Newsletter Issue: January 2017

Download the January 2017 Issue (PDF Version)

Issue Table of Contents:

  1. Legislative Reception: 01/12/2017
  2. Membership Meeting: 01/26/2017
  3. Legislative Luncheon: 02/14/2017
  4. Membership Meeting: 02/23/2017
  5. January 26 Meeting at Northwest Plaza in St. Ann
  6. January 26 Training on Muni Courts - Fees Revised
  7. November Meeting Synopsis
  8. STARRS Plans NIMS Training for Municipal Officials
  9. Legislature Convenes
  10. Lunch & Learn Leadership Series

Upcoming Meetings

Legislative Reception
01/12/2017 - 5:30 till 7:00
Sheratan West Port
Membership Meeting
01/26/2017 - 6:30 till 8:30
St. Ann
Legislative Luncheon
02/14/2017 - 12:00 till 1:00
Capital Plaza Hotel
Membership Meeting
02/23/2017 - 6:30 till 8:30
Bellefontaine Neighbors City Hall

January 26 Meeting at Northwest Plaza in St. Ann

The next League will be hosted by the City of St. Ann and will be held at 7:30 pm on Thursday, January 26 in the office tower at  Northwest Plaza, 500 Northwest Plaza Dr.  The entrance is on St. Charles Rock Rd., east of Lindbergh, next to Jack in the Box.  Map

PLEASE NOTE THAT REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED PRIOR TO THE MEETING AT 6:30 PM.

Program:  St.  Louis County’s Age Friendly Community Plan.  Susan Schafers, Manager of the County Older Resident Programs, and Mary Hart, Community Health Education Coordinator for the County Health Department, will discuss tools that have been developed that municipalities can use to address older adult issues in our communities.

 

 

January 26 Training on Muni Courts - Fees Revised

January Training Session

The next Municipal Officials Training Academy program is set for Thursday, January 26 from Noon to 1:15 p.m.  The program is entitled Municipal Courts – Where Are We Now?.  The speaker is Municipal Attorney Chris Graville of the Graville Law Firm.  Topics will include:

  • Review of Municipal Court Changes Contained in Senate Bill 5 and Senate Bill 572
  • Review of Missouri Supreme Court Rule 37
  • Best Practices for Handling New Court Rules

Officials are invited to attend via Webinar or in person at Frontenac City Hall.  The session is designed for:

  • Municipal Court Clerks
  • City Administrators/Managers
  • Municipal Attorneys
  • Elected Officials

Registration by Tuesday, January 24 is encouraged to ensure that all materials are emailed to registrants prior to the Webinar. Click HERE to register for the webinar.

 

Cost Structure Revised

Given the success and participation level over the last four years, as well as the goal to provide volunteer or “at cost” training on useful topics, the Academy is pleased to announce LOWERED TUITION RATES for 2017.
Tuition membership entitles all city officials and employees to benefits from all presentations for the 2017 year. Additionally, tuition membership provides all city officials and employees access to past presentations and handout materials. Finally, reducing numerous small payments for each session further helps to reduce the amount of cost and subsidy of running this program for you.

New tuition rates based on the number of employees:

$75 under 25

$150 for 26 – 100

$250 over 100

The Academy will continue to allow one-time attendance for $20 per session per person. However, we urge your municipality to consider the tuition option.

 

 

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November Meeting Synopsis

There were three presentations at the November membership meeting.  The first speaker was Presiding Judge Doug Beach of the St. Louis County Circuit Court who was invited to discuss recent Missouri Supreme Court rules for municipal courts.  He indicated that there are 10 minimum standards to which court must now adhere.  These include:

  • Court staff must be independent of city hall staff, including the prosecutor
  • Offenders cannot be jailed for minor traffic violations
  • The municipal judge must be available to ensure prompt action on cases
  • The court must ask about a person’s finances and the ability to pay a fine

He also noted that judges may not serve more than five communities.  By July 1, 2017, all courts must report how they are meeting these requirements and where they are falling short.  These new standards may lead to more consolidations of courts.

The second speaker, Ronda Sauget, Executive Director of the Leadership Council of Southwest Illinois, discussed her organization and the progress and growth in the Illinois portion of the metropolitan area.  She noted that the Council supports “Uniting the Region for Growth”.  It serves eight counties and over 700,000 residents.  It was formed in 1983 and has 10 working committees.  These include:  business, industry, education, labor and government.  The Council helps set the priorities for the development of regional projects

Illinois counties have seen growth in warehousing operations but this has led to a shortage of workers in the region.  Council leader would like to promote the creation of trade and craft jobs.

Another major issue relates to levees that were decertified 10 years ago by the federal government.  These stretch from Alton to Columbia.  The decertification led to a $50 million downturn in economic activity.  A 1/4 cent sales tax was passed for levee upgrades and the area has seen $100 million in new construction.

The major employer in Southwest Illinois is Scott Air Force Base, which has a $3 billion annual economic impact.  Over 300 service members exit the military from Scott every month and many of these are highly skilled potential employees.  She also mentioned that the Midwest Cyber Center of Excellence has a number of high paying job openings

Lastly, Tom Curran, from the County Executive’s Office, presented information on a potential 1/2 cent sales tax for police and public safety.  Currently 73 Missouri counties levy such a tax under specific statutory authority that is not available for St. Louis or Jackson Counties.  However, a generic sales tax statute can be used.  The bill authorizing the election is currently before the County Council and, if approved, would be on the April 2017 ballot.

Under the statute, the tax would be allocated 3/8 to the County ($30 million) and 5/8 to all municipalities and the County on a population basis, which is about $50 per capita.

