Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Joplin city manager provides weekly update

(Joplin City Manager Sam Anselm provided the following update for the City Council Friday.)

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

Key Meetings

-On Monday, I attended the monthly Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce meeting along with Councilman Glaze. We gave a number of updates on city projects and heard a presentation from Jasper County officials regarding the ¼ cent sales tax they will have on the ballot for the purpose of building a new juvenile center and make renovations to the courthouse in Carthage.

-On Wednesday, Director Bolander and I met with district representatives from MoDOT to discuss a number of tasks related to JATSO.

-Later that day, I attended a meeting at the invitation of Dr. Ridder to hear about their five-year strategic plan. A copy of that plan is attached to this update for your review if you would like to read it.

-To close out the day, staff met with representatives from Republic Services to go over details of the new franchise agreement. As late as today we were still in communication with Republic on a few items, but our goal is to have the agreement to you at our meeting on March 7th for your consideration. If the contract is presented and approved, we are looking at June 1st to roll out the voluntary curbside recycling component of the program.

-On Thursday I attended a Rotary meeting to give an update on a few city projects and talk about the Priority-Based Budgeting process, as well as answer questions from the audience.

-Earlier today I met with Tom Kaleko from Springsted, the firm we have used on various TIF projects in the past, to hear about other services their company offers.

Miscellaneous

-Attached to this week’s update is an update from Public Works. Please let me know if you have any questions about these items.

-We will soon begin the process of updating our city website, and IT Director Mark Morris will be working with various departments on that project. We have engaged our various social media outlets for input in the process as well. The redesign will result in a more mobile-friendly website. And speaking of mobile connectivity, our Parks Department has been working on an app for their department that allows users to easily connect with services and programs. The app is available now on Google Play and should be live on iTunes soon.

-Starting next week we will have an intern working in our public information office, Levi Andrew, a junior communications major at MSSU.

-Earlier this week, Director Haase had a meeting with FEMA representatives to review the procedures necessary for reimbursement under the public assistance program, related to the December flood. As a result of the disaster declaration, we will also be looking into the opportunity to seek hazard mitigation funds to help mitigate future flooding issues at the Fillmore lift station. We are in the very, very early stages of both of these processes, but I will keep you informed of any developments.

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