Monday, August 27, 2012
Public Works chairman Keith Robertson suggested combining all the city functions at what is now the rec center in a discussion on the future of the Brentwood Recreation Complex.
The Aug. 20 Brentwood Board of Aldermen meeting started an hour early to devote time to hopefully come closer to a decision on the Brentwood Recreation Center. The recreation center is decades old and in need of repair. The city is attempting to decide what to do with the building. The process has taken years. The Brentwood Public Works Committee: chairman Keith Robertson, Andy Leahy, Cindy Manestar and Maureen Saunders talked through the subject with Mayor Pat Kelly and other aldermen, and in the end, the entire board passed a motion similar to the agreement made at the Public Works Committee meeting on Aug. 8. Public Works Committee chairman Keith Robertson began by saying the committee discussed the possibility of combining the …
Thursday, August 23, 2012
A proposal to use comment cards in Board of Aldermen meetings were in five of the weekly city administrator’s reports.
It seems the concern about residents needing to fill out comment cards before speaking in a Brentwood Board of Aldermen meeting was unfounded. It was reported on Aug. 10 in Maplewood-Brentwood Patch that City Administrator Bola Akande had made the suggestion. In the Aug. 20 Board of Alderman meeting, mayor Pat Kelly said they won’t be used in Board of Aldermen meetings. “I don’t like them,” he said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate.” He said the Public Safety Committee had started using comment cards, and City Administrator Bola Akande took the initiative to propose using them for Board of Aldermen meetings. Alderwoman Cindy Manestar, by email on Wednesday, said the suggestion was included in the weekly (every Friday) city administrator’s …
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
The city attorney convinced them their July 16 vote wasn't good enough.
The Brentwood Board of Aldermen came to the Aug. 20 meeting with a revised agenda. An item to end health care benefits for elected officials by ordinance was on the table. The board voted in the July 16 meeting to end the health care benefit, but it was not an ordinance. Alderwoman Maureen Saunders immediately moved to remove the item and send it back to the ways and means committee. Alderwoman Cindy Manestar seconded it. Saunders said Alderman Tom Kramer, at the Aug. 7 ways and means committee meeting, brought forward the idea of ending the benefit by ordinance, instead of letting it end as a result of the July 16 vote. Kramer said he had been contacted by more than one attorney after the July 16 vote to end the benefit, and he contacted …
Monday, August 20, 2012
The Brentwood alderwoman doesn't like a proposal that department heads report to the city administrator and not committees.
Brentwood Ward 2 alderwoman Cindy Manestar sent her constituents an email on what she called a "hot topic." In the Aug. 13 email newsletter, which was forwarded to Patch and she gave permission to use, Manestar expressed a concern about changes to Brentwood's organizational structure that she said does not meet its current codes. Instead of department heads reporting to a committee, they will report to the city administrator. "This drastic structure change would alter the duties and responsibilities of each level of government within our city and minimalize the role of the board of aldermen. It would remove the board from involvement in certain steps and processes that we currently oversee," she stated in her newsletter. “So if you sum …
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Some new ideas came up, including moving city hall functions and the library to the rec center, and moving the police department back to the old City Hall.
If you’re a Brentwood resident, hopefully sooner rather than later, expect a concise survey on your opinions for a new recreation center. That was the result of the Brentwood public works committee’s discussion on Aug. 8. Committee chair Keith Robertson laid out the known facts, then added the possibility of including city hall functions into the new rec center, including the library. “Accounting sense, it doesn’t make sense to have city hall any longer, where it is and the way it functions now,” he said. Maureen Saunders said she’d like to go back to the residents with a survey. She said the gym and the pool would be cost-prohibitive. She said she’d like to see a rec center for teens. “Alderman Kramer has been championing a gym. What sort…
Thursday, August 9, 2012
The city currently has no regulations, and the public works committee agreed to have regulations drawn up by city staff, to go to planning and zoning.
