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City Council Meeting Notes

Kirksville City Council approves sign variance; parks department's master plan

By Marty Bachman Daily Express
Posted 11/28/22

The Kirksville City Council, at their Nov. 21, regular meeting, approved a sign variance for the Orscheln Farm & Home building at 2302 S. Baltimore Street, which was recently purchased and is being re-branded with the name “Buchheit”.

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City Council Meeting Notes

Kirksville City Council approves sign variance; parks department's master plan

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The Kirksville City Council, at their Nov. 21, regular meeting, approved a sign variance for the Orscheln Farm & Home building at 2302 S. Baltimore Street, which was recently purchased and is being re-branded with the name “Buchheit”.

The vote followed the recommendation of the city’s planning and zoning commission and, according to Assistant City Manager Ashley Young, while the letters are are larger in height, the sign takes up just about the same amount of space horizontally on the front of the building.

“I think it's a pretty reasonable request,” Young told the council.

“As always, I think you hear from me that I'm always a little leery when it comes to variances, but I like to see when a variance request comes through that is reasonable, that fits within the scope of what it should be allowed for a variance and I thank the planning and zoning commission for their work and I think they made a good decision on their recommendation,” said Mayor Zac Burden.

The council unanimously voted for the variance.

In their next action item, the council approved an ordinance granting a special use permit to operate a temporary rental (Airbnb) with conditions, located 816 S. Baltimore Street.

Young told the council that the planning and zoning commission had recommended approval of the special use on the property that is zoned R-2, Two Family Residential District, which allows for temporary rentals with a special use permit. The property owners will be required to install hard surface parking and were given six months to complete that project. The vote was unanimous to approve the special use permit.

The council next voted to authorize the city manager to execute an extended contract with MFA Oil Company for the provision of fuel and associated services through June 30, 2025. In a staff report, Public Works Director Glenn Balliew wrote that city staff has been working with MFA to resolve this contract since June of this year. Council approved a six-month extension on the existing contract until December 2022. MFA has now agreed to honor the contract as is through June 2025.

“The terms of this new agreement will be the same as the current agreement first entered into on June 24, 2019,” Balliew wrote in his report. “MFA provides the fuel for City vehicles at a rate of 14.74 cents over the OPIS daily rack average price. MFA also provides the tanks and meters at Public Works and the Airport and card reader system used by all fleet vehicles.”

Balliew said that MFA is the only local vendor at this time that can provide these goods and services, noting that his provides the city fleet with the most cost-effective fuel and services for every department in the city. The council voted unanimously to pass the ordinance.

The council next voted to authorize the execution of a contract between the city and the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission for a Traffic Engineering Assistance Program (TEAP) Grant to conduct a school crosswalk evaluation, and establishing the mayor and city manager as authorized representatives for the city.

According to Administrative Services Coordinator Sarah Halstead, in September the city applied for a TEAP study and were notified in November of award.

“As a requirement to proceed with a grant, we have to have an ordinance that states that this person is authorized to sign on behalf of the city,” she told the council. “This grant will actually evaluate and document our current traffic, both vehicle and non-vehicle, in the areas of our schools as well as the crosswalks. We want a non-biased party to look at it and determine for us what, based on engineering requirements, should be done in all of our crosswalk areas.”

Halstead said that the city will be looking at the lighting and beacons and signage and crosswalks around Truman State, A.T. Still University, Moberly Area Community College, the Kirksville R-III campus, Mary Immaculate and the Faith Lutheran schools. Based upon those studies, engineering will prepare draft documents and then prioritize a list of when and how those things should be done.

“We don't have a firm estimate because this is one of those that you don't actually bid out —they have a list of authorized people who can conduct these studies,” she said, noting that city staff will be reaching out and getting requests for proposals to give the city an idea of what they can do.

She said the estimated cost will be around $15,000 based on previous studies, and the grant will pay up to 80 percent or $12,000, which is the maximum amount the city can receive. The council voted unanimously to approve the ordinance.

The council next approved an ordinance authorizing the execution of an agreement between the city and the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission for a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant for the construction of sidewalks along New Street from Baltimore Street to Mill Street, and along Mill Street from New Street to Baltimore Street, and establishing the mayor and city manager as authorized representatives for the city.

Halstead told the council that the application was brought to them in July and that this is the sidewalks at Rotary Park that would go along Mill Street and New Street and make that a full loop that can be completed there. It will also connect to the new housing development there. She said that the ordinance was necessary in order to execute the agreement.

“We applied for 75/25 grant on this, however, there were not enough funds requested that were eligible to fulfill the entire amount that was available, so we actually got 80 precent instead of just 75 percent,” she told the council.

She said that they are working on a second application and that they'll be able to apply for a supplemental and should be able to apply for the remaining costs up to the total between the two projects at $500,000.

“So we were awarded more than what was eligible,” she said. “We estimate the project to be $261,873.50, 80 percent of that the grant funding that we were awarded is $209,498.80, and we will provide 20 percent match out of the Trails Infrastructure line."

“This is fantastic — what a great project to be able to make happen and great things, not just Rotary Park, which I'm glad to see the improvements happening within the park, but just for transportation around that park and particularly on New, that's going to be great to continue that sidewalk, so my compliments and thanks to you all for your hard efforts on that,” said Mayor Zac Burden. “I appreciate it.”

The council voted unanimously to approve the ordinance.

The council then approved a resolution authorizing the mayor and city manager to execute documents and apply to the Missouri Department of Economic Development under the community revitalization grant program and further authorizing them to sign any necessary agreements, contracts, or other documents required by the state to implement such funding.

