Council gives OK for city to seek utility loan

Fulton will be looking to a state program for some financial relief after the city’s natural gas and electricity reserves took a stunning hit during an extreme cold spell in
February.

The Fulton City Council voted 7-0 during its meeting Tuesday night to authorize a resolution and emergency bill for the city to apply for funding through the state’s new Municipal Utility Emergency Loan Program.

Ward 3 councilman Alan Combs was not in attendance at the meeting.

Gov. Mike Parson signed a law May 13 establishing the program, which authorizes the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Energy to distribute up to $50 million in loans. The money would go toward cities across the state that incurred extraordinary electricity and/or natural gas costs Feb. 10-20.

The loans will be available on a first-come, first-served basis and applications can be submitted starting June 2. The council took swift action Tuesday night because its next scheduled meeting isn’t until June 8.

“We put it on the agenda because it’s time sensitive,” Mayor Lowe Cannell said. “We don’t have time, so we had to get it done tonight.”

Fulton is seeking a loan in the amount of $3.3 million to help alleviate the losses to its natural gas and electricity reserves in February. The loan must be paid off in five years.

“The money is going to go right back in the bank,” City Director of Administration Bill Johnson said.

Council members on Tuesday night also heard the third reading of an ordinance and then passed it, amending Chapter 94 of Fulton’s city code by repealing certain sections pertaining to recycling and yard waste, replacing them with new sections and establishing an effective date.

With the changes — which will be implemented July 1 — the city will increase the rental fee for recycling carts from $1 to $2 a month, and all recyclables must be placed inside the carts to be picked up. Recyclables will not be collected or accepted from any customer who does not pay for and use the city-issued recycling carts.

Cannell and other council members asked for a review of the program later in the year to see how it’s working.

The council heard and approved the first reading of three ordinances in regard to zoning. The first two would reclassify tracts of land located at 1205 Old Jefferson City Rd. and 1140 U.S. 54, respectively, in Fulton — from C-3 planned commercial to C-2 commercial — and establish an effective date.

The third ordinance would amend Appendix A, Section 4, on zoning in the city code, repealing certain regulations and enacting new ones, while establishing an effective date.

The second reading of all three ordinances is set for the next council meeting.

Council members heard the second and third readings, and then authorized an ordinance that would approve the withdrawal of the city of Creal Springs in Williamson County, Illinois, and the village of Tamms in Alexander County, Illinois, as members of the Interstate Municipal Gas Agency, which includes Fulton. It would also authorize the execution of a supplement to the agreement establishing the agency.

The council approved a resolution authorizing Cannell to sign all necessary documents relating to a contract with Missouri Petroleum Products Co. LLC, in St. Louis to provide aggregate sealcoat services for an estimated $198,101.72.

Council members also authorized Cannell to sign all necessary documents relating to a settlement of litigation with Thomas Barker.

Under the consent agenda, council members gave their OK to the reappointment of Harold Siebert to the Fulton Housing Authority Commission for a four-year term expiring in May 2025.

The council’s next scheduled meeting is 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 8, at Fulton City Hall.