The Reporter covers Miller, Morgan and Camden County in Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and is published once per week on Wednesdays.

 

Published April 11, 2018

Joint bidding saves city money on tower painting

OSAGE BEACH – A joint venture with the City of Lake Ozark will save almost $70,000 in the upkeep of three water towers, if a second reading is approved.

The city budgeted this year to paint the Columbia College Water Tower and clean Swiss Village and Bluff Towers.  The project was bid out with Lake Ozark in an effort to save money.

Last year both cities joined forces to obtain better prices on water tower cleaning. Following that same pattern is saving both cities money again this year. Lake Ozark is painting the South Water Tower on Bagnell Dam Boulevard.

The cities received six bidders for both cities projects. The bidders and their amounts for the Osage Beach towers were:

• $456,600 from TMI Coatings Inc.
• $299,000 from Utility Service Co. Inc.
• $295,121 from Maguire Iron, Inc.
• $276,900 from Central Tank Coatings, Inc.
• $276,850 from D.E.M. Enterprises LLC
• $273,943 from SES Infrastructure LLC

The city had budgeted $340,000 for the project.

Lake Ozark bid to paint the exterior and interior of the South Water Tower including artwork and lettering. Their bids ranged from the highest, $390,400 from TMI Coatings to the lowest, also from SES Infrastructure LLC, for $230,511.

SES was awarded the project by the board despite the fact that they are a new company. Public works Director Nicholas Edelman did some checking and doesn’t feel this issue is a problem.

“We have contacted SES Infrastructure Services for references. SES Infrastructure is a new company that doesn't have any references. They are a wholly owned subsidiary of Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC),” Edelman said in his report to the board. “We have contacted the references of their employees that are going to do the work and they have come back good. The crew that is going to complete this work is getting ready to do three towers for Butler County, Ohio but it is under a different subsidiary of BBNC.”

The board approved the first reading of the contract and should vote on the second reading at the next meeting.

In other business addressed at last week’s Board of Aldermen meeting:

• Approved the second reading of a change to the city’s Floodplain Management Ordinance.
• Approved the second reading governing the rules for running a pawnshop.
• Approved the second reading of a contract with Corrective Asphalt Materials, LLC for the Sealcoat Project 2018.
• Approved the second reading of an agreement with Tyler Technologies, Inc. for the New Executime Payroll Management System and Approving the Purchase, Installation, and Support for the Product.

The total project cost for the payroll management system is $28,816. At the last Board of Aldermen meeting in March, the city staff was directed to come up with figures on how much this would save the city.

The following figures were given to the board last week by Assistant City Administrator Mike Welty.

“The following is the City’s annual Return on Investment (per the American Payroll Association):
• Payroll Processing Annual Savings $5,200
• Human Error Annual Savings $46,290
• Time Theft/Lost Time Annual Savings $23,500
• Paper Reduction Annual Savings $1,840
• Elimination of Time Entry Module and When-to-Work $2,043
• Total Return on Investment $78,873”

In addition, Welty said that “By implementing an electronic time management system, the City will:
• Eliminate paper timesheets – assists in moving toward a paperless process
• Provides real time data – employees will get paid by when they time in and out
• Accountability moved to employees and supervisors
• Provides the City a process to track and manage leave requests. Currently the City does not have a practice in place that is consistent Citywide. Employment attorneys have encouraged the City to tighten up this process. The last two EEOC claims have referred to leave time request denials, documentation of request and denial, and schedules.
• Provides the City with the ability to meet the records retention requirement for leave requests which is currently not being met.
• Eliminates the Time Entry Module within Incode and When-to-Work in the Police Department.”

In new business the city approved the first reading that will change the definitions of what an emergency vehicle is by adding two new sections to the city code. Those two new sections are:

9. Any vehicle owned by the state highways and transportation commission and operated by an authorized employee of the department of transportation that is marked as a department of transportation emergency response or motorist assistance vehicle; or
10. Any vehicle owned and operated by the civil support team of the Missouri National Guard while in response to or during operations involving chemical, biological, or radioactive materials or in support of official requests from the state of Missouri involving unknown substances, hazardous materials, or as may be requested by the appropriate state agency acting on behalf of the governor.

The reason for this change was stated by the city attorney who said that after reviewing changes to the Missouri State Statutes it was discovered that there had been additions to the definition of Emergency Vehicle. This ordinance brings the city’s code up-to-date relative to the definition of Emergency Vehicle.

• Approved the first reading of an ordinance amending the city code creating a definition of Human Resources File and creating a new section “Affirmatively Closing all City Files of Any Character, Wherever Created 0r Maintained, that Deal with the Hiring, Firing, Discipline or Promotion of Individually Identifiable City Employees.”

City Attorney Ed Rucker came up with this and it allegedly closes any possible loopholes into personal information.

“The ordinance creates a definition of Human Resources File which is now undefined in the city code. It further makes clear that it is the City’s policy that any file, note or information created within the City relating to the hiring, firing, discipline or promotion of individually identifiable city employees is confidential.”

The second reading of the above bills should be held at the next Board of Aldermen meeting.

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