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The Overland City Council met at the Community Center for a regularly scheduled meeting on September 10th, 2007.

During resident comments we were reminded that the Mayor will be participating in the Mayor's Challenge Cup Race During the 4th Annual "Mingle at the Mills" event on September 28th, 2007 from (entire event: 4:00PM until 10:00 PM). "Mingle at the Mills" is a NASCAR Speedpark and Northwest Chamber of Commerce family friendly, outdoor event that includes a host of charity races, fun activities, music, contests and more. The Mayor's Cup is one of the charity races where the Mayor's of Overland, Woodson Terrace, St. John, St. Ann, Vinita Park, Charlack, Edmundson, Bridgeton, Florissant and Hazelwood all participate. All of the Mayor's have tickets to sell for the race. The number sold determines each Mayor's starting position and a portion of the money raised goes to the Northwest Chamber's High School Scholarship Fund. If you would like to support Mayor Schneider as well as the scholarship fund, City Hall may still have $1.00 tickets you can purchase. Please contact Overland City Hall at 428-4321 to check if any are left before you head over there.

As Mike Oakes pointed out during resident comments, there are still some sound system problems at the meeting. We tried repositioning the camera in an effort to get clearer audio but, as you can hear for yourself (further down) it is still a problem. Hopefully, the Council will find a solution to this issue before the next Council meeting at the center.

At this meeting a representative of Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) made a presentation covering a 3.7 billion dollar capital improvements program to eliminate as many of the sewage overflows in our area as possible.. I had the opportunity to speak to him briefly at the meeting and hope to have more detailed information on this in the near future.

At this meeting, Mayor Schneider named Councilperson O'Connell (Ward 2) to replace him as the Council representative on the Overland Planning and Zoning Commission. The Mayor also offered Les Dills as an appointment to fill his vacant seat in Ward 4. This lead to an lengthy discussion where several on the Council asked that the appointment be tabled and that it be added to Monday, September 17th's Workshop meeting agenda so that members could have an opportunity to talk to Mr. Dills. A motion was made to table, but that motion failed 3-3 with Councilpersons May, Cumanale, and Conlon voting to table, Councilpersons O'Connell, Owensby and Jones opposing, and Councilperson Keller abstaining.

Discussion continued with Councilperson Jones expressing concerns about not wanting to see an extended vacancy on the Council as we saw last year with Ward 3. Councilperson May made an excellent point that the Council (including Councilpersons O'Connell and Schneider) opposed appointments made by former Mayor Purzner last year because they were not given an opportunity to speak to the appointees about their experience, views and goals. Councilperson May made it clear that it would be hypocritical at best for the Council to have opposed Mayor Purzner only to face a similar lack of Council involvement now and not handle the issue in the same manor. Mayor Schneider seemed to agree with this point and discussed the issue with the Council further, ultimately deciding to hold off on the appointment until the September 24th meeting to allow the Council, as well as interested residents of Ward 4 to consider the appointment at the September 17th Workshop.

I appreciate Mayor Schneider's handling of this situation. Whether you agree with him on all issues or not it is clear that he is a definite improvement over our recent past. We have now had two Council meetings without egregious violations of State statutes, shouting matches, inaction, etc. That is already 100% better than the previous administration. Now if some in the audience would follow the Mayor's lead when it comes to civility and listening to other points of view that would really be progress.

Normal business was also handled professionally at this meeting (yet more improvement). A few new business licenses were approved, bids for slurry seal, asphalt and concrete were reviewed, an ordinance to enter into a contract to purchase 1000 tons of road salt from Chesterfield for the winter passed and even the bills were approved unanimously without issue.