Halstead told the council that is is an ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) grant, a community revitalization grant whose funds are intended to spur economic recovery today while helping communities build stronger economies in the future.

“Most of our town is actually considered a disproportionately impacted community, meaning we have several low to moderate income areas in our community,” Halstead told the council, noting that the city's northeast corner was not eligible but pretty much the whole rest of the community is eligible.

She told the council that the grant requires a 50/50 in-kind or cash match, with a minimum award of $250,000 and a maximum award of $2.5M. The application is due Nov. 30. Halstead said that what city staff is looking to apply for is purchasing and preparing land to basically create a tiny home village.

“We are looking at working with the school for that with their Vo-Tech to the building trades class,” she said, noting that the application has to be submitted and completed by September 2026.

She said that in order to have a 60 percent match, it would be a $625,000 project with the city’s match being $375,000 and the remaining 60 percent is what they are proposing to match in order to gain a “little competitive edge.”

“This would provide affordable single family homes and a larger area that we would then work to provide to low income families,” she said.

I think this is going to be a great idea and it's gonna give, I know a lot of the kids at the Vo-Tech work on cars, I know they do a lot of those types of things, it’s going to be great for them to be a part of this,” said Councilmember Kabir Banal.

The council voted unanimously to approve the resolution.

The city council then approved a resolution adopting the Kirksville Parks and Recreation Master Plan. Kirksville Parks and Recreation Director Rodney Sadler said that the plan, which has been in the works since last February, was finally at the “finish line.” The city had contracted with Landworks Studio of Olathe, Kan., which then proceeded to interview residents through mail and in the parks, as well as holding public meetings to get community input. The report offers city staff a road map of prioritized improvements that the parks department can make over the course of the next 10-15 years.

“So this will also help us just communicate better to our residents what our plans are,” Sadler said. “For a long time we've done a pretty good job of using those sales tax dollars to build the largest project that was out there, the Aquatic Center, but now it's what's next.”

He said the plan will work well in coordination with the city’s Think 2040 plan and the Kirksville Active Mobility Plan (KAMP), which will “make Kirksville a more attractive place to live work and play.”

Sadler told the council that all of the prioritized implementation for the first five years is already in the five-year capital plan that's in the budget. He said that the next steps to be taken include the department posting the document online and have print copies available for anybody who would like to take a look at it. He said they will then immediately update the vision and mission statements that are listed in the document and start implementation.

“There are some things in there that don't cost any money that we can get started on right away,” Sadler said. “Some additional planning and some building partnerships with some of our organizations in the community.”

“A big part of this plan is showing the community that we’re good stewards of these tax dollars so that when it comes up again in 2032, that they've seen all the different things that we've done and so continuing to communicate throughout this time period about what is getting done, what hasn't been done, how the parks have changed over the time period I think is really important throughout this process,” said Councilmember John Gardner.

“I might just add, I think this is another example of city staff reaching out to the people of the Kirksville community and seeking input and wanting to see what it is that this community wants to have moving forward and we see evidence of that,” said Mayor Zac Burden. “This is a great example of it and then the Parks Department; we see so many of our city departments finding ways to do that so I hope this stands out as an example of how we continue to move forward and I hope citizens see this as an example of how they can participate and be a part in deciding what is the future of our community.”

The council voted unanimously to approve the resolution.

The council next approved a resolution approving an allocation of funds received as a result of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Finance Director Lacy King told the council that the city received a total of $3,586,055.52 over the years 2021 and 2022 evenly, and that the city allocated $8,286.27 for technology to upgrades so that city residents could still watch council meetings through the pandemic without having to be there in person. She said that the final ruling came out this year, which stated that any city that received less than $10 million could use those funds as revenue replacement and that's what the city has elected to do.

“We have deposited all of those funds into our general fund,” she said, noting that the general fund is the least restrictive fund in the city. “And what we recommend doing is using the remaining balance that we have, $3,577,769.25, towards our police and fire governmental services. That's one of the departments that we can select that we would not be subject to all of the audit requirements that we would if we allocated that money to each specific project.”

King said that as long as they show the U.S. government that they are using those funds for government operations, then they can show them payroll records if they come back and they audit them. She said that would free up other general fund monies to use towards city projects that citizens would like to see completed. King said that if the city does that this year and make this allocation, then they have satisfied the requirements of the government by spending those funds by December of 2024.

“By making this measure, it’s actually taking care of two compliance issues that we need to take care of in the city and it allows us to have those funds,” she said.

The council voted unanimously to approve the resolution.

The council voted to approve a liquor license for “The Press Room” (Tru Colors Wrongdaddy's LLC) at 119 S. Elson Street. According to King, the company filled out an application for a liquor license on Nov. 14 and they also applied for a business license. They will serve alcohol Monday through Saturday and did not request a liquor by the drink license for Sunday. She said that they did pay a prorated fee of $337.50 but the city has not been able to complete their business license process, which is pending a code inspection.

“So before a license would be issued from the city, if it is approved to be issued, we would make sure that they did get their business license completed and that we do not have a copy right now of their state liquor license,” King told the council.

She said that the reason she was requesting to change the motion is she believes their state liquor license application was sent in as doing business as The Press Room and one thing the city needs to make sure is their state liquor license application has to match the city's liquor license application.

“There can be no deviation from that,” she said. “If we do get the information back from the state and that it has a different name and that's not the name that we have brought to you tonight, then what we will do is we will bring that back to you before we issue any type of liquor license.”

She asked the council to approve a license but to do it contingent upon approval from the State Liquor Control and the city’s code’s department. The council voted unanimously to approve the license.

The final action item the council approved was the the appointment of Valerie Johnson to the Kirksville Housing Authority (KHA) for a full-term ending September 2026.



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