Desloge aldermen tackle solid waste fee, city’s financial stability

 

By Stephanie Kim

The Desloge Board of Aldermen discussed the imposition of a proposed solid waste fee on city residents during a Monday night meeting that covered a range of items and lasted almost three hours.

The issue of whether or not to charge the fee has been a bone of contention between Mayor Pete Pasternak and the board for months.

During public comments, a concerned citizen brought up the solid waste fee, and Pasternak responded that the solid waste fee was on the agenda.

Later in the meeting, Ward III Alderwoman Teri Vandergriff said, “I would like to open up the discussion about whether [the solid waste fee] increase is necessary, If it’s not necessary, then I’d like to not automatically increase rates when it’s been less than 12 months.”

Mayor Pasternak brought up his concerns about past decisions made by the board, along with revenue and sales tax increases put into effect by the city in recent years.

“My question for the board is when is enough enough?” asked Pasternak. “What increase in city services have Desloge residents seen in that time period? The answer is not a lot, if any.”

Mayor Pasternak read through past ballot measures as well as decisions made by the city regarding the charging of fees.

“I agree with you on many points, and I agree that people are upset, but…” said Ward II Alderwoman Kelly Harris. “And I know you guys might shake your heads, no, you hate us all, but we have to think about the future of the city. We are not thinking just about 2024 and our $14 a month. We have to also think, do we want to put this out to a private company?

“I did a little market research, and I think the average for a private company is about $20 a month. And I know that other cities do it and nobody is happy with it. We wouldn’t get to set a rate on that; they could make rates what they want, and you have multiple trucks and companies running on our roads, tearing up the roads. We can’t call into city hall and say, ‘Hey, I’m on vacation this week. Will you do this and that.'”

Financial Stability

Ward I Alderperson John Wigger brought up several points regarding finances that were made earlier in the discussion.

“[Pasternak] said the board didn’t have the right to change the matter,” he said. “I think that’s kind of what we set up here on the board to do. To discuss if we find stuff that was maybe done wrongly in the past, we have the opportunity to change it.”

Tensions began to rise, and the stability of city finances was questioned.

“[Pasternak doesn’t] want to raise the fees,” Harris said. “You don’t want to raise park and civilian fees, but when was the last time before this current year that we raised the pool fee? It’d been since the 70s.”

Wigger said, “That widens it out even more. We want to give the park workers a raise. That makes the [deficit even larger]. So we cut trash, and we do this — we give them raises, but we don’t raise the fees for using the facilities. That just makes the [deficit grow larger and larger].”

Ballot language and fees proposed in previous years were discussed further. A motion was made to suspend the automatic cost increase for the solid waste fee and to postpone the making of a new ordinance.

Sidewalk Policy 

Mayor Pasternak presented board members with a proposed addition to the city’s current sidewalk policy.

“It is much more friendly to our residents than what we had before,” he said.

Wigger replied, “So right now, it’s the residents’ responsibility for the sidewalks, which is crazy to me. So this would bring back the ownership to the city.”

Harris brought up concerns about the city taking on additional financial responsibility at this time, especially in light of the possible financial implications for the city if it’s decided not to impose the solid waste fee.

“Do you think we should pursue things like this, being that you want to remove the trash fee?” asked Harris. “If that’s the case, I would say to press pause on all of this because we’re going to be financially unstable at that point.” Addressing the mayor, he asked, “Would you still remove the trash fee if we approve this?”

Pasternak replied, “Yes, I think we should remove the trash fee because I don’t think it is right.”

Harris removed herself from the discussion after concerns about the city’s financial stability were voiced. 

Other items

– City Administrator Stephanie Daffron brought up concerns with the city’s animal control policy.

“So, the issue with our animal control is that the other night, an officer was needing animal control,” she said. “They pulled someone over that had a dog in the vehicle, and the way our policy reads now is that animal control cannot take [the animal control vehicle] home unless they live in Desloge. Ours lives right outside of Desloge. It took him too long to drive to city hall to get the truck and to help the officer. So, I’m requesting that we change this [policy] to allow him to take the vehicle home every day.”

Due to concerns about the amount of wear placed on city vehicles, the issue was put on hold until a more informed decision can be made.

– Public Works Director Jason Harris brought up the maintenance of power lines in City Park.

“Basically, we’ll go underground with all the wiring,” he said. “So when we have storms, we won’t have those power lines being knocked down. That [wiring] will feed the new lights, and everything will be underground.” The motion was made and approved.

– Harris, along with other public works department employees, proposed a new four-days-a-week, 10-hour-a-day work schedule. The proposal would change the department’s hours to 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, from March 15 to Nov. 15, and 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, from Nov. 16 to March 14. Workers explained that benefits derived from the change would include improved project efficiency, an increase in employee morale and mental health, as well as improved work/life balance.

It was also noted that allowances would be made for delayed road closures.

The board voiced concerns about how the proposed change would affect the public works department’s ability to respond to unanticipated issues that might arise during the holidays, as well as how overtime hours would be handled. A 90-day trial run of the new schedule was proposed, and the issue was put on hold until the next board meeting.

– Fire Chief Jared Meador and Assistant Fire Chief Larry Penberthy proposed the purchase of a refurbished and fully equipped ladder truck for the fire department.

“If we get the truck, we won’t have to sit and wait to order everything,” Meador said. “Everything will be in stock and in hand. We can pull it in, mount it, and do training on it.”

Penberthy said, “It’d be the first out for fires and vehicle accidents — just an absolute multipurpose truck.”

The discussion was tabled for later in the meeting, at which time it was approved, along with some restrictions regarding payments.

– Efforts to remedy the city clerk issue were discussed.

“So, this is something that I have been talking with Bonne Terre about,” Daffron said. “And I have Dawn, the court administrator with the city of Bonne Terre. So right now, our municipal court clerk has resigned, and we’re kind of in between again. We have gone through several court clerks within the last few years, and I have been talking with Dawn about how we can work out this issue we’re having.

“She suggested that we maybe combine our courts as far as court being held here at Desloge with our judge and prosecutor, but the city of Bonne Terre would take the liability of handling the day-to-day operations with courts as far as phone calls, collecting the money and paperwork. This is all something that can be worked out through some sort of contract. And I’m not looking for anything tonight except just the fact to proceed and maybe dig into this a little deeper.”

This would mean that fines for both Desloge and Bonne Terre would be handled in Bonne Terre, but court proceedings would still take place in Desloge. The board approved a motion to continue making plans with Bonne Terre to combine the courts.

– The Sidewalk Rehabilitation and Repair Policy was approved.

– Three police department grants were presented and approved by the board.

– A motion to move the March board of aldermen meeting from the second Monday of the month to the third was approved. Because of this, the next Desloge Board of Aldermen meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on March 18 at Desloge City Hall.

Stephanie Kim is the assistant editor of the Daily Journal. She can be reached at skim@dailyjournalonline.com.