Below is the video of the meeting in it's entirety. There continues to be sound problems at the Community Center. Moving the camera appears to have helped to a degree but the issue is far from resolved:

The Public Works report became rather interesting when acting Director Chuck Boone apologized for not being able to acomplish as much as he had hoped to because of all the catchup work his department is doing due to the inaction of the previous administration. One such project was sidewalk work on Poe Ave. in Ward 4. Councilperson Conlon asked about this, expressing concern because this has apparently been an ongoing issue for 3-4 years and it involves handicapped access issues. Councilpersons Conlon (Ward 2) and O'Connell (Ward 2) suggested that Public Works consider contracting some of the work, like this particular project, to help the department catch up. Mr. Boone expressed concern about the increased costs of using a contractor and further explained that this sidewalk project is difficult and would require extensive engineering and surveying. While I can understand the likelihood of projects being more expensive due to using outside firms, when it comes to this sidewalk project, to the best of my knowledge Overland Public Works employees no engineers or surveyors so the most difficult part of that project would have to be contracted out regardless.

Other suggestions were made on how to address the workload. Councilperson O'Connell's suggestion that Public Works put out some "RFPs" (Requests for Proposals) as a way of getting an idea of how much contracting some of the workload would cost. Councilperson Conlon asked if Saturday overtime for the Public Works employees was a possibility to help with this as well.

Councilperson Conlon asked about the progress with the boarded up buildings at Woodson and Midland. Mr. Boone explained that the process had been started and they still needed an extensive title search, to check for leans on the property, build a case with photos and other evidence, and seek a condemnation hearing. While I understand the difficulty of such an undertaking (as several years ago a similar process dragged on for years on Spencer Ave), I am confused by this answer. Mr. Boone stated at a meeting months ago that prior to his "unscheduled vacation" under Mayor Puzner he had met with the owners, be in the building along with St. Louis County inspectors and others and that the process to resolve this issue was well underway. I'm surprised that all of this evidence was not gathered at that time. I wish Mr. Boone would commit to some sort of time table on resolving this issue as Woodson and Midland are major thoroughfares though Overland and the deplorable condition of this particular property really makes our community look bad in my opinion.

Later in the meeting Councilperson O'Connell asked if Public Works had moved forward with hiring a grant writer. Mr. Boone stated one was hired. Councilperson Conlon asked how the department would be determine priorities with grants and which ones they would apply for. I would suggest that you view the meeting video below to see if you can decipher the answers. Personally I found it odd that the Council was asking a department head how this would be handled rather than directing how they wanted it handled.

The Chief reminded the public about the upcoming Overland Police Community Golf tournament on September 21st. He pointed out that the money raised went toward the City D.A.R.E. program. The Chief also mentioned that the BBQ dinner at the Golf course will be catered by Miss Piggies Smoke House (located at 11612 Page Ave.)and will cost $15.00 a person. You can attend the BBQ without participating in the Golf tournament so if the only drivers you know are in on the end of cordless drills (I know I always though a pitching wedge was the white thing on the mound in baseball) you can still come out and support D.A.R.E. and have a good time in the process.

The Chief also reported that the Overland Police had received a $31,512.00 grant to be applied to several local law enforcement responsibilities including sobriety checkpoints, speed enforcement, general DWI enforcement, etc. The Chief also informed us that the department's DWI enforcement numbers for this year (73 arrests so far) had already exceeded last years total of 70. Nice work OPD!

Overall the meeting went well, Council members, as well as the majority of the people in attendance were civil and once again city business was acomplished. There were some bumps and kinks and we still have much room for improvement, but things in Overland are definitely looking better than before.

A word of warning:. Considering the number of issues that were already planned for the September 17th, Workshop meeting, including the recently proposed pension changes, and the number of issues, including the filling the vacant Ward 4 seat have were added to it at this meeting, that workshop could be a record breaker in length. If your planning on attending, you might want to pack some water, a few snacks and a blanket. I will attempt to record this workshop but without a functional sound system in the Council Chambers its has been all but impossible to record meeting in that room so far. Considering the length, my external microphone can't last though it all so if you want to be sure to see it for yourself, I suggest you attend.

