For the first time in over nine months, Ward 4 has two councilmen representing them at meetings!  This will take some of the burden off of Mr. Connell who has essentially been going it alone since April due to Mr. Em’s  grave illness.  At last night’s meeting Mr. Karl Schoenbeck was appointed to the position by Mayor Counts.  Mr. Crisler expressed his opposition to this appointment at this time, as did Mrs. Deckmann and Mr. Moritz.  Although I never thought it possible, Mr. Crisler is as enamored with his own voice as his mentor Mr. Amato!  It’s amazing what gets passed on along with that baton!

Residents were in attendance to express their opposition to the off-site signs proposed by the Drury Corporation, but the appeal for those items had been removed from the agenda. 

It seems that there are also some concerns over the Ozark Bridge Project, as the engineering firm is asking for a change order because they ran into bedrock and it is going to cost more that originally anticipated.  It was also a shock to them when they had to bring in special equipment to tear out the abutments that according to the city, were falling down.  Workers at the site said the abutments weren’t going anywhere and would have been around another hundred years!  Who knows how much more this will cost?  Our new public works director said the NID has almost been exceeded(he is brand new and I can’t blame him for the fuzzy math that has been applied up to this point, because we all know it has exceeded the NID for quite some time now, they just won’t admit it.)  

Residents were quite upset when a tract of land off of Lonedell Rd. was rezoned as a planned residential development for Mr. Klamert’s new home development.  Although council agreed with their objections, they were legally bound to approve the plans.

Toward the end of the meeting Debbie Lewis called attention to a report that she had distributed to the council.  Basically it stated that they are collecting more sales tax, but because of the pass-through for the TIF they still had to take out over a thousand dollars a month from general funds to make the payments.  So in essence we are still going in the hole on a monthly basis for that project.  Mayor Counts expressed his gratitude that the new Wal-Mart Superstore had its grand opening and the parking lot has been quite full.  He has hopes that this will be the boost we need in sales tax revenue.  I did hear quite a few people express their concerns over the sticker-shock of the tax rate being charged at the new store when they checked out on Wednesday.

There has been an ongoing dispute over the sign that USED to be located in front of Katie’s Custard on Jeffco next to Rockport School that announced the current flavor of the day.  Katie's has noticed a definite decrease in business due to the lack of the sign.  They were notified by the City of Arnold on 9/24/2009 that they had 24 hours to remove their sign or the City of Arnold would remove it for them.  They cited Chapter 20.5, Section 20.5-4, Prohibited Signs,

 or Section 20.5-11 Temporary Signs.  (7) (7)   Temporary signs shall be located no closer than fifteen (15) feet from the driving lane or shoulder of any street or road. No political sign shall be located within the right-of-way of any street or road.  A temporary sign by their definition is: A sign not constructed or intended for long term use. Which the sign in question was not, as it was permanently anchored to the ground, had no wheels and was quite difficult to remove. 

On further investigation it was noted that there a quite a few signs similar to this located at New Hope Church, Immaculate Conception Church, Dylan’s and then of course there are quite a few unsightly signs that definitely are not permanent and are still standing as of today.  Aaron's at 141 and Jeffco, The vegetable stand at Tenbrook and Jeffco, the Jiffy Lube on Jeffco.  Pictures will be posted see what you think

Click on the link to see the pictures:  http://s304.photobucket.com/albums/nn162/Doris_Borgelt/?action=view&current=ca30b941.pbw

Arnold’s new Super Wal-Mart opened with much fanfare on Wednesday October 15, 2009.   Manager Gary Hobbs expressed his appreciation for all who made its opening possible.  Area charities were awarded grants in $1000 and $2000 dollar increments.  First to receive a $1000 grant was Bernie Wilde for the Arnold Historical Society.  Arnold Food Pantry $2000, VFW Post #2593 $1000, Fox C-6 School District, St. Louis Homefront $2000,  Pony Bird Inc. $1000, Rock Community Fire District $1000, Ride On St. Louis $1000 and the Wild Bird Sanctuary $1000.  Representatives from the Wild Bird Sanctuary were on hand along with Liberty, the American Bald Eagle who seemed to be getting a lot of attention.  Seckman Middle School Concert Choir sang the National Anthem to start off the festivities and Pastor Kenny Qualls from First Baptist Church said the opening prayer.  Mayor Counts made a short speech thanking Wal-Mart for their community involvement.  Spied in the crowd were Councilman Jerel Poor, Fox C-6 School Board, Dan Smith and Tom Dixon from the Arnold Chamber of Commerce.

Check out the pictures by copying the link to your browser:  http://s304.photobucket.com/albums/nn162/Doris_Borgelt/?action=view&current=7fc75c19.pbw