The Skidmore City Council met in open and closed sessions January 13 to handle the following city business.

Resident Kim Fetterer presented an idea to have welcome signs to promote small businesses in Skidmore. This would be in addition to current Skidmore signs. The new signs would be metal and allow business owners to promote themselves by purchasing a sign which is removable if that business closes or leaves town. Mayor Jill Wieland would like to see a visual of the sign proposal.

The council approved putting “city of Skidmore election forgo” on the April 5 election ballot which authorizes Skidmore “to forgo its annual election if the number of candidates who filed for a particular office is equal to the number of positions in office to be filled by the election.” If someone registers as a certified write-in candidate, an election will need to be held so no one is eliminated.

Jill Wieland filed for the mayoral two-year term, Marvin Sumy for the one-year council member position, and Fetterer and Timothy Slagle filed for both of the two-year terms.

The council tabled “Social Media Policy for the City of Skidmore” after multiple questions were raised about the policy. City Attorney Miles Figg was concerned about free speech and others were concerned the policy was too broad.

The employee handbook review and passage was tabled, along with employee holidays. Funeral leave for employees was discussed. When a close relative dies, the employee will receive five days of paid leave, and for other relatives it will be three days of leave. This will be included in the employee handbook

Employees will be considered full-time if they work 30 hours or more per week while part-time will be 29 hours or less. The city needs to establish a policy for use of comp time for overtime hours.

Discussion was held on increasing renters’ water deposit from $150 to $200. City Clerk Meagan Morrow said most renters leave owing at least two months on their bill. Figg said it was a gray area legally charging the landlord for the unpaid bills. If that clause is put into the ordinance, it will give the city a legal “leg to stand on.”

All locks have been changed to digital locks. The Skidmore City Depot Museum volunteers requested the code to continue their work.

Cheryl Huston reported the items which didn’t fit into the Depot were being sent to other museums. Wieland wants a label to identify each item that was donated from the Skidmore museum.

Huston reported a new family has moved into Skidmore. She also wants the city to recycle plastic. Morrow will check with Porter Trash Service.

A World War II headstone was cleaned by Clinton L. Allen Monuments, Maryville.

Discussion was held about acquiring another internet provider.

City Maintenance Employee Tanner Chaney reported the city had passed the Department of Natural Resources inspection. The inspection noted the pit needs a fence, corrosion on a pipe and water standing in the pit.

Wieland wants the city to buy some Nodaway Valley Thunder flags which the booster club is selling as a fundraiser. The flags would be flown about town on game days. Questions were raised about asking for donations. Figg said the city should be careful accepting donations and might want to consider running the donations through Skidmore Community Betterment.

Dates for applications for trust grants were given: Dugdale is due March 31, Rickard is due April 15, Messick and Taylor is due in July.

DNR has raised the Missouri Primacy Fee for water from $3.24 to $5.28 this year. This is paid once per year.

Ordinance # Committees/Sub-Committees-2022 was approved. This is for committees which want to spend city money. The city will need to take action to recognize and create committees covered by this ordinance.

Figg asked if the city council could start using just numbers for ordinances instead of the current system which is words and year approved.

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