BERNIE, Mo. - The Bernie Board of Aldermen voted to purchase a security system for the city sewer plant and accepted the resignation of Alderman Butch Barnes at their regular meeting Monday night. The aldermen also had a lengthy discussion about the job description of the newly created humane/code enforcement officer position approved by the board at their May meeting.
Mayor James Tilmon told the aldermen that he had received a letter of resignation from Barnes which was to be effective at the end of the meeting. Barnes has served as Ward 1 alderman for seven and one-half years. No reason was cited for the resignation, though it was noted after the meeting that he indicated it was due to his work and other pursuits. It will be up to the mayor to appoint someone to complete Barnes' term of office.
City Superintendent Charlie Dean submitted three bids for installing a security system at the sewer plant. The bids were: H & R Alarms in Cape Girardeau, $9,300; R & A Sales and Service in Malden, $3,399; and LeGrand's Hy-Tek in Dexter, $2,698.96.
Dean was asked if the three systems were comparable, and he said they were. He said the system proposed by LeGrand's was computer based, which was good. There are phone lines at the plant, which means the cameras can be monitored from the police station.
"I like that they are a local company and they are also the lower bidder," said Aldermen Tim Gage.
A motion was made and approved to accept the bid from LeGrand's. Present were Barnes, Gage, Ivan Mekan, Ray Coats and Todd Young. Aldermen Barry Zimmerman was not present.
City Attorney Robin Northern told the board she was having trouble amending the code to establish a code enforcement officer. She noted that under current statutes, the city superintendent has authority to enforce the codes.
"Do we take authority away from the city superintendent, or have them both with authority to enforce city codes?" asked Northern. She went on to ask who would have oversight of the officer.
She also questioned whether the code enforcement officer would serve as a humane officer as well. She inquired if the board intended to have someone fill that position on a part-time basis. She was skeptical that they could find someone for the position with only $500 per month pay.
"My thought is that we need a humane officer," said Gage. "We could have that person do some code enforcement. We talked about it a couple of weeks ago."
Northern said she needed more specific information regarding a job description.
Gage said he believed the person in the position should be able to check city permits as well as issue citations for violations of city code such as "junk cars" and other unsightly problems.
Gage went on to say the officer would be on call for problems with stray pets and also to investigate complaints about code violations.
"It would have be full-time," interjected Coats.
"We allotted $500 a month for a humane officer in the budget when the position did pay $250 per month," Mekan stated. "We've got to have a humane officer with all the complaints coming in all the time."
"I don't want to hold up anything," countered Gage. "I'm all for hiring someone right now and put the code enforcement on hold."
Gage questioned raising the pay for the humane officer to $500 per month without adding additional duties.
Mekan suggested they wait for the new budget before making a decision.
"We need to hire a humane officer now, and consider the other later," said Gage.
Mekan made a motion to hire a humane officer.
Coats asked, "Are we prepared to put a humane officer to work...do we even have a vehicle for them to drive?"
Dean said there was a van, but it is in use. He said it could be made available.
Coats and other aldermen said they needed to make sure everything was in place before hiring a humane officer. The issue was tabled until the next meeting.
Barnes reported that Police Chief Justin Allen wanted to promote Eddie Mays to Sgt., hire Chris Costin as a part-time officer and add Marcus Stidham as a part-time officer. Costin has worked as a part-time dispatcher and is completing his work at the Police Academy. Stidham has just graduated from the academy.
Barnes made that into three separate motions, and each passed unanimously.
In other business, Mekan proposed that the city hire another part-time person in the utility department.
"Charlie was working one short of full staff," said Mekan. "He needs help."
Coats asked how many hours the employee would work. Dean said they would work 20 to 29 hours per week.
It was also asked whether this was just for the summer, or a permanent addition.
"I'm not against it," said Coats, "but our bottom line doesn't look good to me (referring to the financial report)."
"We just hired three people in the police department, but we won't make the same effort for maintenance?" said Mekan. "It's just too much of a burden on Charlie."
Mekan made the motion, but it died for lack of a second.
In other action the board:
* Voted to set the date of the Fall Festival for Saturday, Sept. 25;
* Voted to extend the city health insurance to Dec. 1, 2013. (Coats said with the coming of Obamacare, the insurance could go up and they could lock the current price in until that date.)
* Voted to set Monday, June 10, for a meeting between the auditors and the board;
* Instructed the mayor to talk with Republic Services about renegotiating the fee paid to the city to dispose of leachate wastewater.
Dean said testing by DNR showed higher levels of manganese than allowed for water released from the sewer system. He said DNR did not normally test for manganese, but because of the disposal of leachate from Republic Services, the testing was required. He said engineers said the way to remedy the problem was to construct another basin. The approximate cost would be $70,000. Dean said he didn't believe the manganese levels came from the leachate, but rather from "flush water." Aldermen agreed that the income from disposal of the leachate did not justify the cost of constructing another basin. They decided to talk with Republic Services to see what they would be willing to do.
The aldermen adjourned into executive session at the end of the meeting.