MINUTES
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
GLADSTONE, MISSOURI
MONDAY, JULY 27, 2009
ADJOURNMENT TO CLOSED EXECUTIVE SESSION
6:00 PM
Mayor Carol Rudi opened the City Council Meeting to adjourn to a Closed Executive Session on July 27, 2009, at 6:00 PM. Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith made a motion to adjourn to Closed Executive Session pursuant to Missouri Open Meeting Act Exemption 610.021(1) for Litigation and Confidential or Privileged Communications with Legal Counsel, and 610.021(2) for Real Estate Acquisition Discussion, and 610.021(3) for Personnel Discussion. Councilman Mark Revenaugh seconded.
Roll Call Vote: All “aye” – Councilman Barry McCullough, Councilman Mark Revenaugh, Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith, and Mayor Carol Rudi. (4-0).
Note: Councilmember Carol Suter was present at the Closed Executive Session.
Mayor Carol Rudi adjourned the Closed Executive Session to go into the Regular City Council meeting at 7:30 PM.
REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
7:30 PM
PRESENT: Mayor Carol Rudi
Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith
Councilman Mark Revenaugh
Councilmember Carol Suter
Councilman Barry McCullough
City Manager Kirk Davis
Assistant City Manager Scott Wingerson
City Counselor David Ramsay
Mayor Carol Rudi opened the Regular July 27, 2009, City Council Meeting at 7:30 PM in the Gladstone City Council Chambers.
Item 2. on the Agenda. ROLL CALL
Mayor Carol Rudi noted that all City Council members were in attendance.
Item 3. on the Agenda. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE.
Mayor Carol Rudi led the Pledge of Allegiance, in which all joined.
Item 4. on the Agenda. APPROVAL OF THE REGULAR JULY 13, 2009, CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES.
Councilmember Carol Suter moved to approve the Regular July 13, 2009, City Council Meeting Minutes as presented. Councilman Mark Revenaugh seconded. The vote: All “aye” – Councilman Barry McCullough, Councilmember Carol Suter, Councilman Mark Revenaugh, Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith, and Mayor Carol Rudi. (5-0).
Item 5. on the Agenda. CONSENT AGENDA
Councilmember Carol Suter moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith seconded. The vote: All “aye” – Councilman Barry McCullough, Councilmember Carol Suter, Councilman Mark Revenaugh, Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith, and Mayor Carol Rudi. (5-0).
Councilmember Carol Suter moved to adopt RESOLUTION R-09-59, approving a partnership between the City of Gladstone, Missouri and Northland Neighbors, Inc. for Minor Home Improvement Grants. Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith seconded. The vote: All “aye” – Councilman Barry McCullough, Councilmember Carol Suter, Councilman Mark Revenaugh, Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith, and Mayor Carol Rudi. (5-0).
Councilmember Carol Suter moved to adopt RESOLUTION R-09-60, authorizing Change Order No. 4 in the amount of $26,352.50 to the contract with Miller Paving and Construction, Limited Liability Corporation, for the 2009 Curb and Sidewalk Program – Phase 1. Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith seconded. The vote: All “aye” – Councilman Barry McCullough, Councilmember Carol Suter, Councilman Mark Revenaugh, Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith, and Mayor Carol Rudi. (5-0).
Councilmember Carol Suter moved to adopt RESOLUTION R-09-61, accepting a Right-of-Way parcel and a Permanent Easement from certain property owners in conjunction with the North Oak at Northeast 76th Street Traffic Signal Improvement Project. Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith seconded. The vote: All “aye” – Councilman Barry McCullough, Councilmember Carol Suter, Councilman Mark Revenaugh, Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith, and Mayor Carol Rudi. (5-0).
Councilmember Carol Suter moved to approve the following Liquor License Renewals:
Quik Trip #181, 2590 NE 72nd Street, Seven-Day Package Liquor License.
Quik Trip #237, 6309 NE Antioch Road, Seven-Day Package Liquor License.