The Overland City Council met for a Workshop meeting in the Council Chambers on October 29th, 2007. Subjects discussed at this meeting included:

The Community Center sign issue was a simple matter of deciding on colors before it was ordered. The Council voted unanimously for a green background with amber LEDs (lights) for the message board. As our readers may recall this new sign will be a scrolling marquee that will allow the Community Center staff to put more information out to the public more frequently. It is our understanding that the message will be able to be added to or changed from within the Community Center. This should allow the Center staff to update the information on the sign as frequently as needed.

One interesting possibility that I don't believe has been discussed is the potential for this sign to be used to provide information to the public in times of emergency. While the need for electricity limits the sign's usefulness in that regard, it might be worth taking into consideration when the Council revisits the issue of providing backup power generation for the Center.

The next issue was Trash service. In the last budget, the Council voted to put $50,000.00 aside to help those in need with their trash bill. While that sounds simple, if you watch the video below you'll learn it's anything but.

Ultimately two possible plans were discussed. One, proposed by Councilperson O'Connell (Ward 2), was to set aside a month each year where people could come into City Hall with their federal income tax return(s) to show that their family earned less than $20,000.00 in the previous year. Once the application month ended the City would divide the budgeted $50,000.00 between all the applicants who would then receive whatever that amount was (up to the cost of a full year of service). For example, if 200 people successfully applied in that month, the City would divide $50,000.00 by 200 resulting in $250.00 per applicant which is nearly the annual cost of the service. However, if 400 people successfully applied each applicant would only get $125.00; if 1000 people successfully applied each would get $50.00, etc. As Councilperson Conlon pointed out we need to take any administrative costs associated with this program into account. City Clerk Linda Downs stated that if the guidelines for the Council were clear the administrative staff could handle it which likely means the costs would be limited to printing the forms and issuing the checks.

The other proposal came from City Attorney Bob Herman. He suggested that the City consider going to the voters for a real property tax increase aka "user fee". While we all just screamed no NO NO!!! this plan is worth some further review.

The idea is to add a tax on every lot in the city. That means that business, large multi-family properties, and industrial would also be paying towards the cost of Trash service even though they don't receive it. It might seem unfair to do this, but as Mr. Herman pointed out we do the same with school taxes now. Everyone pays the school portion of their property tax bills whether they have children in the system or not.

With more entities paying for the service it is likely the cost to the residents would be reduced to a degree. Also, the trash hauler would no longer need to collect the fees. The City should be able to negotiate a reduction in the cost as this plan would eliminate their collection costs. Interestingly enough, the cost of collection is borne, not by the City, but by the County as they would be the ones collecting this revenue for us.

Something else to consider is that those in need already have access to a program from the State of Missouri that gives them a rebate on their State income taxes based on Real Property Taxes (or in some cases rent) paid and their income. As this would increase their Real Property Taxes, it is possible their rebate would increase as well. If you've never heard of the Missouri Property Tax Credit you can find out if you're eligible by clicking on the link.

The City doesn't have the revenues at this time to pay for trash service. So, be it by quarterly bill as we do it now, or by annual "user fee" on the property tax bill, we are going to have to pay for it ourselves. The potential benefit of the tax is the possible reduction in the cost of the service.

It was also suggested that the City could budget each year to subsidize the cost of Trash service based on the previous year's revenues. Though that could reduce the cost even further, I'm afraid I'd have to see that happen before I believe it.

If the City was to move forward with this idea the soonest it would likely appear on the Ballot would be April. Councilperson Conlon pointed out that April elections require a 4/7th majority to pass bond issues, suggesting this measure would require the same. I'm not sure if this is the case. St. Ann's utility tax increase on November's ballot (which requires a 3/5th majority to pass bond issues), only needs a simple majority to pass.

