Vienna council considers restructuring wards to at-large seats

By Colin Willard, Staff Writer
Posted 2/15/23

VIENNA — The city of Vienna has started discussions about moving from a government divided by wards to at-large council positions.

City attorney Ross Bush drafted some ordinance language the …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Vienna council considers restructuring wards to at-large seats

Posted

VIENNA — The city of Vienna has started discussions about moving from a government divided by wards to at-large council positions.

City attorney Ross Bush drafted some ordinance language the city could use to make the switch and showed the proposal to city officials at the Feb. 6 city council meeting. He said that the proposal he wrote would change council terms from four years to two years.

Mayor Tyler “TC” James asked if moving to an at-large structure would require the term lengths to change.

“No, it does not,” Bush said. “I did that because it was an option available to us: two, three or four-year terms. I can put four years, or three years, or anything you want.”

Ross said again that it was just a draft of a proposal, and they could take care of it at the next meeting if the council decided what term lengths it wanted to include in the proposal.

Also on the subject of term lengths, Bush said the city could change the length of the mayoral term. He said he would be happy to bring proposal language to support that idea to the next meeting.

“I think in discussion before, we definitely want to go to the at-large for the council seats,” James said. “Switching to two years or four years, we could have some discussion on that.”

“Honestly, you might get more people interested if they didn’t have to sign up for a full four-year term,” South Ward Alderman Brenda Davis said.

“I’m certain that played into my decision quite a bit,” said James, who decided to not run for reelection. “Four years is a long time.”

James asked the council members for their thoughts.

“The only thing about a two-year (term) is that’s going to be more elections and more expense,” Davis said.

“That’s something to consider, especially if you’re starting projects — the continuity,” James said. “But seeing as we have people just fighting and clawing to get in here I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that,” he joked.

James told Bush that the city definitely wished to move to the at-large structure. Changing term lengths would need more consideration. Bush said he would have proposals at the March meeting that would incorporate one or both of the ideas.

April election

Later in the meeting, City Clerk Karen Dudenhoeffer updated the council on filings for the April municipal election. One write-in candidate, Charles Davis, filed for the South Ward seat. Three write-in candidates filed for the mayor seat: Dustin Foster, David Juergens and Timothy Schell.

The deadline for filing as a write-in candidate is the second Friday before the election. For the April 4 election, that will be March 25. There will be no names on the ballot for those seats, but votes for any declared write-in candidates will count.

The city will also have a proposition on the ballot to allow the city to levy a sales tax on recreational marijuana purchases within the city limits.

Bush said that the city had received correspondence from the Missouri Department of Revenue (MDOR) that said the city and county cannot both collect sales tax on the same marijuana purchase. The April ballot will also feature a proposition to allow Maries County to collect a sales tax on recreational marijuana sales.

Bush also said that the city did not need to make any changes to the ballot language it had drafted.

Later in the week, MDOR informed counties that it reversed its position on stacking city and county taxes on marijuana sales. If tax levies pass, both cities and counties may collect taxes on the same sale.

Sewer project

Senior Engineer Don Jenkins with MECO Engineering attended the meeting to thank the council for choosing his company to work on the city’s upcoming sewer project.

At the January meeting, the council selected MECO Engineering after reviewing the qualifications that a few companies sent. City officials cited familiarity with MECO Engineering as one of the reasons for picking it.

Jenkins said within the next month the company will contact the city and put together a contract for the project. The contract should be ready by the next city meeting in March.

“I think the city needs it, and I’m super pumped to do it,” Jenkins said.

“I’ll be anxious to hear what you guys have to say and know how much money we have to spend,” James said.

Jenkins said he expected to go with the simplest approach to the project.

“There’s no need for an entire new plant out there,” he said. “Just the additions that are needed out there and some rehab on the collection system for I/I (infiltration/inflow) work.”

Jenkins restated his excitement about working with the city again.

Street leases

Twice each year, Visitation Catholic Church hosts events that require street closures. The church and city usually sign separate lease agreements for each date to allow the street closures. At its meeting on Feb. 6, the council received correspondence from the church asking if the city would combine the separate lease agreements into one. The council approved the request.

Another correspondence came from Vienna Chamber of Commerce (VCOC) Secretary Kelly Barnhart. The chamber wanted to know if it could lease the streets around the courthouse for the Vienna Wine and Sausage Festival in May. Council members said they were open to the idea, but they would need more details before they approved a lease agreement.

VCOC previously hosted Christmas Around the Square at the same location. Police Chief Shannon Thompson said that if the chamber were to lease the streets again, he would want them to hold responsibility for keeping the streets shut down. He said that during Christmas Around the Square, he kept finding that people had moved the materials used to block off the street.

“It’s probably for the best anyway that we’re not liable for making sure it’s shut off,” James said. “We’ll sign an agreement that they’re liable for anything that happens out there during that time period.”

Dudenhoeffer said she would get more information and work with Bush to make sure any agreement addressed concerns about keeping the street closed.

At the meeting, James said that marijuana cultivator Hippos donated $15,000 to the Vienna Police Department.

“It was a nice little surprise to get called out there and be presented with a $15,000 check out of the goodness of their heart,” James said.