Snappy Store #4901, 4901 Old Pike Road, Seven-Day Package Liquor License.
The Hide Out Bar & Grill, LLC, 6948 North Oak Trafficway, Class A&B Liquor by the Drink License.
Big Stones, Inc. dba Stone Canyon Pizza, 6433 North Prospect, Class A&B Liquor by the Drink License.
Nardella, Inc. dba Mark & Michelle’s Bar & Grill, 7102 North Oak Trafficway, Class A Liquor by the Drink License.
Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith seconded. The vote: All “aye” – Councilman Barry McCullough, Councilmember Carol Suter, Councilman Mark Revenaugh, Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith, and Mayor Carol Rudi. (5-0).
Councilmember Carol Suter moved to approve the JUNE 2009 FINANCIAL REPORT. Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith seconded. The vote: All “aye” – Councilman Barry McCullough, Councilmember Carol Suter, Councilman Mark Revenaugh, Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith, and Mayor Carol Rudi. (5-0).
REGULAR AGENDA
Item 6. on the Agenda. Communications from the Audience.
Donald Harper, 1606 NE 68 Terrace, stated he tries to attend as many Council meetings as he can, and for those he cannot attend, he diligently reads the minutes on the City’s website, and the last minutes posted left him startled a bit with some of the content. Mr. Harper stated he would like to read a portion of the Minutes with which he has a problem. Mr. Harper read from his document the following:
Councilman Revenaugh said that it was his understanding that a couple of the most vocal proponents on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board said they did not mean for smoking to be banned in the parks completely. Director Lillis said she did not wish to speak for them, but she believes this has been documented in meeting minutes. Councilman Revenaugh stated that when Council received the letter from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, it stated the Board wished to ban smoking in the parks and the Council accommodated their request. Now, they have turned around and said they did not want a complete total ban. Those are citizens whose guidance Council was trying to follow, because they are made up of the residents who live in this community.
Mr. Harper said he believed he could make a fair assumption that he is one of the couple of vocal proponents of the smoking ban. He was pretty vocal on it. The issue of smoking in the parks is somewhat of a separate issue, and that was first brought in a letter from the Park Board well over a year from the time that the Ordinance was passed. Mr. Harper stated he would like to say emphatically that the Park Board has not changed their opinion from the time that letter was written. He brought this matter up at their meeting this past Monday night, and they are still very strong proponents of a total smoking ban in the parks. Mr. Harper said he could guess where this might have come from. There have been sidebar discussions among some of the Park Board members and among other people. Mr. Harper said they were quite surprised when this complete smoking ban passed the Council, because of what they had seen in other aspects of smoking bans in the City; they did not expect it to come through that way. Mr. Harper said they were happy that it did, but frankly, they were startled, so there may have been discussions of “gee, what happened”. Mr. Harper said, “we did not expect it to come out that way; it did, and we were quite happy with it”. Mr. Harper said, “we are still quite happy with it”, and neither the two vocal proponents nor the Parks and Recreation Board have changed their opinion in any way shape or form. They still think it was a good action. Mr. Harper said he is only speaking to the parks ban, both from his personal opinion and from the Park Board, itself. Mr. Harper said he still thinks that was a good move, and he won’t stir up anything by commenting on what he thinks of what Council did with the rest of the City, but in the parks, he believes Council did a great job and he hopes it stays that way.
Item 7. on the Agenda. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE CITY COUNCIL.
Councilman Barry McCullough congratulated Frank Gabel, of the Hide Out Bar and Grill, who was recognized in a national magazine, “Big City Rhythm and Blues”. It was a nice article on his bar, as well as mentioning Gladstone as a city. Councilman McCullough said he had the article with him, if anyone wished to see it.
Councilmember Carol Suter had no comments at this time.