Residents will need to see this in writing and in detail before they could seriously consider it. However, this plan has the possibility (depending on the number of lots taxed) to reduce everyone's bill by an amount similar to what we might expect to be able to do for low income families in the other plan. If the details are there, the loopholes are absent, and the numbers work then this plan could benefit all the residents without filing requirements and the like. As always the devil is in the details so you'll have to wait and see what the City does with this idea, if they choose to act on it at all.

Both plans have issues. Mr. Herman explained that Overland's powers are limited by what is granted to a 3rd class City in the State statutes. He said there was no statute authorizing any sort of financial assistance program, so it would seem we cannot do this. Interesting, when Mr. Herman was challenged on this, using the current Overland utility tax rebate for seniors as an example, he said that it was his opinion that the City does not have the authority to do that either. He suggested that the reason Overland has not had a issue with this is because the dollar amount involved is so low and there are a lot of legal gray areas when dealing with programs for seniors (pun intended).

The other plan would requires a majority, possibly a super majority of Overland voters to cast ballots in favor of a significant real property tax increase aka "user fee". While this increase would eliminate the quarterly trash bill we currently receive and could possibly reduce the cost of trash service for everyone, it's doubtful that such a measure would pass.

As always when the trash issue came up a few on the Council tried to make political hay out of it. Councilperson Owensby (Ward 3)suggested that we should have used "the million dollars" we had last year to pay for it. We can argue about what million dollars he might be talking about but the bottom line is that the service cost more that that annually (last time I checked it was between 1.2 and 1.3 million annually). Even if we somehow paid for the service with last year's "million dollars" that would still only cover one year. Councilperson Owensby was challenged multiple times to present his suggestion for how to fund the service in subsequent years. He didn't directly answer that question.

This discussion went on, and Councilperson Owensby's myths continued. Though it has been proven to be a misrepresentation many times, he still insists on telling everyone that St. Ann pays half as much as Overland for Trash service. St. Ann only pays for a portion of the trash service we have in Overland. St. Ann residents have to pay for recycling and the City of St. Ann picks up the yard waste rather than pay the trash hauler to do it. The City of St. Ann pays half as much as Overland because St. Ann only provides half the services to their residents. We wonder what Councilperson Owensby will use as an example if St. Ann residents don't approve a Utility Tax increase next month and they have to drop "city paid" trash in January as a result? (link)

Then there were the hints that the purchase of Wild Acres cost us our trash service. We didn't pay for that all at once, we make payments on it similar to how people pay for their homes. However, at the current cost of trash service we could sell not just Wild Acres, but every park in the City as well and probably only be able to fund the service for two or three years at best.

Councilperson Jones (Ward 4)had an interesting suggestion as well. He asked if it was possible to create a central location where people who cannot pay for service could bring their trash. Where to put a new City dump is an obvious question. However, I'd like to know how the disabled and the housebound elderly (who make up a major portion of those in need in Overland) would possibly get their trash to this location.

For various reasons, some outside the control of previous administrations and some not, Overland's revenues have be stagnant for years. While the revenues did not increase, our operating expenses sure did. Gas, wages, raw materials, and more all combined to put a real squeeze on our City (as it has done to most of us at home as well). As Councilperson Keller (Ward 3) correctly pointed out, we need to focus on ways to bring new businesses into Overland to generate more revenue. That is of course the ultimate solution. If Overland prospers, revenues increase and the City could potentially return to paying for Trash service (as Maryland Heights did thanks to their casino revenues). However, this doesn't happen overnight. There is a Chinese proverb that says it best: "One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade." We cannot resolve this issue at this time. The funds are simply not there. For the foreseeable future we are going to have to pay for our Trash service, as nearly every municipality around us does. While we cannot get out of paying for this service, there may be ways to reduce how much it costs.

We could go on for pages and pages about the trash issue (did we do that already?), but there were other issues addressed at this meeting as well.

