Internal Memorandum
Office of the City Administrator
TO: Honorable Mayor Roy R. Robinson
Board of Aldermen
All Employees
FROM: James A. Eckrich, P.E.
City Administrator
DATE: July 22, 2010
RE: City Administrator’s Report
Sales Tax: Sales tax revenues of $444,277 came in at 115 percent of July’s projected amount of $384,955, bringing the year-to-date total to $3,591,570. The City has realized about 94 percent of its projections for the first seven months of 2010 and 61 percent of total projected sales tax revenues for the year.
Budget: Directors have been given budget worksheets and expenditure reports to begin the 2011 budget process. Once departmental budgets are completed, the City Administrator will review and recommend a budget to the Ways & Means Committee. The budget document will then be presented to the Board of Aldermen for consideration. A budget schedule has been prepared to facilitate the timely preparation of the 2011 budget. Adoption of the budget is planned for December 2010.
T-Mobile Missouri Municipal Tax Settlement: On July 20, 2010, the City received a claim form relating to the T-Mobile class action lawsuit. The Board of Aldermen will eventually consider approval of the claim and the acceptance of the terms of the settlement. Since T-Mobile continued to pay franchise fees under protest, the City will not receive a settlement check. Rather, once the settlement is approved in court (October 2010), the payments previously made to the City will no longer be considered “protested”. The claim form and related ordinance is expected to be presented to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen at the August 10th meeting.
Missouri Municipal League: The Missouri Municipal League has appointed Dan Ross to replace the recently retired Gary Markenson. The 2010 MML Conference will be held in St. Charles from September 12-15. This conference usually includes timely and useful presentations on topics affecting municipalities throughout Missouri. I plan to attend. Any Alderman interested in attending the conference should contact me.
Upcoming Sales Tax Holiday: The City of Crestwood has once again opted to participate in the state-wide sales tax holiday, which will take place on August 6, 7 & 8, 2010. The sales tax holiday exempts the following items purchased on the first full weekend in August:
- Clothing and shoes – any article having a taxable value of $100 or less per item
- School supplies – not to exceed $50 per purchase
- Personal Computers – not to exceed $3,500
- Computer software – taxable value of $350 or less
- Computer peripheral devices – not to exceed $3,500
Employee Recognition: On Friday, June 25th, Tricia Roberts was named as the Employee of the Quarter. Tricia was nominated for her pleasant demeanor towards residents / coworkers, and the great work she does at the Whitecliff Park Community Center. Congratulations again, Tricia. If you would like to recognize an employee for his/her hard work, nomination forms are located on the share (W:) drive in the “Employee Recognition” folder or can be obtained from a supervisor. Completed forms should be submitted to Nikki Koehnemann.
Wellness Challenge: The next wellness challenge will begin Sunday, August 1 and last through Thursday, September 30. Employees will have the option of participating on either an employee team or a family team. Both the activity and weight loss challenges will be judged on percentages, so any family team may consist of more or less than four players. Employee teams should still consist of four members.
Municipal Court: During the month of June, the Municipal Court entered 302 cases. There are currently 1,056 cases considered active and 981 cases in warrant status.
Fire Vehicle Maintenance: Oil changes on all Fire Department staff vehicles and the fire engines were completed in-house during the week of July 19th. Special thanks to PM/Fire Equipment Specialist Warren Weiss and FF/Fire Equipment Specialist Steven Toelke for their work on these vehicles / trucks. On July 16th Engine 1210 developed a large coolant line leak. The part was replaced in-house by PM/Fire Equipment Specialist Weiss with assistance from other “C” platoon members.
Annual Fire Inspections: The Fire Department has begun the second round of business inspections in order to verify whether violations found on the initial inspection have been corrected. Initial inspections on 343 buildings revealed 516 violations.
