Council appoints tourism panel members

TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
For the first time in years, the City of Maryville has awarded contracts for the purchase of new vehicles to a local dealership. In addition to a Ford Police Interceptor sedan, similar the vehicle pictured here, Tri-State Ford Lincoln will also provide the city with a new Ford F-250 three-quarter-ton, four-by-four service truck, which will be assigned to the city’s sewer maintenance crew. Municipal officials say that in the past local dealerships have been reluctant to deal with the city due to specifications imposed under state contract requirements.

The Maryville City Council this week appointed eight of nine members to serve on a municipal Tourism Committee being created under guidelines tied to a 5 percent transient guest tax on hotel bills approved by voters last November.

Also known as a bed tax, the levy will add about $4 to the cost of an overnight hotel stay and is expected to produce approximately $215,000 a year in revenue. The tax applies to all hotels within the city limits, including the new Boulders Inn & Suites lodge scheduled to open this spring at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park.

Income from the tax will be used to help finance a large indoor athletics and special events center at Northwest Missouri State University in addition to providing around $65,000 a year for tourism-related programs and initiatives.

City officials say the Tourism Committee has two basic purposes: coordinating non-university public access to the Northwest Multipurpose Complex for recreational use and special events, and recommending bed tax revenue expenditures related to communitywide marketing and tourism efforts.

The panel will consist of six “organizational” members representing the city, Nodaway County Economic Development, Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce, Maryville Downtown Improvement Organization, Maryville Parks & Recreation and Northwest.

Following the council vote on Monday, five of those slots will be filled by City Manager Greg McDanel; NCED Executive Director Josh McKim; chamber Executive Director Lily White; MDIO President Matt Gaarder; and Parks & Rec Director Aaron Dobson.

The sixth organizational appointment, according to Northwest, is being delayed until construction of the facility begins this summer.

Also filled were three committee positions awarded to citizens representing the community at large. In addition, Council Member Renee Riedel was appointed to act as a non-voting liaison.

The three at-large panel members are Coby Lamb, retired president of the Northwest Missouri Regional Credit Union; Donell Robidoux Anderson, senior supervisor of human resources for Kawasaki Motors; and Kelley Baldwin, communications director for the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration monastery in Clyde.

Others seeking a spot on the panel included Sonja Wolbert, Larry Haataja, Michael Graham, David Schmidt and Andrea Smith.

Riedel said she was “very pleased” that the committee openings attracted a good number of applicants. Councilman Tim Shipley added that he was impressed by the qualifications of those seeking to serve.

“I don’t think we can make a bad decision with any of them,” Shipley said.

When completed, the 137,250-square-foot campus multipurpose center will contain what amounts to an indoor football field, baseball field and regulation indoor collegiate track. The facility is also to be equipped with a removable indoor flooring system that will allow it to be used for trade shows, exhibitions, concerts, conventions, and other large-attendance events.

Construction cost is estimated at $20 million, of which $3.45 million will come from bed tax revenues paid at the rate of $150,000 a year over 23 years.

In other business Monday, the council approved contracts with Tri-State Ford Lincoln of Maryville for the purchase of a new police car and a Ford F-250 service truck, which will be assigned to the city’s sewer maintenance crew.

At $24,653, Tri-State submitted the low bid for the Ford-built Public Safety patrol sedan, which will replace a 2012 Dodge Charger with 125,000 miles.

Tri-State submitted the second-lowest bid — $31,733 — on the three-quarter-ton, four-by-four service truck. However, the city’s procurement policy allows the council to prefer local vendors whose offer is within 2 percent of the low bidder’s price.

Municipal staff asked that the policy be invoked in this case, recommending that the contract go to Tri-State instead of low-bidder Machens Ford of Columbia, which offered the same vehicle for $31,297.

Public Safety Director Keith Wood said he was pleased that the winning police car bid was submitted by a Maryville business, since in the past local dealerships have shied away from trying to sell cars to the city due to specifications imposed by state contract requirements.

“This is the first time I can remember buying a vehicle from a bidder in town for a long, long time,” Wood said.

Public Works Director C.E. Goodall said he, too, was “really excited” that the city and Tri-State have agreed to do business.

“It’s great seeing competitive bids (from Maryville) so we can keep some of that money local,” he said.

Additional council actions included:

• Approval of a request from the Maryville Host Lions Club to sponsor the Maryville Farmer’s Market for the second consecutive year in a parking lot at the corner of Fourth and Buchanan streets. According to the club, this year’s market will be open for business from 6 a.m. until noon each Saturday between late May and late October.

• Approval of the budgeted purchase for $31,950, including trade-in, of a replacement 1999 Ford F-450 diesel truck, utility box and crane from Oklahoma-based Shreve Truck & Equipment Sales for use by the city’s sewer maintenance crew.

• Approval of the budgeted purchase of a front-deck rotary mower for use at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park from Kansas Golf & Turf for $17,195. Assistant City Manager Ryan Heiland said the mower will replace a 1999 model, now inoperable, that has been taken out of service.

• Approval of the budgeted purchase of a variable frequency drive for an electric motor at the city’s water treatment plant from R/S Electric Corp. for $8,250.

• Approval of a $23,000 expenditure for drainage pipe and precast junction boxes associated with ongoing construction of a new golf course clubhouse/conference center at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park.

Heiland said the drainage system components are to be installed in-house by a city crew, a move projected to reduce overall project costs by nearly $58,000.