Branson Courier

After much confusion most would say the final result makes sense. On the morning of Oct. 10, City Engineer David Miller said, “I have met with the contractor this morning and went over a revised phasing of the work on Roark Valley Road and we have come up with a way to modify the schedule and work process that will allow us to leave Roark Valley Road open to traffic until December 1.”

The confusion started as a result of an announcement Miller made at the Branson Board of Alderman’s study session on Oct. 9. One could actually see the surprise on the faces of the Mayor and board when Miller announced that although Forsythe Road was expected to be open very soon that a detour would be placed at the intersection of Roark Road and Forsythe Road, perhaps as early as next week.

Miller explained that the detour was necessary for the city to make the improvements to the Roark Valley/Forsythe Road intersection. As some of the board and the Mayor actually expressed their surprise at the detour they asked how long it would be, why it was happening during one of the busiest times of the year and how long it would take to finish. Miller indicated that the weather necessary to insure the completion of the project was a consideration as to timing, and that the plan, weather permitting, was to have it done by Thanksgiving weekend.

Later that day, information was received from Miller and Jerry Adams, Public Information Director for the city, stating that the detour would become effective on Monday Oct. 20. Miller reiterated that weather permitting it was planned that the work on the intersection would be completed no later than the Thanksgiving weekend and hopefully sooner.

On Oct. 10 Miller indicated that it was extensive feedback on the closure of Roark Road during the period of time the city had chosen to close it that led to the decision to delay the closing. Miller did point out that although they will basically keep Roark Valley Road open “There may be a few hours on some days when the road will be reduced to one lane and we’ll use flagmen.” Miller said that such temporary lane reductions could not be avoided and would be for short durations on one or two days.

Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent.

After much confusion most would say the final result makes sense. On the morning of Oct. 10, City Engineer David Miller said, “I have met with the contractor this morning and went over a revised phasing of the work on Roark Valley Road and we have come up with a way to modify the schedule and work process that will allow us to leave Roark Valley Road open to traffic until December 1.”

The confusion started as a result of an announcement Miller made at the Branson Board of Alderman’s study session on Oct. 9. One could actually see the surprise on the faces of the Mayor and board when Miller announced that although Forsythe Road was expected to be open very soon that a detour would be placed at the intersection of Roark Road and Forsythe Road, perhaps as early as next week.

Miller explained that the detour was necessary for the city to make the improvements to the Roark Valley/Forsythe Road intersection. As some of the board and the Mayor actually expressed their surprise at the detour they asked how long it would be, why it was happening during one of the busiest times of the year and how long it would take to finish. Miller indicated that the weather necessary to insure the completion of the project was a consideration as to timing, and that the plan, weather permitting, was to have it done by Thanksgiving weekend.

Later that day, information was received from Miller and Jerry Adams, Public Information Director for the city, stating that the detour would become effective on Monday Oct. 20. Miller reiterated that weather permitting it was planned that the work on the intersection would be completed no later than the Thanksgiving weekend and hopefully sooner.

On Oct. 10 Miller indicated that it was extensive feedback on the closure of Roark Road during the period of time the city had chosen to close it that led to the decision to delay the closing. Miller did point out that although they will basically keep Roark Valley Road open “There may be a few hours on some days when the road will be reduced to one lane and we’ll use flagmen.” Miller said that such temporary lane reductions could not be avoided and would be for short durations on one or two days.

Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent https://bransoncourier.com/view_article.php?news_ID=41

At its Oct. 2 meeting, the Hollister’s city council heard comments and received a letter from Rob Dixon, Director, Operations and Member Relations, Hollister Chamber of Commerce. Dixon made comments about Hollister’s Grape and Fall Festival held on Sep. 27 and presented the council with a letter of thanks from the Chamber.

The letter expressed the Chamber’s “Sincere gratitude for the City of Hollister’s participation in the 2008 Grape and Fall Festival” and its appreciation of “the significant amount of labor, material, and other support that the City contributed to the effort.” It went on to acknowledge that without the city’s help and involvement the event would not have been the success that it was.

The letter went on to say, “The 2008 Grape and Fall Festival was a success by many measures. The event attracted approximately 4,500 people to the Downing Street area, and a significant number of those visitors were new to our community. Our food and craft vendors benefitted from the large turnout, as many reported that they had high sales and that they want to participate in next year’s festival and any others that take place in Hollister. Downing Street merchants benefitted from increased traffic through and in front of their shops, and we worked with them in order to maximize their exposure to the large crowd.”

In other business the council approved the first reading of an ordinance to amend Chapter 245 of the city code by adding a new section 245.035 entitled “Temporary Health Permit Fees.” Rick Ziegenfuss, Hollister City Administrator said the amendment is intended to to cover the cost of inspections and other administrative fees associated with the serving of food at temporary events such as Hollister’s Annual Grape & Fall Festival.

Under the new ordinance it is the responsibility of the Event Organizer to complete a Temporary Food Event Organizer Application, make sure each food vendor completes a Temporary Food Service Operator Application, and submit all required applications and designated fees to the city 30 days prior to the event. The Event Organizer Fee is $50.00. The fees for for each temporary food vendor is based on a sliding scale fee based on the number of food vendors participating in the event with a fee of $25.00 each for 0-10, $20.00 each for 11 to 20, $15 each for 21 to 30 and $10.00 each for 31 or more vendors.

Kelley Beets, Senior Loss Control Consultant, Missouri Intergovernmental Risk Management Association (MIRMA) announced MIRMA is awarding Hollister a $6,500 grant toward the $10,000 purchase of new video surveillance equipment for the Hollister Police Department to replace the older equipment currently being used in the jail. The city of Hollister will pay the $3,500 difference. MIRMA is an alliance of governmental entities, of which the city of Hollister is a member, providing comprehensive, competitively priced insurance and risk management services to its members.

The council had the second and final reading amending Section 401.070 permitting more flexibility for sediment and erosion control plans and requiring their submission with the grading permit application and required fees. It also heard a report on some of the progress being made in the Ashley Square Subdivision including the installation of new stop sign, area cleanup, increased police monitoring of traffic, and a request to Empire Electric for additional subdivision lighting.

Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent.

The city of Branson is once again putting a call out for volunteers to help repair Stockstill Park that was damaged by high winds and flash flooding from hurricane Ike earlier this month. Branson Parks and Recreation Director Cindy Shook said the cleanup will be Tuesday, October 7, starting at 9 a.m. at the park. Employees from the parks and recreation department as well as public works will be on hand to start removing the tree limbs, rocks and other debris left after winds and high water from Roark Creek rushed through Stockstill early September 14.

“Because of the volume of debris, we really need all the help we can get.” said Cindy Shook, director of parks and recreation. “The city will provide rakes, shovels and other tools for volunteers to use in cleaning up the park, and even if people can’t spend the whole day, we can still use them.”

According Shook, the cleanup is for the purpose of preparing the park for the major repairs on the ball fields, fencing, playground and asphalt walking trail. Private contractors will eventually be restoring the fences and ball fields, which have never been totally replaced since an earlier flashflood in June. “We are going to delay the major improvements in the park until after hurricane season in November,” Shook said. “But we still need to get the park in good condition for these improvements. That’s where we seek the help of volunteers.”

Stockstill Park will remain closed until all of the repairs are complete, and in the meantime, the city will be exploring options to minimize future flooding in the park.

“Consumer economic fundamentals are worrisome and do not bode well for the leisure travel industry in the months ahead,” Dan Lennon, Vice President Marketing & Public Relations, Branson Tri Lakes Chamber of Commerce & CVB (CVB), told the Branson Board of Aldermen at its Sep. 22 meeting. Lennon reported the information during the CVB’s second quarterly marketing report to the city for the quarter ending June 30.

He said the overall visitations to Branson were down 5.1 percent over the same period last year. The report gives a myriad of reasons for the drop, including a 50 percent drop in consumer confidence, uncertainty of financial markets, record gas and food price increases, weather, a 6.4 percent decrease in the marketing budget, and the economic crises.

According to the report, Branson’s room demand over the last12 months of the report was down 8.7 percent. Branson’s rate of decrease was much more than large cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Orlando, Nashville, and Dallas. Lennon pointed out those cities had the advantage of a lot of business travel whereas Branson relies primarily on the leisure travel market. When compared to its direct competitors, Branson’s 8.7 percent decrease compares favorably to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge’s 8.3 percent, Wisconsin Dells’ 7.5 percent and is better than Williamsburg’s 11.3 percent. Branson’s 8.7 percent decrease does not compare as favorably with Lake of the Ozarks .2 percent, Myrtle Beach’s 1.7 percent or Hershey, PA’s 1.2 percent decreases.

The city of Branson’s collection of its retail sales tax was the only tax in the report that was up for the reporting period, rising 2 percent over the same period a year ago. According to the report the city tourism tax dropped 2.5 percent, the TCED Tourism Tax dropped 1.52 percent, and the Taney County Sales Tax dropped by .25 percent over the same period.

The report shows a 27.63 percent drop in the number of inquires received for information on Branson during the same period in 2007. Lennon attributed some of the decrease in inquiries to the decrease in the traffic and the budget. Lennon also pointed out they are using and testing some different internet marketing strategies and said the number should be up by the end of the year.

The majority of Branson’s visitors, 59 percent of them, travel from outer markets, 301 plus miles from Branson, 23 percent from primary markets, 101 to 300 miles from Branson and 18 percent from the core market, 1-100 miles from Branson. The core market has grown by 13.7 percent over the same period in 2007 while the primary market has dropped 10.2 percent and the outer market 7.8 percent during the same period.

Lennon pointed out that the trend of the percentage of visitors that are families continues to rise and is at 48.9 percent, up from 40.4 percent in 2007. The report indicates the average adult age of visitors has dropped to 53.6 continuing a four year downtrend from 59.5 in 2004.

The percentage of first time visitors to Branson of 19.4 percent continued a two year downtrend. Pointing out the relationship; between visitors coming from Branson’s outer markets and first time visitors, Lennon indicated that was something that needed to be improved upon.

The report ended with “a little good news.” He reiterated that the percent of decrease in the number of visitation through July had gone down from 5.1 to 4.7 and visitations for the month of August were up about 2 percent compared to August of 2007 providing a strong end to the summer. Lennon pointed out the increase was primarily from the primary markets and represented a 35 percent increase in the primary markets over August of 2007.

In summary Lennon reported that what hope there was for a solid rebound in the second half of 2008 has faded. The report states, “It now appears that Branson will likely end 2008 down somewhere between 4 and 7 percent.”

Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent .

Notwithstanding a newspaper headline and story to the contrary, the Branson Board of Aldermen did not change the fiscal year of the city of Branson to Nov. 3 at its Sep. 22 meeting. Frank Schoneboom, Branson’s Assistant City Administrator said, “Branson’s fiscal year today is the same as it was before the meeting on Monday night, Oct. 1 to Sep. 30.” He said all the board did was pass a resolution authorizing the continuation of necessary and essential expenditures to operate the city through Nov. 3.

Prior to the resolution authorizing the continuation of the necessary and essential expenditures of the budget to operate the city through Nov. 3, a public hearing was held on the city’s budget for fiscal year October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009. The public hearing was opened by Branson Mayor Raeanne Presley. No member of the public came forward to make comments and the hearing was closed. Mayor Presley said there would be another public hearing on the budget at the boards Oct. 28 meeting.

The written staff report introducing the resolution states, “City and State Statutes allow for the continuation of the budget into the following year for good and sufficient reasons. On September 16th the Board of Aldermen and the Branson Finance Committee acknowledged that good and sufficient reasons exist to allow a continuation because of the City Governments financial status.”

At the Sep. 16 meeting, Branson City Administrator Dean Kruithof said a system breakdown had occurred. He described the system breakdown as, among other things, a lack of effective contract management, no reconciliation to budget, no project accounting, and that the city has an obsolete financial system. He stressed the city of Branson, although a very small city in terms of size and permanent residents actually has to operate on the same financial level as most large cities yet, the resources of its finance department, both in terms of personnel and systems, are not adequate to do the job.

At the Sep. 22 meeting, as part of his comments on the continuing budget resolution, Kruithof said the continuing resolution was necessary so that the budget process could be completed. He said they were in the process of working through the second round of budget discussions with the city’s Directors and were looking very hard at expenditures. He also pointed out that the additional time would be used to work on a number of items with the city’s Budget and Capital Committees and the city’s financial consultants in an effort to bring the board a balanced budget. He said, “This gives us some additional time based on the information we know.”

Although there were comments from the public they related to comments made by Alderwoman Sandra William in the period between the public hearing on the budget and not to the continuing budget resolution. There were no comments from the board and the resolution passed unanimously.

The resolution re-appropriates operation and maintenance expenses from the 2007-2008 fiscal budget from Oct.1 2007 through Nov. 3, 2008. The resolution specifically states “That in the 2007-2008 fiscal year the City of Branson experienced a breakdown of its financial system along with revenue shortfalls and increases in operating costs.” It went on to say that for these reasons and others the board deemed it necessary to allow additional time for the development of the 2008-2009 fiscal budget.

Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent.

Branson extends Ward 3 storm debris cleanup deadline

The Branson Public Works Department has extended the special storm cleanup an extra two days due to the volume of limbs and brush residents have set out for the free pickup. That means residents in the city’s Ward 3 will have their storm debris collected on Monday and Tuesday, September 29 and 30.

The same rules apply. All limbs and brush must be at the curb by 8 a.m. on the day of pickup. The debris must be cut and stacked at the curb in 4-6 foot piles, but don’t need to be bundled. This pickup is for limbs and brush only, not trash or other items. And once crews go through Ward 3 on Monday and Tuesday, they will not backtrack.

The public works department began the city-wide storm debris clean up last Monday to help residents, at no charge, properly dispose of all the tree limbs and brush blown down on their property by the remnants of Hurricane Ike that rolled through the Ozarks early September 14. All three city wards were supposed to be completed by this Friday, but the amount of curbside debris made public works officials realize they needed more time to cover the whole city; so residents in Ward 3 will have the city collection next Monday and Tuesday.

