipe size made by Brown seconded by Harter. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions. Motion to have the Second Reading of Bill No. 17-11 by Title only as amended made by Coker seconded by Huffman. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions. Mayor asked the City Clerk to read Bill No. 17-11 by Title Only as amended. Haskins read Bill No. 17-11 as amended by Title Only. Motion to accept the Second Reading and for Final Passage Thereof, as amended made by Huffman seconded by Fender. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions. Bill No. 17-11 in now Ordinance 17-11.
- Poindexter received two more bids for the new furnace at the wastewater plant. Prices’ bid was $2,700.00: Down Home Heating was $1,950.00 and Jon Wayne was $1,650.00. Motion to accept Jon Wayne bid for $1,650.00 made by Brown seconded by Fender. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions.
- Poindexter received more bids for maintenance on the generators; A & J Power was $2,005.69; Cummins Sales was $1,334.00; and Norton Power systems was $1,180.00. Motion to have Norton do the maintenance on the generators for $1,180.00 made by Brown seconded by Coker. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions.
- Officer Minnis has finished his probation, he was to get a raise of $.50 per hour back pay to date of probation. Motion to retain and raise pay made by Brown seconded by Harter. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions.
- Woods has not been able to get a back hoe attachment, found another trailer but was $100.00 higher with no spare tire and no rails. Keith get options for next month. Get quotes for new.
NEW BUSINESS, MEMORIALS, PROCLAMATIONS AND ORDINANCES.
- Consent Agenda. Motion to approve the Consent Agenda made by Fender seconded by Coker. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions.
- Mayor discussed the storage building at the wastewater plant. Have a bid for the electrical work from All-Phase Electric for $5,990.09. Hilburn stated the lab building has 220 power. Motion to postpone until next month for more bids made by Harter second Huffman. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions.
- Mayor discussed getting bids for hanging heaters and insulation for the storage building for next meeting. Motion to check prices made by Brown seconded by Coker. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions. Motion to check on prices for insulation for the storage building made by Brown seconded by Coker. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions.
- Cameron discussed the bids received from the three companies bidding on the CIPP Project. After discussion, vote was taken on awarding the bid and giving Notice of Award. Motion made by Fender seconded by Coker to take the bid from Visu-Sewer of Missouri, LLC base bid of $270,815.00 and an Alternate Bid on C for $54,333.00. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions.
- Cameron discussed the extension to the west of water and sewer lines as the next project. The estimated cost for this project would be water $365,000.00 and sewer $130,000.00. Motion to go forward with this project made by Coker seconded by Huffman. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions.
- Board discuss changing Ordinance to charge water/sewer customers outside the city limits a higher fee. Motion to charge a non-resident fee surcharge of $6.00 per customer made by Brown seconded by Huffman effective January 1, 2018. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions.
- Board to approve the attorney do an Ordinance to change for a 20 MPH Speed Limit on John St. Motion to approve Attorney to draft an Ordinance to change the speed limit on John Street to 20 MPH made by Coker seconded by Harter.
- Motion to approve payment of wages, expenses, bills statements and other expenditures for the month of November, 2017 made by Coker seconded by Harter. Voting “Aye” Woods, Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions.
Mayor asked for a motion to go into Closed Session.
Motion made by Fender to go into Closed Session seconded by Huffman.
ROLL CALL VOTE.
Woods Aye
Fender Aye
Brown Aye
Coker Aye
Harter Aye
Huffman Aye
Attorney states a Closed Session is only for employee disciplining, not elected officials.
Motion to reopen the Regular Session made by Coker seconded by Harter.
ROLL CALL VOTE.
Woods Aye
Fender Aye
Brown Aye
Coker Aye
Harter Aye
Huffman Aye
Reopen Regular Session.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.
Mayor asked Keith Hilburn to address the Board. Hilburn stated he would like Randy to speak first.
Randy Poindexter addressed the Board concerning the way the Mayor has been treating the employees, especially the last year it has been very stressful. We are constantly getting bullied, belittled and threatened, here lately it has escalated to yelling and profane language. My job as the water and wastewater supervisor is to make sure the city has safe drinking water and the wastewater treatment plant is working properly. As Keith’s supervisor, he is directly under my direction. However, my authority has been undermined by the Mayor, occasionally there are times when we need to work overtime due to factors beyond our control. Lately, rather than get yelled at for having overtime, we have just been donating our time. Our vehicles are old and in need of repair, Randy informed the Mayor that his truck needed more repair and the Mayor told him to park it and use another vehicle. It has been getting worse and this makes for a bad working environment.
Keith and I work together as a team we can get more work accomplished than working separately. He would like for the rudeness to stop.
Coker asked about donating time, she does not work overtime at her job. When the Board talked about keeping the overtime down was an effort to lower the wages for the Budget. If there are emergency situations where overtime is required. Coker stated that cussing at employees is not to be tolerated.
Mayor asked Poindexter if there was any problems when you worked on McHenry St.
Poindexter answer no.
Mayor stated if they feel that they need to get rid of him, that is not a problem. Sometimes
he gets overly excited, that is the way it was where he had worked in the past.
Gail Steinert addressed the Mayor, she was in the office when that happened and stated she was sorry, but you were extremely rude and you treat Randy like he doesn’t know his job
you second guess him all the time, then when you ask me if they understand what the Mayor wants done, Steinert stated that she thought they just need some respect and trust. Then the Mayor stated that he was not respected when he worked at Precision Stainless.
Steinert stated the Mayor purposefully do not talk to them with respect and that is seen on Monday morning. When the Mayor comes in at other times and asked where Randy and Keith are at the time, the Mayor yells and says they are not supposed to be doing that today. Mayor stated if he is not wanted here, he will leave. If he is voted out tonight it is not a problem for him. Fender stated, nothing can be voted on, this is not on the agenda.
Coker stated maybe both sides could sit down and work this out, has to have mutual respect. Brown stated the Mayor was elected by a vote of the citizens and is the CEO of the City and Brown stated that Randy is the foreman with one employee, Keith. If the Mayor comes along in the middle of the day and wants either one of the two to do something for him just do it. Brown does not condone the rage, swearing or yelling, however, when someone is a manager there is not enough time to explain why it needs to be done. Brown stated that Randy is stuck in the middle of this disagreement.
Keith Hilburn address the Board and stated he is thankful for his job and enjoys most of what he does. Hilburn has no problem digging out culverts or whatever, however when he asked the Mayor about doing anything else, the Mayor tells him he has to do what he tells him. Harter stated he appreciates his hard work. Brown asks how do the disagreements start. Hilburn states an example is when there is a rain event, and the plant needs to be looked after more than once a day. Hilburn and Randy take turns going to the plant and then both will have overtime on the same day and the Mayor does not like that.
Woods asked if Keith felt like being put on the street was a punishment. Hilburn responded no he feels there is a need, when we flush hydrants you can tell by the way the water flows there is a need. Harter states it looks like to him they were being micro-managed.
No further business.
Motion to adjourn made by Coker seconded by Fender. Voting “Aye” Woods. Fender, Brown, Coker, Harter and Huffman. Voting “Nay” None. No abstentions.
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Michael B. Hodges, Mayor
ATTEST
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Ruth M. Haskins, City Clerk