point of view

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Monday, 5PM - Budget Work Session; 6PM - City Council Meeting

Tuesday, 10AM - Wetting Ceremony for new Fire Pumper

City Council will consider -

• amendment to monthly hangar lease rates from $75 to $80/month for outdoor hangars
• agreement renewal with DEP to manage the Visitor Center @ Hall of Waters [Funding - $40,000 from Elms Event Fee covers cost of agreement]
• Utility Rate adjustments effective 1/1/24 - water base rate from $16.00 to $16.31/month; water rate per 1,000 gallons from $7.30 to $7.53, trash monthly rate from $24.40 to $25.00
• budget approval for FY 2024, & proclamation recognizing Robbie Farabee for his positive contributions.

Celebrating work anniversaries this week - Chris Eslinger, PT Firefighter/Paramedic - 8 years; Dirk Jeffers, Construction Services - 3 years; Stephanie Marcum, Nutritionist - 3 years; McKenna Holdshoe, Firefighter/Paramedic - 1 year. Appreciation to retiring board members - Ambrose Buckman, BZA; Marilyn Gerdes, HPC; Pam Grubbs, Housing Authority; & Ron Smith, PSST. Thank you for your service.

• We are pleased our 3rd party ambulance billing service has improved our collections by approximately $100,000 this year
• To answer a question raised about why Excelsior Springs staffs their splash park when Kearney, Lawson & Liberty do not - ES uses a recirculation system & has bathroom facilities when the others use a flow-through system with no bathrooms. A recirculation system, like a swimming pool, must be tested periodically in compliance with the Health Department, a flow system does not. Chemicals are used to maintain water quality & calibrated as needed to meet health standards by staff on property.
• Shoring beneath the front courtyard of the Hall of Water is underway & is expected to take 6-8 weeks to complete. We look forward to using the front yard again.
• Several months ago, the council approved a Vacant Property Registry, we are tracking 93 properties that are currently vacant. Since the program begin, 12 properties have been converted to occupancy by their owners.
• Trash collection service providers switched M-F routes to Tuesday routes several weeks ago, which required 3 route drivers to be trained on the new routes in addition to the 2 route drivers who were already experienced on M-F routes. As hundreds of households have experienced missed service, the routes this week will include supervisors to help train drivers on the routes, & we have asked for a truck on stand-by on Wednesday to collect any misses within 24 hours which is a performance standard in our service agreement. We have also asked for call centers to provide clear messaging for Excelsior Springs routes, so people who call to report service interruptions are provided accurate responses. Additionally, we have asked for a credit to be provided. A follow up meeting is scheduled later in the week to assess progress on normalizing service delivery.

This summer we've been super grateful for the outdoor pool & all the awesome lifeguards & staff up at the ESCC. Thank you guys for making summer actually feel like summer this year. Thank you for Kevin, our neighborhood Minion. He makes me smile every time I see him. He reminds me of how very dedicated our city employees are. Read it on Facebook