Questions about the city-wide pickup can be directed to the Branson Public Works Department at 337-8562.

In a year filled with record rainfall and the highest lakes levels ever what wasn’t needed by Branson was the rain remnants of Hurricanes “Gustov” and “Ike.” By the time Ike had tracked its way through the Ozarks and Branson area lakes were well above their season normal levels for this time of year and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) was forced to open the spill way gates slightly at Table Rock Lake on Sep. 17.

Greg Oller, US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) Lake Manager for Table Rock Lake said the rising level of Table Rock Lake caused the need to release a planned 20,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) from the lake. Oller said the plan is to release 20,000 cfs total through the hydro power plant and the spillway until Table Rock gets to down to an elevation of 920 feet at which time the release will be cut back to 15,000 cfs until the lake level drops to 917.

So far the release through the spill ways has been a constant 5,000 cfs. The water being run through the hydro power plant has varied while the Corps and Empire Electric have worked to make the necessary adjustments to limit and mitigate any downstream flooding.

James Sandburg, Corps Operations Manager for Table Rock Lake, said although the total amount of water planned for release from the lake will be either 20,000 or 15,000 cfs, depending on the lake level, that total amount will be a fluctuating combination of water being discharged through the hydroelectric plant and spillways. The amount of water coming over the spillways will be dependent on the water coming through the hydroelectric plant. If less water is coming through the hydroelectric plant more water will be released through the spillway and if more water is released through the hydroelectric plant less water will be released over the spillway.

The amount of water released through the hydro electric plant will be limited by amount of dissolved oxygen in that water. At this time of year, because of the lake depth from which the water used to generate power is drawn, the dissolved oxygen content is extremely low and causes a problem with Lake Taneycomo’s fishery. Sandburg said the Corps is working with the Southwest Power Administration and the Missouri Department of Conservation to solve or mitigate the problem.

The record of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers indicates Table Rock Lake crested at an elevation of 923.65 at about noon on Sep. 17, is filled to 45 percent of its flood storage capacity and is about 6.5 feet above its normal seasonal level of 917 feet. Beaver Lake, the lake discharging into Table Rock Lake crested at elevation of 1129 feet on Sep. 17, is filled to about 92 percent of its flood storage capacity and is about 8 feet above its normal seasonal level of 1121.4 feet.

Bull Shoals Lake, the lake Table Rock discharges into, had not crested as of 7:00 a.m. Sept. 18. It was at an elevation of 684.69, is filled to about 69 percent of it flood storage capacity and is about 28 feet above its normal seasonal level of 646 feet.

Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent https://bransoncourier.com/view_article.php?news_ID=41

The scheduled agenda of the Branson Board of Aldermen for its Sep. 22 regular meeting will be long and full. In addition to the quarterly marketing report to be presented by the Branson Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and CVB, the board will also consider matters relating to delaying the final approval of the city’s 2009 fiscal year budget until the end of October and will again address the matter of a new liquor control ordinance.

It appears the Branson financial caution light that came on about midway through the city’s 2008 fiscal year will be on at the start of the city’s 2009 fiscal year. At a special joint meeting of the Branson Board of Aldermen and the city’s Budget and Finance Committee held on Sep.16, Branson City Administrator Dean Kruithof stated it was too ambitious to get the budget done by Oct. 1 and suggested a target date of the end of October.

Kruithof suggested that the public budget hearing for the fiscal year 2009 budget, scheduled for the boards Sep. 22 meeting, be conducted as scheduled. That hearing is on the agenda.

He also suggested the interim measure of the board adopting a resolution providing for the continuation of the budget process into October and for the payment of the basic expenditures necessary for the city to conduct basic operations and provide services to its citizens. The board will consider a resolution providing for the continuation of necessary and essential expenditures of the budget to operate the city of Branson through Nov. 3.

The staff report introducing the resolution states, “City and State Statutes allow for the continuation of the budget into the following year for good and sufficient reasons. On September 16th the Board of Aldermen and the Branson Finance Committee acknowledged that good and sufficient reasons exist to allow a continuation because of the City Governments financial status.”

The city’s proposal to amend its liquor ordinance has been in process for over a year. The initial amendment met with considerable opposition when it was presented earlier this year. As a result of the considerable public input on the proposal a number of changes and revisions have been made to the initial proposal and an entirely new bill has been substituted for the original.

The new revised 47 plus page substitute bill incorporating the changes and recommendations from the previous hearings and meetings on the issue is on the agenda for its first reading. If approved the final reading for the bill will be scheduled for the Consent Agenda of the boards first meeting in October which will be on Oct. 14. A review of the substitute bill indicates it does not contain any notations or other indications showing what was changed from the original bill. The complete text of the substitute bill as well as the complete agenda for the meeting is available on the city’s web site at www.cityofbranson.org under the “Agendas & Meetings” link.

Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent https://bransoncourier.com/view_article.php?news_ID=41

A decade’s long tradition of holding the twice monthly regular meeting of Branson Board of Aldermen on the second and fourth Monday of the month has changed. With the approval of the Consent Agenda at its Sep. 8 meeting, the board authorized a change in the day of the week the meetings are held from Monday night to Tuesday night. The change is effective Oct. 1 and will start with the board’s first meeting in October scheduled for Tuesday Oct. 14.

The stated purpose of moving the meetings to Tuesday is to give the city staff, the board of aldermen, and the public enough time is “to review agendas prior to the regular meetings.

In other action the board gave final approval to the 5 percent increase in water rates and a 15 percent increase in sewer rates which will start with the October billing cycle. The rate increases are the third in a series of five annual increases, contained in a plan enacted by the board in September 2006. The plan was intended to reverse a trend of transferring funds from the Tourism and Capital Improvements tax and put the operating portion of the city’s sewer and water operation on a self sustaining basis.

The board also gave its initial approval to increasing certain Parks and Recreation Department fees. The fee increases are caused by increased maintenance and operational expenses that have exceeded the revenues and the desire of the city to make each program less dependent on subsidies from other city funds. Fees for the city’s Pitch “N” Putt 9 – hole golf course will increase from $6 to $10 for adults and from $4 to $6 for youth 18 and under while the daily fee for the Rec Plex aquatic center will increase $1 and the fee for renting the center goes up $25 from $100 to $125. The daily camping fees to rent an RV space in the city campground will go from $23 to $25.

Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent https://bransoncourier.com/view_article.php?news_ID=41

As the “Branson financial onion” drifts down “Branson’s Budget River” slowly unwrapping, layer after layer, the significance of the words of Branson City Administrator Dean Kruithof at a recent meeting become apparent. While stating that the effect of the current budget strain on the upcoming budget was very simple, Capital and Operating expenses would have to be cut back, he said, “The explanation regarding the current strain on the budget is much more complex.”

In trying to illustrate the complexities of the budget challenges facing the city, Kruithof used the analogy of a river to represent the budget. He pointed out there are any number of tributaries flowing into the river, each adds water and increased pressure and the river can hold only so much water. The very first tributary entitled “Fund Payback” contained, among other things, a $750,000 per year payment from the city’s General Fund to repay a loan taken out for the Branson Landing project using Branson City Hall and the city’s newest fire station as collateral for the loan.

Kruithof explained that “Fund Payback” contained a number of standing financial obligations for projects which had to be paid back out of the General Fund. He went on to say, “Our General Fund dollars are competing with all our other operational dollars. We had the pay back for the Rec Plex, we had the payback for Capital Projects most notably the ‘convention center.’”

While seeking clarification on why General Funds would have to be used to finance the convention center in addition to the TIF (Tax Increment Financing) Kruithof explained that, in general terms, $750,000 from the General Fund is paid per year to the state to lease city hall because it was used for collateral on a loan for the Branson Landing convention center project.

On Sep. 10, an email from Assistant City Administrator Frank Schoneboom furnished additional details on the lease. It said the $750,000 payment is made from General Fund monies earmarked for the payment and the term of the lease is for 62 years. Schoneboom said, “This lease is for the 2003 MDFB ( Missouri Development Finance Bond) issues which was primarily used for property acquisition for the waterfront (Branson Landing and Convention Center projects).” He also pointed out that the payment is made “to a trustee, who in turn pays back on the note” and that “City Hall and our newest fire station (#3) are used to collateralize this note.”

Kruithof’s initial comments were made at a special Saturday combination meeting of the Branson Board of Aldermen and all three of Branson’s standing committees, Personnel, Capital Improvement, and Budget and Finance held at the Branson Rec Plex Sep. 7.

For related article entitled "Branson revenue stable but financial system breakdown strains budget" click here https://bransoncourier.com/issue-40/breakdown_financial_sytem_kruithof-1000.html

Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent.

Whether or not the Fall Creek Road Extension will survive the current budget stress the city of Branson is working through remains in limbo. At its Sep. 8 meeting the Branson Board of Aldermen postponed a bill accepting the bid of Emery Sapp & Sons d/b/a/ ESS Contractors, subject to a change work order, until no later than Oct. 28. The original bid for the whole project was $4,545,681.

As originally bid, the project would have been the final phase of construction on a new main north south artery on the east end of the strip between the intersection of Fall Creek Road and Highway 76 and Fall Creek’s eventual intersection with Roark Valley Road to the north at its current intersection with Epps Road. Epps Road provides direct access to and from Highway 248. The original bid also covered the realignment and straightening of the “s” jog of Fall Creek Road slightly south of its intersection with Highway 76.

The change order bill, designed to be more fiscally in tune with Branson’s current budget situation was for a revised amount of $3,116,728. This would have resulted in a reduction of $1,428, 953 from the original bid of $4,545, 681 by deleting the paving from the project north of Highway 76. It had been prepared and placed on the agenda prior to receiving additional financial information from the city’s financial consultants, Office Direct, LLC, on Friday of last week.

Branson City Administrator Dean Kruithof said after receiving that information he was going to recommend the rejection of the bid even with the change order and a rebid just for the south side realignment of Fall Creek Road to eliminate the “s” jog. He also pointed out that earlier in the day the contractor had offered to keep the bid open until Oct. 28 so that additional financial options could be explored. Kruithof, pointing out that the bid was an excellent bid, recommended that issue be postponed so that all options could be examined more fully and the city’s Capital Improvement Committee could be more involved in the decision.

During the discussion of the motion, prior to its postponement Mark Weiss pointed out that the citizens of Branson had been promised the road during two previous transportation tax votes. Both Branson Aldermen Rick Davis and Stephen Marshall said they had heard from their constituents about their displeasure with the “s” jog and expect, at a minimum, it will be eliminated.

City Engineer David Miller was asked how the “s” jog came about. Miller replied originally there was no “s” jog in the first phase of the project but as the project got closer to bidding he was directed to cut it to the bone and to those items necessary to complete only the intersection. He did as directed and approximately $200,000 was saved. No one asked who issued the direction.

A motion to postpone consideration of the Fall Creek Road Extension to no later than Oct. 28 was approved unanimously.

From a financial perspective, although Branson’s revenues are stable, its finances will be challenging for the next couple of years as the city repairs what Branson City Administrator Dean Kruithof calls a breakdown of Branson’s financial system. The breakdown was just one of a long list of items Kruithoff attributes to causing Branson’s current budget strain.

He said, “It would be so much easier to walk in and say it’s any one of these problems that’s causing the budget strain but that’s really not the case. Any one of these issues individually could be taken care of but it’s when you have one building upon another building upon another that has created the kind of strain that we are dealing with right now.”

Kruithof’s comments were made at a special Saturday combination meeting of the Branson Board of Aldermen and all three of Branson’s standing committees, Personnel, Capital Improvement, and Budget and Finance held at the Branson Rec Plex Sep. 7. Also in attendance was John Petty and Janice Larned from Direct Offices, L.L.C., the company hired by the city on a interim basis for financial consulting assistance, and David L. Cochran, of Cochran Head Vick & Co., PC, the firm that performed the outside audit on the city last year.

In her introductory remarks, Branson Mayor Raeanne Presley said Branson’s City Administrator Dean Kruithof and his team would provide a fiscal reality check, along with a strong strategy to improve the city’s financial discipline and enhance fiscal responsibility at every level of the organization. She said, “I want to emphasize – our purpose today is not to look back on decisions of past administrations, but to look forward.”

Kruithof made a power point presentation entitled, “2009 Budget Challenges Ahead.” He used the analogy of a river to represent the budget pointing out there are any number of tributaries flowing into the river, each adds water and increased pressure and the river can hold only so much water.

As he started going over the items making up the tributaries adding depth and pressure to Branson’s “budget river” he indicated that any city might have to deal with one or two of the items “But” he said, “Any of them coming up together and starting to multiply is starting to create pressure.” Although he listed a number of tributaries contributing to Branson’s current budget stress the one seeming to have the most impact and getting the most attention was the tributary entitled, “Breakdown of Financial System.”

In describing what Kruithof called, “A system breakdown” he said, there has been a lack of effective contract management, no reconciliation to budget, no project accounting, the city has entered into some extremely sophisticated agreements such as the TIF agreements and the city has an obsolete financial system. He stressed the city of Branson, although very small in terms of size and permanent residents actually has to operate on the same financial level as most large cities yet, the resources of its finance department, both in terms of personnel and systems, are not adequate to do the job.

Kruithof said, “Compared to a lot of other cities we are still in wonderful condition wonderful situation.” He went on to say that they don’t view these as permanent problems but as problems that will have to be corrected so Branson may move forward.

Lou Schaefer, who served as Branson’s mayor during the biggest growth period in the city’s history, died early this morning at the age of 80 following an illness. Family members say he passed away at a rehabilitation facility in Springfield.

Schaefer was mayor of Branson from 1995 to 2007, and he was the first mayor in Branson’s history to be elected for six consecutive terms. He served two years on the Branson Board of Aldermen as mayor pro-tem prior to his election as mayor.

