St. Mary Renews Website During Brief Meeting
By MARK EVANS
mevans@stegenherald.com
Departmental reports took up most of the time in an extremely short St. Mary Board of Aldermen meeting last Thursday night.
The board voted to renew its website with godaddy.com for $299.67 for three years.
This was the only item on the agenda under “New Business.”
City manager/city clerk David Woods said the city first signed with godaddy.com three years ago.
He noted that city ordinances, flood stages, business links and other items of interest are on the site.
Alderman Karl Schultz asked how many hits the website generates.
No one could provide a definite answer, but there was general agreement that it is useful and is visited by quite a few residents.
DEPARTMENT REPORTS
Woods, giving the emergency management report, said that the city’s American Rescue Act money will be split, half coming this year and half in 2022. The city is expected to get about $53,000.
“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Mayor Carlton Wyatt replied.
Police chief Adam Bequette reported there were 53 calls, 63 stops, 48 citations, three pursuits, two narcotic arrests and other investigations.
He reported the new car was running well and thanked Jody Odem for hooking up the LED lights and radio that saved the city probably $5,000 in work.
Fire chief Frankie Ullman reported there was one mutual aid call, one medical call, and one road blocking. He is working on getting decal bids for the new truck. There will be no barbecue this summer but, he is working on a gun raffle.
For the Street Department report, Alderman Ron Barnett reported that the ditch lines need to be dug out, there are weeds by the bridges and some poison is needed.
Schultz reported that there was nothing to report for water/wastewater.
Wyatt said that there was a problem with the reading wand and if it is not fixed, the city employees will have to manually read every meter.
He also thinks there may be a water leak. Ullman offered to do a test with the leak detector.
Alderman Dr. Zen Duda reported that he is continually planting trees and has hired someone to weed around them and also mulch around them.
Wyatt asked if he planted trees in the buy-out section that is now leased and if was before or after the lease. Duda said he spoke with the lessee and he has offered to water and fertilize the trees.
Duda reported that he purchased both cloth and chain nets for the basketball court. He noted that one of the backboards is damaged and pledged to fix it. He also inquired about using the city paint striper on the court.
Bequette, meanwhile, reported that there have been no issues with the cemetery now that it is being locked at night.
