Meramec Regional Planning Commission

Minutes

August 12, 2010

Call to Order
Russell Scheulen called the August 12 meeting of the Meramec Regional Planning Committee to order at 7:30 p.m.

Welcome
Nicholas French new at-large representative for labor was welcomed to the meeting. Mr. French is employed at Purcell Tire Company in Potosi.

Consent Agenda

a. Minutes June and July Minutes

b. Statewide Grant Applications

c. Contracts

• State Regional Grant Program
Appropriations for state regional planning commissions for fiscal year 2011 is $100,000. Rural RPCs will each receive $4,450. Permission was requested for MRPC’s chairman and executive director to sign the appropriate documents to apply for the state planning grant.

• Community Foundation of the Ozarks
Permission was requested for MRPC’s chairman and/or executive director to sign an agreement by and between Community Foundation of the Ozarks and the Meramec Regional Planning Commission. The agreement states that CFO agrees to split the annual fund management fee of 0.75 of one percent of the region’s fund. MRPC’s part would be one half of 0.75 of one percent, which would be payable on a quarterly basis and specifically excludes any funds held in existing CFO affiliates that are not a part of the Meramec Regional Community Foundation.

The partnership with CFO was discussed at the March board meeting, and we assumed that the agreement was presented to the board for approval at that time. However, after reviewing a tape of the meeting, it was discovered that no vote was taken.

• Rolla School District 31 (Amendment)
Permission was requested for MRPC’s chairman and/or executive director to sign a contract amendment with the Rolla Public Schools for the P-20 grant to reallocate grant funds to cover more of MRPC’s staff time.

• Elgin Surveying
Permission was requested for MRPC’s chairman and/or executive director to sign a contract to provide technical assistance in the preparation of an EDA Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) application for an equipment purchase for Elgin Surveying in Rolla, Mo.

• Armed Services YMCA of Missouri
Permission was requested for MRPC’s chairman and/or executive director to sign a contract to provide General Foundation/Program Grant Writing for Armed Services YMCA of Missouri.

• The Café Company
Permission was requested for MRPC’s chairman and/or executive director to sign a contract to provide technical assistance in the preparation of USDA Intermediary Relending Program (IRP) application and EDA Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) application for kitchen expansion, covered patio and additional equipment for The Café Company in Owensville, Mo.

• City of Potosi/Red Wing
Permission was requested for MRPC’s chairman and/or executive director to sign a contract with the city of Potosi to provide grant administration of a Community Development Block Grant for expansion of the Red Wing Shoe facility in Potosi, Mo.

• Pulaski County Commission
Permission was requested for MRPC’s chairman and/or executive director to sign a contract with the Pulaski County Commission to provide administration of a Community Development Block Grant for the Devil’s Elbow Bridge Replacement Project.

• Osage County Commission and Meramec Community Enhancement Corp.
Permission was requested for MRPC’s chairman and/or executive director to sign a contract with the Osage County Commission on behalf of MCEC to provide:

• Administration of a CDBG Disaster Relief Grant for rehab on three nonprofit senior housing complexes in Linn, Rich Fountain and Hermann.
• Construction inspection services for a CDBG Disaster Relief Grant for rehab on three nonprofit senior housing complexes in Linn, Rich Fountain and Hermann.

• Gasconade Valley Enterprise Zone (GVEZ) Amendment
Permission was requested for MRPC’s chairman and/or executive director to sign an amendment to its agreement with the Gasconade Valley Enterprise Zone to cover additional costs incurred with preparation of the Maries and Gasconade Enhanced Enterprise Zone (EEZ) application.

• Meramec Regional Emergency Management Committee (MREPC)
Since the MREPC contract was not on the June agenda, MRPC’s executive committee was contacted and gave approval for MRPC’s chairman and/or executive to sign the contract to provide administration services to MREPC, which is effective from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 1011. Confirmation of this action was requested.

• Meramec Regional Development Corporation
Nominations to the Meramec Regional Development Corporation (MRDC) board, which oversees Small Business Administration and Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) loans, are made by the presiding commissioner of the affected county.

Dent County
Darrell Skiles, presiding commissioner, nominated Doug Barnes to a three-year term on MRDC’s board.

Maries County
Ray Schwartze, presiding commissioner, nominated Marla Stevenson to a three-year term on MRDC’s board.

..... There were no objections from the MRPC board, Therefore, Chairman Russell Scheulen appointed Doug Barnes and Marla Stevenson to the MRDC’s board effective July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2013.

Additions to Consent Agenda

• Treads Family Footware
Permission was requested for MRPC’s chairman and/or executive director to sign a contract to provide technical assistance in the preparation of a Micro Loan/RLF application for Treads Family Footwear.

• Region I HSOC Request to MRPC Board
Region I HSOC hereby requests permission for MRPC’s board to approve its grant recommendations & authorizes the HSOC Chairman and/or the MRPC executive director to issue grant awards and enter into grant agreements or contracts.