He was a strong supporter of economic development. During four years of his administration, 2004-2007, Branson experienced unprecedented growth with new construction topping $583 million and major economic developments such as Branson Landing, the Branson Convention Center and hotel, and Branson Hills opening.
Schaefer’s top priority when first elected mayor in 1995 was to see a convention center built in Branson. During the groundbreaking for the Branson Convention Center in October 2005, Schaefer called the event “…a dream come true for me.”

During his tenure, Branson’s city limits expanded from eight square miles in 1995 to 20 square miles in 2007. And by annexing, hundreds of dangerous old septic systems were connected to the city’s sewer system.
Schaefer has been called Branson’s First Ambassador because of his tireless efforts in promoting Branson as a vacation destination “where you can take any member of the family to any show or attraction and not be embarrassed with the content.”

Always quick with a smile and handshake, he enjoyed being around people and was especially popular among city employees, according to city administrative assistant Vicki McFarland, who worked with Schaefer during his 12 years as mayor. “He was so polite to everyone and a true gentleman,” she said.

Schaefer placed high importance on environmental issues. He organized a regional water quality conference in 1996 that eventually led to the formation of the James River Basin Partnership. Under his leadership, Branson became the first city in Missouri to install phosphorus removal equipment on its wastewater treatment plants, and Schaefer continually encouraged other cities to add this equipment to the point that he became known as “Mr. Phosphorus.”

A veteran of the Marine Corps, Schaefer especially anticipated the annual Veterans Homecoming in Branson that featured a week of activities and special events honoring military veterans. Schaefer attended practically every event to which he was invited, and for many homecomings, that meant 25-30 appearances in a seven-day period.

“I am so proud to be mayor of the city that has taken the national lead in paying tribute to all American veterans,” Schaefer said at a Memorial Day Remembrance in 2000.

His accomplishments as mayor earned Schaefer the prestigious 2008 Missourian Award that he was to receive September 27 in Jefferson City.

A native of St. Louis, Schaefer moved to Branson in the early 1950’s where he co-owned a wholesale business, owned hotels and later developed property. He is past president of the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau and served on the boards of Silver Dollar City, College of the Ozarks and the former Security Bank.

Visitation will be this Friday from 6-8 p.m. at Faith Lutheran Church, 221 Malone with services Saturday 10 a.m. also at the church. Burial will be at Snapps Bearden Cemetery on East Highway 76.

Motorists driving Roark Valley Road need to be aware of a detour set up at the intersection of the newly designed Forsythe Boulevard. A temporary road parallel to Roark Valley is now handling vehicles during the reconstruction of the intersection, which is scheduled to be completed in November. The intersection will also include a traffic signal to be installed in the spring.

The realigning of Forsythe is part of the Tanstone Project that includes retail shops, restaurants and condominiums. A roundabout in the middle of Forsythe will allow access to the Tanger Mall just west of Tanstone.

Branson City Administrator, Dean Kruithof used the Sep. 4 Work Session meeting of the board of aldermen to announce an unusual joint budget meeting on Saturday, Sep. 6 at 10:00 a.m. The meeting is unusual in terms of being held on a Saturday, its location, the Branson Rec Plex and that it will be a joint meeting of the city’s three standing committees, Personnel, Finance, and Capital Improvements.

Kruithof said it would include a presentation of some of the issues dealing with the upcoming Fiscal year 2009 Budget and relating to some of the decisions the aldermen will have to make as part of that process. He acknowledged it was unusual to have a Saturday meeting and said it was caused by scheduling conflicts especially with John Petty and Janice Larned of District Offices, the city’s financial consultant. He said David Cochran, the city’s auditor and Lori Helle, the recently hired Finance Director for the city, would also be in attendance.

Alderwoman Sandra Williams strongly encouraged the public to attend the meeting. She said, “Press and public, we are asking you to please take an interest in this meeting.”

In other business, Kruithof reported the presentation on the development of new blasting regulations, scheduled for the meeting, would be delayed to allow participation by Alderman Rick Davis who was absent. One of the purposes of the new blasting regulations will be to create a more sloping perimeter when blasting instead of the typical cliff wall as evidenced in the TanStone development on Forsythe Road. He anticipated the process would be completed shortly.

Jerry Adams, the city’s Public Information Director, made a presentation on the progress being made to explore the possibility of using a public-private partnership to help create more attractive entrances to Branson off the three Highway 65 exits. He handed out a list of the citizens and businesses that have expressed an interest in serving on the Community Pride Committee. Alderman Stephen Marshall said the Branson CVB had also established a committee to help beautify Branson and increase its “curb side appeal.

During the discussion it was pointed out MoDOT had recently mowed the areas, businesses have already volunteered to beautify certain areas, and maintenance would require an ongoing effort. Alderman Bob McDowell expressed his belief that the beautification of Branson and its maintenance would be a permanent task requiring a tie in to the budget to ensure adequate funding to do the job.

Chad E. Zickefoose, MoDOT’s District 8 Transportation Project Manager made a presentation explain the details of the two options MoDOT had presented for the new bridge across Lake Taneycomo and asked for an indication of the board’s approval of Option A for presentation to MoDOT’s Cost Sharing Committee. Option A will provide a new bridge connecting with Branson Landing Boulevard, the rehabilitation and repair of the current bridge and a roundabout on the eastern edge of the bridge.

Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent https://bransoncourier.com/view_article.php?news_ID=41

Although it’s a long way from being a done deal, Branson’s new bridge across Lake Taneycomo took another necessary step forward Sep. 2 with the signing of the “MoDOT Partnership Development Cost Sharing Program Application” (Application). The Application was signed by Taney County and the cities of Branson and Hollister just about an hour before the 4:30 p.m. deadline imposed the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) after its approval by the Taney County Commission.

The Application names the project the “Lake Taneycomo Bridge Improvements and Roundabout” and describes its location as “the intersection of Missouri Route 76 and Missouri Business Route 65 in Hollister and over Lake Taneycomo between Hollister and downtown Branson.” The project will include the construction of a new bridge, the rehabilitation of the current bridge, a roundabout on the eastern end of the bridges servicing both bridges, and will provide virtually continuous access across Lake Taneycomo at the point of the project while construction is taking place.

The genesis for the project was the determination by MoDOT that the current bridge would have to have its deck replaced requiring the closing of the bridge for up to a year and a six mile detour. The subsequent negotiations between MoDOT and the local government entities of Taney County and the cities of Branson and Hollister resulted in a plan to build the new bridge immediately downstream from the current bridge keeping it open while the new bridge was under construction.

Upon completion of the new bridge the current bridge will be closed for repair and rehabilitation. When the project is complete there will be two bridges with both bridges accommodating traffic going in both directions. The current bridge will maintain the current routing directly between Hollister and downtown Branson while the new bridge will connect with Branson Landing Boulevard providing an alternate route for those traveling to Branson Landing, to or from Highway 248, Branson Hills, or points north of Branson.

The Application provides the $12,665,000 cost of the new bridge and roundabout will be shared with MoDOT paying 50 percent and the other 50 percent by local agency partners, Taney County paying 40 percent, the city of Branson 8 percent and the city of Hollister 2 percent. The application also provides the local agency partners and MoDOT will share equally in any costs that exceed $12,665,000 on the same proportional basis. In addition to its 50 percent of the new bridge and roundabout, MoDOT is paying the entire $4,908,000 cost of rehabilitating and repairing the current bridge.

It was stressed throughout the meeting that the signing of the cost share application does not obligate any of the local agency partners to continue with the project. Although necessary if the project is to continue along in the process, the application is simply a request to MoDOT to cost share in the project which it may or may not do. Upon approval of the cost sharing application the next step would be the formal signing of an agreement between MoDOT and the local agency partners that will be binding.

Although MoDOT required the application to be submitted by 4:30 p.m. Sep.2 there was no firm date by which MoDOT had to accept or reject the application. The project timelines specified in the application are the project bid letting in the Fall of 2009, beginning of construction in late 2009 and project completion in the Fall of 2011.

Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent.

By Gary J. Groman, a.k.a. The Ole Seagull

The search for a new finance director for the city of Branson has apparently ended. According to information released by the city, Lori Helle, the current director of finance and administration for the city of Chesterfield, Missouri has been hired as its new finance director. She was selected from among five finalists and is expected to start on effective Sep. 22. Branson City Administrator, Dean Kruithof said, “Lori is personable and knowledgeable and will be a tremendous asset to our management team.”

From a resume perspective, Helle has more than 14 years experience in city finances with six years of supervisory experience. She has been with the city of Chesterfield, a suburb of St. Louis with a population of 47,000, since September 2007 and was responsible for directing all accounting, financial and administrative operations including financial planning, general accounting, budgeting and debt administration.

Prior to Chesterfield, Helle was director of budget and finance in Ellisville, MO for five years; director of finance and treasurer in Shrewsbury, MO for three years and served five years as finance officer for Glendale, MO. She is a graduate of Drury College in Springfield with a BA in Accounting and Business Administration and currently studying for her MBA in Business Administration at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO, with anticipated graduation in May 2009.

Raw untreated sewage has been running into Lake Taneycomo about five miles upstream from the city of Branson’s drinking water intake for months. The source of the sewage is an area of homes and businesses located off of Montgomery Drive. Montgomery Drive is located in Taney County outside the city limits of Branson and loops from the east side of State Highway 165 in the Skyview Drive area by Doc’s Sports Bar. Although located miles upstream from the city’s drinking water intake and outside the city limits of Branson, Branson Public Works Director Larry VanGilder said that any source of pollution to Lake Taneycomo above the water intake is of concern and must be addressed as soon as possible.

A meeting involving local officials, representatives of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the state Attorney General’s Office (AGO) was held at the Dewey Short Visitor’s Center on August 21. It became apparent there have been other incidents involving the Montgomery sewage, DNR has been aware of the current Montgomery situation since November of 2007, the AOG has filed a law suit regarding the Montgomery pollution, and, even while the meeting was taking place, there was the ongoing threat of untreated sewage continuing to pollute Lake Taneycomo.

While local officials all acknowledged the urgency and ongoing nature of the problem and expressed a willingness to work together to solve it as quickly as possible, it was obvious it would take some time to develop a plan and determine who would pay for what. Meanwhile, the pollution threat to Lake Taneycomo continued unabated.

After the meeting, three of the men present at the meeting Fred Stewart, Drain Doctor of SW Missouri, Inc., Tim Smith, S & S Pumping Service, and Ted Wilczynski, TCM Environmental Inc., realized the financial process, constraints and other procedures governmental entities must abide by would delay an immediate solution to the problem. Wilczynski said the sewage on the ground, the health threat to those living in the area, along with the continuing threat of pollution to Lake Taneycomo led them to decide to voluntarily take a proactive approach, at their own cost, to mitigate and temporarily control the Montgomery sewage situation.

After coordinating with local officials, the three men with work crews and equipment commenced work on the Montgomery site the morning of August 22. Stewart said a major part of the problem was the sewage was never getting to the treatment plant because of sagging and blockage problems on the main line. This caused raw untreated sewage to bubble up through the cleanouts, and literally go down along the ground and into the water way.”

Stewart said Drain Doctor had cleaned the blockage out of the main line, made some minor repairs, and added caps to the cleanouts and the repairs should be adequate to get the sewage to the treatment plant on a temporary basis while a long term solution is being worked out.

Simultaneously, Smith and the personnel of S & S Pumping Service were pumping the overflow sewage already on the ground into their tank trucks and treating the area to help mitigate the effects of the pollution. The treatment plant is another matter however.

The temporary fix is to get it into a condition where, at a minimum, the sewage from the main line into the plant will flow through the plant into holding tanks which will be pumped out about every two days into a tank truck which will then pump it down a manhole into the city of Branson’s sewer system for processing. Stewart said, subject to evaluation by Wilczynski there is a slim possibility that the plant could be brought on line on a temporary basis. Repair work on the plant had not gotten to the point where Wilczynski could make that determination.

On the afternoon of August 22, Taney County Commissioner, Chuck Pennell commended the three companies for their effort in mitigating the current pollution emergency and said the probable long term solution is to pump the Montgomery sewage up into the city of Branson’s sewer system. He said Great River Engineering is already studying and working on plans to resolve the situation and a final decision and financing will be discussed at a later date based on their recommendations.

VanGilder expressed the willingness of the city of Branson to help resolve the situation as quickly and efficiently as possible and has given temporary approval for the pumping of the Montgomery sewage into the City of Branson’s system. Both Pennell and VanGilder acknowledged any permanent solution involving the Montgomery sewage going into the city of Branson’s sewer system would more than likely involve an intergovernmental agreement between the two entities.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

The city of Hollister lost a friend and valued employee and its park system lost its director, champion, and a primary force behind it planning and expansion. At approximately 12:06 a.m. August 18, Chad Fuqua, Director of Hollister’s Park Department, was killed in a tragic traffic incident on Business Highway 65 near the Spirit Shop in Hollister.

According to the report of the incident, prepared by the Missouri Highway Patrol, Fuqua, 40, was traveling east bound on Business Highway 65 on a 2007 Yamaha motorcycle when a 2007 Hummer, operated by Chadwick B. Carter, 27, of Forsyth made a U-Turn into the path of Fuqua’s motorcycle striking it. Fuqua was ejected from the motorcycle and was pronounced dead a short time later at Skaggs Community Health Center.

On the afternoon of August 18, Taney County Prosecutor Jeff Merrell charged Carter with one felony count of Involuntary Manslaughter. Although the investigation is ongoing, preliminary indications are that Carter had been drinking prior to the incident.

The employees of the city of Hollister as well as others are attempting to deal with the void left by the sudden loss of their fellow employee and friend. A grieving Rick Ziegenfuss, Hollister City Administrator, in describing Fuqua said, “Chad was a man of few words” who let his works and deeds speak for him and he will be sorely missed.

In addition to helping plan, build, and maintain Hollister’s growing park system, Fuqua was actively involved in participating in the various programs and activities in which the department was involved. From the set up and firing of the Fourth of July fireworks, to the children’s Halloween celebration to Founders Day and everything in between Fuqua was there and actively participated. Yet there is one thing, to this reporter, that stands out and, in his heart and mind, helps explain just why Fuqua will be so sorely missed.

