The Study Session will be held at 4:30 pm and is a time for the City Council to learn and discuss the recommendations. Bartlett & West will also be at the Council meeting at 6:00 pm to make a public presentation. This would be the opportunity for anyone to attend and hear the recommendations, and if desired, to address the City Council regarding the proposed recommendations.

Any interested residents/property owners may wish to attend the City Council meeting at 6:00 pm this coming Monday, August 2, in the City Hall Council Chambers, 201 South Franklin Street.

For those who are unsure, the mayor in Kirksville’s “city manager” form of government is basically just the chairperson of the council. It’s the mayor’s responsibility to run the meetings, serve as a leader of sorts for the council, and represent the city at various events and functions. I don’t have any more “power” or influence than anyone else on the council. In Kirksville, it’s the city manager (Mari Macomber) who gets the big bucks and does the grueling 24-7 work of making sure our city services run efficiently – not the mayor.

Had a terrific lunch meeting with Lynn Daniels today, our newly hired Downtown Director of the KDIC. She has the genesis of some terrific ideas for leading the downtown into economic success, but right now she’s in a fact-gathering mission, meeting with all the business owners and building owners in the downtown area to hear what they have to say. I think she’s going to do well. It will be good to have a person full-time focused toward improving the downtown. I feel like we have a lot of the puzzle pieces already, but until now really lacked the singular leadership to be able to put them together into a cohesive whole. Please join me in welcoming Lynn into her new position.

Now, what do you think about the feasibility of these two ideas in Kirksville?:

Burning waste to generate electricity

A system for online reporting of stuff that needs fixin’

Leave your comments below!

The City of Kirksville has received record amounts of rainfall in the past few years; almost twice the normal amount in both 2008 & 2009. The amount of water has overwhelmed the existing storm water system, much of which was developed prior to 1970. Many citizens who have never had to deal with flooding and storm sewer back-ups in their homes are now dealing with these problems. City Hall has received numerous complaints and concerns from citizens about these on-going issues.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 authorized Recovery Zone Economic Development Bonds for various cities and counties across the country. Adair County was one of the counties designated to receive these bonds. City staff met with the Adair County Commission and they have agreed to let the City of Kirksville use these bonds, with voter approval, to fund the improvements to our storm drainage system. If approved, this project would address some public access areas with drainage issues, but it will also help improve the privately held areas with drainage issues that have affected so many citizens.

City Council and Staff will be at the public meeting to give a presentation about the Storm Drainage Improvement Bonds. The Council will then entertain citizen questions and comments regarding the bond issue. For additional information, contact City Hall at 660-627-1225.

Here are some highlights:

Kirksville Community Betterment, a committee of the Kirksville Area Chamber of Commerce, was able to demonstrate exceptional cooperation among the City of Kirksville, Truman State University, A.T. Still University of Health, K-REDI, the Chamber of Commerce and many local volunteer and service groups.

The Missouri Community Betterment (MCB) Program is designed to help Missouri communities enhance their life through overall community development, planning, and implementation. The MCB Program accomplishes this mission primarily by lending technical assistance to communities; by officially recognizing the participating communities and neighborhoods; and by awarding those that excel in the program.

What we did was nothing more than bringing our local codes in line with the International Code Council – specifically the 2009 International Building Code, 2009 International Plumbing Code, 2008 National Electrical Code, 2009 International Residential Code, 2009 International Mechanical Code, 2009 International Fire Code, 2009 International Fuel Gas Code, 2009 International Property Maintenance Code, and the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code.

The last time this was done was in 2003.

The new sprinkler requirements are just one part of the 2009 International Residential Codes standards. It is probably an inevitability that these standards will be eventually be adopted across the country. The sprinkler requirement for residential dwellings is receiving the most attention nationwide and many states are passing extensions to address it.

In Missouri, the sprinkler issue has already been worked out at the state level with the Missouri Home Builders Association. This year, Governor Nixon signed a bill into law delaying this mandate until 2012, until which time builders will be required to offer it as an option only for new homeowners. In January 2012 it will be required for all new homes and, in return for signing this bill, the Missouri Home Builders Association has agreed not to ask for another extension.

Our city, of course, will be subject to that extension, as state laws supersede our local ones – so local builders will not be required to install sprinklers in new residential developments until January 2012.

It’s worth noting that sprinkler systems have been proven to save lives and the cost of installation is expected to drop dramatically once this is a standard across the board in all states. Our fire chief told us that this was true in Arizona, which adopted its own similar sprinkler code in the 80s and saw both a measurable increase in lives saved and decreased cost of installation. It also helps protect the personal property of others around a home that is on fire.

It is estimated that it would cost an additional $1.40 per square foot currently, which would add about $1,400 onto the cost of a 1000 sq-ft home. But the savings in insurance premiums would help offset those costs.

Like all code revisions, these requirements are only for new construction, and current homeowners would obviously not be required to retrofit their existing homes with sprinklers.

The council felt it was doing the best for the safety of Kirksville’s citizens by bringing our codes in line with the minimal international standards, while keeping in mind that Missouri Builders Association has already worked out an extension for the sprinkler requirements with the governor, which we will abide by. We felt it was best to align Kirksville with what is happening at the state level.

You can help by eating lunch at the Hy-Vee Gas station on Friday, Sept 13, 10:30-2pm. For $6, you get your choice of hotdog, hamburger or pulled pork, with chips, cookie and soft drink.

Proceeds will benefit the North Park Complex Shade Trees Campaign.

There was lots of conversation about how generally thrilled everyone is, how this was a long time in coming, and how grateful we are to the citizens of Kirksville for passing a sales tax extension to help fund the route. MoDOT officials assure us that ground will break any day now on the northern half, so this truly is an exciting project.

The point of a local preference policy is to keep dollars circulating within our community. One way we can keep money from leaving town is to support businesses that distribute all or most of their profits back into people and businesses that are within our community. Corporate chains, although they may be locally owned and employ people from the community, often end up sending a good deal of their profits to corporate offices, or buying their products from non-local suppliers, for example. 

While the exact numbers change from study to study, the research appears to agree that the local economy gets a bigger bang for its buck from “local businesses” than “corporate chains.” For example: 

• A Chicago study found that locally owned businesses generate 70% more local economic impact per square foot than chain stores.
• A study in Maine found that every $100 spent at a local business generated about $45 of additional economic activity in the local area, versus $14 from a big-box store.

So the definition of “local business” in our local preference policy needs to include to the businesses that keep the most money WITHIN our community, while remaining relatively straightforward for city staff to research. Our current definition – that a “local business” is one whose corporate office is within 30 miles of the Kirksville city limits – keeps the chain stores – such as Wal-Mart – from getting a competitive advantage. We love those places and we’re glad they’re here, but if we’re going to give a bidding advantage to one group over another, we need to get the biggest economic bang for our buck.

The council realizes that our definition may not be perfect, so we’re always open to examining it. This meeting with MFA Oil on Monday will give us a good opportunity to consider whether it needs refining (no pun intended).