1) HSOC currently has approximately $56,000 unspent dollars in the FY08 homeland security grant award and has approved for any additional cost savings from FY08 be utilized to purchase Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive (CBRNE) equipment for the Lebanon Fire in the amount up to $20,000. The HSOC recommends the following grants:

2) Region I HSOC is also asking for permission to enter into contracts with Advanced Electric, LLC and Central Electric for the purchase and installation of emergency backup generators.

Gary Brown made a motion to approve the consent agenda with the additions; seconded by Tom Klebba. The motion carried.

Committee Rotation
Chairman Russell Scheulen noted that the new committee roster was included in the agenda packet and gave board members the option to switch committees if they were not satisfied with their new committee assignment.

Presentation by Dennis Siders
Dennis Siders, regional director for the Midwest Assistance Program, spoke on the services MAP provides to local governments and what MAP is and how it is funded. Richard Cavender noted that he invited Dennis to the meeting to remind board members of the good services MAP provides. Dennis lives in Fredericktown, and his region includes Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Minnesota. MRPC has worked with Dennis on solid waste issues.

MAP’s mission is to work with small communities to help them help themselves. MAP has been in existence for over 30 years and is a not-for-profit 501C(3) organization. It has a nine-member board one of which is Richard Cavender, who became a recent MAP board member in January.

MAP is a part of a bigger organization. It has five sister organizations. All 50 states are covered. There are 32 field based technical assistance programs. There is no charge to a community for its services. It is funded by state and federal grants—the main ones being USDA Rural Development, EPA and state contracts.

MAP provides training at a variety of levels including developing capacity for town councils; rural water/sewer districts to operate their utilities more effectively; preparing water and wastewater system operators for certification; and planning for emergency response and disaster prevention.

MAP does not advertise. It gets referrals from regional planning commissions or USDA Rural Development. He encouraged board members to contact his office if their community has a need for their expertise.

External Relations Committee
Russell Scheulen reported on External Committee activities as follows:

• Russell Scheulen was re-elected as chairman of the External Relations Committee, and Kraig Bone was elected as vice chairman. Mr. Scheulen added that his term of office at MRPC will be up on December 31, due to his defeat in the primary election. If agreeable to the new Osage County presiding commissioner, he would like to finish his term as chairman of MRPC, which ends in May 2011.

• MRPC received one proposal to host the 2010 annual dinner—a joint proposal from Osage County and Linn State Technical College. Due to the second Thursday of the month falling on Veterans Day, November 9 has been selected as the date unless there is a conflict with the host and caterer. Mr. Scheulen added that since no Eugene E. Northern nominations were received, the deadline to submit nominations has been extended to September 7. Also, we can accept more volunteer award nominations.

• The committee worked on a change to Section 8.2 of MRPC’s Personnel Policies and will continue to work on those revisions at the September meeting.

• The committee welcomed Nick French, at-large representative for labor, to the External Committee.

Operations Committee
Gary Brown reported on Operations Committee activities as follows:

Financials: Gary Brown made a motion to approve the MRPC/MRB financial statements and MRPC/MRDC-RLF & IRP program financial statements for the preliminary year ended June 30, 2010 and for month ended July 31, 2010; seconded by Randy Verkamp. The motion carried.

Committee Officers: Paul Smith was elected as chairman and Gary Brown as vice chairman of the Operations Committee.

Procurement Policy Revision:
—Policy Element #1—revised to include a statement that says “all budgeted items, regardless of cost, are approved by the board when MRPC/MRB budgets are approved.” The purchasing of these items will still go through our procurement process as outlined in policy.

—Policy element #6—revised to add language to allow the splitting of bids to secure the best price for MRPC/MRB so long as bidders are notified in advance MRPC/MRB may split bids to reduce costs. We would state as such in the request for bid specification document.

—Policy element #8—revised to include a $50 maximum with regard to gifts. This is consistent with our anti-fraud policy.

Gary Brown made a motion to approve the procurement policy revision as stated; seconded by Randy Verkamp. The motion carried.

Nominees for Meramec Regional Community Foundation Board (MRCF)
Russell Scheulen reported that the External Relations Committee recommended accepting the following county nominees to the MRCF board:

Crawford County—Mardy Leathers; Dent County—David Dittman; Gasconade County—Gerald Ebker; Maries County—Ray Schwartze; Osage County—Russell Scheulen; Phelps County—Wayne Parry; Pulaski County—Wayne Morgan; and Washington County—Leo Dickey.

Russell Scheulen made a motion to approve the list of nominees as presented; seconded by Mary Heywood. The motion carried.

Russell Scheulen further reported that since he will be representing Osage County on the MRCF board, he will no longer represent MRPC as a board member on the MRCF board. Therefore, there is a vacancy for an MRPC board member to serve on the MRCF board. Anyone interested in serving or recommending someone for service was asked to contact Richard or Bonnie.