At the recent dedication of Hollister’s new Town Hall Park just a few weeks ago, Park Board Chairman, Tom Linkous singled out and recognized Fuqua for his untiring efforts in making the park a reality. Yet, in his typical “few words style,” rather than bask in a well deserved moment of glory, Chad chose to recognize the contribution of others in making the park a reality and give special recognition to one of his fellow employees in the Hollister Park Department for their contribution and efforts, Mike Alves. Such was the graciousness and humbleness of this dedicated public servant, friend, and son.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

Nepotism is more than hanging someone on a cross for having a good heart. At an August 13 meeting in the Taney County Commission Office, the “special prosecutor” assigned to investigate charges of nepotism against Presiding Commission Chuck Pennel said, “All I could find was the appearance of an impropriety and not an impropriety itself.” He went on to state, based on his investigation of the charges, nepotism had not taken place and he would not be taking any actions to have Pennel removed from office.

The charge of nepotism against Pennel was alleged by Bob Schanz in March of this year. Because of relationships and to avoid any appearance of impropriety county officials asked Christian County Prosecutor Ron Cleek to act as a “special prosecutor.” Cleek outlined the steps he took which included, among other things, interviewing county personnel working at the animal shelter, as well as Chuck Pennel and Renee Pennel and reviewing pertinent documentation.

He found that Renee Pennel had often worked with Chuck Pennel during the weekends and off hours in assisting sick and injured animals. He found the work was performed voluntarily, without pay and not by virtue of any appointment to public office or other county employment created by Chuck Pennel using his position as presiding county commissioner. Cleek said, “I don’t think that Mrs. Pennel should be hung out on a cross, so to speak, because of a good heart.”

In the specific case Cross determined that Renee Pennel, who operates a dog kennel, had voluntarily, in her own vehicle, at the request of Chuck Pennel, taken a distressed animal they believed had the extremely infectious disease “Parvo,” to an emergency veterinary clinic in Springfield. It was determined the dog had Parvo and Renee Pennel used her own personal credit card to pay the $112.00 for the dogs examination and euthanasia.

Cleek determined at the time of the payment Renee Pennel did not know whether or not she would receive reimbursement from the county for the expense. Discussion at the meeting indicates that Chuck Pennel submitted a claim for reimbursement and that such reimbursement was probably made.

He cited the applicable provision in Article VII Section 6 of the Missouri Constitution which states, any, “public officer or employee in this state who by virtue of his office or employment names or appoints to public office any relative within the fourth degree, by consanguinity or affinity, shall thereby forfeit his office or employment.” In expressing the crux of what is necessary for nepotism Cleek said what would be necessary is a situation where Pennel had used his office [position] “to provide a place or location or provide a job for someone else, in this case his wife. I don’t think he did that.”

Cleek went on to say, “You could read into it that nepotism occurred.” He went on to say nothing that was done by Mrs. Pennel or the Presiding Commissioner [Pennel] was done to benefit her in any way.” After expressing his opinion the situation should have been handled the way it is currently being handled, with paid county employees on call 24/7 for animal emergencies, and stating his belief that his investigation “went the extra mile” to find out what happened Cleek said, “I don’t believe there’s nepotism there.”

Bob Schanz, who had presented the initial charges of nepotism in March, appeared to be dissatisfied with Cleek’s decision particularly his interviewing of the Pennels. He said, “I feel that you went to the fox to ask the fox if it ate the chickens.” Cleek disagreed.

One lady in the audience asked if there was any way his decision could be appealed. While Cleek was attempting to answer she interrupted and said, “You are the judge, jury, and executioner.” While Cleek was attempting to continue his response her cell phone rang loudly. She answered and commenced a conversation in the middle of his response.

At that point Western District Commissioner Ron Herschend said, “I think that’s true in any case going in front of a prosecutor.” He pointed out normally it’s within the prerogative of the prosecutor whether or not a case goes to trial, not the judge or anyone else. Cleek agreed indicating even under the lower standard of proof in the civil Quo Warranto case, “a simple preponderance of evidence” as opposed to the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard required for criminal cases, there was not enough evidence to prove nepotism if the issue went to trial. He said, “Quite honestly, I don’t think I would win.”

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

The Branson Board of Aldermen discovered that not all golf courses in Branson are exempt from Branson’s tree removal regulations, just the Pointe Royale Course. The question came up at the boards August 5 work session when Alderman Stephen Marshall, who is a resident of Pointe Royale, mentioned he had learned that large trees were being removed from the Point Royale Golf Course as part of its renovation.

Marshall expressed his understanding that golf courses were exempt from the city’s tree removal ordinances and asked Branson’s Director of Planning and Development, Don Stephens, if that was correct. Stephens replied, “There’s a Pointe Royale exemption.” Marshall followed up by asking, “Just for that golf course?” Stephens replied, “Yes.”

Marshall pointed out that they have taken down a lot of trees. Alderwoman Sandra Williams asked for verification tthere was an exemption in Ponte Royale that let them cut down trees down without complying with applicable city requirements. Stephens verified the exemption stating it required coordination with his office.

Williams asked, “Why did we make that agreement?” Stephens replied it was an amendment to the existing Planned Development ordinance for Pointe Royale that was done two or three years ago. The records of the city of Branson indicate that Ordinance No. 2007-020, “an ordinance approving a Planned Development amendment to the Pointe Royale Land Use Regulations PD-2000-002 pertaining to golf course tree clearing regulations for properties located at 142 Clubhouse Dr. Branson, Missouri” was passed on a first reading February 26, 2007 by a 5-0 vote with one alderman absent. The ordinance received its second and final approval as part of the Consent Agenda on March 12 by a 5-0 vote with one alderman absent.

At the time the ordinance was approved, two board members were residents of Pointe Royale. Information, believed reliable, indicates neither recused themselves from voting on the issue. One voted on the February 26 vote giving initial approval to the ordinance, with the other being absent, and the other voted on the March 12 vote, giving final approval to the ordinance, with the other being absent.

Section 1.165 of Ordinance 2007-20 entitled “Golf Course Tree Clearing Regulations” states, “Due to the unique nature of tree location on golf courses, tree removal on the Pointe Royale Golf Course shall not be required to follow the tree removal procedures under Section 66-219 of the Branson Municipal Code.” It goes on to state that instead, they must submit a tree removal application prior to removal and a site plan showing both existing trees and trees designated for removal.

On August 7, the city of Branson’s Forester, Tara Norback, verified that the Pointe Royale Golf Course was in compliance with all the provisions of the ordinance. She also verified the Pointe Royale Golf Course was the only golf course in Branson having such an exemption.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

The Dean’s List is a good thing for a college student to be on. As it was presented at the Branson Board of Alderman’s Work Session on Aug. 5, the “Dean’s List” could also be a good thing for Branson, its elected officials, staff, businesses, and citizens.

In presenting the “Dean’s List” to the board for the first time during his administrators report at the work session, Branson City Administrator Dean Kruithof said the list, lightheartedly being called “Dean’s List,” evolved from a request by Alderman Bob McDowell at the recent board retreat.

Kruithof said the request was for something like a “hot list,” an all inclusive list that would list the major projects, issues, and other things the city is working on. It was to provide a convenient tool to be used for both knowing what those items are and to follow-up and monitor the progress of those items. He said the items on the list will be incorporated into his administrator’s reports along with other items.

An examination of the first Dean’s List indicates that the items will become more expansive as they proceed from their initiation to completion. The very first item on the list was entitled “Blasting Regulations.” The only entry for the item was “When blasting for developments in the city, can companies create a more slopping perimeter rather than a straight cliff wall as in TanStone?”

The second item entitled “Landscaping Hwy 65 and 248 and Hwy 65 and 76 entrances to Branson” was more expansive and illustrates how helpful the list can be to monitor progress and follow up on items. The item involves exploring “the probability [possibility] of using a public-private partnership to create and maintain a more attractive appearance on Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) land surrounding entrances to Branson from Highway 65.”

The entries on Dean’s List for this item provide a timeline starting with the presentation of the idea by Judy Hartley at the boards July 22 work session and ending with an August 4 meeting between Hartley and city staff. At that meeting it was decided that the priority will be given to the Highway 65 and Highway 76 interchange and they would like to use a three-pronged approach to mowing and landscaping that area involving MoDOT, city, and volunteer efforts and resources.

Other items making Dean’s List include the selection of a Finance Director with interviews for the position beginning the week of Aug. 15, the city budget for 2009 which is currently under development, the proposed revision to the Liquor Ordinances and the fact that the attorney who developed them will be at the Aug. 11 board meeting, customer service improvements in the City’s Planning/Development Department and sewer and water rates and hookup policies.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

Except in Branson’s city campground, the consumption of intoxicating beverages in the vast majority of the areas open to the public is now prohibited. The prohibition is the result of an amendment to Section 10-3 of the Branson Municipal Code (BMC) entitled “Drinking in Public” passed unanimously by Branson Board of Aldermen at its July 28 meeting on an emergency basis. The reason for the “double reading” was to have the revised ordinance in place prior to the Super Summer Cruise August 7 through 9.

The amendment was part of a comprehensive liquor control ordinance (LCO) the board removed from the Consent Agenda and postponed until its August 11 meeting. The staff report on the measure was presented by Police Chief Caroll W. McCullough who said the amendment will give the police an additional enforcement tool by which to deal with the consumption of intoxicating liquors upon property open to the public or upon a private parking lot without the permission of the owner or occupant of the property.

The discussion about the amendment and the need for having two readings on July 28, to make it effective immediately, revolved around the “car show,” which will be held prior to the board’s next meeting. One of Branson’s premier summer events, the “Super Summer Cruise,” will be held August 7-9 and features the Midnight Cruise down Highway 76 and Shepherd of the Hills Expressway.

The major change incorporated into the BMC by the amendment states, “No owner or occupant of property shall permit a person to consume any intoxicating beverages” upon “their property open to the public, or upon a private parking lot without permission.” The prohibition does not apply if the public location or parking lot is covered by a special event permit issued by the Branson’s Director of Planning and Development or is “specifically authorized pursuant to a state division of alcohol and tobacco control liquor license or permit.”

One major of the effect of the new amendment will be to prohibit the consumption of intoxicating liquor in parking lots and other public areas adjacent to parade routes unless permission is given by the lawful owner or occupant of the property. Under the amendment, as adopted, it would be a violation of the BMC for the owner of such property to give such permission unless the consumption of the intoxicating beverage in those areas is authorized by a special event permit issued by the Branson’s Director of Planning and Development or by a state division of alcohol and tobacco control liquor license or permit.

The consumption of intoxicating beverages upon any public street, highway, thoroughfare, sidewalk, alley, public or private parking lot, or upon any private property without the permission of the owner or occupant of such property except when authorized by a special event permit issued by the Branson’s Director of Planning and Development or by a state division of alcohol and tobacco control liquor license or permit has been unlawful under the BMC for years. What the new amendment does is make it a violation for the owner or occupant to permit a person to unlawfully consume any intoxicating beverages in the public areas under their control.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

Nine months after it tore up the road commonly called “Forsythe Street,” TanStone Group, LLC appears to have purchased it, from the city of Branson for one dollar even though there was another bid offering $100 thousand for the same property. On or about July 3 the city of Branson published a notice “soliciting sealed proposals for the sale of real property commonly known as ‘Forsythe Street.’” The property being sold was the property upon which Forsythe Street had been formerly located prior to its destruction by TanStone.

A primary condition of the solicitation provided, “The best responsible bidder shall include as part of its proposal title in a form acceptable to the City for an alternate street right-of-way that provides equal or better street connectivity in the Branson street network in that area of the city (the ‘Alternate Alignment’.)” Only two bids were received by the required 2:00 p.m. deadline on Tuesday, July 15, one from The TanStone Group LLC and the other from Patobin Enterprises.

The TanStone proposal, in total said, “Mr. Miller, Per your request for proposal for the sale of the ‘Forsythe Street’ property, TanStone Group, LLC would like to submit a bid of one dollar ($1.00). As per the terms and conditions of sale, please find the attached right away exhibit that provides a better ‘Alternate Alignment’. Kind regards, Chris DeJohn, The TanStone Group, LLC.”

The Patobin proposal proposed a purchase price of $100,000 and provided an “Alternate Alignment” starting at the junction of Green Mountain Drive and heading north along a 50 foot easement of Patobin property across a 40 foot access easement that Patobin has from TanStone to an intersection with Oak Creek Drive. From that point connectivity to Roark Valley Road, to the north, would be via Oak Creek Drive east to its junction with Forsyth Street.

The Patobin proposal said, “This will allow an alternate street right-of-way-that provides better street connectivity in the Branson street network in that area of the city. Alignment with Green Mountain Drive will allow the placement of traffic signals on Highway 76 as had been the desired configuration previously announced by the city. The Alternate Alignment will also ensure access from the remaining property owned by Patobin Enterprises.”

In introducing the proposal at the July 22 work session meeting of the Branson Board of Aldermen, City Engineer David Miller said that the main provision was “The responsible bidder shall submit a title to the city for an alternate street right of way that provides equal or better street connectivity in the city’s overall street system. So, in effect, we wanted an alternate road. We didn’t say anything about price or anything. That was a term or condition of sale; a new road.”

Miller went on to point out that they had received two proposals. He said, “One from TanStone Group for the new road that they are building” and a second proposing a road along the west side of the waterslide property. Miller went on to say the problem with the second proposal was, “It went down and would tie into Oak Creek Drive which does not exist, so technically it did not meet the terms and conditions because there is no through road to tie into because TanStone hasn’t given us that right of way.”

Miller said the bid also included a $100,000 but the bid did not ask for money, staff considered the bid unqualified and recommended the TanStone proposal. In a telephone interview on July 25, Stephen Bradford, the attorney for Patobin Enterprises, Inc. disagreed with the determination that the bid was unqualified and said, “I believe that the bid met all the requirements of city’s solicitation.”

