The Mtn. View Board of Aldermen held a special meeting in council chambers to adopt a new official code of conduct and order for the city.
During the meeting, held May 17, the council also discussed and approved an amendment to the city's billing procedure for utility bills and made an amendment to the city’s criminal code.
Mtn. View Mayor John Krasuski led the discussion on the first item on the council’s agenda — a bill to adopt what he called “Roberson’s Rules of Orders” as the official code of conduct for the council’s meetings instead of Robert’s Rules of Order, which is the standard set of rules used by governing bodies for meeting procedures.
Unable to find a definition or documentation of Roberson’s Rules of Orders via internet search or the library, the Quill called Friday afternoon to confirm that Mayor Krasuski didn’t misspeak. City Clerk Shannon Elliott confirmed that it is Roberson’s Rules of Orders that the council adopted.
“We have to follow some type of rules of order to conduct the meetings in an official setting. Understand that we can always add and change whatever we want later, but this is good to go by for a team effort that works as well as we do anyway,” Krasuski said during the meeting. “It’s not real stringent; it’s very relaxed and helps keep a good relationship between us as well as any community members watching.”
There are more stringent parliamentary procedures that city governments use to govern their meetings, according to Krasuski.
“The board has been under Robert’s Rules of Order from way back, but we can’t find it,” the mayor said. T”hey were very strict and very hard to work with and hard to learn. Every time we get a new member, we are up here teaching each other the rules instead of getting down to business, so we all elected to sit down and see what we could find that was comfortable and tweak them.”
The Missouri Municipal League also recommends Roberson’s Rules of Orders for fourth-class cities with a population size similar to Mtn. View, Krasuski commented.
A motion made by East Ward Alderman Laura Wagner was seconded, and the council, in a unanimous vote, passed the ordinance to adopt Roberson’s Rules of Orders.
“If it proves too simple and too basic, we can always add to it,” Krasuski said.
The Quill also attempted to call the Missouri Municipal League for clarification about Roberson’s Rules of Order and how they work, but had not yet received the information by press time.
The council then held a first and second reading of an ordinance to amend the billing procedure for the city’s utility customers.
Per the ordinance, all users shall be billed monthly, and payments are due when billings are made.
“Any payment not received by the 15th of the month shall be delinquent. Any delinquent bill shall be subject to a late payment penalty of $10. If any bill continues to go unpaid after 4:30 p.m. the business day before the shut-off date listed on the utility bills, the service to that account will be subject to disconnection,” Krasuski said.
A $40 reconnection fee will be assessed after all disconnections.
The council unanimously passed the ordinance during its first and second reading. Council members then approved an ordinance to amend Mtn. View’s criminal code on marijuana and alcoholic beverages.
The ordinance amends section 11-140 of Mtn. View’s criminal code pertaining to the consumption of intoxicating liquor in public.
Krasuski said the current city ordinance did not allow for the consumption of alcohol in public spaces within the city. However, the city council determined there was a need to amend the ordinance to allow for the consumption of alcohol on the premises of the Mtn. View Municipal Golf Course.
“What it comes down to is the golf course has always put up with people drinking alcohol on the golf course, and it’s regularly done on almost every golf course that we know of,” said Krasuski as he opened the meeting to public comment. “We have not had anyone enforce those rules against it because that is what everybody does. They get thirsty and like to drink alcohol as well as Pepsi, and you don’t want to be the one telling them what they can and can’t drink.”
“We have not had any real instances of overconsumption where we have had a lot of police trouble, probable cause, et cetera. on the golf course, so it is so much simpler to straighten the books out rather than start reprimanding adults for doing what they enjoy to do,” the mayor added. “Whether they are not intoxicated or intoxicated, it’s their decision; they are adults. That is the conclusion we came up with.”
No one from the public spoke in support of or against the amendment, and the council approved a motion to hold a first and second reading of the ordinance.
Unanimously, the council passed the ordinance during both readings to allow alcohol to be consumed at the municipal golf course.