Though the Council has not come to a final decision on what to do with the land afterwards, they did vote unanimously to direct the Public Works department to start the demolition of the Legion Pool and the associated buildings. Councilperson Owensby likely echoed the thoughts of many long time residents of Overland when he explained that though he understands there is nothing we can do to reopen that pool, he has a lot of fond memories from there and will miss the place. Some of the more interesting suggestions for this property's future have been a few ball fields, sand volleyball courts, gazebos, a concession stand (to generate revenue for Overland through sales at baseball or volleyball games) or some mix of them all.

An issue with parking on Lackland at Oakland was discussed. As Acting Public Works Director Chuck Boone and Chief Herron pointed out, though they agree that this is an issue, there is nothing that Overland can do about it as the City of Overland ends at the curb of that street. Councilperson O'Connell raised the question that if the road and the shoulder belong to Sycamore Hills, but from the curb out is Overland, how would Sycamore Hills put up No Parking signs if they choose to. Mr. Herman stated that the City could give Sycamore Hills permission to do so by passing a Council resolution to that effect. Mayor Schneider asked that the Ward 2 Council members get in touch with Sycamore Hills and possibly even the business that is the cause of this problem. While I agree working with our neighbors is a good thing, if all Sycamore Hills needs to resolve this is a Council resolution, why devote any more time to this issue that could be better used dealing with other problems in our own City?

The next was the City Administrator issue. Other than debates concerning the history of the previous attempt to hire a City administrator the Council voted unanimously to schedule a Workshop meeting to review the City Administrator ordinance. They also voted unanimously to contact the East West Gateway Council of Governments to let them know of our intent to engage them for the hiring process once again. It is nice to see our City finally taking a few steps in this direction once again.

One of the most surprising suggestions was when Councilperson Owensby stated that he thinks we should hire former Mayor Frank Munsch as the new City administrator. I didn't live here when Frank Munsch was the Mayor, I've never met the man and I have no idea what his educational background is. What I do know is that I agree with Councilperson Cuminale (Ward 1) when she said we need to fill this position with a neutral party. We need someone who doesn't live or work in Overland and has no connection to Overland Politics. Mayor Schneider agreed with this as well and seemed to suggest to Councilperson Owensby that anyone could apply for the position via East-West Gateway once the process begins.

Councilperson May wanted to be sure that we would only consider candidates who had been vetted by East-West Gateway. Though Councilperson Owensby tried to suggest some sort of discrimination in that statement (which Mayor Schneider promptly corrected him on), all Councilperson May seemed to be suggesting is that we limit the field to those who meet the qualifications for the position and were recommended by the neutral group we'll be hiring to make those recommendations.

After the agenda items were completed some new and old business issues were raised. Mr. Boone asked for direction from the Council on what to do about the bridge at Wild Acres. He explained that a structural engineer looked at the bridge and told him it would be better to tear it down and build new than to try to restore it. Mr. Boone would not commit to whether or not this engineer said the bridge was unsafe for foot traffic. The Council voted to direct him to use public works to recover and store all of the bridge's ornamentation that could be saved.

While there has been a persistent rumor in Overland that this bridge came from the St. Louis Worlds Fair, it is my understanding that the Overland Historical Society has been unable to find any evidence of this. In all likelihood this bridge was build by the property owner in the same style as the Worlds Fair but that's as far as the connection appears to go.

The Mayor suggested that we need Citizens Committees to help the City address issues and research solutions. The Overland Examiner could not agree more. There's entirely too much to do for 9 part-time elected officials. Many residents have expressed interest in volunteering for the city so filling those committees is not likely to be an issue. The Mayore also said he'd like to get together with the entire Council and tour all of the parks to start thinking about what they would like to do with them so they are much better prepared for filing for grants in the future. This is a great idea, however due to the Sunshine Law this will have to be a public event which could complicate matters.

Mr. Boone also informed the Council that he expects work to finally start on the Wild Acres Seminary Property roof in the next week or two. He also asked the Council members from Ward 3 to get together with him to work out positioning of the lights that are to be installed in Brooks park in the hopes that they will reduce vandalism there.

