Monday, December 07, 2015

Joplin city manager provides update to City Council

(Joplin City Manager Sam Anselm sent the following update to Joplin City Council members Friday.)

Good afternoon, everyone. Please see below for this week’s update. 

Key Meetings 

-On Tuesday, I had a meeting with Jerrod Hogan and representatives from the St. Bernard Project to discuss a pre-disaster resilience training program that would benefit residents, small businesses, and local governments. We discussed the program and ways that it could be rolled out to the communities included in the program, to help shorten the time between a disaster and the recovery. 

-Later that afternoon staff from the neighborhood services division and I met with representatives from Eagle Picher to get an update on efforts they are making to secure/improve the property over on B Street and eliminate some nuisance issues (illegal dumping, mainly) on their property. Their work has had some impact on neighbors who live in the area, but I credit the Eagle-Picher team for their outreach and efforts to work with the adjacent residents. 

-To close out the day, I attended the retirement reception for Capt. Darren Gallup and Sergeant David Lewis, both 20-year veterans of our police department who have made a tremendous contribution to our community. I would like to thank you for the resolutions that Mayor Seibert read during the ceremony recognizing them for their service to the community. 

-On Wednesday, I attended the ribbon cutting for the outdoor portion of the Public Safety Training Center. This voter-approved initiative will result in additional training opportunities for our police and fire department personnel for the benefit/service of our residents, and I know our staff is excited to begin utilizing the facility. 

-On Thursday, staff in the city manager’s office and I had our regular meeting to review the progress on various policies and procedures. We continue to work on our travel reimbursement policy, cell phone reimbursement policy, take-home vehicle policy, and our purchasing card program. 

-Later that morning, I participated on a conference call through the Missouri City/County Manager’s Association with city managers/administrators from other parts of the state to talk about emerging issues in the local government profession. Social media, and the challenges facing law enforcement were just two issues that were discussed. I have also volunteered to serve on the planning committee for the MCMA Spring Conference, which will take place in 2016. Future work on these two committees may result in my absence from office for a day or two, but I will give you sufficient notice if I need to be away from the office for either of these committees. 

-Earlier this afternoon, AtCM Kelly and I met with Callie Hudson from the Downtown Joplin Alliance to get an update on events happening downtown. The First Friday wine share has grown since its debut earlier this year. The Hackett’s expansion is moving along well, and a new bakery will be opening on the 100 block of Main Street soon. 

Miscellaneous 

-Our planning director wanted me to make you aware that two RFQ’s will be made public on December 6th. They are as follows: o RFQ-2016-03 Library Project Construction Inspection Services. This will be for the building construction only as planned and discussed, as Tri-State is handling site inspections already. (Closes December 30). o RFQ-2016-01 Engineering Services and Project Management (Howsman’s). This will be for the engineering and project coordination for roof replacement/rehab to include any remediation. Closes on January 4 at 5pm. 

-Attached to this update is the project update list from public works. I have also asked Director Heatherly to review our pending change order policy and provide his comments before it is presented to council for review. If you have any questions about any of these items, please let me know. 

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