A food truck debate has raged for months in Maplewood, but on Wednesday, with little fanfare, Brentwood took the first step to allowing them on a regular basis. Public Works Committee members Andy Leahy, Cindy Manestar, Keith Robertson and Maureen Saunders approved a motion Wednesday to send a proposal to planning and zoning to allow food trucks, with regulations. City planner Ellen Rottjakob said the city has had requests for food trucks, and so far they’ve been handled with a special use permit. "The increased demand for food trucks in communites is something that's been in the news," she said. "Communities that surround us have taken action and our current ordinance does not really provide much guidance." She said the planning and …
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Kelly defended the city-paid benefit and himself in an acrimonious meeting where he was told more than once to resign.
The Brentwood Board of Aldermen voted Monday night to end city-paid health care for elected officials, a benefit that has been maligned by many residents and one vocal alderwoman. The decision follows exposure from Fox 2 News, including an interview with Mayor Pat Kelly at City Hall. The motion by Alderwoman Maureen Saunders passed in a 4-3 vote minus Alderman Andy Leahy, who recused himself and stormed out of the room saying his vote would be “tainted.” There was some back-and-forth between Leahy and Saunders, but it wasn’t clear what Leahy meant by the word. (Keep up with all the Brentwood news, get Maplewood-Brentwood Patch free in your inbox every day.) “It’s just a shame they didn’t end (the health insurance benefit) at the beginning…
Friday, May 25, 2012
The Board of Alderman approved the purchase at a recent meeting.
The Brentwood Board of Aldermen approved the purchase of thirteen sets of structural turnout gear — the protective clothing worn by firefighters — at its May 21 meeting at city hall. The new gear, which costs $31,980, will replace items that are 20 years old. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends replacement of turnout gear for front-line firefighters every five years. However no one — including Mayor Pat Kelly or new Brentwood Fire Chief Ted Jury — knows the reason for the lengthy delay in purchasing the protective clothing for the department. Brentwood Fire Department has 21 firefighters; 13 are also licensed paramedics. “For budgetary purposes, we replaced the worst sets of the old gear,” Jury said. “But we have …
38.618496
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Brentwood City Hall
2348 S Brentwood Blvd, Brentwood, MO
/articles/after-20-years-brentwood-fire-department-to-get-new-turnout-gear
1427354
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38.617896
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Brentwood Fire Department
8756 Eulalie Ave, Brentwood, MO
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Thursday, May 10, 2012
No excuse for incorrect meeting minutes anymore - just check YouTube!
The newest members of the Brentwood Board of Aldermen, in city hall, will have a distinction not shared by the more experienced board members: every one of the meetings they attend will be recorded and posted to YouTube. The meeting Patrick Toohey, Cindy Manestar and Maureen Saunders were sworn in, April 16, was the first one uploaded to the video social-networking site. Kevin McCarthy, who was once Brentwood’s director of communications, records each meeting with five video cameras: front (directed at the podium), rear (directed most of the time at the mayor, but can pan), two side cameras (directed at each side of the aldermen), and a camera just for documents, when they are used in a meeting. McCarthy is a contract employee for the city…
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Manestar has lived in Brentwood her whole life. She's been a PTO president, and now is ready to take her community service up a notch.
Maplewood-Brentwood Patch sat down for a cup of coffee with Cindy Manestar in Ray’s Doughnuts the day after her first Brentwood Board of Alderman meeting. Manestar ran uncontested for the open Ward 2 seat on April 3. Patch learned she’s open, honest and about as Brentwood it comes. She took few out-of-town detours between growing up on Bridgeport Avenue and winning a seat on the Brentwood Board of Aldermen. “I’ve lived in Brentwood basically my whole life,” she said. “I married my high school sweetheart, Jeff Manestar. Bought a house over on Annalee, live there 12 years, then we moved to Rosalie.” Jeff Manestar is a sergeant with the Brentwood Police Department. She graduated from Brentwood High School in 1984. Her first date with Manestar…
RDBet
9:35 am on Monday, August 27, 2012
What to do with these two city properties is a tough call, made tougher by the dynamics at city hall. A residents survey will only show what the others have shown - varied opinions , not all practical and realistic, No consensus. This may be a case where it makes sense to defer these decisions until later - and focus on other matters for now. more ›