The Chief raised an issue with the Police Radios. He explained that there are several areas in the City where officers cannot communicate with dispatch. The Chief pointed out that their equipment is working properly, and that this is a problem related to the ever growing number of frequencies in use rather than an equipment failure. According to the chief there were a few possible solutions. One was to shift to an 800 Mhtz system. He didn't recommend this however do to the huge cost involved as every hand-held and vehicle radio would have to be replaced as would most of the equipment at the station. The solution the Chief recommended was to install a booster system. This would require equipment to be installed at the Station that he estimated would cost $7000.00. Additionally it would cost the City $3000.00 for each booster as well as about $150.00/mo. for a phone line connected to each one.

Chief Herron explained that the problem is mostly in the Western portion of Overland as well as some sections of Page. He recommended that they purchase one booster and install it at the Wild Acres Police substation first as this might resolve all of the issues. If it didn't handle the problems on Page entirely, they could add a second booster at the City garage. The Council agreed and directed the Chief to begin gathering bids for this equipment.

Though the meeting was long, and it had its tense moments, the Council definitely did a bit better at working together than at the previous Council meeting. Ultimately, we will have to wait and see how votes on some of these issues go at the next Council meeting before we can judge how they're doing.

The following are two versions of the entire video of this Workshop meeting for your review (please let us know how the first one plays for you):

The Overland City Council meet for a regularly scheduled Council meeting at the Overland Community Center on September 24th, 2007. There were approximately 200 people in attendance. Though the City attempted to improve the sound my repositioning speakers the echo and sound quality issues continued. The Council breezed through the minutes with only one minor correction requested by Councilman Owensby. They also passed the bills without issue.

At this meeting the Council voted unanimously to approve the Mayor's appointment of Les Dills to the vacant seat in Ward 4, giving the City of Overland a full Council for the first time since April 2006. Several on the Council commended the Mayor for working with them to open the appointments process to the public by allowing interested residents to speak to the Council as well as answer questions. All agreed that ultimately, such appointments are chosen by the Mayor, with the Council's filling the role of advisers with the ultimate responsibility to approve or disapprove such appointments. In my opinion, this vote was a sign of how our new Council can and will work together in the future.

There was a proposal from the City's financial director presented by the City Clerk asking for direction from the Council on whether or not to purchase $500,000.00 in Certificates of Deposit (CDs) to improve the interest the City would earn on the money. Most on the Council expressed concerns about tying up that much money. Ultimately the Council decided to reduce the amount and terms of the CDs to $200,000.00 for 1 year.

During the City attorney's report there were a host of Ordinances passed unanimously to enter into contracts with suppliers and secondary suppliers of road materials, concrete and fuel. There was a resolution pasted that expressed the intent to seek park grants from St. Louis County. Councilperson Conlon mentioned that the resolution did not mention any specific grants or projects to which the Mayor responded that the issue was on the agenda for next week's Council Workshop meeting so the Council could consider the various options and decide what the best approach would be.

At first it seemed odd to hear that acting Public Works Director Chuck Boone did not have a report for the Council as he had just returned from vacation. Last weekend was Autumn in the Park, an event that requires much work from City employees, especially Public Works, as well as Coordinating efforts with the OBA, the Overland Lions assistance with electric, etc. However, Autumn in the Park was originally planned for next weekend and was moved up to fit the Calvary's schedule. It's likely that Mr. Boone had committed to his vacation plans long before that change. Since the event went off without issue it seems that the folks at Public Works know how to get things done, even when the Acting Public Works Director isn't available.

