Board Minutes November 10, 2025

THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS

November 10, 2025

The regular meeting of the Board of Public Works was held on November 10, 2025, at 5:00 pm in the City Council Chambers. Those in attendance were President David Ausmus (arrived 5:06 pm), Vice President Jeff Roberts, Board Member Chris Nelson, Board Member Ryan Johnson, General Manager Dana Ulmer, Assistant General Manager Ben Stueve, Controller Jennifer McLeland, Mayor Tony Petre, City Clerk & Interim City Administrator Mary Lou Craigg, City Councilman Brent Bernhardt, City Councilman Talt Holman, City Councilman Steve Iwanowicz, City Councilwoman Cheryl Blaise and City Councilman Jerry Thompson.

Vice President Jeff Roberts called the meeting to order at 5:02 pm.

1. The minutes from the previous regular meeting of the Board of Public Works were reviewed. Board Member Ryan Johnson made a motion, seconded by Board Member Chris Nelson, to approve the minutes of the regular meeting from September 23, 2025. The motion carried with three votes for and none against.

Under old business

2. There was no old business to discuss.

Under new business

3. Review of Financials – September 2025 – Controller Jennifer McLeland explained that mild temperatures decreased charges for services in electric and gas but increased those for water and wastewater as many customers were still watering. Funds for each fund were similar to August other than water due to the Purifics trial payments and wastewater for a chemical shipment in the prior month.

President David Ausmus arrived.

4. Approval of Macon County Ministries 2025 Contribution – Mrs. McLeland shared that MMU received the annual letter from Macon County Ministries (MCM) requesting funding contributions. The 2025 budget allocated $12,000 as requested the prior year, however MCM would appreciate $18,000 but is respectfully requesting $15,000 to be paid in December 2025 as they are running low on funding and donations from the food bank. MCM shared in the letter that as of October 17, 2025, MCM had pledged $18,450 back to customer utility accounts. Following a brief discussion amongst the Board Members regarding the benefits to the community that MCM provides, Board Member Chris Nelson made a motion, seconded by Board Member Ryan Johnson, to approve a contribution in 2025 to Macon County Ministries for $18,000. The motion carried with three votes for and none against, Jeff Roberts abstained.

5. Approval of ConAgra Industrial User Permit – General Manager Dana Ulmer briefly shared that MMU holds the right from the State of Missouri to administer an industrial user permit for ConAgra’s pretreatment facility. He explained that without pretreatment prior to arriving at the Wastewater Plant the influent would cause the Macon treatment systems to be out of compliance. ConAgra has kept in communication with MMU when necessary and been consistently treating the influent properly as shown by the acceptance in the Macon treatment system. The current permit is a five-year extension of the existing permit, without any changes. Board Member Ryan Johnson made a motion, seconded by Vice President Jeff Roberts, to approve the ConAgra Industrial User Permit for an additional five years. The motion carried with four votes for and none against.

6. Discussion of D.A. Davidson Bond Approval Timeline – Mr. Ulmer shared details of the letter received from D.A. Davidson. D.A. Davidson strongly encourages combining water and wastewater projects into one bond election as they find there is a greater rate of success. They typically see municipal elections in August and explained that the election is only permission from the voters to proceed with financing for projects up to a given amount, not a loan for the specified amount requested during the election. By combining the bond election for both water and wastewater, MMU could proceed with the current Water Treatment Plant upgrades in building a new facility with a portion of the approved funding and then, when necessary, focus on upgrades to the Wastewater Treatment Plant perhaps years down the road. Mr. Charlie Zitnik with D.A. Davidson provided a four-step process in preparing for a bond election:\

a. Decide on the election date.

b. Decide on the ballot language.

c. Decide on the dollar amount requested.

e. Educate, educate, educate.

7. Approval of 2026 Budget – Mrs. McLeland shared that the Board Members and City Council in attendance had paper copies of the budget summary, capital improvement expenditures and employee wages for reference during discussion.

Board Member Chris Nelson began discussion on the capital improvement expenditures; he inquired about the amount and detail behind the Substation 3 steel structure versus the previous substation 3 build out. Assistant General Manager Ben Stueve and Mrs. McLeland shared that Agri-Genesis had begun plans for expansion including the purchase of building materials several years prior, and at that time the Board of Public Works decided to proceed in the purchase of materials that engineers said would be required to facilitate the electrical load that would be generated from Agri-Genesis’ planned expansion. Since the start of this project in 2022. Agri-Genesis has not communicated a firm date for their expansion, and in the summer of 2025 sold the building materials previously purchased. As such management began utilizing materials earmarked for this project, as there is now significant reasoning to not continuing to hold materials for an Agri-Genesis expansion. Mrs. McLeland shared that $877,664 in materials would be expensed in October 2025 that had either already been utilized within the electrical system or would be in the future to lower the expense of other planned projects. They shared that the remaining $470,122 in materials designed specifically for MMU’s Substation 3 site could not be utilized elsewhere and planned to be completed to allow for quick expansion of other sites in the industrial park.