The Board of Aldermen is scheduled to take formal action on accepting the TanStone proposal at its next meeting at 7:00 p.m. July 28.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

“Happy Hour” for those wanting to see the sweeping changes proposed by Branson’s new liquor control Ordinances (LCOs) should be during the Consent Agenda portion of the July 28 meeting of the Branson Board of Aldermen. After extensive debate at the boards July 14 meeting, the LCOs passed their first reading. In the normal course of things, items approved for their first reading are placed on the Consent Agenda for the next meeting, are approved and become final as part of the board’s approval of the total Consent Agenda without further public discussion.

Subsection 2-54(i) of the Branson Municipal Code entitled “Regular meetings; rules of procedure” states there will be no discussion of separate items on the Consent Agenda “unless members of the board or staff request that a specific item be removed from the consent agenda for individual consideration and discussion.” It continues to advise, “Any citizen that would like to have an item removed from the consent agenda so discussion can occur should notify a board member requesting that item be moved for discussion.”

At the July 22 work session of the Board, City Attorney Paul D. Link advised the board that Attorney Richard Bryant from Kansas City, the attorney who actually drafted the proposed LCOs for the city has been on vacation and just got back into his office on July 21. He said he has sent information to Bryant containing “basically the bullet points of the issues raised by the citizens at the last meeting and a request that he review, what he called “black line’ law” to make sure that it was in line with state law.

Alderman Bob McDowell said, “Verbatim Paul” and indicated he wanted to see a comparison of the proposed LCO’s to state laws and regulations. In both the public meeting held on the LCOs prior to the July 14 meeting of the board and the July 14 meeting, members of the public expressed concern about the volume of the regulations and their perception that the record keeping and certain other requirements go far beyond what state law requires and what is necessary to solve the liquor control problems within the community.

Alderwoman Cris Bohinc said, “We’ve promised many citizens that we would have ample information for them in advance so that they too could look through it.” After further discussion on what and when Bryant could reasonably be expected to be ready by July 28, Branson City Administrator, Dean Kruithof suggested Bryant needs the opportunity to listen to the comments that were made and the opportunity to put together a document that clearly specifies what is unique to Branson’s new LCOs and what is in the state requirements.

Alderman Stephen Marshall said he understood but there were a couple of things that had been recommended that he knows are not in state statute and are over reaching. He said he had been checking the LCOs of other towns and cities in the state. He expressed his opinion that the provisions of the proposed LCO, particularly as relates to licensing is “way over the top” as compared to the others and the policing of the ordinance should be left up to the police department as opposed to a “liquor czar.” Marshall went on to state, “Quite frankly, I don’t see how we can approve on Monday” and suggested that the section of the ordinance the police department is particularly interested in be handled separately. After further discussion on the issue Alderman Stan Barker, acting in his capacity as Mayor Pro Tem appeared to sum up the general feeling of the board when he said, “This is too important to rush through it. Even though we know we can make changes to it later we want to get it as close to right as we can the first time.”

On the advice of City Attorney Paul D. Link the board determined that a separate ordinance containing only Section 10-81 of the proposed LCO, entitled “Drinking in public,” will be presented to the board for approval by a first and second reading at the board’s upcoming July 28 meeting. This provision addresses, among other things, one of the publically expressed problems with the city’s current LCO, the public consumption of alcoholic beverages in areas open to the public that are away from the premises licensed to serve or sell them.

There was discussion among the board members about the LCOs being removed from the Consent Agenda and what would happen at the meeting after that. Based on that discussion and the fact the city has announced Bryant will not be at the July 28 meeting, there is a strong likely hood the proposed LCO will be removed from the Consent Agenda and postponed to some future date after the information requested from Bryant has been received and the board, city staff, and the public have had a chance to review it.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

The financial caution light has been on in Branson for the past few months and just might turn into a stop light for the final phase of the Fall Creek extension. Until recently, it was commonly felt that the final phase would be bid and continue on to completion giving the city of Branson another major north south traffic relief route. Even though the bids on the project were lower than expected there might not be enough money in Branson’s budget to fund the project.

The millions of dollars spent on the Fall Creek Project thus far have resulted in an intersection at the Junction of Fall Creek Road and Highway 76, a stop light and an almost one of a kind inefficient zigzag approach to the intersection. The final phase of the project will not only correct the deficiencies involved with the zigzag approach, but will allow for the extension of Fall Creek Road to the north.

Fall Creek Road will continue off the north end of the interchange and continue north to the south end of the stop light located at the intersection with Roark Valley Road and James F. Epps Road. At that point, traffic coming from the south will be able to continue north on James F. Epps Road to its intersection with Highway 248. The completion of the Fall Creek extension project will provide a main north south relief route that will permit traffic access to Cooper Creek, Wildwood Drive, Green Mountain Drive, south Highway 165 and Table Rock Lake area without adding to the congestion on Highway 76.

City Engineer David Miller said that the bids for the final phase of the Fall Creek Road Extension project were opened on July 10 and Emery Sapp & Sons from Columbia had the low bid of $4.5 million dollars. He said the bids came in better than expected. He said, prior to the bid opening, they had estimated the bides would be around $5.5 million.

Miller went on to say although the city has not had any dealings with Emery Sapp & Sons itself the firm is recommended by the transportation engineering firm, Transystems Engineering. Internet research indicates that the firm has done a number of jobs for the Missouri Department of Transportation and is currently the prime contractor on the four laning of U.S. Highway 65 between Fair Grove and Dallas County.

Branson City Administrator Dean Kruithof said the city has about $3.8 million set aside for the project which is close to the $4.5 million needed. He explained the city has a window of 60 days from the bid opening of July 10 to award the bid and is currently in the process of evaluating two things. The first is “The budget to see what we have to be able to complete Fall Creek Road and the second is the bid itself to make sure that it’s the lowest and best bidder and they can complete the project if the bid is awarded.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

The peaceful serenity of Hollister’s Town Hall Park , as well as the sprit that made it a reality, is reflected as the park’s trail meanders over the historic St. James Street Bridge amid a backdrop of Ozarks greenery.

At the dedication of Hollister’s newest park, Town Hall Square, it became readily apparent that its building and dedication is in large part because of the spirit of its citizens, businesses, city staff, and others of kindred spirit working together to achieve a common goal for the enhancement and enjoyment of the entire community. The setting of the park, commemorative bricks, its quarter mile walking trail passing over an authentic miniaturized replica of the historic St. James Street Bridge, strategically placed benches, planted trees and the parks distinctive period lighting serve as an ongoing testimony to that spirit and the planning, care, effort, and personal dedication that went into making Town Hall Square Park the wonderful reality it is.

Hollister Park Board Chairman, Tom Linkous said Town Hall Park has been about a three year project, starting in 2005. He pointed out that the park would not have become a reality without the efforts and hard work and donations of a lot of people and businesses. He singled out and recognized Chad Fuqua, Director of Hollister’s Park Department who also gave special recognition to Mike Alves who is also with the Hollister Parks Department. Linkous also acknowledged the current Park Board Members, Garland Dimetroff, Scott McCaulley, Jon Williams, Tim Corbell, Janice Sarver, and Tina Mefford for their efforts and support in making the park become a reality.

After the formal unveiling of the parks name plaque there was a reception in Hollister City Hall during which Rick Ziegenfuss, Hollister City Administrator, gave a video presentation on the history of the park. It showed the evolution of the area that has become Town Hall Square Park from the fire destroying the old maintenance-charcoal plant building previously occupying a major portion of the site into the recreational asset it has become today including the restoration process that was used on the historical St. James Street Bridge.

In concluding his presentation Ziegenfuss said, “The quality of life is a big issue in our city.” He went on to praise Hollister’s elected officials, city staff, appointed board members, and the public, including local businesses that do so much for the quality of life of Hollister’s residents. One can just look at Town Hall Square Park and feel the spirit and reality of what Ziegenfuss was saying.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

In introducing a complete revision to the city of Branson’s liquor control ordinance (LCO), Branson Mayor Raeanne Presley said it was her “pleasure” to present them. If the reaction of the majority of the speakers at the July 14 meeting of the Branson Board of Aldermen is any indication, not everyone shares the “pleasure” and there is controversy within the community over some of its provisions.

The proposed changes to Branson’s LCO will involve the deletion of the current Chapter 10 of the Branson Municipal Code (BMC) entitled “Alcoholic Beverages” and its replacement with a completely new LCO developed by the Branson Liquor Task Force Committee. According to the proposed amendment as presented, the new LCOs will be contained in the same Chapter of the BMC under the same title as the old LCO they are replacing.

In her remarks, the Mayor pointed out that the Committee was formed, and its work started, about a year ago when the board, “Based on comments and concerns of the public and their own observations felt it appropriate to review our current liquor ordinance.” She said the Committee consisted of Alderwoman Sandra Williams, Alderman Jack Purvis, Captain Ron Key, Salvation Army, Chris Lucchi, MG Hospitality – American Bandstand, Steve Scherer, Grand Hospitality, Chris Vinton, Weiss Commercial Reality and herself and thanked them for their work. Mayor Presley also pointed out Attorney, Richard Bryant from Kansas City, who was retained by the city to work with the Committee, has extensive specialized legal knowledge and expertise in the area of liquor control law

Prior to actual public discussion on the new LCO, Alderwoman Sandra Williams presented amendments to the ordinance designed to address some of the concerns expressed by the public at the July 8 meeting of the Committee. At that meeting there was major concern the proposed change would prohibits the common practice of permitting a patron to bring a bottle of wine into a licensed establishment and have the employees of the establishment serve to them either with or without charge.

To address that concern Alderwoman Sandra Williams proposed an amendments to the new LCO permitting, subject to certain conditions, licensees and the employees of “sales-by-drink” establishments to allow alcoholic beverages to be brought into or upon the premises by customers. Another concern was a provision that prohibited licensees from giving away “any alcoholic beverage to any customer.” William’s amendment changed the verbiage to read, “Give away alcoholic beverage to any intoxicated customer.

During the public debate on the proposed amendment a number of the commenter’s questioned the need for a complete new LCO and some wanted to see a section by section comparison between the old LCO and the new LCO. Cconcern expressed over the duplication and overlap of state provisions, the complexity and volume, and the security of the personal and financial information involved with the new LCO.

One major area of concern was the new position of “Director of Liquor Control. (Director)” authorized by the new LCO. Even a cursory review of the LCO indicates that, within the LCO, the Director has a lot of authority and power. From the very first public comment there were questions on that position its cost, authority, method of appointment, etc. As but one example, Rick Huffman pointed out the definition section permitted the Director to be designated “by the mayor or board of alderman” and requested a change to permit the appointment of the Director to involve the city administrator in the process as is done with other city employees.

Throughout the public comment period various requests were made for other amendments. After discussion by the aldermen and without further amendment, the new LCO passed its first reading by a 5 to 1 vote with Alderman Bob McDowell voting against the measure.

On July 16 McDowell made it very clear that he was not against Branson issuing a new LCO but wanted to make sure that, among other things, it was something that actually solves the liquor control problems Branson has, is enforceable, and does not needlessly require the duplication of personal and financial information already given to the state. He said a lot of the comments expressed last night were legitimate concerns he felt should be addressed before the ordinance was passed and voted against it for that reason.

Under the normal procedure, unless the ordinance is removed from the consent agenda, it will become final at the July 28 meeting of the Branson Board of Alderman without any further public discussion.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

Corps Plan creates Branson’s high lake levels
By Gary J. Groman

In the Branson Tri-Lakes area, 2008 has been a year of record rains, lake levels, and spillway releases through the dams of the Branson Tri/Lakes area. These records have had a negative effect upon individuals, businesses, the areas quality of life and its tourism industry. It is also the year that the average business and citizen first realized, not only the existence of the “regulatory stage” at Newport, AR., but its direct impact on the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) ability to effectively and efficiently reduce the lakes levels of the Tri-Lakes area lakes.

Documentation and information received from the Corps states it has built and manages a series of reservoirs in the Tri-Lakes area. These reservoirs are Beaver, Table Rock, and Bull Shoals Lakes. The primary purposes of the lakes, in priority order, is flood control and the generation of hydro electric power.

The amount of rain and when and where it falls is an act of God. The documentation furnished by the Corps clearly establishes that how that rainfall is stored and managed once it gets into one of the Tri-Lakes reservoirs is controlled by the current “regulatory plan” the Corps has developed.

The Corps information indicates that, as the regulatory plan has evolved into the current plan adopted on Dec. 1, 1998, the decisions made by the Corps regarding the plan have caused the Tri-Lakes area lakes to fill, far beyond their season levels, to extremely high levels of their flood storage capacity for extended periods of time this year and has limited the Corps ability to effectively evacuate water from those lakes to control flooding within those lakes and potential future flooding downstream.

The documentation establishes that the amount of water permitted to be released be released from the Tri-Lakes area lakes depends primarily on the “regulatory stage” at Newport, AR. It indicates the regulatory stage is a measurement of elevation expressed in feet. The higher the number the more water can be released from the Tri-Lakes area lakes and, the lower the number, the less water can be released.

The information clearly shows the intent of those decisions to accommodate the encroachment of agricultural interests into elevations lower than the Corps had previously determined was necessary to provide for effective flood control. It provides a historical record of how the minimum elevation for the regulatory stages has dropped from 18 feet to 12 feet to meet those interests.

Documentation attached to a June 27 email from the Corps indicates the Corps initial regulation plan, referred to as the “first regulation plan,” dated June of 1952, established the initial regulation of the stages at Newport at a maximum of 25 feet and a minimum of 18 feet. The current regulation plan has a maximum of 21 feet and a minimum of 12 feet but has been held at 14 feet since May 15, when it automatically dropped from 18 feet to 14 feet, without regard to the dangerously high elevations of the Tri-Lakes area lakes at the time and the impact they were having on the area.