He indicated that the business community is worried about crime and the perceptions of crime in the City and the region so this tax could help alleviate these concerns in the County.

He indicated that the County police department would uses funds for salaries, staffing of two officers per car, equipment such as body cameras and training.  Municipalities would determine their own public safety needs.

We would like to thank Mayor Rich Lahr and the officials and employees of the  City of Des Peres who hosted the meeting.

 

STARRS Plans NIMS Training for Municipal Officials

To help ensure the region is prepared for the next disaster, the St. Louis Area Regional Response System (STARRS) will be holding a series of free training courses on the National Incident Management System (NIMS) during the first half of 2017. All elected officials and department heads who have not received NIMS training in the last five years should attend this course. The training consists of a single three-hour session, which will be offered in the evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. To accommodate attendees from throughout the region, the locations will vary from month to month. More information and registration dates >

Legislature Convenes

The Missouri General Assembly convened on January 4 to begin its 4 1/2 month session.  The League tracks a number of bills and emails a legislative update each Friday.  If you are not receiving this email (along with meeting notices), please send us your preferred email address.  Below are some of the major bills relating to local governments that have been introduced.

 

Court Bills

HB 172 (Davis) – Increases municipal court costs from $12 to $17.50

 

Economic Development Bills

HB 240 (Beck) – Changes the laws regarding tax increment financing districts

 

Employment & Wage Bills

HB 78 (McGaugh) – Allows public bodies to opt out of prevailing wage laws for the construction of public works projects that are $750,000 or less

HB 104 (Love) – Repeals provisions relating to prevailing wages on public works projects

HB 132 (Lant) – Allows public bodies to opt out of prevailing wage laws for the construction of public works projects that are $750,000 or less

HB 238 (Wiemann) – Changes the law relating to public labor organizations

HB 309 (Davis) – Exempts municipalities from the prevailing wage law for projects in which they use only their own tax revenues

SB 20 (Brown) – Repeals the law pertaining to the prevailing wage

SB 29 (Sater) – Modifies the law relating to prevailing wage to allow for maintenance work

 

General Government Bills

HB 120 (Davis) – Modifies payday loan laws to prevent multiple loans and limit renewals

HB 269 (Roeber) – Prohibits direct or indirect expenditure of public funds to lobby general assembly

HB 353 (Eggleston) – Increase population limit to 2000 for cities to forgo elections if the number of candidates equals the number of open seats

HJR 13 (Bahr) – Constitutional amendment to establish term limits of 12 years for local offices

HJR 14 (Bahr) – Constitutional amendment to expand the term limits for the General Assembly to 16 years total between the two houses.

SB 47 (Libla) – Allows legally required notice to be published on a website to be established and maintained by the Secretary of State

SB 124 (Wasson) – Provides that change in population shall not remove a city, county or political subdivision from operation of a law

SB 232 (Schatz) – Adds a provision relating to population changes in St. Louis County for purposes of water corporations collecting an infrastructure system replacement surcharge

SJR 4 (Chappelle-Nadal) – Requires the question of whether to recall the county executive to be submitted to voters in St. Louis County

SJR 7 (Silvey) – Modifies the number of members of the General Assembly and limits service in the General Assembly to sixteen years in any proportion between the House and Senate

SJR 10 (Holsman) – Modifies the number of members of the General Assembly and limits service in the General Assembly to 16 years in each chamber or 32 years total.

Land Use Bills

HB 33 (Cross) –  Municipalities may not enact ordinances to ban home rentals.

HB 335 (Lauer) – Allows cities to post zoning notices on municipal websites

 

Police & Public Safety Bills

HB 41 (McCann) – Specifies that if charges are filed against a law enforcement officer based on an officer involved shooting, the judge must appoint a special prosecutor

HB 198 (Butler) – Creates the Quality Policing Act that establishes reporting and conduct guidelines for law enforcement agencies

HB 232 (Dogan) – Requires law enforcement agencies to have a written policy regarding the investigation of officer-involved deaths.

HB 392 (Adams) – Changes the laws regarding the use of force by a law enforcement officer.

SB 24 (Chappelle-Nadal) – Modifies provisions relating to racial profiling in policing

 

Tax Issues

HJR 1 (Cross) – Proposes a constitutional amendment to eliminate taxation on personal property

SB 105 (Wallingford) – Requires the Department of Revenue to enter into the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement

SJR 12 (Eigel) – Places a cap on annual state appropriations and reduces income tax rates based on revenue growth

 

 

Lunch & Learn Leadership Series

The Municipal League of Metro St. Louis invites elected officials and city staff to attend “Lunch & Learn,” a series of interactive workshops designed to help participants master their leadership skills. Linda Goldstein, an expert in innovative community engagement strategies, strategic communications and public policy will facilitate the programs.

We hope you’ll join us for one or all three presentations.  They are scheduled for 11:30 am – 1:00 pm on the following Tuesdays – January 24, February 28 and March 28, 2016.  The location will be the League office, second floor conference room, 1034 S. Brentwood Blvd., Richmond Heights, MO 63117, across from the Galleria.

The topics are:

Leading Change: Strategies for Successful Citizen Engagement, January 24

Leading Change: Effective Teamwork and Leadership Styles, February 28

Leadership Challenges: Leading Other Leaders, March 28

The cost is $45 per luncheon, per person. For more information see this link.

 

About the Presenter, Linda Goldstein:  The first female mayor of the City of Clayton, MO, Linda spent more than 14 years in public service and is known for her ability to build consensus and a collective vision in order to achieve bold and transformative community initiatives. She has more than 20 years’ experience as a senior level organizational leader and small business owner.