Crestwood Board of Aldermen Marks End of Year, Passes Several Bills and Ordinances

Tuesday’s Board of Aldermen meeting started off on a positive note, as Patrolman Jason Balsman received the Lt. John Walsh Award from Police Chief Mike Paillou. Balsman specializes in crisis intervention, and he has been involved in numerous narcotics investigations and committees.

“Throughout his career in law enforcement, Officer Balsman can always be counted on to always aggressively enforce the law,” Paillou said when handing Balsman the award. 

Who Put the Lights Out?

During the public comment portion of the meeting, a citizen who lives in the 8900 block of Lou Court came forward, asking for his subdivision to get a street light. That spot has been without one for more than 40 years, so the citizen did not expect one right away. City Administrator Petree Eastman said that street lighting had to be eliminated from a laundry list of duties that the city has to perform. 

“It’s a significant cost to put in a street light: surveying, planning, electricity. Our staff does not have the capacity to add this to their particular group of activities,” Eastman said. “We would have to resurrect that particular program. It’s one of the programs eliminated due to budget concerns.”

Mayor Jeff Schlink said that if he were in the citizen’s shoes he would probably make a similar request.

“At some point this could be an agenda item for the board to look at,” Schlink said. “At least file an application and during (next year’s) budget talks we could maybe add this in the future. That would be the starting point.”

There currently is not an official list of requested street lights awaiting installation in Crestwood. 

Bills, Bills, Bills

Five bills on the agenda passed unanimously: An extension of agreement for sanitary sewer lateral repair work with A-Alpha Incorporated for $112,000, an extension of agreement for sanitary sewer lateral investigation services with Accurate Sewer Company for $28,000, an annual maintenance agreement with St. Louis Electronics USA for annual repair and maintenance to the city’s communications systems for $14,406, an annual law enforcement services agreement with REJIS Commission for police in-car computers for more than $107,000 and an agreement with Botz, Deal and Company P.C. for 2011 auditing services for $23,700.

It’s a Big Job …

Appointment of special and bond counsel for the Crestwood Court redevelopment was next on the agenda. Look for a story later today on this discussion.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

The animal control board met several months ago regarding the pet tag program and invisible fences. Thus, code modifications were brought to the aldermen last night.

“Since Nancy Hunt has come on as the animal control officer, I asked her to make recommendations as she sees fit. One was the pet tag program,” said Director of Public Services Jim Eckrich. “Hunt has come to the conclusion that the program is no longer doing what it was intended to do.”

The new code requires owners to have rabies and I.D. tags only.

Hunt also recommended that shelter impoundment fees be changed. The new fee is $25 per redemption, which includes the shelter fee.

The third pet issue was the modification to the invisible fence code. Any future invisible fences must be installed at least 2 feet off of the property line. Current invisible fence owners providing fence specifications will be grandfathered in.

All pet code modifications passed unanimously.

Raise the Roof

Year-end salary adjustments were discussed next, the main issue being merit-based bonuses vs. percentage of salary adjustments. There has not been a city employee pay increase since 2009. Some aldermen said it was unfair because the percentage was higher for lower paid employees than higher in the bonus-based structure. Other options were to reward employees not just with a one-time-fix bonus, but as more of a raise over time in a more permanent fashion.

“In both sides of the argument there is a lot of accuracy, and really both sides are right,” Schlink said. “You have to make a decision that’s both right for the employees and the taxpayers of the city. If we are trying to fix the problem, then we need to adjust the pay plan.”

Schlink also discussed issuing a request for proposal for employee insurance services.

“Insurance for our employees has went up significantly in the last couple of years. I think we should be looking at other costs that employees incur,” Schlink said.

Even though the memo passed in a 4-3 vote, Schlink said that he feels very strongly otherwise and may veto the ordinance in the future.

Budget Talks

Ordinances regarding the general fund budget, capital improvement fund budget and park and stormwater budgets for fiscal year 2012 all were passed. Before a closed session regarding a legal matter on the Sunshine Law was called.