From an historical perspective, the documentation furnished by the Corps states, “Significant complaints were generated by the sustained use of the 25 foot regulating stage in the initial plan [dated June 1952.] Added pressure to lower regulating stages was felt after a drought in the early 1950’s led to the clearing of low lands and their conversion to cultivated land.” This lead to the Corps to its second regulation plan, dated December 1955.

The information goes on to state the Corps third regulation plan, dated November 1963 and revised in October 1966 resulted “Following the 1957 flood and the continued clearing of low lands for cultivation during the drought of the early 1960’s, agricultural interests became more active in support of a lower regulating stage from May to November.” This plan lowered the minimum level of the regulatory stage to 14 feet.

At a public meeting sponsored by the Corps held on May 29, a Corps spokesperson statedthat in the 1990’s “The farmers came to us and said you need to lower the river because we need to get our crops in. What had happened over time was we had dry years and they encroached more and more into the river valley and went down and planted crops at 12 feet.” The spokes person went on to point out that an ad hoc committee was established “to look at how can we operate the system differently to better accommodate the agricultural community to go to that 12 feet.” The current regulatory plan accomodates that need.

The Corps Daily Reservoir Report for July 3 shows the actual level of Beaver Lake at 1128.38, filled to 80% of its flood control capacity, within 1.62 feet of being at the top of its Flood Pool. The report shows the actual level of Table Rock Lake at 927.47, filled to 73% of its flood control capacity, and within 3.1 feet of the top of its Flood Pool. It also shows Bull Shoals Lake with an actual elevation of 691.95, filled to 90% of its flood control capacity, and within 3.0 feet of the top of its Flood Pool

A comparison between the actual current elevations of the Tri/Lakes as compared to their historic 5 year elevation averages shows just how much above historic levels the current lake levels are. Beaver lake is 8.5 feet above its 5 year average of 1119.9 feet, Table Rock over 11.7 feet above its 915.8 average, and, startlingly, Bull Shoals is 35.7 feet above its average of 656.31.

Related Links:
Branson Tri-Lakes area lakes are still high and the seconds are ticking away (Editorial)

Corps fiddles "The Plood" while local Branson officials and leaders dance to the tune (Editorial)

Under "The Plan" when does a flood become a "Plood" (Editorial)

Flood potential ‘ain’t’ over till it’s over!" (News Article)

Edited on line July 7 at 0650 to clarify terminology involved with use of 5 year elevations and correct some of the elevation comparisons used in association therewith. In all cases the differences between the 5 year averages and the current levels increased slightly.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

By: Gary J. Groman

The operating financial condition of the city of Branson in a nutshell is, “Let’s be very careful, especially when we have a couple of months coming up where we could see some dips and let’s expect those dips to happen. If they don’t happen that’s good news. If they do happen then we’re ready for them.”

That “nutshell” is based on the most recent financial reports presented to the City of Branson’s Finance/Budget Committee at its June 24 meeting and the response of Branson’s new city administrator, Dean Kruithof to that report. The report was presented by John Petty, President, District Offices, LLC (District) who also affirmed Kruithof’s response.

In presenting the monthly report Petty pointed out although slightly less than in March of 2007 the 1 percent City Sales Tax receipts for March of 2008 were starting their seasonality trend upwards. The report breaks the collection of the tax into three general areas, Branson Landing, Branson Hills, and the rest of Branson. The collection of the tax at Branson Landing dropped from $88,206 in March of 2007 to $84,485 in March of 2008, from $605,480 in March of 2007 to $543,170 in March of 2008 for the rest of Branson and increased from $36,676 in March of 2007 to $45,704 in March of 2008 at Branson Hills.

Petty said, “The 1% Sales Tax Trend is mostly used for seasonality impact on the city’s finances.” For budgeting and the managing of the city’s operation the report suggests a rolling 12 month average of the general sales within Branson which fall under the city’s 1% sales tax.

The report indicates the “rolling general Sales” at Branson Landing rose from $78,983,359 in March of 2007 to $106,801,257 in March 2008, at Branson Hills, it rose from $40,560,256 in March of 2007 to $50,387,373 in March of 2008 and, for the rest of Branson, it dropped from $843,282,090 in March of 2007 to $839,993,100 in March of 2008.

The report indicates as of April 30, the spending in the city’s general fund is approximately $3 million more than revenues with approximately $12,054,214 in expenses versus only $8,969,625 in revenues. In presenting this portion of the report Petty said, “The trouble that we have with giving any reliance on these numbers right now is that we do not have an expense protocol for the city. So staff can spend basically 90 percent of their budget in the first three months. So since we don’t have that discipline or spending protocol in place it’s difficult to determine whether or not you have a problem.”

Various reasons for the difference were expressed such as big capital projects, the budgets frontloaded with a lot of “contractual stuff,” etc. Branson Mayor Raeanne Presley asked, “So how do you manage that?” Petty responded, “That’s the point Mayor, that’s exactly the point, how do you manage it without a protocol or a discipline in place because your system is only as good as what its tracking capabilities are and right now we don’t have anything to track to.” The discussion regarding Petty’s comments, by the Mayor, City Administrator Kruithof, Janice Moen Larned, Vice President of Finance for District and Petty himself indicated a keen awareness of how important such a protocol is and such a protocol is in the process of being developed on a priority basis.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

After a postponement to clear up some language, the city of Branson’s newest effort to control the accosting and soliciting of people as they walk down the public sidewalks in historic downtown Branson is but one step away from becoming final as the result of the actions taken by the Branson Board of Aldermen (Board) at its June 23 meeting. According to the Staff report accompanying the proposed change, “There have been several complaints brought forth by business owners to elected officials regarding sales solicitation in the downtown area.”

During the public comment on the proposed change Jackie Stevenson, identifying herself the owner and operator of a downtown business called “Branson Highlights,” said that this was the business everyone was talking about. Branson Highlights has a number of locations in historic downtown Branson on Main Street and Commercial streets.

She said, “We stand in the doorway, we greet the people; we do have free tickets and they come in and get them. We do offer, ‘Hey folks do you want to go on a tour.’ They do say ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Obviously, we have quite a few that do say ‘Yes’ or we wouldn’t still be in business for five years in this town.”

Stevenson asked Alderwoman Chris Bohinc, “And when you were first solicited by one of my people on the street did they chase you down the street, did they grab you by the arm?” Bohinc responded, “I have been followed down the street more than once, ‘Yes.’” Stevenson followed up by asking, “By my people in my stores?” Bohinc responded, “Before this came about I didn’t know which ones were your stores.” Stevenson said, “And they actually followed you and talked to you as you walked down the street?” Bohinc said, “Absolutely and I have seen it happen.” Alderwoman Sandra Williams recounted a similar experience that she had had while walking on the sidewalks in historic downtown.

As he had done on previous occasions, City Attorney Paul D. Link pointed out that the city already has a solicitation ordinance all that was being dealt with was the definition of the word “solicit.” Section 26-67 of the Branson Municipal Code (BMC), entitled, “Unlawful Solicitations,” makes it unlawful “to solicit when either the solicitor or the person being solicited is located on public property.” Another provision of the same section makes it a specific violation of that section to solicit when either the solicitor or the person being solicited is located on public property and “Within ten feet of the doorway to any business.” Currently the BMC does not contain a definition of “solicit.”

The definition of “solicit” that the board approved on its first reading at the meeting reads, “Solicit means to initiate contact with a member of the public by the offer of any free or discounted goods or services in exchange for any action on the part of that member of the general public.” Typically, the matter will be placed on the “Consent Agenda” for the Board’s next meeting, scheduled for July 14, and will become final if not removed from the Consent Agenda by the request of a member of the Board.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

The Branson Board of Alderman voted to make it easier to remove a City Administrator from their position and put the positions of City Clerk and City Attorney under its formal control. The changes to the Branson Municipal Code (BMC) that the board approved on first reading at its June 9 meeting substantially reduces the role of the city administrator in appointing, terminating, and supervising Branson’s city clerk and attorney.

All three changes were submitted by Branson Alderwoman Sandra Williams as part of a package of three specific separate ordinance changes. Williams said that one of her objectives was to make the wording in the BMC “be the same wording that is in our state statute.” Alderman Bob McDowell pointed out that the current ordinances, although more restrictive than state law, were in compliance with the minimum requirements of Missouri state laws. This was confirmed by City Attorney Paul D. Link.

The change to the BMC involving the city administrator simply reduces the current three fourths vote of the board required in Subsection 2-81 of the BMC to terminate the administrator without the concurrence of the mayor to two thirds. Prior to the change, the BMC, although in compliance with the minimal two thirds requirements of Section 79.240 of the Missouri Revised Statutes (RSMo), required five votes to terminate the city administrator. With the ordinance change only the vote of four is required.

Prior to the change, the BMC was silent as to who appointed and terminated the city attorney. With the changes a new subsection has been added to the BMC provisions pertaining to the city attorney entitled “Appointment, term and removal.” That subsection provides that “the mayor, with the consent and approval of the majority of the members of the board of aldermen shall appoint a city attorney who shall hold office at the pleasure of the board of aldermen.” The proposal also provides that the city attorney may be removed by four votes of the board with or without the mayor’s consent at will. State law, in Section 79.230 RSMo, states that “The mayor, with the consent and approval of the majority of the members of the board of aldermen, shall have power to appoint,” among other positions mentioned a “city attorney.”

Of the three proposed changes, this was the most contentious with Alderman Stephen Marshall, Bob McDowell, and Stan Barker against the measure because, among other things, they thought it could cause day to day inefficiencies in performing the city’s business. McDowell also pointed out that as the system currently works the city attorney reports to both the city administrator and the board. Aldermen Rick Davis pointed out that is was strictly an organization structure change which was consistent with the views of Williams and Alderwoman Chris Bohinc.

The vote was tied three to three on the issue and Branson Mayor Raeanne Presley broke the tie in favor of the change. In doing so she expressed her belief that on a day to day basis the city attorney would still answer to the city administrator, equated the boards working relationship with the city attorney to that of its relationship with the city administrator and “that our citizens have asked us to bring this to the level of the elected official’s oversight.”

The revised ordinances also revised subsection 2-121 of the BMC to read “The Board of Aldermen shall elect a clerk for such board to be known as “the city clerk,” whose duties and term of office shall be fixed by ordinance, and shall serve at the pleasure of the board of aldermen.” Subsection 2-121(c) of the BMC entitled “Term; Compensation” removes the city administrator from the termination process and places the process under the mayor and the board.

During the board meeting, as well as during the work session, it was pointed out that the situation had been discussed with the new city administrator, Dean Kruitof, during the interview process. It was said that he had indicated that he had worked under similar arrangements where the attorney and clerk had worked for the board, was familiar with it and had no problem with it. The proposed changes will be on the consent agenda for the boards June 23 meeting and will automatically become final without any further discussion unless removed from the consent agenda.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

"Kum Ba Ya" easement east to Forsythe Road from Rose residence.

After many miscues, meetings and negotiations regarding the TanStone Development on Forsythe Road, a little “kum bay ya” paved the way for the city to “ease” into the final approval of a Development Agreement with TanStone Group LLC (Agreement), the developers of the project. When the final development agreement was presented and approved at the May 24 meeting of the Branson Board of Aldermen (Board), on its first of two required readings, it was clear that the board was concerned about an access easement issue regarding the property of Dr. Pat Rose.

The second and final reading of the agreement was scheduled for the Board’s June 9 meeting as part of the Consent Agenda. Alderwoman Sandra Williams requested its removal from the Consent Agenda which opened the way for additional public and board input on the issue.

Stephen Bradford, the attorney representing Dr. Rose, said, “I am here to inform the board that a resolution has been reached between the parties and they do have an agreement concerning access and easement that has been executed. We are ready to sing ‘Kum Ba Ya.”

Bradford pointed out that the access road involved in the easement agreement will be designed and drawn specifically to a drawing by the engineering firm. Using a copy of the drawing, Branford explained that the easement starts at the end or Rose’s current driveway and heads east in a relatively straight defined manner toward the realigned Forsythe Road. He pointed out that it will be bermed and elevated.

Alderwoman Sandra William asked Chris J. DeJohn, representing the developer, whether or not there would be any problem indicating the easement location etc. on the final plat that would be submitted to the city? DeJohn replied, “Nope, and as part of our agreement we are going to record it prior to the final plat as far as the deeding of the easement.” Williams asked if there has been a timeline established for the building of the easement and DeJohn replied that there had. He did not state what that time line was nor did Williams press for a specific answer.

Exhibit D to the Agreement entitled “Estimated Timeline” does not mention the Pat Rose easement. It does, however indicate that Forsythe Road will be open to traffic by Sep. 15 and that the entire road portion of the project, including the Roark Valley Road interchange will be completed by the Spring of 2009.

The Board’s final approval of the Agreement at its June 9 meeting also included approval of the attached cooperative agreements between the city, TanStone, and the TanStone Development’s related Community Improvement District (CID) and Transportation Development District (TDD). The cooperative agreements, with their associated tax revenues, will provide the primary source of the revenues being used to pay for Forsythe Road and, possibly, some or all of the city’s costs for the Roark Valley Road improvements.

As reported previously, the Agreement will require TanStone to fund and construct both Forsythe Road and the Roark Valley Road improvements with the city reimbursing TanStone’s cost for the Roark Valley Road improvements, including financing costs, up to a maximum of the $1,908,610 that it is estimated the improvements will cost. The reimbursement will take place over a period of three years at a cost of $636,204 during each of the Fiscal Years 2008, 2009, and 20l0. In order to accommodate the 2008 payment, an amendment to the city’s 2008 budget is part of the ordinance. The agreement also provides that if the actual cost of the improvement is lower than the $1,908,610 estimated cost that the city will pay the lower amount.

The agreement also provides the possibility that the CID and TDD sales taxes collected within the development could also be used to reimburse the city for some or all of the costs involved with the Roark Valley Road improvements. That provision will only become operational after TanStone has received reimbursement for the initial $3,500,000 in project costs involved with the rebuilding of Forsythe Road and its other authorized public improvement costs related to the development.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

It’s back to the drawing boards for the proposed change to the Branson Municipal Code’s (BMC) solicitation ordinance. After a considerable amount of debate on a change to add a more restrictive definition of “Solicit” to the ordinance at its June 9 meeting, the Branson Board of Aldermen (Board) unanimously voted to postpone any further consideration of the change until its June 23 meeting.