Board Member Ryan Johnson asked for details from the City Council present on the wastewater service for the municipal swimming pool discussed during the September meeting. Mayor Tony Petre shared that he, Street Department Supervisor David Coleman and MMU Underground Facilities Supervisor Mike Llewellyn had previously visited the site together to explore options for the installation of a new wastewater service to allow for draining of the swimming pool without the permitting required by Missouri Department of Natural Resources to daylight the draining of the swimming pool. Mr. Llewellyn had shared details with management and Mrs. McLeland shared that MMU management agreed the best solution would be to install a wastewater service west from the manhole just north of the swimming pool, then to turn to the south to manhole C5-024. Mr. Llewellyn estimates the cost of materials only for this path of installation would be between $4,750 to $9,400 depending upon if the service was a six- or eight-inch diameter. Board Member Ryan Johnson recommended adding $60,000 to MMU capital expenditures for assistance with installation of a municipal pool wastewater service line.

Board Members and City Council had a lengthy discussion about budgeted increases for employee wages. The City Council requested that no employee’s total increase be above five percent to match their own budgeting for other City departments. The Board members agreed that no employee would be budgeted to receive above five percent increase unless they were promoted or in a pre-established step raise program.

Mrs. McLeland changed the budget presented to reflect the changes requested. Board Member Chris Nelson made a motion, seconded by Board Member Ryan Johnson, to approve the 2026 Budget with the detailed changes and to present the Budget to the City Council for approval. The motion carried with four votes for and none against.

8. Approval of Laddonia Memorandum of Understanding – Mr. Stueve shared that beginning in 2008 MMU staff had assisted Missouri Public Utility Alliance (MPUA) with the operation of the Grotzinger Energy Center in Laddonia, Missouri. MPUA pays MMU for employee hours and travel of routine maintenance and checks of systems at the turbine. As such MMU adjusts the calculations set forth in Schedule A of the memorandum to reflect budget employee wage increases and update the travel requirements to the current IRS mileage rate. Board Member Chris Nelson made a motion, seconded by Board Member Ryan Johnson, to approve the Laddonia Memorandum of Understanding as presented. The motion carried with four votes for and none against.
9. Approval of Fredericktown Memorandum of Understanding – Mr. Stueve shared that similar to the Laddonia Memorandum of Understanding, MMU facilitates semi-annual maintenance on the natural gas turbine in Fredericktown, Missouri. MMU costs were documented during each trip and the same wage calculations are used to bill MPUA for maintenance in Fredericktown. Board Member Ryan Johnson made a motion, seconded by Vice President Jeff Roberts, to approve the Fredericktown Memorandum of Understanding as presented. The motion carried with four votes for and none against.
10. Approval of Solar Farm Memorandum of Understanding – Mr. Stueve shared that again like the former agreements MMU monitors the solar farm property on Kellogg Avenue and schedules to mow three times each year. Any work completed outside of the agreement is billed separately to MPUA. Vice President Jeff Roberts made a motion, seconded by President David Ausmus, to approve the Solar Farm Memorandum of Understanding as presented. The motion carried with four votes for and none against.
11. Approval of Purchase of Wastewater Treatment Plant Pump – Mr. Ulmer shared that the primary clarifiers at the Wastewater Treatment Plant have three pumps that pump the influent uphill to the secondary process for treatment. Since installed together two of the pumps have run well with little maintenance, however the third pump has not worked the same since installation and continues to be monitored.

Management received the above quotes to both repair and replace the troubled pump. Mr. Ulmer shared that management recommends purchasing a pump from Vandeventer Engineering and keeping the current pump in storage as a backup. President David Ausmus made a motion, seconded by Vice President Jeff Roberts, to approve the purchase of the 2026 budgeted Wastewater Treatment Plant pump from Vandevanter Engineering. The motion carried with four votes for and none against.

12. Employee Retention & Recruitment – McLeland shared that Braxton Cross resigned from the Water Plant effective October 16, 2025. Sam Minear was hired November 3, 2025, making the Water Plant fully staffed again. Lauren Watson resigned from the Business Office effective November 10, 2025. Applications are being accepted until filled with priority going to those received by November 14, 2025.

13. Board of Public Works Member Reports – Board Member Chris Nelson shared that following the Agri-Genesis proposed expansion in 2022 and eventual large expense of materials in 2025, establishing a policy to include a deposit requirement for any economic development anticipated expansion or new business would be beneficial.

Board Member Chris Nelson noted the large amount budgeted for credit card fees associated with customer payments on monthly utility bills. He recommends establishing a fee for credit card use similar to other businesses including the City Collector, to alleviate a large annual expense.

14. Approval of Accounts Payable- The accounts payable were submitted to the board. After review, the board members approved all accounts payable without revision.

A motion was made by Vice President Jeff Roberts seconded by Board Member Chris Nelson, to adjourn the meeting at 8:55 pm, with the next regular board meeting set for December 23, 2025, at 5:00 pm in the City Council Chambers. Motion carried with four votes for and none against.