Desloge city clerk swears in aldermen elected April 2

The winning candidates in the April 2 election were sworn into office when the Desloge Board of Alderman met in regular session on April 8 in city hall.

In the election, Ward 1 Alderman Mark Bonney received 102 votes; for Ward 2, J.D. Hodge received 59 votes, Linda Moore received 60 votes, and Tiffani Gordon received 18 votes; for Ward 3, Terri Vandergriff received 57 votes, and Debra Kester received 93 votes.

The proposed sales tax on marijuana purchases in Desloge was passed with 319 votes in favor and 101 against.

Following the certification of the election results, City Clerk Judy Hutchison administered the oaths of office to Mark Bonney, Linda Moore and Debra Kester.

Committee assignments

Following the swearing-in ceremony, the three took their spots at the board table and committee assignments were discussed. Mayor Pete Pasternak will serve on the planning and zoning committee, along with Ward 1 Alderman John Wigger. Ward 2 Alderman Linda Moore was nominated and approved to serve on the library board.

Serving on the budget committee will be Mayor Pasternak, City Administrator Stephanie Daffron, and Ward 3 Alderman Travis Crews, with Alderman Kester and Alderman Moore being added during the meeting.

Scott Reed was reappointed as the city attorney to provide legal counsel to the board, and Joseph Murray was appointed as the prosecuting attorney.

Mayor Pasternak brought the appointment of a city treasurer to the board’s attention.

“It doesn’t look like Desloge has had one since the mid-90s,” he said. “So, we either need to appoint a treasurer or change the city code. The city code is very clear that we should be appointing a treasurer after the April election, so I just wanted to talk to the board and see how you all think we should handle this.”

The board approved the city clerk taking over the responsibilities of city treasurer.

Municipal courts

A contract will soon be made between the Desloge and Bonne Terre municipal courts to combine their duties.

“This [handout] came from the municipal court clerk from Bonne Terre along with their attorney and a judge,” Daffron said. “It just hits on some key points that would be in the contract, and I wanted to point out that a contract amount that we would pay Bonne Terre annually is $30,000 a year. That’s the main thing I wanted to touch on.

“I also included our court revenue and expenses for the last five years and what those include. Basically, the $30,000 would be less than the amount it would be for us to hire a court clerk. We still would have court in Desloge. The municipal clerk would come here during court night and work court with our judge. We would still pay for our judge and prosecutor.”

Negotiations over the contract to combine the two municipal courts are ongoing.

Other items

– During a discussion regarding a resolution seeking a MoDOT TAP grant, Daffron said, “This would be funding to construct ADA-compliant sidewalks along the south side of West Oak Street from North Trail Woods Street to Parkside Elementary School’s entrance.”

The board approved the grant resolution as well as the lease purchase of three vehicles for the police department and a 1999 ladder truck for the fire department.

– During the public comments portion of the meeting, a citizen expressed their concern about the appearance of two houses on their street.

“I will check with our code enforcement and see where we are at with that, see if any citations have been issued or if any of our code enforcement have spoken with them,” Daffron said. “I know it’s kind of a process. We do have a new animal control/code enforcement officer, and he’s really been getting on stuff like that.”

The Desloge Board of Alderman encourages residents to attend its monthly meetings, which are held on the second Monday of each month. The next meeting will take place on May 13.

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