The Honorable Mayor

and members of the City Council

City of Warrensburg, Missouri

Dear Mayor and Council Members:

SUBJECT: City Manager Report for the February 23, 2009 City Council Study Session

Council Letter No. 09-029

February 20, 2009

Inspire a Shared Vision

Challenge the Process

Enable Others to Act

Encourage the Heart

Model the Way

The quotation for this City Manager Report centers on the leadership concept of

"Model the Way.”

City Council Meetings, Study Sessions, and Executive Sessions

Our City Council Meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 23, 2009, and we plan to have an Executive Session to discuss legal and real estate matters at 6:00 p.m. at the City Hall Annex prior to the regular City Council meeting.  We anticipate that the Agenda for the 7:00 p.m. regular February 23 City Council Meeting will include the following:   

• Presentation of the 2007-08 Audit Report;
• Presentation by Anthony DeNicola on a Wildlife Management Study;
• Ordinance Authorizing a Service Agreement with the Whiteman Area Leadership Council in the amount of $3,000;

• Ordinance Restricting Parking on Stoneybrooke Drive from Veterans Road and County Road NE 201, in the City of Warrensburg, Missouri;

• Mayoral Appointment to the Traffic Commission.

Possible items for either the March 9 or the March 23, 2009 City Council Agendas include:

• Resolution to Pay Bills;
• Resolution Authorizing a Task Force to Review Sports Tourism, Use of Joint Facilities and Possible Sports Authority;
• Ordinance Authorizing an Agreement to provide an Emergency Access from the Cayhill Subdivision East to Enterprise Avenue;

• Ordinance Establishing Procedures and Regulations for Ham Radio Towers;
• Ordinance Amending the Zoning Ordinance on the Definition of Principle Use Per Lot;
• Ordinance Authorizing a City/County Emergency Management Agreement;
• Ordinance Establishing a City Tree Board;
• Ordinance Approving a Contract for the Highway 13 Intersection Projects;
• Ordinance Approving a Contract for the Fire Station No. 2 Parking Lot;
• Ordinance Approving a Contract for Engineering of the Downtown Revitalization Phase III (Pine Street) Project.

Council Communication and Projects

You have communicated to City staff, as a group or individually, requests for information on certain issues.  The following are some of those items:

Efforts to Obtain Global Strike Force Command at Whiteman

The State’s Department of Economic Development is now taking the lead on the Global Strike Command Project.  The first meeting of a regional coalition to obtain the command was held Thursday, February 19.  The Mayor, your City Manager and Barbara Carroll attended this meeting.  Another meeting is scheduled next week.   

Possible Emergency Access from Cayhill East to Enterprise

A first draft contract has been developed and we plan to meet with all of the parties to work out an arrangement prior to the March 9 City Council meeting.

Recent City Manager Activities, Meetings and Events

Since our last City Council meeting, your City Manager attended a Friends of Music reception, a Whiteman Area Leadership Council meeting, and a Warrensburg Area Partners in Prevention meeting.  In addition, I met with Tracy Brantner and attended a Chamber networking breakfast at Warrensburg Chrysler Dodge and a Chamber Branding Committee meeting. 

During the week of February 16, I appeared on our monthly radio show with Marion Woods,  attended a Compressive Economic Development Strategy meeting and the Pioneer Trails Board meeting in Concordia.  In addition, Barbara Carroll and I met with the University’s President’s Cabinet and met with Cliff Wise at First Baptist Church.  On Wednesday and Thursday the Mayor and I attended the annual Missouri Municipal League’s Legislative Conference and the Global Strike Command meeting.  The Mayor, Council Member Arwood and I dined with our State Senator and State Representative in Jefferson City on Wednesday night.   

On Friday, I met with representatives of the Arts Commission and attended the groundbreaking of the Highway 13 East Loop project.

Upcoming City Manager Activities, Meetings and Events

Next week I plan to meet with our community Census committee, meet with the Department Directors on the budget and attend a Military Affairs Committee meeting.  While I plan to be out of the office next Thursday and Friday, the following week I plan to have a conference call with our head hunter on the Public Works Director recruitment, attend a City Chamber Ambassador’s meeting and attend a Chamber after Hours event.  Next week I will also be reviewing possible wage and benefit implementation strategies and working with Department Directors on implementation of our City Council Goals, Objectives and Action Steps.  