Councilman Mark Revenaugh stated that for the record, he would like to point out that the letter that was received by the entire City Council, from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, addressed to then Mayor Smith, regarding the Smoking Ordinance, specifically said that the Board unanimously requested that the then Chairman, John Houlihan, write and ask that the City Council consider passing an Ordinance that would prohibit smoking in all City parks, including the areas adjacent to buildings located in City parks. Councilman Revenaugh said that was in the body of the letter. Councilman Revenaugh said he was reading the Minutes of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meeting, when he saw that Mr. Harper was quoted as saying “at that time when we sent the letter to the Council we envisioned a much more comprehensive smoking ban in Gladstone. He was one of the strong movers behind all of that. He would not have a problem if we could find a way to identify specific events in the park, for, example, the Fourth of July celebration or Theatre in the Parks, (Councilman Revenaugh pointed out that Council did not allow a smoking permit for the latest Theatre in the Park production), and just ban smoking for those events or places. He doesn’t care if they smoke on the trail, he hates for them to throw their cigarette butt on the ground, but at least they are not contaminating anyone else there”. Councilman Revenaugh said the point is that Council received a letter from a citizen commission asking Council to ban smoking in the parks, and Council did that, and that letter was dated December 6, 2007. The minutes from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meeting on February 17, said they did not mean all of that; we would have been fine with smoking on the trails or smoking for special events, but that was not in the original letter that Council took to heart when doing their deliberation for the smoking ban. Councilman Revenaugh said he just wished to make this clarification, and he had no further comments at this time.
Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith stated in reading the local papers and recently, and in some updates from the County, he sees that the County is going to place the 1/8-cent Law Enforcement Tax renewal on the ballot in November. Mayor Pro Tem Smith asked staff to do some further research for Council, and suggested this be looked at from the perspective of what the benefit could be to Gladstone, if our City were to put our own 1/8-cent Law Enforcement Tax on the ballot opposite of the County’s , and in essence give our residents the choice if they want an 1/8-cent of their money, or about $400,000 per year going to Clay County to support County operations or perhaps, an initiative on the ballot where that $400,000 could stay home and help in continuing to make our community a great place to live by supporting law enforcement here. Mayor Pro Tem Smith asked that staff look at election cycles, when we have to certify an election to get it on the November ballot, verify that a 1/8-cent sales tax would generate roughly $400,000, last year it may have been $382,000 per year, for law enforcement, and how we might best utilize that to help beef up our law enforcement staff.
Director Lillis reported that the next Theatre in the Park production is “Footloose”, which will be presented on August 7, 8, and 9, at Oak Grove Park, with a show time of 8:30 PM. Director Lillis said she believes this will be an extremely popular show, so she would suggest that folks get there early.
Mayor Rudi suggested that Director Lillis might report on the selection of artists for the rotating art exhibits.
Director Lillis reported that July 31, is the last day that artists – metropolitan wide – may submit their applications. To date there are ten people who have been asked to be juried for the shows, and there may only be six, so staff is very excited to have a lot of choices, and geographically, it is very balanced. The artists are not all from north of the river or from one association. There are artists from Shawnee, Merriam, and Mid-Town Kansas City, so there will be more great artists to showcase their work in our wonderful Community Center.
Councilman Revenaugh asked if the outdoor pool has been hurt by the cooler weather and all the rain this season.
Director Lillis replied that two weeks ago she was pretty depressed when she saw the pool report, but it has bounced just like the weather. Swim lessons are still up, but the daily admissions will probably not set a banner year record, but it will be a good year. Days like today and yesterday help. About two weeks ago there was a cool snap, which was a bad week for attendance. Director Lillis said we are on track to have a good year.
Councilman Revenaugh asked if the Community Center has had an increased attendance from folks who cannot swim outdoors.
