The legislation passed at Monday's City Council session was relatively uncontroversial. Still, there were a few notables:
There's no longer a cap on public events with alcohol.
Previously, the limit was 12 per year — mostly annual festivals like Cider Days or ArtsFest. Now, any public event with the city manager’s approval may serve alcohol in designated zones downtown and on C-Street, though only for three days in a given week and for 12 hours a day. At the last meeting, the ordinance was amended to raise the maximum allowed ABV from 5% to 8%, and this week council passed it unanimously.
The nuisance code received some revisions.
The updates streamline the process for enforcing code violations and clarifies definitions — for example, distinguishing tents used by children for camping from tents used as impromptu storage units, or defining what exactly constitutes a "vehicle." This ordinance also passed unanimously, with relatively few questions from council.
The City continues to work towards the construction of a new convention center downtown.
Council unanimously passed a resolution to complete the project via the method of ‘construction manager-at-risk' — in which a construction manager oversees a project from design to completion, and is liable for paying the difference if they go over budget. The selection process will start with a published request for qualifications before the City narrows down the applicants to a pool of five.
Council also read a bill to earmark $30 million for the convention center project, as recommended by the Citizens Advisory Board last month. That will come out of the 1/2-cent portion of the city’s 3/4-cent sales tax to match funds the State of Missouri currently has in hold. No members offered any comment. Council is expected to vote on that bill August 25.