As always, if there are any questions on any matter, or if you need additional information on this report, please contact either myself or any of the Department Heads noted in this report.  You may always contact me on any subject at any time by e-mail or mobile phone or leave a voice mail message at (660) 747-9180.  

PARKS and RECREATION

Kory Alfred, Director

Lions Lake Revitalization Plan

Consultants from Landplan Engineering submitted two preliminary plans for renovating Lions Lake Park.  The Master Plan Committee of the Parks and Recreation Board will review the two plans and provide feedback on February 25, 2009.   I anticipate adoption of the plan at the March 25, 2009, Parks and Recreation Board meeting.

City-Wide Recreation Trail Plan

Staff met with consultants from Bucher, Willis, and Ratliff (BWR) concerning the second draft of the City-Wide Trail Plan.  Staff indentified areas of the plan which require more detailed specification and integration with the City-Wide Traffic Study, City Comprehensive Plan, and City Bike Routes.  I anticipate the next draft being submitted in March.

Nassif Aquatic Center Project

The Nassif Aquatic Center project is progressing on schedule.  Construction of the bath house has begun.  The Lazy River is poured and the water slide has been erected.  Staff is in the process of setting fees and policies for the new facility.  The facility is planned to open this upcoming Memorial Day.

PUBLIC WORKS

Bob Crumb, Director of Public Works

Street Department Activities

The Street Department crews have been working on inventory of the storm drainage system.  The inventory will indicate any problem area that may occur in the near future and will update records for location and condition.

Street Maintenance Program

The program will be ready to go out for bid in March and presented to Council in April.

Curb and Sidewalk Program

We are currently advertising the program in the newspaper to see if there is any interest.  As of today, we have approximately 8 applications.  The program will be ready to go out for bid in March and presented to Council in April.

2009 Spring Clean up Programs

The bid packets are currently available and bid opening is scheduled for February 27, 2009.  The award will be presented to Council in March.

Wastewater Plant Expansion Project

The preconstruction meeting with City Staff, Contractors, Engineers, and staff from Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources was held on Thursday, February 19, 2009 at the ABC Building.

Highway 13 Intersection Project

Bid Opening is scheduled for 10:00 a.m., Monday, February 23, 2009, and will be presented to Council in March.

Fire Station No. 2 Parking Lot

The Fire Station No. 2 parking lot is scheduled for bid opening on Friday, February 20, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. and will be presented to Council in March.

Bike Lane Project

The signs have arrived and work will begin soon to place them along the various routes.

Downtown Revitalization Phase III

Interviews are currently being held with the Engineering groups and the selection committee.

New Public Works Maintenance Building

There is a “substantial completion” date for Thursday, March 12, 2009.

Police Building

Starting on Monday, February 16, 2009, Straub Construction will begin mobilizing equipment to the site.  They will also be tearing out the parking area west of the old MGE building.  Parking will be difficult during construction and we ask that everyone be patient during this time until parking can be established again.  Some parking will be available in the lower lot next to the train depot.

City Hall Remodel-Fire Department

The Open House for the Fire Department coincided with the groundbreaking of the Police Building and was a success with tours available to everyone.

City Hall Remodel-Programming Phase

We are currently in the first stages of design for the remainder of City Hall.

Cemetery Maintenance Building

The Cemetery building will be out to bid next week with a pre-bid meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 3.  Bid opening is scheduled for Thursday, March 12, and will be presented to Council either March 23 or April 13, 2009.

Activities and Meetings of the Director of Public Works

Staff met with the engineers regarding the Infiltration Inflow report to Missouri Department of Natural Resources.  The preconstruction meeting for the Sewer Plant improvements will be on Thursday, February 19, 2009.

POLICE DEPARTMENT

Bruce Howey, Chief

Blood Drive Results

We had a great blood drive on February 9 with 102 people coming by to donate.  Staff from the Community Blood Center collected 80 units from those donors.  Our next blood drive will be on Monday, April 13 at the Community Center from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm.

