Burlington Jct. City Council braves storm to conduct meeting

The Burlington Jct. City Council held its regular meeting June 11 despite pending stormy weather.

During the meeting, council members heard a presentation from Linda Laderoute, Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Governments. Local governmental agencies are required to review and update their Hazard Mitigation Plan every five years. The last time the county’s plan was updated was in 2014. Staying in compliance allows participating entities to apply for FEMA grant monies.

The council voted to approve the addition of new action items, including developing an ordinance to restrict the use of public water during times of drought, elevating roads where floodwaters consistently cause damage and providing educational resources to businesses about securing their financial and economic data off-site to ensure they can continue business if their building should be destroyed.

There were no comments or discussion during the public hearing for the 2018-19 budget. The budget was approved and adopted later in the meeting.

A resident approached the board regarding a past due water bill on a property he recently purchased. The previous owner owed $17,000 in back water expenses. City policy states that any new owner must pay back water expenses before receiving new water services. The new owner requested the council waive the past due bill. No action was taken.

The city had not issued a lien on the property before the new owner purchased the property because they did not discover the fraud until the property was in the midst of transferring and the issue was being addressed in the court system. City staff will contact City Attorney Taryn Henry this week to get legal counsel before proceeding.

Allied Systems performed lagoon maintenance. They discovered one of the two pumps is not working. It was approved to purchase a new pump for $7,915, which will be installed by Allied Systems in the next week or two. Both pumps were purchased at the same time, approximately nine years ago.

Local Manager Dennis Chitwood stated the southern part of town is still having water discoloration issues. Flushing the system is not fixing the issue. Council approved Chitwood to dig up a section of the line, which is approximately 60-year-old iron pipe, to see what is going on in. After examining the sample, Alliance staff will decide if the line can be cleaned or if it needs to be replaced completely in order to deliver safe, clean water to residents.

All bacteriological samples were in compliance and safe. The city saw a net water loss of 10.7 percent for the month. A water line break was discovered at a residence and fixed.

Council reviewed letters that were sent to residents last month as well as a list of letters to be sent as certified mail this month.

The shop needs a new garage door; the issue was tabled until next month.

The council entered into closed session to discuss “matters involving legal actions, confidential and/or privileged communications between Burlington Jct. city officials, its representatives and  its attorney.” No action was taken as a result of the session.

The council tabled all other discussion items for next month due to the impending storm.