According to the Staff report accompanying the proposed change, “There have been several complaints brought forth by business owners to elected officials regarding sales solicitation in the downtown area.” The report goes on to say, “This ordinance addresses those concerns in that it prohibits the ability to entice customers into a business through free or discounted items.”

Previously, in discussing the ordinance change at the Board’s public work session meeting held on May 6, Paul D. Link, Branson’s City Attorney, said, “There has been some downtown businesses that have issued some complaints recently about some vacation club sales and time shares, that kind of business, getting a lot of locations in downtown Branson and soliciting people on the sidewalk.”

At that meeting, Link went on to say that it’s not necessarily selling product on the sidewalk. He pointed out that some sales people approach people when they get out of their cars and saying, “Hey have you got your tickets yet for this weekend or I’ve got free tickets for you and enticing people to come back into the four corners of their store to sell them stuff.”

During the introduction of the ordinance at the June 9 meeting Link said, “All that’s on for tonight is a definition of the word “Solicit” to deal with those issues that have been complained about regarding the offering of free tickets or discounted goods as an enticement to get people into stores and doing it on public sidewalks.” He pointed out, “We already have a solicitation ordinance all that we are dealing with now is the definition of the word “solicit.”

The proposed change adds a definition entitled “Solicit” to Section 26-261 of the BMC. As proposed it reads, “Solicit means to initiate contact with a member of the public by the offer of any free or discounted goods or services in exchange for any action on the part of that member of the general public.”

During the public discussion on the ordinance Bill Stevenson presented an argument against not only the proposed change but the current solicitation ordinance based on constitutional commercial speech issues and stated that when they had contacted the ACLU for assistance that the ACLU had advised them that they are currently investigating the city of Branson’s ordinances regarding solicitation. He gave a copy of the ACLU letter regarding the issue and suggested that the city might want to contact them.

Downtown merchants, Grant Johnson and David King spoke about their first hand observations of how visitors to the downtown area are solicited as they attempt to walk up and down the sidewalks of the historic downtown district. Both Pat Joyce and Joel Merrifield, who operate businesses in the downtown area that, among other things, use discounted show tickets as an inducement to generate tours for times shares, expressed opinions that the personal solicitation of visitors walking the public sidewalks of downtown Branson was inappropriate.

Based on the public comments and the issues they raised, the board decided that further consideration on the matter was needed. The vote on the first reading was postponed until the Board’s June 23 meeting and the issue will be further discussed during the Boards June 16 public work session held at 10:00 a.m. in the Municipal Courtroom.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

With the voluntary annexation of approximately 4700 feet of Empire District Electric (Empire) property the northern city limits of Hollister have been extended about nine tenths of a mile north along the shores of Lake Taneycomo. The voluntary annexation of the approximately 27 acres, consisting of Lake Taneycomo and the shoreline Empire owns was given final approval by the Hollister Board of Aldermen at its June 5 meeting by a unanimous vote.

The annexation extends the city limits of Hollister north and east. Hollister’s city limits are extended north from their current northern boundary, just south of Coon Creek, along the Lake Taneycomo shore line to a point just south of the mouth of Roark Creek. The annexation also extends its city limits west about halfway across Lake Taneycomo to the point where its meets the eastern city limits of Branson throughout the entire length of the annexation.

The only public comment on the matter as it was being considered by the board came from Don Frank, Chief Financial Officer of Kanakuk Camps. Frank inquired as to the northern boundary of the annexation as relates to Kanakuk’s property. The question was answered by Doug Tiemann from Pickett Ray & Silver, a development firm headquartered in St. Peters, MO, with a local office in Branson, who was representing Empire. The firm was also representing Ahmed A. Salama in a separate request for the voluntary annexation of approximately 6.76 acres located immediately contingent to the Empire land being annexed. Tieman said that the northern boundary of the Empire annexation would extend out into the middle of Lake Taneycomo from the southern boundary of Kanakuk’s property where it meets the northern boundary of Salama’s property.

Immediately after the Empire Annexation, the board considered the second and final reading on the voluntary annexation of approximately 6.76 acres owned by Ahmed A. Salama located immediately contingent to the northeastern end of the Empire land that had just been annexed into Hollister. The only public comment on the Salama annexation came from Don Frank. He said that Kanakuk was not necessarily against Hollister’s annexation of Salama’s property but did have some concerns.

Frank pointed out that about a year ago 160 residents of the area along Lake Shore Drive signed a petition and took action to stop the development of a very aggressive condominium project proposed by Salama on the property. He said that even though it appears that the project has been scaled back, the primary concern today is the same as it was a year ago, the ability of Lake Shore Drive to safely handle the traffic that would be generated by the development of the property and the challenges that such traffic would pose for emergency services such a ambulances and fire protection.

Frank also acknowledged the creativeness of the unusual process of using Lake Taneycomo to create the situation where the Salama property became eligible for annexation into Hollister. He said that the procedure could ultimately lead to the point where the city of Hollister would have several parcels mixed in intermittently with other parcels not within the city limits of Hollister and expressed concern over the challenges that would bring to the city in terms of providing services. Frank also was concerned about the potential commercial implications of the C-3 zoning that the annexed land would have.

The board approved the annexation by a vote of three to one with Ward I Alderman, Dr. Howell Keeter voting against the annexation.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

If proposed changes to the Branson Municipal Code (BMC) are enacted, it appears that the role of the city administrator in appointing, terminating, and supervising Branson’s city clerk and attorney will be substantially reduced and the roll of the Branson Board of Aldermen (board) substantially increased. If approved the changes will remove the city administrator from the appointment and termination process and make the city clerk “subject to the direction of the board of aldermen.”

The proposed ordinance changes were presented by Branson Alderwoman Sandra Williams at the board’s work session meeting on June 3 as part of a package of three specific ordinance changes. The changes involve the number of votes it takes to terminate the city administrator and the appointment and termination of the city attorney and clerk`. In presenting the changes Williams said that that one of her objectives was to make the wording in the BMC “be the same wording that is in our state statute.”

The change to the BMC involving the city administrator is minimal. It reduces the current three fourths vote of the board required in Subsection 2-81 of the BMC to terminate the administrator without the concurrence of the mayor to two thirds minimum. The current provisions of the BMC, although in compliance with the minimal two thirds requirements of the Section 79.240 of the Missouri Revised Statutes (RSMo), requires five votes to terminate the city administrator; if the proposed change is approved that number will be reduced to four.

Currently the BMC is silent as to who appoints and terminates the city attorney. Williams proposes adding a subsection to the BMC provisions pertaining to the city attorney entitled “Appointment, term and removal.” That subsection provides that “the mayor, with the consent and approval of the majority of the members of the board of aldermen shall appoint a city attorney who shall hold office at the pleasure of the board of aldermen.” The proposal also provides that the city attorney may be removed by four votes of the board with or without the mayor’s consent at will. State law, in Section 79.230 RSMo, states that “The mayor, with the consent and approval of the majority of the members of the board of aldermen, shall have power to appoint,” among other positions mentioned a “city attorney.”

Section 79-320 of the Missouri Revised Statutes (RSMo) states, “The board of aldermen shall elect a clerk for such board, to be known as “the city clerk” whose term of office shall be fixed by ordinance.” Currently subsection 2-121(a) of the BMC, entitled “Appointment” reads, “The city clerk shall be appointed by the city administrator and his/her name shall be submitted for election by the board of aldermen.” As proposed the revised subsection 2-121 would read “The Board of Aldermen shall elect a clerk for such board to be known as “the city clerk,” whose duties and term of office shall be fixed by ordinance, and shall serve at the pleasure of the board of aldermen.”

In addition, the proposed changes to subsection 2-121(c) of the BMC entitled “Term; Compensation” would remove the city administrator from the termination process and place it under the board and put it in the hands of the mayor and board. The ability of the city administrator to require the city clerk to perform other duties at their discretion would be reduced under the changes proposed to subsection 2-121(b) of the BMC, entitled “Duties.

During a lengthly discussion on the changes, Alderman Bob McDowell expressed his opinion, which was confirmed by City Attorney Paul D. Link, that the city’s ordinances in these areas are in compliance with state statute. Mayor Raeanne Presley said that her concern with the situation involving the city clerk and city attorney’s position was one of checks and balances and went on to say, “I do think that the clerk and the attorney rise to the level, while not quite equal, I think they rise to the level beside he city administrator and it is the responsibility of this board to know that these individuals are answerable directly to the board.”

She also pointed out that the situation had been discussed with the new city administrator, Dean Kruitof, during the interview process. The mayor went on to say that Kruitof had indicated that he had worked under similar arrangements where the attorney and clerk had worked for the board, was familiar with it and had no problem with it. The proposed changes are scheduled for consideration at the board’s next regular meeting on June 9.

Reprinted with permission of the Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

A rose may be a rose, but as the developers of TanStone Development, TanStone Group LLC, are finding out, a rose also has thorns. Doctor Pat Rose, the owner of the land immediately to the west of the TanStone Development has become a thorn in the side of TanStone’s plans by persistently reminding the city and TanStone that their actions have resulted in her losing the easement access to her property from Forsythe Road.

Rose’s property runs from Highway 76 south fronting the old Forsythe Road on its eastern edge. A water slide and parking lot occupies the property at the top of the hill on the south end. About half way down the hill on the property there is a residential complex, containing Rose’s home and some rental cottages.

The eastern edge of her property was separated from the old Forsythe Road by a narrow band of land through which she obtained an access easement. She had used that easement to access her property directly from Forsythe Road for about ten years until, without warning, on the morning of Oct. 2, 2007, when, as she went out to pick up her newspaper, she discovered that Forsythe Road had been destroyed.

Subsequent events have disclosed that the road was destroyed by TanStone without any written agreement with the city to do so and that the purpose of destroying the road was so that it could be rebuilt and realigned hundreds of feet to the east. The immediate effect was to render the access easement Rose had to exit and enter her property off of Forsythe Road useless.

The only remaining access to Rose’s property became a narrow steep road leading from her residential complex up through a water slide parking lot at the south end of her property. Rose and her attorney, Stephen Bradford, have been working with the developer and the city, both privately and publically, to get a satisfactory resolution to the easement issue since.

The record of the public meetings with the city involving the TanStone project since the destruction of Forsythe Road will show a pattern. The actual issue comes up for discussion, in this case the approval of the Development Agreement between the developer and the city. During the discussion of the specific issue the issue of the easement will be raised either by Bradford or one of the aldermen. In this case, Alderwoman Sandra Williams expressed concern about the Rose easement.

The board was told, by both Bradford and a representative of TanStone, Randy Winski, one of its partners, that late the week, prior to the board’s meeting, the developer had submitted three different easement options to Rose for consideration. Bradford pointed out that although they were still evaluating them that, in his opinion, they did not seem to be practical or fair in terms of the circumstances. Winski’s statements contradicted that opinion.

One of the easement options would require building a long steep road across Roses property. When City Engineer David Miller was asked about that option he said that anything could be done if you had enough money and indicated that while it might be practical in certain situations he did not feel this was one of those situations.

Another option would give Rose a 30 foot easement to Forsythe Road from her property going hundreds of yards through as yet undesignated parking lots and other public areas of the TanStone Project located between Rose’s property and the relocated Forsythe Road. Further the proposed easement had a restriction that it can only be used for residential purposes even though Rose’s land is commercial. None of the other easement choices had a similar restriction.

City Attorney Paul D. Link again stated his opinion that all the developer was required to do was grant an easement to replace the easement that was taken away so that the property would not be landlocked. He again reiterated his belief that the easement issue was a civil matter between Rose and the developer. He also recommended that the board not require the developer to do something that is not required by law.

Although the Development Agreement was approved on its first reading it was not without a warning from the board. At the request of Alderman Stephen Marshall, City Engineer David Miller pointed out that in a “worse case” scenario, if a final agreement is not worked out, the city could condemn the new road under construction in the development and keep the old road’s right of way. Alderman Marshall advised Winski that the board has been told over and over that they are working on an agreement; that the board’s patience was coming to an end and suggested that they had to get an agreement.

In the normal course of events, the Development Agreement will come up for its second reading at the board’s first June meeting on June 9 and will be on the Consent Agenda.

Furnished courtesy of Tri-Lakes Tribune, a free newspaper published and distributed three times weekly, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call 417-336-NEWS (6397) for classified and display advertising opportunities.

After a long and careful process, the Branson Board of Aldermen has unanimously decided to offer the position of City Administrator to Dean Kruitof, who is currently serving as the Deputy City Administrator in Fort Smith, AR. Mayor Raeanne Presley made the announcement on Tuesday morning, May 20 during the Branson Board of Alderman’s work session meeting.

In making the short announcement the Mayor said that Kruitof was pleased and that they are now negotiating with him as to finalization of a contract. She went on to say that although the details have not been worked out yet she is hopeful that they will be worked out within a week and that Kruitof will be on board in about a month.

Cutline using picture from partners in progress that we used last week:

Cutline: Pictured last week at the Partners in Progress Meeting in Hollister, Dean Kruitof is the man in the middle. To his left is the other finalist for the job, Dan Galloway and to his right, Rick Ziegenfuss, Hollister City Administrator.

Most of the residents along the southern end of Lake Shore Drive will soon have the city of Hollister as their immediate “back door” neighbor to the west. In fact, if the two voluntary annexations that the Hollister Board of Aldermen approved on their first reading at their May 15 meeting are not removed from the consent agenda for the board’s next meeting there will automatically be a large number of lots and homes, on the southern end of Lake Shore drive that will immediately be surrounded to the west and the north by the city of Hollister.