PD Groundbreaking

The groundbreaking for the new Police headquarters building was held on February 9.  At least 125 persons participated and ate chili at the luncheon in the Fire Bay.  After the groundbreaking and lunch, tours were given of the newly remodeled Fire Station One.

Meeting with the 400 Club Owner

John Harrington and I met with the owner/manager of the 400 Club to discuss fights inside the club and to work together on a strategy to reduce the number of fights and conflicts between patrons.

EnerSys Battery Project

We are working with EnerSys to install a newly designed battery in one of our patrol division Crown Victoria’s and in one of our Impalas that will allow for longer use of all the equipment with the engine off.  This will allow for idle times and gas consumption to be conserved in certain situations.  The batteries will be installed on February 20 and we will have media coverage after they are installed and in service.

Pre-construction Meeting on Police Building and Earth is moving

The pre-construction meeting with Straub Construction was held February 17.  Earth started moving on the project this morning as well. 

Animal Shelter

Donations from Jackson Webb

The Animal Shelter received a donation of toys, treats, and supplies this week from Jackson Webb.  Jackson asked for supplies to be donated to the shelter rather than birthday presents for his birthday party.

Adoption Day in Holden

The shelter's adoption day February 7 at Orchlean’s in Holden was a success.  We took 5 dogs and 1 cat and adopted three animals on-site that day and one more at the shelter this week due to the exposure at the adoption event.  With the weather starting to get better we hope to plan more adoption events throughout the rest of the year.

Shelter Employee Rehired

The shelter has hired Lisa Rushing as a part-time employee to fill a vacant position.  Lisa has worked for the shelter before and we are glad for her to rejoin our team.

Disaster Literature for Animals

The shelter will soon be working with the Department of Health and Senior Services to distribute literature on preparing animals for disaster.  We will be including the information in our adoption packets as well as passing it out to anyone interested.

Projects with UCM Students

The shelter is working with two teams from the UCM Management of Organization class. Team one will be working to promote the shelter and let students and the public know what the function of the shelter is and how they can help support the shelter.  Team two will be working with the shelter to make our pet-finder web page more user friendly.

ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER

Chris Lowe

Information Technology

IT has just received and placed into service an additional Citrix server which is 120 Hz versus the traditional 60 Hz with significantly more memory and capacity.  It will allow our oldest model, which can only service about 15 users with the amount of applications we use, to be taken offline and will be used to test applications before they are rolled out.   This should allow us to install applications and test them with little or no disruption to the end users throughout the City. 

The ITT Team has also developed a long and short term training strategy and has developed a basic computer orientation package to be given to all employees.  This training will take place quarterly until all users have completed the basic package.  The departments will then undergo training specific to applications that only they use.  Many thanks to Penny Harris, Terry Carr and the ITT team for their work on this initiative.  I want to recognize those members on the ITT team because they have certainly sacrificed a lot of their time to help with this effort.  The members are Jim Kushner, Carl Larkerbrink, Peggy Hostetler, Bob Crumb, Justin O’Neal, Brenda Davis, Suzy Shackelford, Cindy Jones, Rachel Denfeld and Vickie Wright.

Support Services

Dr. DeNicola will be in town on February 23 to review the City environment and to share his thoughts and findings with respect to any proposed wildlife management efforts.  I sent letters to Department of Conservation agent, Joe DeBold, throughout the winter.  I have received no response to those letters or phone messages.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Barbara Carroll, Director of Community Development

2010 Census Committee Meets

The Census committee will meet on February 23 to continue preparations for the 2010 Census.  The group will be updated on the possibility of a local Census office in Warrensburg, the preparations for an April 1 breakfast for media representatives, the artwork for a local logo and tagline for the Census effort and the house numbering project.

Publicizing Code Enforcement Efforts

The code enforcement door hangers to publicize different types of violations and how to make a complaint have been ordered.  They should arrive in the next two weeks.

