Riedel selected for second term as mayor

TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
City Council members Jason McDowell, left, and Jerry Riggs, center, take the oath of office Monday from City Clerk Sheila Smail. Riggs is returning to the council in his own right after filling the unexpired term of Glenn Jonagan, who resigned. McDowell won election to his first three-year stint on the governing board in the April 7 municipal election.

A “new” Maryville City Council reconstituted itself this week following the April 7 municipal elections, but in this case change really does mean things have remained the same.

Two council seats were open as voters went to the polls last week, but incumbent Jerry Riggs, appointed last year to fill an unexpired term, was re-elected to a three-year term in his own right. So only one new face appeared on the dais during the council’s regular Monday session, that of Maryville Middle School science teacher Jason McDowell.

After Riggs and McDowell were sworn in by City Clerk Sheila Smail, the council’s first order of business was to elect a new mayor and new mayor pro tem. In short order, the five-member governing board re-elected Mayor Renee Riedel to a second one-year term and Tim Shipley to another 12-month stint as the city’s No. 2 elected officer.

As mayor and pro tem, Riedel and Shipley have no real executive authority and simply serve as ordinary council members. Riedel, however, will continue exercising some control over the council’s agenda and representing the city at various ceremonial functions. As pro tem, Shipley takes over for the mayor whenever she is unable to be present.

All of Maryville’s council members serve at large, meaning that they represent the whole city rather than a specific ward or precinct.

Monday’s session began with former Council Member Jeff Funston seated at his customary place on the platform. Funston, who was elected three years ago, chose not to run for a second term. He also served on the council in the late 1970s and early 1990s.

Riedel praised Funston’s service to the city, and said she was grateful to have had the opportunity to depend on his experience and insight.

For his part, Funston said that after his earlier council experiences he felt he departed the board with “unfinished business and things left unresolved.”

He said the last three years have been different.

“This time I feel really good about where we are thanks to (City Manager Greg McDanel) and the staff and the other council members,” Funston said. “I think there is a really positive attitude now, and I just want to thank all of you. It’s been a privilege to serve with you.”

Funston’s latest council term has included a flurry of major capital projects ranging from the South Depot and South Munn street reconstructions to ongoing construction of a new $13.7 million mechanical wastewater treatment plant.

In addition, Funston played a leadership role in ramping up the city’s street budget, which this year contains more than $600,000 for asphalt overlays both inside the city proper and at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park.

Other initiatives that received special attention from Funston, who has experience as a project manager for a civil engineering company, have included the West Fourth Street streetscape project, stepped-up demolition of derelict structures, and efforts to identify and eliminate storm water inflow into the city’s sanitary sewer system.

Funston was also heavily involved in the compiling last year of a master plan for future development at Mozingo Lake.

Business before the council on Monday included a couple of items from the Department of Public Safety, including the third in a series of quarterly reports recording license violations at local bars, restaurants and package retailers.

Public Safety Director Keith Wood said an “aggressive approach” to liquor enforcement in the fall has helped create a “level of expectation that carries through the school year, as reflected by two consecutive quarters of mundane reporting.”

This quarter’s review listed 14 liquor-related “events” between Jan. 1 and March 31, including three minor-in-possession incidents, one of which was self-reported by the establishment.

Other responses were in regard to a variety of incidents, including fights, disorderly conduct, pedestrian ID checks and crowd control.

In addition to community policing and outreach efforts on the part of MPS officers, Wood said he believed that similar programs at Northwest Missouri State University were having a positive impact in terms of moderating the number of alcohol violations.

Though Wood said it has been a fairly quiet spring in terms of liquor enforcement, the report, which confines itself to businesses that sell alcohol, did not make mention of a pair of alleged sexual assaults last month involving college-age adults who were reportedly at, or who had been at, fraternity house gatherings where heavy drinking apparently took place.

Both investigations resulted in arrests.

Wood acknowledged that such assaults are a problem, and that the incidents, which occurred over a two-week period, likely represent the “tip of the iceberg.”

He said MPS Officer Sarah Kahmann has been working with the Children & Family Center of Northwest Missouri domestic violence shelter to assemble a “Sexual Assault and Violence Education” (SAFE) program, which will be offered at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Maryville Community Center.

On another law enforcement front, the Maryville police department was granted an emergency appropriation from the council to update its computer operating system software.

Wood said MPS was notified by the Missouri State Highway Patrol that its current Windows XP software was reaching its end-of-support date and would have to be replaced if the department was to remain connected to the Criminal Justice Information Services wide-area network.

The mandate was issued because Microsoft is discontinuing the release of security patches deemed essential to maintaining the integrity of the CJIS system, which is maintained by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Wood said the upgrade was not included in the current city budget because MPS was unaware of the mandate, which originated with the FBI, when the spending blueprint was prepared late last summer.

The new software will be purchased from MTE Office Center in Maryville at a cost of $27,500. Normally city expenditures over $5,000 must go out to bid, but that rule can be waived on approval by the city manager if the purchase is time sensitive or required to deal with some type of emergency.

Funds to cover the new software will be taken from general fund reserves.

TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Jeff Funston accepts a sack filled with farewell gifts from Mayor Renee Riedel at the start of the week’s City Council meeting. Funston opted not to run for re-election at the conclusion of his three-year term. He also served on the council in the 1970s and 1990s.