Planning Committee
John Petersen reported that Linda Wilson made a presentation on the activities of the Pulaski County Growth Alliance. She also reported that Crocker has completed the Safe Routes to School and MoDOT Enhancement sidewalk projects.

T.R. Dudley was elected as chairman and Donald Claycomb as vice chairman of the Planning Committee.

Tammy Snodgrass reported on the progress of the hazard mitigation plans.

Transportation Advisory Committee
Donald Dodd reported on TAC activities as follows:

Jerany Jackson and Spencer Jones of Great Rivers Associates of Springfield presented information regarding the Corridor Management Plan to be submitted with an application to make the Missouri Historic Route 66 Scenic Byway into a National Scenic Byway.

Pete Berry, MoDOT District 9, presented information on the use of roundabouts in Missouri and how they have reduced traffic accidents.

Due to a tragic accident involving two school buses from Phelps County, Larry Stratman from the Phelps County Commission, asked the TAC to participate in a letter of support to be sent to MoDOT and the State Highway Patrol urging them to develop a plan for better handling of traffic and congestion in work zones and during accidents. The committee will await the letter for further action.

Business Loans
Tom Klebba reported on business loan activities as follows:

• The next full board meeting of the MRDC is scheduled for August 18, 2010, at MRPC at noon.

• Staff is in the process of closing two SBA loans in various stages, one in Webster County for $505,000, and one in Phelps County for $447,000. The loan review committee recently reviewed and approved a new IRP loan request for a loan in Gasconade County for $91,000 and an SBA loan request for a loan in Phelps County for $611,000.

• The Revolving Loan Fund has approximately $139,000 available and the IRP has approximately $85,901 for relending. The Revolving Loan Fund Disaster Assistance has approximately $375,000 available for lending. MRDC’s CDBG Microloan Fund has $125,000 available for small businesses with five or fewer employees for start-up or working capital financing needs.

Environmental Report
Tammy Snodgrass reported that the following collections have been scheduled:

Sept. 11—Owensville (electronics only); September 18—St. Robert (electronics, tires and appliances); September 25—Rolla (electronics, tires and appliances); October 2—electronics and tires; October 16—Salem (electronics and tires).

Ozark Rivers is accepting grants for 2011. The grant deadline is 12 noon, September 3, 2010. A grant workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 10 a.m.

DNR has set up some mercury collection sites statewide where people can drop off mercury until the middle of October. The sites are at Osage County Emergency Management Office, Gasconade County 911 Center; and Phelps County Health Department.

Tammy Snodgrass provided a handout on Amnesty Tire Collections sponsored by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Scrap Tire Program. The MDNR Scrap Tire Program is providing free collections of scrap tires. They do require that you have a minimum of 1,000 tires. This is a one-time service provided to cities and counties. Once provided, the local government is no longer eligible for the program and must sign an agreement that illegally dumped tires will not accumulate in that location again. The handout listed the rules that apply. To enroll your city or county, contact Nongluk Tunyavanich or Tammy Snodgrass at MRPC. DNR only does 20 of these collections a year and is now scheduling for 2012.

Tammy also reported that old medical prescriptions are not accepted at the Household Hazardous Waste collections. They are handled by Drug Enforcement Agencies (DEA).

MCEC
No report was given.

Workforce Development
No report was given.

Director’s Report
Richard Cavender reported as follows:

• The St. James PTO is hosting a spaghetti supper on August 21 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the St. James Middle School to benefit the families of the victims of the recent accident of the school buses on I-44. In conjunction with the dinner, there will be a silent auction. Bonnie Prigge is in charge of making up a basket of products that are made in Missouri to donate to the auction. Items for the basket or cash donations will be accepted.

• Richard Cavender has been appointed by Gov. Jay Nixon to serve on the Steering Committee for the Strategic Initiative for Economic Growth. He stated that there will be two planning sessions and the governor will be seeking input. The governor is expecting a preliminary report by the first of December to get to the legislature. The final report will be in March.

• Mr. Cavender reported that staff and some board members have talked to architects and engineers regarding a building expansion for the MRB building. MRPC is outgrowing its building and is in need of more space. We have selected C.M. Archer and Jackie Rogers Architects Inc. to work on the project, which is contingent upon their fee. They charge 6.8% cost of the total project. Due to cost, we have scaled down the expansion plan to build only a new combination conference room/storm shelter addition. The old conference room could be divided into staff offices. We would need to get a loan from USDA Rural Development or possibly a grant to do the addition.

Adjourn
Mary Heywood made a motion to adjourn at 8:30 p.m.; seconded by Gary Brown. The motion carried.

_________________________________________
Russell Scheulen, Chairman

_________________________________________
T.R. Dudley, Secretary