Window Restoration Workshop Offered

In an on-going effort to provide access to preservation workshops, the City of Warrensburg’s Community Development Department would like to sponsor up to two people to attend a Window Restoration Workshop being held in Hannibal, Missouri.  Staff originally looked at inviting the workshop presenter, Bob Yapp, to Warrensburg to conduct the workshop, but found it cost prohibitive.  When we learned Hannibal, Missouri, was offering the class we decided to pay the $300 registration fee for up to 2 local people who wanted to attend and bring the information back to Warrensburg and the Historic Preservation Commission.  The attached letter and flyer were mailed to 43 homeowners identified in the Cultural Resource Survey as having properties individually eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and to 14 general contractors holding City of Warrensburg business licenses with Johnson County addresses.  They were also mailed to Warrensburg Main Street and the Johnson County Historical Society.

Ordinance Updates

Staff has been preparing several ordinance updates over the last few months.  First, is an ordinance for amateur radio operations developed in conjunction with the local ham radio club. The second is an ordinance stating only one principal use can exist on a lot at a time from a zoning standpoint.  The need for the second ordinance to clarify the existing text of the language has arisen over the last couple years as different development scenarios have been proposed.  Both ordinances will be coming to the City Council in March for consideration.

West Central Missouri Solid Waste Management District (Region F)

For many years, I have represented the City of Warrensburg and all cities in Johnson County with a population of 500 or more on the Executive Board of the West Central Missouri Solid Waste Management District.  The district receives quarterly allocations from the Department of Natural Resources generated by the tipping fees at landfills in the district.  The district then disperses the money through an annual competitive grant process to support public and private projects reducing the waste stream going to landfills.  This is the source of funding for the household hazardous waste collection event hosted by Johnson County in October of each year and several grants for equipment received by the Johnson County Sheltered Workshop.  The district has undergone many changes in the last year and now contracts with the Pioneer Trails Regional Planning Commission for administrative services.  In the last month, I have spent many hours working with a committee to write a Policy and Procedures manual for the district and to solicit proposals and enter into a contract for administrative services for the coming year.

FIRE DEPARTMENT

Phil Johnston, Fire Chief

Firefighter Recruitment Update

Conditional offers of employment have been sent to eight of the 14 persons whose names are on the current part-time firefighter eligibility list.  Interviews have occurred or are scheduled for the remaining six candidates.  Hopefully, we will be able to fill vacant positions in the very near future.

Fire Station 1 Remodeling Project Update

The open house of the newly remodeled areas occurred on February 9, 2009, after the groundbreaking for the Warrensburg Police Department headquarters building.  We are still waiting for a replacement door and some window coverings.  The improvements associated with the new office and work areas are very evident, and I have received positive feedback from Fire Department personnel as well as from visitors to Fire Station 1.

Ice Storm Emergency Preparedness Exercise

On Tuesday, February 17, 2009, I participated in an emergency preparedness table top exercise at the Johnson County Fire Protection District training room.  The event was hosted by the Johnson County Emergency Management Agency.  Emergency managers and allied personnel from Bates, Benton, Clay, Cooper, Henry, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, and Pettis Counties along with representatives from KCP&L, the State Emergency Management Agency and University of Central Missouri were involved in the event.  This exercise involved a simulated long-duration ice storm that eventually affected nearly all of Missouri as well as four adjacent states.  The training was very beneficial.  At the conclusion of the event, the emergency managers in attendance emphasized the importance of these types of exercises and the desire to support each other during actual emergency conditions.  Additional similar training exercises are likely to occur.

Annual Pipeline Summit

On Wednesday, February 18, 2009, I attended the Pipeline Association of Missouri’s annual “Pipeline Summit” in Columbia, Missouri.  Three of the five primary means of commodity transportation – highways, pipelines, and rail – pass through or are immediately adjacent to Warrensburg.  The other two means of commodity transportation are air and water.  The purpose of this meeting was to provide emergency managers and public officials with the opportunity to come together to discuss a variety of issues and safety aspects of pipeline operations throughout Missouri.  This was the first state-wide meeting of this type that I have attended.  My past participation with the Pipeline Association of Missouri has been as a participant at the regional meetings that are held periodically in Warrensburg.

City Managers Report available in .pdf