VIENNA — The Vienna City Council voted at its Sept. 9 meeting to close an undeveloped section of Second Street that has been a discussion topic at several meetings over the last couple of years.

With little discussion during the meeting, the aldermen unanimously passed an ordinance to vacate the section located between Junkers Junction and the building that houses 63 Vintage Market and the Advocate’s office. The city will no longer deal with issues surrounding the strip of pavement.

Now that the city has vacated ownership of the road, the adjoining landowners will be left to settle things themselves. During reporting on the dispute in June, all three property owners said they would favor the city vacating the street with Charlie Buntsma and Bruce Struemph both saying so on the condition that Buntsma was able to access his property from the street. Buntmsa attended the meeting, but he made no comments during the proceedings.

The meeting also included the city’s tax rate hearing. The aldermen voted to approve the maximum tax rates determined by the state, which were 0.6469 per $100 of assessed valuation for general revenue and 0.2462 per $100 of assessed valuation for the special road district. The rates decreased from 0.6506 and 0.2475, respectively, in 2023. The assessed valuation increased for both categories.

Municipalities are required to set their tax rates by the end of August, but incoming City Clerk Brenda Davis said she spoke with the Missouri State Auditor’s Office and went through the necessary process to get the city’s deadline extended. The city was late because of the ongoing transition between city clerks.

City officials also spoke with a representative from Remote Computer Services in Westphalia about providing IT services for the police department. Vienna Police Chief Shannon Thompson said that in addition to regular services, the security systems on the police department’s computers needed upgrades.

One of the topics the group discussed was eliminating separate internet services for the city clerk and police department. Many municipalities separate the two because of the way law enforcement accesses the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s server, but the city could combine the two networks without creating compliance issues.

Other upgrades discussed during the meeting would improve the city’s email and antivirus protections. They could also help protect against phishing schemes and lengthen the city’s email archives.

The aldermen said they would like to see a formal quote at the next meeting after putting together a technology inventory to have a better estimate to provide the company.

Davis said the clerks had also been looking into options for switching the city’s internet service provider, and she planned to include those options in further discussions with Remote Computer Services.

Later in the meeting, Davis also noted that an employee of an investment firm had contacted the city to let it know that the company would be interested in handling a project with the city if it decided to pursue issuing bonds for a new sewer system.

During the meeting, city officials also approved the use of the walking trail at Vienna City Park for a Zombie Run fundraiser on Oct. 26 for the Vienna High School freshman class.