City Council brought the 2007-2008 term to an end on Monday, seeing the retiring of one Councilperson, John Phillips.

The Council certified the election results form the April election. The results placed Aaron Hunter, Rodney Edwards and Margaret Roberts back on the council. In addition, it placed Danielle Verkamp and Richard “Dick” Woolsey on the council.

Mayor Dennis Wilson gave a proclamation to Tessa Hartly, naming May 7, 2008 “Tessa Hartley Day” in St. James. Hartley was named the winner of a national contest by creating a book called “ABCs in my Trash.”

Jim White made the motion to balance all accounts before paying the final 2007 bills. That motion passed, as did the motion to pay the bills.

The Mayor asked the council how they felt about having an engineer on retainer. After a short discussion, the Mayor said he would look into it further.

The Council discussed the fact that Beautify St. James is asphalting the walking trail at the Tourist Information Center, and that the city will be carrying them on the balance due until Beautify St. James can pay them back.

Candace Connell, the director of community development, talked about enhanced enterprise zones. She said that St. James was in the process of developing a zone with Rolla and parts of Phelps County.

“What is does is allow us as communities to offer incentives to businesses that might want to come here.,” said Connell. “The primary incentive is tax abatement and is to be used primarily for manufacturing, though some warehouses would also be eligible.”

In order to qualify, a business must be placing a large number of jobs in the community.

“In addition to local tax incentives, the state may also give some tax abatement.”

This process is still in progress.

“An important thing to remember with it is that 50 percent of nothing is better than nothing,” said Wilson.”

Connell said that they are seeing some good responses on the pool survey and they hope to continue to see some.

Larry Wycoff gave his thanks to the sanitation and street department for the citywide clean up.

“I really feel like I've seen a great difference,” Wycoff said.

However, Wycoff said that there are still at least 21 problem properties. A letter of encouragement was sent to these locations that asked them to fix situations on the property. After the allotted time, seven of the 21 were in pretty good shape. Twelve of them would still technically be nuisance violations.

The final reports were given for the 2007/2008 Council year.

Don Moore said that there were about 30 applications for the position of Tourism Director. He recommended that Jaime Hunt be hired and the council approved. Moore also said that there is a dandelion problem at the Tourism Information Center.

Dave Watkins said, “The sanitation department survived clean up week.”

$3115 above normal costs was spent on clean up week and 600 some tires were picked up.

Next year, there will be more communication as to what can and cannot be picked up.

Roberts said that the police department is in the process of advertising for a new position. She also pointed out that the current group is doing a good job.
Ultimately, she would like to see the police department have their own facility. Aaron Hunter suggested combining the fire, police and ambulance in one facility.

Rodney Edwards suggested that the rate to enter the ball park be raised form $1.25 to $1.50, effective immediately. The rate had not been raised previously for 9 years. This was approved.

The Council recognized John Phillips, who was attending his last council meeting as a Councilmen.
“John's dedication to the community has just been phenomenal,” said Mayor Wilson. “He's not just going to ride off into the sunset - he's going to serve the community in other ways.”

This concluded thee meeting of the old council.
A meeting with the new council was started by the swearing in of Aaron Hunter, Rodney Edwards, Margaret Roberts, Danielle Verkamp and Richard “Dick” Woolsey.

Don Moore was unanimously voted Mayor Pro Tem.
The mayor finished up the meeting with his comments.

He said that the city is in the process of redecorating City Hall.

“Basically the building hasn't been touched since it was built in 1969,” said Wilson. “We are bringing this building up to standards.”

The next city Council meeting is Monday, June 2 at 7 p.m.