Alarm Totals 2010: By the end of June, the Fire Department had responded to 680 calls for assistance; 452 EMS alarms accounted for 66% of total alarms. In the month of June, the Fire Department responded to 82 total calls for assistance; 53 of which were EMS alarms. These numbers correlate closely to the number of service calls in 2009. Anyone with questions regarding fire department alarm responses should contact Chief Kestler.
Grant Purchases: All items requested in the 2009 Assistance to Fire Fighters Grant have been ordered. The Fire Department has already received the helmets, gloves and hoods. All Fire Department personnel have been measured for the new turnout gear, which will take five to six weeks for delivery. The washer/extractor is also in the process of being ordered.
City Employee Identification Cards: The City Employees have begun to receive photo identification cards that are produced with the new ID machine. Each employee will receive two cards, one to wear and one for accountability. Aldermen will also be receiving ID cards in the near future.
CEEP Critical Employees Emergency Planning course: Chief Paillou attended the Critical Employees Emergency Planning course at Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Festus on Tuesday, July 20th. The CEEP course provides first responders and critical infrastructure agencies and personnel with policies and planning tools for employees’ families before, during and after every kind of disaster or catastrophic event. The CEEP course is funded through the Department of Homeland Security.
ICS-300 Training at the Affton Fire District: On Tuesday, July 7th, Deputy Police Chief Arnoldy taught the planning section module during an Incident Command System class that was held at the Affton Fire District
CODE 1000 Drill and Training: On Wednesday, July 14th, the Area 5 CODE 1000 (Police Interagency Emergency Response Plan) training committee held a drill and training at the Holiday Inn at Six Flags. Deputy Police Chief Arnoldy is a member of the training committee. The CODE 1000 was placed in effect and Departments county-wide sent Officers to Eureka to test the notification and response portion of the plan. Police Officer Michael Maloney responded to represent the City of Crestwood.
Identity Theft Prevention Program: The Crestwood Police Department, along with other law enforcement agencies, will be participating in an identity theft prevention program on Saturday, July 31, 2010 from 10:00 am to 2:00pm at Crestwood Court. This event, sponsored by CrimeStoppers and Shred-It, will allow residents to watch as any papers they bring are shredded and destroyed. A minimum donation of five dollars to CrimeStoppers is requested for each box of papers. In addition to destroying personal documents, expired prescriptions drugs can be turned in to police personnel at this event for proper destruction.
Laser Speed Detection Device Awarded: For some time now the police department has participated in Traffic Safety campaigns associated with the Missouri Department of Transportation / Division of Highway Safety. These events occur every few months and target specific driver behavior, the duration of which is usually one to four days. This includes DWI enforcement, occupant safety enforcement, and hazardous moving violations. Due to our participation in these campaigns, the City of Crestwood’s name was drawn at a recent conference and we won a new laser speed detection device.
Summer Concert Series: The Summer Concert series at Whitecliff Park is receiving positive feedback from residents and those in attendance. Approximately 200 people attended the second concert on July 1st, which featured the local band Yukon Jake. These events have been so popular that the recreation staff is going to host a final event on the summer stage – an enjoyable (and free) evening of family fun with Steven Spielberg’s Hook, the movie sequel to Peter Pan’s original adventures starring Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman. The show will begin at dusk on September 3 on the Whitecliff Summer Playhouse stage next to the Community Center. Please consider joining us at Whitecliff Park for this free event.
Whitecliff Summer Playhouse: Whitecliff Summer Playhouse’s production of God’s Favorite, will run from July 22-25 in Whitecliff Park. The final production of the summer, A Chorus Line, will run from July 29 – August 1. Tickets go on sale starting at 6:30 pm before each performance. Please consider bringing a lawn chair and joining the Whitecliff Summer Playhouse for a magical night under the stars in Whitecliff Park.