The Chief's report focused mostly on the recent news of attempted Child Abductions in our area. Ritenour School District put out information on this issue earlier that day (which you can see here). Fox 2 News did a report on this issue earlier the same day as well which can be seen here and included this map of the suspected abduction attempts:


The Chief added that though there were 2 attempted abductions this past weekend there was an additional one since last July. We are happy to report that in each incident, the children responded by running away and yelling as they were taught to do. The Chief pointed out several safety tips, including the availability of Child I.D. kits (thanks to a donation from Alberici) that are available to residents, free of charge, at the Overland Police Department (more information available here). Additionally, parents and grandparents should review the following links provided by the Ritenour School District:

Parents should also consider visiting the National Crime Prevention Council's McGruff.org where children can learn about a host of safety issues related to them while playing games, reading stories, and more. They can even join the McGruff Club with their parent's permission.

During the Mayor's report he thanked the Council for approving his appointment and mentioned how he and Councilperson O'Connell had not seen a full eight member Council until now. We were given the opportunity to take a picture of the Mayor and the new, full City Council after the meeting:

City Council Meeting
September 24th, 2007
(59 minutes, 9 seconds)


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On August 27th, 2007 the Overland City Council met for a hearing to set the tax levy for the coming year as well as hold a special Council meeting, primarily to swear newly elected Mayor Schneider into office.

There were a few issues raised by people in attendance concerning what should have happened following the swearing in of Mayor Schneider. The first was that they should have named a President Pro Tem of the Council. Actually, we already have one. Councilperson Jerry May of Ward One is the President Pro Tem of the Council. As you can see in City Ordinance 110.240 (you'll need to scroll down to find it) the City Council elects the President Pro Tem of the Council following each year's municipal election. The Council elected Councilperson May to President Pro Tem in April 2007 and the election of a new Mayor has no impact on this. The only way this might have been impacted would have been if Mayor Schneider had been the President Pro Tem prior to being elected Mayor.

Another issue raised was that the Mayor should have re-appointed Linda Downs as the City Clerk (or appointed someone else which would be very unlikely). A look at 115.020 of the Ordinances makes it pretty clear that the City Clerk is "elected by the City Council immediately following the election and installation of a new Mayor". This was an issue we raised following Mayor Purzner's election. Though the ordinance does not distinguish between special or regularly scheduled Council meetings this appears to be nothing more than a simple oversight, which is understandable considering that this has all come about because of Overland's successful mayoral recall, the first one in our County in 25 years, which leads to some uncharted, or at least confusing waters at times. Considering that appointments were not on the agenda for this meeting, even if the Council caught this oversight they could have run afoul of the Sunshine Law if they attempted to add appointments to the agenda. I am sure this will be resolved at the September 10th Council meeting without issue.

During the Tax Levy hearing portion of the meeting Councilperson Peggy Keller of Ward Three took issue with an increase in the personal property tax rate. Last year's residential personal property tax rate was 7.7 cents, which was increasing to 9.7 cents per 100.00 of assessed value. Along with this small increase was a small reduction in the residential real property tax rate from last years 7.5 cents to 6.9 cents per 100.00 of assessed value. The first thing to consider here is that this is only affecting the small municipal portion of our tax bills. The city's portions of our property taxes is one of the smallest items on the list of where the money goes, and that is all this change affects.

To put this in perspective this change would add 22 cents to the personal property tax bill for every $1,000.00 in assessed vehicle value. For example, the county assesses my family's two vehicles at 4,200 combined, meaning this would increase my personal property taxes by a whopping 93 cents (rounded up). The reduction in real property taxes would reduce a homeowner's property taxes by six dollars ($6.00) per 100,000.00 of assessed value. For example, the county assesses my home at 78,300.00 so the decrease in municipal real property taxes would reduce taxes by $4.69 (rounded down). That means this tax "increase" is actually reducing my combined taxes by $3.76. I imagine most homeowners will have similar results. The above examples do not take into account the additional 2.3 cent per 100 reduction of the city police pension real property tax line item.

Councilperson Peggy Keller said at this hearing "Do not raise taxes if you do not need to". While I have to agree with this statement in general I also have to admit that I'm all for future tax "increases" that actually reduce my combined tax burden.