During a public hearing on May 15, the petition for the voluntary annexation into the city of Hollister of approximately 27 acres of land owned by Empire Electric, was presented by Doug Tiemann, Pickett Ray & Silver, a development firm headquartered in St. Peters, MO with a local office in Branson. According to their web site, Mike Rankin is their Director of Business Development. Rankin used to be the Director of Economic Development for the City of Branson prior to leaving that post in the spring of 2007 and has extensive experience in economic development not only in Branson but in other areas. There were no other public participants in the hearing.

The 27 acres being annexed is actually under water, the land underneath Lake Taneycomo, and runs from basically the middle of the lake to the eastern edge of the Lake from a point between East Highway 76 and Taneycomo upstream from Coon Creek, downstream along the Lake Taneycomo Bank for about 4,700 feet. In general terms, the northern end would be at the northern end of the fourth lot up from the intersection of S. Fork and Lake Shore Drive which is a western extension of the north line of the Davis Addition.

As soon as that public hearing was closed Tiemann presented a second petition for the voluntary annexation of 6.76 acres of land on the west side of Lake Shore Drive at another public hearing. The eligibility of this land for voluntary annexation into Hollister is totally dependent on the Hollister Board of Aldermen approving the voluntary annexation of the Empire Electric Land into the city of Hollister as that is what provides the contiguity necessary for voluntary annexation.

The 6.76 acres to be voluntarily annexed is currently under the jurisdiction of Taney County and is owned by Ahmed A. Salama who had previously tried to get county approval for development of land he owns in that area. The northern boundary of the Empire annexation coincides with the northern boundary of the northern lot line in the Davis Addition which is owned by Ahmed A. Salama and is part of this annexation.

After the two public hearings the Hollister Board of Aldermen unanimously approved both voluntary annexation requests and they will become final without further comment at the board’s next meeting if not removed from the consent agenda for further discussion. If approved, all the lots bordered to the west by the annexation of the Empire Electric Land will still be in Taney County except for Salama’s lot which will be part of the city of Hollister because of its voluntary annexation. It will also open the road for the voluntary annexation of any other land that is contiguous to the Salama’s lot such as the land immediately to the north or immediately east, across Lake Shore Drive, from the property.

There’s a good chance that those attending one of the shows starring Dave “Elvis” Ehlert at the historic Owens Theatre in downtown Branson might hear the Elvis hit “Don’t Be Cruel” during the performance, but, according to Ehlert, in spite of recent comments to the contrary, one thing that they will not be hearing during the show is anything that can even remotely be construed to relate to be a sales gimmick or spiel for time share or vacation club sales. The comments surfaced at a May 6 work session meeting of the Branson Board of Aldermen, during a discussion of a proposed ordinance change designed to control the solicitation of tourists on the public sidewalks of downtown Branson by vacation clubs and time share sales personnel.

During March/April ETC Institute, a professional survey, planning and technology company from Olathe, Kansas, conducted and analyzed a detailed community survey for the City of Branson. According to Chris Tatham of ETC, during his overview of the report given at the May 12 meeting of the Branson Board of Aldermen, its purpose was to evaluate the satisfaction of the city’s residents and businesses with the delivery of major city services and to help determine priorities for the community as part of the City’s ongoing planning process. Two different surveys were conducted, one for residents and another for businesses.

In terms of the residents survey, Tatham said that the process involved the mailing of a six-page survey to a random sample of 1,200 households in the city with a follow up phone call made to those receiving the survey about seven days after mailing. He said that of the households that received the survey 309 completed it by phone and 259 returned it by mail for a total of 568 completed surveys. He pointed out that the results for the random sample of 568 households has a 95% level of confidence.

One thing that particularly impressed Tatham was the fact that 88 % of the residents surveyed were proud that they lived in Branson and that it made very little difference whether they lived in Branson for less than five years or more than 20 years. He also complimented the city on the fact that 78 % of the residents who had contacted the City of Branson with a question, problem or reported they were either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the way they were treated by City employees.

The report also indicated that in general Residents were generally satisfied with the overall quality of services provided by the City of Branson. Major categories of city services with the highest satisfaction, based upon the combined percentage of “very satisfied” and “satisfied” responses indicates resident satisfaction with the overall quality of fire service (90%), police service (78%), and City parks and recreation programs and facilities services (74%).

About 81% of residents who had contacted the City of Branson with a question, problem or complaint in the past year reported they were either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with how easy the City was to contact. In the same vein, 78% of residents who had contacted the City of Branson with a question, problem or complaint during the past year reported they were either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the way they were treated by City employees

About 92% of the residents surveyed rated Branson as an “excellent” or a “good” place to live and 89% of residents surveyed rated Branson as an “excellent” or a “good” place to raise children. Not surprisingly, the survey also indicates that the vast majority of Branson’s residents, 82%, feels safe and 71% are satisfied with its quality of life.

In some areas the survey indicated that residents were less satisfied. Those areas primarily involved drop off recycling, the condition of neighborhood streets, code enforcement, and communications. Interestingly, the survey showed that more residents get their information about the City of Branson from the Branson Daily Independent than they do from radio, television, or other newspapers.

In concluding his report, Tatham suggested that the study is not an end all but rather a guide that can be used by the city as it plans for and sets its priorities for the future. The complete survey is available on the city’s website at www.cityofbranson.org.

Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent.

The solicitation of tourists on the public sidewalks of downtown Branson by vacation clubs and time share sales personnel may lead to a change in the Branson Municipal code (BMC) to help control the problem. In introducing the item for discussion at the work session meeting of the Branson Board of Alderman held on May 6, Paul D. Link, Branson’s City Attorney, said, “There has been some downtown businesses that have issued some complaints recently about some vacation club sales and time shares, that kind of business, getting a lot of locations in downtown Branson and soliciting people on the sidewalk.”

Link said that it’s not necessarily selling product on the sidewalk. He pointed out that some sales people approach people when they get out of their cars and saying, “Hey have you got your tickets yet for this weekend or I’ve got free tickets for you and enticing people to come back into the four corners of their store to sell them stuff.”

Link stressed that the complaints were not necessarily from citizens or tourists shopping in the downtown area but were from business owners saying it’s creating an environment of a lot of solicitations out on the sidewalk. Branson Police Sergeant Sean Barnwell indicated that the issue has been a concern since the fall of 2006 and pointed out that investigative efforts thus far have revealed no substantive violations of current BMC ordinances relating to solicitation.

Alderwoman Chris Bohinc asked if the people being solicited actually got free tickets without having to go to a vacation club or time share presentation or open house. Sergeant Barnwell stated, “There is only one show that I am aware of that they give actually free tickets to and that’s the Owens Theatre downtown. I haven’t been to it but it’s my understanding that there’s a sales gimmick involved in the show so you’ll either hear the speal going somewhere else or during the show.”

Bohinc said that she and her husband routinely walk through the downtown and are solicited about 100 percent of the time. She said she believed that they are solicited so often is because the people doing the solicitation work primarily for commission and that there is such a large turnover that the solicitors don’t know that they have been solicited before. Alderwoman Sandra Williams said that a lot of the complaints that she has received have come from those businesses in the downtown area not involved with vacation club or time share sales. Those businesses reported complaints from people coming into their businesses complaining about being solicited on the public sidewalks by vacation club or time share sales personnel.

Link said that in an effort to provide a solution for the problem it was proposed that a new definition for the term “Solicit” be added to the BMC. If the definition is adopted as proposed it would read, “Means to initiate contact with a member of the public by the offer of any free or discounted goods or services in exchange for any action on the part of that member of the general public.”

Subsection 26-67 of the Branson Municipal Code (BMC) makes it unlawful “to solicit when either the solicitor or the person being solicited is located on public property.” In addition it makes it unlawful to solicit when either the solicitor or the person being solicited is located within ten feet of the doorway to any business, 20 feet of a public toilet; 20 feet of an automated teller machine, or 20 feet of a pay telephone.

There was no discussion about the fact that the new definition actually applies to all of Branson, not just the downtown, and substantially reduces the scope of the term “solicit” as it is normally defined. It was suggested that the proposed ordinance be circulated for input from the businesses in the downtown area.

Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent.

Amid all the glowing reports of a billion dollar in retail sales and that the bookings at the Branson Convention Center are ahead of what was programmed there appears to be a “Caution Light” starting to blink. At the April 29 meeting of the city of Branson s Budget and Finance committee it was reported that the 12 month rolling average for Branson’s primary revenue stream remained flat and that the Branson Convention Center had a $651,861 operating loss during the period of October 2007 through March 2008.

Information relating to the trend of the 12 month rolling average of the city’s 1% Sales Tax was presented by John Petty, President, District Offices, LLC. The trend of the city’s 1% city sales tax collected outside of Branson Landing and Branson Hills has remained flat over the 12 month rolling period. The discussion about the report indicates that the 1% city sales tax, collected from areas other than Branson Landing and Branson Hills, is the primary source of revenue that the city uses to meet its current operational needs.

Petty said that while the collection of the tax in Branson Landing and Branson Hills is trending up it is “bubble revenue.” He explained his use of the term “bubble revenue” as revenue that is, for the most part, not available to the city for current operational needs because it is used to pay off the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) bonds used to finance the projects. Petty pointed out that 100 percent of the tax collected from Branson Landing and 50 percent of the tax from Branson Hills goes to pay TIF debt.

Branson Mayor Raeanne Presley, while thankfully acknowledging the trend of growth at Branson Landing and Branson Hills, again reiterated that 100 percent of the tax collected at Branson Landing and 50 percent of the tax collected at Branson Hills does not come back to the city. In terms of the city’s primary revenue generator to meet the city’s current operational needs, the 1% city sales tax collected outside of the TIF districts, she said, “Sales tax, across the board for the city are flat so there’s the story.”

In analyzing the data being presented, Alderman Stephen Marshall said that there’s a belief in town that because Branson Landing is doing so well that the that the incremental revenue has gone up in those areas outside the TIF Districts and that’s not happened. Frank Schoneboom, Acting City Administrator, agreed saying, “That data suggests that you are absolutely right.” Marshall continued, “There are folks that look at all this data that includes Branson Landing taxes etc. which is what we have been talking about here for months. It shows a fictitious increase in taxes because the taxes are going out to pay for the bonds.” Petty added, “It’s like looking across into your neighbor’s yard and saying, “My landscaping looks great.’”

When analyzing the operational report for the Branson Convention Center submitted by Hilton Corporation, the city’s contract convention center manager, the report was categorized as sloppy with incorrect dates etc. The trend indicated by Petty’s presentation was one of reported expenses exceeding reported revenues for each month since Oct. 2007 with a year to date loss of $651,861 for the six month period.

One of the foundational documents used to support the building of the convention center in downtown Branson was a study entitled, “Feasibility Analysis of the Proposed Branson Downtown Exhibition and Convention Center Study,” (CS&L Study) that was received by the city of Branson during Feb. 2003. That study estimated that the convention center would have an annual net operating deficit of $530,000 per year in a stabilized year of operation. Although the losses for the first six months of this year are more than estimated for the whole year in that report it should be pointed out that, as the study used the term, a “stabilized year” was assumed to be the normal operation of the facility that would occur by the fifth year of operation.

Various members of the committee had questions relating to aspects of the report relating to food and beverages costs, labor costs, marketing, not staying within the parameters of the budget that Hilton had submitted, the operation of the laundry, etc. There was no representative of Hilton present at the meeting and the questions were not resolved. Mayor Presley said, “I suggest that we get the new guy in here. He should be on board within a week or two.” Hilton is currently in the process of bringing a new General Manager on board to replace the General Manager that recently retired.

Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent.

Ethical issues including “conflict of interest” may soon be addressed in an ethics policy for the city of Branson. In talking about the development of an ethics policy at the board of alderman’s April 22 work session Branson Mayor Raeanne Presley said, “I think the public really wants to know” and suggested that it would be nice if the board could come up with an ethics and conflict of interest policy that they could all agree on.

City Attorney Paul D. Link said, “The general rule on ethics is that if you as an alderman stand to make a financial gain on something then you should abstain from voting.” He pointed out that the law in Missouri has changed. An alderman can just abstain without stating a reason and the vote doesn’t count as a “Yes” or “No,” just an abstention. He reiterated that if an alderman thought there would be a financial gain to them personally they should abstain.

Link continued, “A lot of this ethics is a gut feeling or a perception.” He used a hypothetical of an alderman who had a fishing buddy that he went fishing with every weekend saying that if something relating to the buddy comes before the board that the alderman should consider abstaining. Link said that, although it’s not a legal conflict that would cause the alderman to have to abstain, that it would be a good idea to abstain “just because of the perception that you are kind of in the bag on that particular vote.”

Alderman Bob McDowell asked Link if it was correct that if an alderman is going to abstain from voting that they should also abstain from any discussion on the matter. Link responded by saying that was a gray area. Branson Mayor Raeanne Presley said, “If you were going to abstain because of financial interests then I think you should.”On the other hand she said, “If you had decided to abstain just because of perception then you probably would be fine.”

Link concurred saying, “I think that if you are going to abstain from a vote because of a financial condition that you should abstain from the conversation.” His rationale was that if an alderman was going to argue a position to get the rest of the board to vote a certain way the conflict is there whether or not they actually vote on the issue. More than one alderman ascribed to the opinion, “That happens at the planning and zoning commission all the time.”

Alderman Stephen Marshall pointed out the fact that some people in the community are saying that when it comes to the convention center that he is in a conflict of interest position and asked, “What conflict of interest?” Link replied, “Stephen, I don’t know that there is a direct financial conflict. I think what they are arguing there is more of that secondary thing I talked about.”

Link continued, “Some people have a perceived conflict. I’m not saying that there is one or there isn’t one. I think that the argument that I’ve heard is that they view you as if you say anything negative about the convention center or the Hilton Hotel that you are basically trying to rundown your competition because they are the chief competition in this area for your hotel.” He again reiterated that he wasn’t saying it was a legal conflict of interest or not.

Mayor Pressley suggested that that as part of the process of developing a more complete set of ethic and conflict of interest guidelines that a public work session would be held.

Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent.