Gainesville City council met Dec. 10

Council members Treva Warrick, Lana Bushong, Dana Crisp and Renee Schmucker were present at the Dec. 10 Gainesville City Council meeting.  Teri Edades was absent.

Request for variance to place septic

During an open forum session, Michelle Vivero, a real estate agent, spoke on behalf of Amber and Roy Shrewsberry, who are purchasing lots 1, 2 and 4 in the Wildwood subdivision in the Gainesville City limits. Another person currently owns lot 3 in that subdivision, they said. Michelle said that the Shrewsberrys are asking for a variance of a city ordinance that would allow them to put in a septic tank on the property in lieu of using the city’s sewer system. 

Vivero said she visited City Hall the week before to discuss the situation with employees, and they had come up with a solution to get water to the property, but sewer was more difficult.

“The cost is prohibitive from both the city perspective and from their perspective, trying to get sewer from where it’s at over to this property. The suggestion that was offered up was to ask for a variance, and so that’s what we’re asking for,” Vivero said. 

Maintenance Supervisor Mike Davis added: “It is a long ways to where they would have to cross, I think, three different properties to get to the city sewer. This is probably 700 feet away, and it goes down hill and then it would have to be pumped back up the hill to the sewer line.”

Vivero and Davis said that it would require a city lift station. 

Davis said that the homeowners will also need to get a percolation test (also known as a “perc” test) and talk to the Ozark County Health Department to make sure the septic tank would comply with all regulations before it was placed. 

Later during the meeting, the council voted unanimously to grant the variance for the Shewsberrys to install a septic tank on the property if they are 100 percent in compliance with health department regulations and get the perc test. 

Fire department report

Gainesville Fire Chief Kevin Piland gave a fire department report, saying that in the month since the last meeting, the VFD had responded to 21 medical calls, six crashes, six structure fires and one brush fire. 

He said that the fire department has also been training people how to handle different calls. He said they have also held trainings with the firetrucks. The more recent trainings have been held at the firehouse and at the old firehouse’s parking lot, which is city-owned. The trainings were for emergency drivers and smoke operations. 

Piland said he also ordered new batteries for the fire department’s ladder truck, as the old batteries were almost seven years old, and the ladder truck had to be kept on a battery charger to start. He said the cost was a little over $500 for two batteries. 

Piland said he was still working on getting fire department shirt bids, so that discussion was tabled for another meeting. 

He said that he registered the fire department with the State Fire Marshal’s office for 2025. 

Mayor Gail Reich announced that the city had received a mailed donation for $1,000 for the fire department and an accompanying letter from Jack Pahlmann, made in honor of his late wife, Inez (see page 1). 

OCSD/city report

Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Sherman, the liaison between the city and the sheriff’s department, which provides contracted law enforcement in the city limits, gave a quick report. 

He said that the Wonders of Christmas on the Gainesville square festival went very well as far as the sheriff’s department was concerned.

He also said that Ozark County’s Shop with a Cop program was scheduled for the following Saturday (Dec. 14). See next week’s edition for an article on that program.

The mayor complimented Sherman on the black cowboy hats that the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department officers have recently been wearing. Sherman said the hats were donated to the department. 

Maintenance report

Davis gave a maintenance report, saying things were a little slow as he was out on vacation last month and then was out sick with pneumonia. 

He said he ordered a sign that says “maintenance ends here” at the council’s request, along with two stop signs to replace one that was run over and another one was stolen. 

Water report

Jessi Price was not at the meeting, therefore there was not a full water report given, but Davis said that there wasn’t a lot to report. They were planning on fixing a leak the day following the city council meeting. 

Wastewater treatment report

Davis said that the wastewater treatment facility has a solenoid that has been out, but they’ve struggled to find one to replace it. Jerry Jackson, who is contracted to help the city with the wastewater treatment facility, told them about a worker who could help. They found another company to buy the solenoid, but it would cost over $800, whereas the other man would charge half. They decided to wait. 

Saddle Club contract

Goodnight said that she spoke with Kerrie Zubrod from the Gainesville Saddle Club about the contract the city attorney drafted up as an agreement between the city and saddle club for the club to use the city-owned property where the arena currently sits. 

Kerrie said that she was going to look for an old contract, and Goodnight said that someone did bring in the older contract, but that it was not signed. She said that the saddle club was scheduled to have a meeting at the same time as the city council meeting, so she wondered if they would discuss it further then. 

Airport sign request

Beau Friese with Bargain Bin in Gainesville submitted a request to have the two airport signs that are still installed on property where the airport once stood.

The airport was closed in 2022 when the City of Gainesville traded a large portion of what encompassed the airport (located directly across High School Drive from the high school) with the school’s land that the city leased for the city’s Hoerman Memorial Park. 

Last year the city agreed to give Friese a larger sign at the airport, and it has been mounted on the Bargain Bin building. 

The council members said they would not have a problem giving Friese the sign, but because the two signs are mounted on the school’s land, they believe the school may own them. Bushong said she would talk to Superintendent Justin Gilmore about it and let Beau know what she finds out. 

Banking

Goodnight said that a Century Bank of the Ozarks representative said that the bank did not get a signed  depository contract, pledge agreement and a certified copy of the resolution. She said she would email the documents and have the city attorney read through them before signing.

Tree trimming bids

Davis said that he received tree trimming bids to trim the dead parts of a tree that is hanging over a city street and causing branches to fall onto the street. Grave’s Tree Service submitted a bid for $800, and Larry Meadows quoted $350 to remove the portion of the tree and mulch the remnants. The council voted unanimously to accept Larry Meadows bid and hired him for the job. 

Closed session

The city council went into closed session, citing the hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting employees. 

Goodnight said that there was no vote taken during closed session, therefore nothing that can be reported.