BELLE — Belle aldermen on Monday night approved two new ordinances to abandon portions of 10th and 11th streets during a special meeting that may not have met the 24-hour public notice requirement.

Mayor Daryl White, Jr., introduced the first ordinance to vacate the deeded but, undeveloped portion of 10th Street. After reading the description of the property, White suggested the cost to survey the land be passed to the new property owner before it is released.

“This was prepared by (Thomas J. Kuster & Associates Land Surveyor) Surveying,” White said. “If we decide to release this, there was a fee to survey this of $225,” White said. “I think that should go with the property owner, the seller or the buyer before released. I think before it is released they should pay the cost.”

The board waived the second reading and asked if they have a motion to accept abandoning the property or for the city to retain it.

Alderman James (Pudd) Mitchell made a motion to accept vacating the property, Alderman Barb Howarth seconded the motion, which passed with a 3-0 vote.

Second is an ordinance to vacate the undeveloped portion of 11th Street,” White said. “This was already done once, but it was never recorded. It needs to be recorded so they pay taxes on it. It’s a 50 foot wide strip that we divided down the middle.”

White asked to waive the second reading. Mitchell made the motion. Alderman Adam Padgett seconded. The motion passed with a 3-0 vote.

City Clerk Frankie Horstman asked the board about the signed contract with Meramec Regional Planning Commissioner’s (MRPC) housing inspector, Chuck Cantrell. The board approved the contract at the July 11 city meeting, but Horstman was never given a signed copy to send to MRPC.

The board signed the contract and returned it to Horstman.

White announced that it concluded the open meeting portion.

The board went into closed session to discuss the school resource officer and public works. No action was taken in the closed session meeting.

The city announced on its Facebook page on Saturday morning that it was planning to host a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday night. The meeting was not posted at City Hall on Sunday at 3:11 p.m., however, a July 11 meeting (the same date as the city’s regularly scheduled meeting) was posted with an agenda. At 7:38 p.m., an Advocate staff writer checked the door and found the same July 11 agenda was posted but date was changed to July 31 with an ink pen.

When asked about the agenda change, City Clerk Frankie Horstman said she was on vacation Thursday and Friday and was not aware of the posting.

“I was off Thursday and Friday of last week so I was not here and did not post the meeting notice,” Horstman wrote in a Monday afternoon email. “I did ask Charro (Reasor, city treasurer) this morning about the meeting. She stated that Daryl (White, Jr., mayor) came in close to 5 p.m. and did the notice on Friday. But I can not verify that,”

Horstman also said she was unaware of the changes to the meeting notice.

“I am unaware of any changes made to the notice,” Horstman said. “I have not been in the office since last Wednesday until this morning.”

According to RSMo 610.020 (1) Missouri Sunshine Law, public boards are required to give at least 24-hours notice, excluding weekends and holidays.

Belle city officials held a meeting on June 6 with at least three board members and the mayor present to conduct interviews for the public works department and failed to post either a meeting notice or an agenda.

When The Advocate inquired about the error via email, Horstman responded, “I returned to work from vacation on Tuesday, June 6, 2023. Something was mentioned regarding doing interviews that evening. I looked at the door and did not see a notice posted. I did mention to Mayor White Jr. that since all of the aldermen were going to be there it had to be posted as a meeting and should be closed. I did not attend the meeting but understood that two individuals were interviewed.”

A follow-up email requested minutes from the June 6 meeting, however Horstman said she hadn’t received any. She was given a copy of the June 6 minutes at the June 13 city meeting by the mayor. She shared the minutes the following day with a note,” I received the minutes for the (June 6) meeting at our regular meeting on Tuesday, June 13, 2023. I was unaware that they even existed. The first time I saw them was at the meeting last night.”

A third special city meeting held on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, was announced the day prior, on a holiday when City Hall was closed.

According to the notice, White called the meeting at 2:15 p.m. on Feb. 20, President’s Day, for 3 p.m. the following day. The topic of discussion was “police department,” but did not list if the discussion would be in open or closed session.

According to the Feb. 21 meeting minutes, the city began negotiating the purchase of a K9 officer in open session and adjourned to closed session under personnel.