Director Lillis replied that the $5.00 drop-in fee, in effect between 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM, has been well received by the community. Approximately $3,500 has been generated just on that initiative in the time period it has been in place, but for ten days of that time, the pool was down with the annual pool maintenance. That maintenance must be done based on peak scheduling with the School District and any other activities. People are really enjoying that opportunity, and it is giving our facility a lot of exposure to people who are thinking about joining. Director Lillis said she had the privilege to speak to a group, Northridge neighbors, who were very positive about the $5.00 drop-in fee initiative. They were very complimentary of staff and the initiative for the community, and the drop-in fee will be back at Christmas time and during Spring Break, which will give the young people something positive to do.
Councilman Revenaugh thanked Director Lillis and said the drop-in fee was a good idea.
Mayor Pro Tem Smith stated it is evident that Director Lillis and her staff are doing a good job with the Community Center. Part of that is the flexibility of rolling with the times, which is very indicative that staff is doing a great job. Mayor Pro Tem Smith said we talk about economic development, and visitors to the City, by far and away, Parks and Recreation provides opportunities for people to visit our community more than any other department, probably all of them combined. That is not to take anything away from the other departments, it is just that the Parks and Recreation Department does an excellent job, and the City is very fortunate. Mayor Pro Tem Smith said in the beginning, he was scared to death that the City would run short with the operations with the Community Center, but the City and staff are doing a good job and they are to be commended.
Item 8. on the Agenda. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE CITY MANAGER.
City Manager Kirk had no comments at this time.
Item 9. on the Agenda. CONSIDERATION OF A LIQUOR LICENSE RENEWAL for RNB, LLC dba Red, 316 NE 72nd Street, Class A Liquor by the Drink License.
Mayor Rudi stated a request has been made of Council to postpone this matter for two weeks. Mayor Rudi asked Council members if they would like to consider this action now or postpone action for two weeks, and asked for a motion.
Councilmember Carol Suter moved to postpone consideration of this action until the next City Council meeting. Councilman Barry McCullough seconded. The vote: All “aye” – Councilman Barry McCullough, Councilmember Carol Suter, Councilman Mark Revenaugh, Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith, and Mayor Carol Rudi. (5-0).
Item 10. on the Agenda. RESOLUTION R-09-62, authorizing execution of a Professional Services Agreement with Olsson Associates, in the total amount not to exceed $43,350.00 for engineering services relative to the design of Streetscape Improvements to North Oak Trafficway from 69th Street to 71st Street.
Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith moved to adopt RESOLUTION R-09-62, authorizing execution of a Professional Services Agreement with Olsson Associates, in the total amount not to exceed $43,350.00 for engineering services relative to the design of Streetscape Improvements to North Oak Trafficway from 69th Street to 71st Street. Councilman Mark Revenaugh seconded. The vote: All “aye” – Councilman Barry McCullough, Councilmember Carol Suter, Councilman Mark Revenaugh, Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith, and Mayor Carol Rudi. (5-0).
Item 11. on the Agenda. RESOLUTION R-09-63 authorizing execution of a contract with Mega Industries Corporation, in the total amount not to exceed $82,563.00 for the Brooktree Lane Culverts Headwall Replacement Project.
Councilman Barry McCullough moved to adopt RESOLUTION R-09-63 authorizing execution of a contract with Mega Industries Corporation, in the total amount not to exceed $82,563.00 for the Brooktree Lane Culverts Headwall Replacement Project. Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith seconded. The vote: All “aye” – Councilman Barry McCullough, Councilmember Carol Suter, Councilman Mark Revenaugh, Mayor Pro Tem Les Smith, and Mayor Carol Rudi. (5-0).
Item 12. on the Agenda. OTHER BUSINESS.
There was no other business.
Item 13. on the Agenda. QUESTIONS FROM THE NEWS MEDIA.
There were no questions from the News Media.
Item 14. on the Agenda. ADJOURNMENT.
There being no further business to come before the July 27, 2009, Regular City Council meeting, Mayor Carol Rudi adjourned the meeting.
Respectfully submitted:
______________________________
Cathy Swenson, City Clerk
Approved as submitted: ___
Approved as corrected/amended: ___
______________________________
Mayor Carol A. Rudi