This personal property tax increase will have some impact on local businesses. Commercial interests pay personal property tax on a host of items above and beyond commercially owned vehicles. They pay personal property taxes on store fixtures, computers, and desks just to name a few. However, there is also an 8 cent reduction in Commercial real property taxes (as well as another 8 cent reduction of the commercial real property tax city police pension line item). More Overland businesses lease their business property than own it. As a result, in some cases there will be no accompanying real property tax deduction to negate the impact of this change. However, many commercial leases break down actual expenses (such as taxes, property maintenance, etc) which often adjust to the actual costs. As a result this is likely to only impact a minority of our local businesses and that impact would be minimal when you consider the small dollar amounts involved.

The people who will be most impacted by this change will be the renters in Overland. They don't pay real property taxes directly, but if they own a vehicle, they do pay personal property taxes. I think it is safe to say that the minor reduction in the real property taxes is not likely to result in a surge of rent reductions in town. As a result the average renter will have to foot that $1.00 or so a year without an accompanying savings. However, is this unfair? Renters need the same services that homeowners (police, street repairs, etc), while homeowners pay the bulk of the taxes (as any homeowner can see when writing that significantly larger real property tax check to the county annually). Marginally shifting the burden from real to personal property also marginally shifts the burden more evenly to all residents of Overland in my opinion. Frankly, when we are talking literally about a dollar or two a year, I doubt anyone (other than those seeking a political advantage of some kind) will even notice the difference.

Another issue raised at this meeting was that Councilperson Keller's motion to amend the Tax Levy Ordinance to change the 9.7 cents back to the 7.5 cents per 100.00 on personal property taxes should have passed because the vote went 4 - 3. The key word here is ordinance. This was a vote to amend a proposed ordinance and is subject to the same 5 vote minimum requirement passing an Ordinance has. Whether you want to look at RSMo. 77.080 or Overland Ordinance 110.260 you find the same language:

No ordinance shall be passed except by bill, and no bill shall become an ordinance unless on its final passage a majority of the members elected to the City Council shall vote for it, and the "ayes" and "nays" be entered on the journal.

As we have pointed out time and time again here at the Overland Examiner the courts have repeatedly interpreted "majority of the members elected to the City Council" to mean the majority of the the total body, regardless of who might be absent or what seat(s) might be vacant. Since our Council is an 8 member elected body the requirement to do anything with an ordinance is that there be a minimum of 5 votes in favor of it. Once again, this applies to ordinances and not normal business like approving the bills, voting to go into executive session, etc. As a result, the amendment did not pass. However, in the grand scheme of things that really would not have mattered because even if that could have legally passed with only 4 votes, there would not have been 5 to pass the levy. Since both Councilperson O'Connell called for a vote on the amendment again as he wanted to change there vote after hearing the detailed discussion on the tax levy, and Councilperson Jones changed his vote as well ultimately the whole point becomes moot.

At this meeting Mayor Schneider was sworn in and officially took office. We would like to once again congratulate Mayor Schneider on his victory and express our willingness to help and support all efforts with moving the city forward for the betterment of all residents. I am hoping that we will now be able to get the ball rolling on the search for a qualified City Administrator as that would be a huge step in that direction.

There was also a presentation made to Councilperson / President Pro Tem Jerry May for his service in place of the Mayor since April. We would like to thank Councilperson May for his hard work and all his efforts for the City and President Pro Tem. Councilperson May has consistently impressed me over the last several years and his time as "temporary Mayor" only served to solidify that even further for me.

One of the things Mayor Schneider presented to Councilperson May was the gavel. This is a nice gesture that is seen often in many rolls. However, the best part of it came later when Mayor Schneider pulled out a new gavel that was close to the size of a sledge hammer. He said it would only be temporary and that he had made this in shop class when he was a student at Ritenour, giving a nod to his former teacher. It was funny and a nice touch. I assume we'll only see it once though as I imagine they will be replacing the gavel.

Below is the video of the hearing and the meeting in their entirety: