There is still no budget for either the city of Trenton or Trenton Municipal Utilities after the city council failed to override the mayor’s veto during Monday night’s meeting.
On votes of 5-2, with Jennifer Hottes absent, the council agreed to approve both budgets, which would have gone into effect on May 1. However, as he did after the budgets were approved on March 27, Mayor Dr. Nick McHargue again vetoed the two documents. But because six votes are needed to override a veto, the council could muster just the five who had voted to approve the budgets on Monday night. They included Glen Briggs, Allan Quilty, Travis Elbert, David Mlika and Larry Crawford. Larry Porter and Brad Chumbley voted no. When attempts were made on April 10 to override the mayor’s first veto, Mlika, Porter, Chumbley and Mrs. Hottes voted no along with former first ward councilman Mark Moore, while Elbert and Quilty were in favor. Scott Blair, who has since resigned from the council, was absent from that meeting.
There was no discussion before the vote was taken on Monday night, however, at the April 10 meeting, Dr. McHargue had indicated he did not want the budgets to include a $20,000 payout by both the city and TMU for economic development, which was also an objection raised by Chumbley. Dr. McHargue had also expressed concern that there was no money included for employee raises, although he pointed out that job evaluations had not been done.
The council has until May 1 to pass new budgets for the city and TMU. If not, the two entities will continue to operate under the old budgets until new ones are approved. In the current city budget, there is $76,000-plus designated for economic development.
The council approved an ordinance to allow the city to enter into an agreement with Burns and McDonnell to provide engineering services to help the city with its preliminary design for the wastewater treatment plant’s disinfection plan. The agreement is for no more than $118,000 to be paid for the engineering work.
Jeff Bernard of Burns and McDonnell visited with the council about what has been done thus far, noting that the city has until 2019 to submit the plan to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. In addition, the city will also be working on a bypass plan, however, the timeframe for that plan is flexible, Bernard said, as money to do the work is an issue. He said the city has committed not to take on any more debt for the bypass plan than what has already been designated and that the DNR has agreed to that commitment.
The council approved an ordinance, establishing a 20-year contract with the Grundy County Public Water Supply District #1 to provide water to the district. The new contract increases rates and it was noted that when the city raises its rates to customers, the rates to the water district also increase proportionately. The contract goes into effect on May 1 and there is a six-month out-clause by either party.
Four ordinances amending the city’s traffic code were approved to reflect changes in state law. The ordinances involved autocycles, emergency vehicles, sirens and flashing lights and definitions.
Votes on the engineering, water rate and traffic code ordinances were 7-0.
Among reports given:
• Community Developer Ralph Boots said he met with representatives of 11 prospective businesses during a recent conference, sending proposals to eight of those businesses that he felt might be a fit for the area. The businesses were in the areas of agriculture, automotive, drum technology and a data center.
• TMU Comptroller Rosetta Marsh said 158 customers have signed up for online bill pay services since its inception one and one-half months ago. Payments for utility bills have totaled $30,000 as a result of those services.
• City Administrator Ron Urton said a meeting would be held at 10 a.m. on Wednesday at city hall in regard to planning for the new 17th Street bridge. Representatives from the Green Hills Regional Planning Commission, the Missouri Department of Transportation, the Union Pacific Railroad and Olsson and Associates along with the city’s financial representative have been invited to attend.
An executive session was held for personnel and legal matters, with no announcement made. The council did come out of executive session and voted 6-1 to write off a $68,690 promissory note between the city and Plaza LLC for work the city did behind the Plaza when the building was being renovated. The original note had been for $100,000, but had been paid down to the $68,690. Voting against the writeoff was Chumbley.
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