The Holts Summit Board of Aldermen held a special session Tuesday evening to continue the discussion on a public safety and law enforcement tax and decided to form a working group to focus on collecting data and presenting solutions on the issue .
In new business, the board passed an ordinance approving spirits license applications for the city from 2021 to 22. The approval has been postponed from the June 8 township council meeting to Tuesday to give residents ample time to fill out the required paperwork as the town cannot approve business licenses without submitting documents, town secretary Rachel Anderson said.
The board also approved an amendment to a contract between the city and Ryan Construction for the wastewater improvement project – this time for a reduction of $ 85,474.80 to a total of $ 5,911,198.23 – as city council Hanna Thomas said the project engineers were “pretty short before completion ”. of the project, ”and the city signs an essential completion certificate to compensate the workers.
Sewer Superintendent Keith Edwards said the sewer had a working south pipeline connected to the Jefferson City sewer today. He said the goal is to move 750 gallons of waste this week or next.
“Right now we have the ability to pump a million gallons a day,” said Edwards, adding his relief. For the sake of the residents of Holts Summit, the project will soon be completed. “I’ll be happy to join everyone.”
For the remainder of the session, the lay judges mainly focused on the discussion of public safety and law enforcement tax. The overarching view from last month’s meeting of city councils and public commentators was to use the budgets in each department as best as possible, but when a property tax is put in place, educate residents so they know exactly where their money is going. Also, when dealing with a complex issue, Mayor Landon recommended Oxley to collect data to understand how the population would affect the tax and to help residents make informed decisions.
At the suggestion of HSPD Lt. Brandon Rüdiger they decided to set up a working group to help with both issues.
The group consists of Alderman Mike Harvey, Rüdiger, Thomas, Anderson and a fifth member. Opportunities for the fifth member included a Holts Summit resident who could apply through a link on the city’s Facebook page, a member of the business community, or the Holts Summit Community Betterment Association.
The board also said it would like to hire a research firm to help create data that is in line with property tax. Alderman Chris Redel pointed out that this would be a good long-term investment.
“This is probably a pretty wise investment as far as hiring a company is concerned,” said Redel. “I’m not an expert on property taxes. It will be good if we can have someone who evaluates over the long term what income this will bring. “
Mayor Oxley stressed that although it could cost money to hire a professional and take a long time – like adding property tax to the ballot – he wants to get this right.
“You can’t rush something like that,” he said. “Whoever we can find to help us will be worth it. I really want to see what we can do. “