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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