TRUMAN– The Truman City Council on Monday heard from Troy Nemmers of Bolton and Menk who went over a review of some work the engineering firm did for the city regarding a DNR grant application. The council had expressed a desire to delve into the matter at its last meeting on Oct. 21.

On Monday Nemmers explained that as he understood it, the city had reached out to the county EDA (CEDA- Community and Economic Development Authority) and then CEDA reached out to Bolton and Menk for additional help on the paperwork to apply for a grant through the DNR.

“We became more and more involved and ended up preparing a pretty significant portion of the grant application,” Nemmers said.

He said in total it was a 60 page grant application that was fairly “involved” and required a lot of information on environmental matters and ADA compliance.

“There was some things that evolved that maybe wasn’t talked about when you were talking about doing pickleball or the campground as stand-alone projects,” Nemmers said.

Mayor Jake Ebert said he was under the impression that with the city’s contract with CEDA it was given a number of hours every year. He questioned where that time was going.

Nemmers said that the hours he was referring to, about 12 a month, were billed at a reduced rate but anything beyond that is billed at the regular rate.

Council Member Ron Kelley said he didn’t blame Bolton and Menk but felt that CEDA should have been more upfront about the process.

“CEDA came in and said they were going to write a grant for us. I wish they would have given a heads up… they misrepresented themselves in my opinion,” Kelley said.

Council Member Patty Truax added that the city had already had a plan drawn up for the pickleball court and campground and Kelley said that’s why he was surprised when the city received a bill for it.

Council Member Chris Mosloski asked how much the city could receive from the grant and Nemmers said he believed it was up to $350,000 with a 50 percent match.

Kelley asked if going forward Nemmers could keep the council informed on what’s being billed for and Nemmers said he would.

Next, Nemmers put in pay request number five for $500,000 which is the work completed by Bolton and Menk to date on some projects at the Jones Subdivision. The council approved of the request.

Next, Utility Foreman Brent Brown went over the proposed 2025 utility budgets. Brown shared information with the council on some of the bigger projects and some equipment that needs to be replaced, as well as budgeted revenues and expenditures.

Brown also shared with the council some information on an incoming reimbursement from FEMA for the flooding in the summer.

“They’re going to reimburse us just about $13,000. It includes the rental fee for the pump, fuel and a lot of our labor and some administrative costs,” Brown said.

On Monday the council also discussed excess police department equipment, which was added to the agenda as the dissolvent of the Truman Police Department is new within the last month. Some items mentioned include vehicles, computers, desks and weapons– all of which the city owns.

“We gave the Sheriff’s Office a list of questions… but haven’t got that back yet. All of this stuff is so fresh,” Ebert said.

He said some of the files he assumes the county will want but that there were other items the city needs to deal with.

The council will be holding a special meeting on Nov. 12 to go over some matters, mainly the campground planning.