So You May Be Willing To Serve On a City Citizen Committee / Here’s What You Might Want to Know 

By Pauline Masson – 

There’s a lot of talk these days about vacancies on the citizen committees.

Some aldermen and social media mavens say they want to fix it. If the citizens who are willing to serve would just send their contact information to an aldermen they’d get the committees filled.

This is a bit misleading. The aldermen can only appoint citizens to the tourism commission. On all other committees, commissions and boards, only the mayor can appoint.

Citizen committees are: Planning & Zoning, Park Board, History Committee, Tourism Committee, Board of Adjustment, and a former Cemetery Committee that may be reactivated.

To those, citizens who are saying they might be interested in serving, here are brief descriptions of the make up and duties of citizen committees taken from the city’s municipal code.

PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION

The Planning & Zoning Commission consists of five, soon to be seven, citizen members appointed by the Mayor and approved by the Aldermen, and one non-voting alderman liaison, appointed by Aldermen. Term of office for citizen members is four years. 

P&Z meets at City Hall at 7:00 pm the second and fourth Tuesday of the month as needed.

During its meetings that are open to the public, this board reviews zoning issues, applications for building permits, reviews and rules on applications for use permits, inspects buildings, structures, premises and use of land to determine compliance with the provisions of city code and performs final development plan review. Recommendation from all reviews are forwarded to the board of aldermen for action.

There is currently one (1) open seat on P&Z. To serve contact Mayor Heather Filley at [email protected]

PARK BOARD

The Park Board consists of five citizen members, soon to be increased to seven, appointed by the Mayor and approved by Aldermen, and one non-voting alderman liaison, appointed by Aldermen. Term of office for citizen members is three years.

The Park Board of Directors serve as an advisory board to the Board of Aldermen. Although recommendations are not binding, the board of aldermen cannot spend money on the parks until the park board studies the expenditure and makes a recommendation.

Duties include overseeing the Parks budget to determine improvement projects within the scope of available funds. Reviewing and approving use and rental of park pavilions and fields. Approving public events to be held in the parks.

The Park Board meets at City Hall at 7:00 pm the second Monday of the month.

There are currently no vacancies on the Park Board but there may soon two seats open as board size is increased 5 to 7 members. To serve contact Mayor Heather Filley at [email protected]  

HISTORY COMMITTEE

The Meramec Valley Historical Society consists of consists of five citizen members, in the process of being increased to seven, appointed by the Mayor and approved by Aldermen, and one non-voting alderman who is appointed by Aldermen to serve as liaison to the board. Term of office for citizen memers is three years.

This committee has collected a trove of local history memorabilia, amassed and maintained a vast family history archive and collection of local history books, and assisted in planning and organizing the exhibits at the City History Museum soon to open in the Red Cedar Inn building.

The History Committee meets at 5;00 pm the second Wednesday of the month – probably at Red Cedar building after it opens.

There are currently no vacancies on the History Committee, but by increasing the committee from five to seven, there will soon be two (2) open seats . To serve contact Mayor Heather Filley at [email protected]  

TOURISM COMMISSION

The Tourism Commission was established by state statute and city ordinance, to collect a tax from guests at the local hotels and motels to be used for the purpose of attracting tourists to the city.

The commission consists of of five members appointed by the Board of Aldermen. Of these five members, one must be a representative of the hotel and motel industry, two must be active in the tourism industry and the remaining members must be members of local general business interests in the City or any County within which the City is located. One non-voting member of the Board of Aldermen serves as liaison.

Duties include administering the tourism funds within the limits of the budget approved by the Board of Aldermen. No expenditure from the Tourism Fund can be approved by the Board of Aldermen before submission of the expenditure to the Tourism Commission for a recommendation to the Board of Aldermen.

The Tourism Commission meets at City Hall at 3:30 pm the second Tuesday of the month.

There are currently no vacancies on the Tourism Committee that could change in November when two terms expire.. To serve contact any alderman.

BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT 

The Board of Adjustment consists of five members, who must be be residents of the City and appointed by the Mayor and approved by Aldermen.The term of office of the members is five years.

The board hears and decides appeals where it is alleged there is error in any order, requirement, decision or determination made by an administrative official in the enforcement of the city municipal code. 

The board also has authority to vary or modify the application of regulations or provisions of the municipal code relating to the construction or alteration of buildings or structures or the use of land so that the spirit of the code is observed, public safety and welfare secured and substantial justice done.

With a vote of four of it five members, this board also has authority to reverse any order, requirement or determination of any such administrative official or to decide in favor of the applicant on any matter upon which it is required to pass under the municipl code.

The Board of Adjustment meets as needed.

There are currently three (3) open seats on the Board of Adjustment. To serve contact Mayor Heather Filley at [email protected]

CEMETERY COMMITTEE

NOW INACTIVE AND UNDER STUDY TO BE REACTIVATED

It should be stated that in my thirty years as a reportrer here, no city committee has completed more projects to benefit the city and families of individuals interred in the cemeteries than the former Cemetery Committee. 

They completed hand-drawn maps of the two cemeteries – City Cemetery and Resurrection Hill Cemetery – identifying empty grave sites and listing the names and death dates of individual interred in occupied sites and crafted a spread sheet that could be used to locate a burial by the name of the deceased or the date of death. 

They tracked down living descendants of those interred in the cemeteries, and wrote letters asking for donations to improve the cemeteries.They spent the funds to mend some broken stones, repair the sagging metal fence that surrounds the City Cemetery and constructed wooden gazebos with benches in both cemeteries for those visiting family grave sites to rest. 

They walked the cemeteries to locate the graves of all veterans and made those locations available to the Boy Scouts who place flags there on patriotic holidays.

And they fielded correspondence from residents, local and across the country, who had ancesters buried here, located the grave sites and, when asked, guided visiting relatives to the grave sites.

Anyone interested in this committee being reactivated is urged to contact any alderman.

NOTE: Meeting times and dates were taken from agenda of the past year posted on the city’s web page. There appear to be some variations that are probably due to the committee having no business on some dates, or calling special meetings. To confirm or verify any info here, log onto the city’s web page at https://www.pacificmissouri.com