Aquatic Center: The swimming weather for the 2010 season has been fantastic, resulting in ID card, admission, and concession revenues at or above our budgetary projections. Unfortunately, membership sales are down, which is likely attributable to the new pool in Sunset Hills and the general state of the economy. Parks and Recreation Staff continually monitor the Aquatic Center operations, and a status report on the 2010 Aquatic Center season will be provided to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen in the coming weeks.
Grant’s Farm: On July 20, 2010 Grantwood Village passed a resolution supporting the expansion of the National Park Service to oversee and operate Grant’s Farm. Tim Goode from the National Park Service provided a brief presentation to those in attendance. The National Park Service has requested similar resolutions from St. Louis County and the City of Crestwood. The Mayor and Board of Aldermen will likely consider such a resolution at the August 24, 2010 meeting.
Community Center: The Fall 2010 and Winter 2011 brochure is currently in production and will be mailed to Crestwood residents in August. The eight annual Kids Triathlon, for children ages 5-12, will be held Sunday, August 22 in Whitecliff Park. Volunteers are still needed for this event. Please contact the Parks and Recreation Department (729-4860) if you are interested.
Dog Park: The Parks and Recreation Department has received a request for a dog park in Crestwood, and the matter was recently discussed by the City’s Park Board. Ultimately, the Park Board decided the City should pursue the possibility of dog park and appointed a liaison to work with staff to further research this topic.
Whitecliff Park Service Bridge: CDG Engineers continues to work on the bridge design and is in the process of obtaining all necessary permits and clearances from the federal government related to this project. CDG is also in a process of performing soil borings at the project site. Construction of this project is still scheduled for 2011.
Public Works Maintenance Crew: The Public Works maintenance crew installed an asphalt pad to accommodate a gazebo that was donated to the City of Crestwood and will be placed on Grant’s Trail just south of Watson Rd. The crew also replaced part of the public walkway from Parkshire Court to Crestwood Park and replaced the damaged handicap access ramp at the Crestwood Park (Amberley) parking lot. During the recent asphalt mill and overlay project the crew spent a significant amount of time ahead of the paving contractor addressing deteriorated sections of concrete curbing.
2010 Mill and Overlay Project: The Mill and Overlay project started on June 3, 2010 and was completed on June 21, 2010. The following streets were completed: Acorn Drive, Banyon Drive, Cherry Brook Lane, Coffey Court, Coffey Drive, Crompton Court, Curwood Drive, Dalcrest Lane, Dallwood Drive, Denton Court, Fox Park Drive, Gallop Lane (Old Sappington to Sappington), Glen Rose Drive, Hawkins Court, Pinellas Drive, Sessions Avenue, Volz Drive, Woodhue Drive, Yolanda Court, and Westhaven Court. The final project cost was $440,665.37, which was well under the budgeted amount (and BOA approved amount) of $518,000.
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program: As previously reported, on March 9, 2010 the St. Louis County Municipal League notified all participating municipalities that their joint grant application was approved by the Department of Natural Resources. The total cost of improvements to the lighting within the City of Crestwood buildings was estimated to be $89,950. Preliminary figures show that the City’s portion of the improvements will cost approximately $48,000. The lead applicant, the City of Creve Coeur, is advertising this project for bids, which are expected to be publicly opened on July 29, 2010. Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.
Planning and Zoning Commission: The next meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled on August 4, 2010. At that meeting the Commission will consider: 1) a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) request from BGB Autosports in order to operate a used car dealership at 9800 Watson Road; 2) a CUP request from A to Z Auto in order to operate U-Haul truck rental operations out of its existing business at 9044 Watson Road.
Sewer Lateral Program: In the month of June the City of Crestwood received seven applications for sewer lateral repair, of which five were approved. On July 27, 2010 the Mayor and BOA will consider a budget adjustment increasing allowable expenditures within this fund.
Board of Adjustment: The next meeting of the Board of Adjustment is scheduled for August 12, 2010 in order to consider a variance to the rear yard setback requirement associated with a garage construction at 1207 Fernleaf Drive.
