Department Reports: Water / Wastewater Brandon Craig, Supt

Lake is 22 inches low. Fluid Equipment was here to do the yearly maintenance and checks on all of our pumping equipment at the treatment plant and lake pump house.

Cold weather has kept us busy with winterization and equipment maintenance, as needed.

Working on start-up for WIMS program. This has included setting up spreadsheets for our reports and training meetings weekly.

Replaced the light above the bulk water fill station.

Working on adjusting scaling for water tower levels.

West altitude valve is currently down and nonoperable. Working on getting it repaired or replaced.

Completed end of year I & I reports for all four lagoons. о Received a new operating permit for the North Lagoon.

Wastewater Treatment Plant and Pump Stations Project Next construction progress meeting for the WWTP will be held on February 12th.

Continued work on headworks building, garage, Aero-Mod clarifier baffles, and site piping.

Water Distribution / Wastewater Collection System construction & maintenance Repaired a leak in the 300 block of 23rd St. Terrace. Replaced 5 feet of 4inch water main and a customer connection.

Repaired a leak on a 4inch water main in the 200 block of West 20th Street.

Responded to a sewer back-up near 31st and Cherry. Cleared the blockage and chemically treated for tree roots.

Repaired a leak on a 4inch water main in the 1900 block of Spruce.

Installed a new water service at 1008 West 22nd St.

Repaired a leak on a 4inch water main at 26th and Walnut.

Responded to several frozen water meters and pipes during the frigid temperatures.

Returned to several recent dig locations to address settling.

Street Department Mark Kays – Supt

General – We continue our weekly run of downtown trash and recycling. Crews have found more limbs and debris in which they picked up. The catch basins were at least partially cleaned during the limb search.

I spoke with the representative for our new dump truck and the final parts for the upfit are still not in. We have only completed routine maintenance with a couple of pieces of equipment. Crews are now updating and fixing signs identified during the sign checking schedule. The limbs and brush at our burn site were pretty well cleaned up last week.

We also cleaned up the area where the road was built to get to it. Last fall we had several issues with the patcher not building up enough air pressure. Crews have replaced most of the air hoses, due to residue build-up within. We believe this will make it perform better from here forward. Both the backhoe and the loader had issues that were resolved by our own efforts.

Compost – The leaf collector only went out one day last week and two loads of leaves were picked up. The Saturday portion for citizens to bring compost to our facility is scheduled to start again in April.

Cemetery – There was one burial this period. We picked up a few flowers that were blown around. A couple of graves were redressed prior to the freezing temperatures.

Street Work – The broom bucket was out last week and cleaned a couple of areas. In preparations for the snow event, more street cut areas were releveled.

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Winter Event – There was a winter event this last period. The event was totally within the weekend, and most efforts were completed during that time. Monday, we started the finish up and clean up portion. One truck continued patrolling for additional efforts in some spots. There were some repairs necessary after completion, and those repairs are still in process. It was nice to have the second spreader for this event.

EMS Douglas Kenney, Dir

January EMS responses to date: 121 90 were treated/transported, 19 refused transport, 9 were cancelled, 5 LRHC E-Transfers, 8 Mutual Aid, 1 DOA Med 2 responses: 14 #300 responses: 24 Staffing Status: 4 FT Paramedics, 2 FT EMTS: (Fully Staffed), 8 PT Paramedics and 8 PT EMTs.

Fleet Status: current mileage: Car #300: 93,410 Car #301: 115,194 Ambulance #35: 200,763 Ambulance #32: 222,399 Department Activities/News: Jan 17th, we held our annual staff meeting/holiday party at my house. Several full & part-time employees +1 attended. We enjoyed some fun, service and staff statistics, as well as important updates and information. I want to express a Huge Thank You to my wife, Cyndi, for the wonderful meal provided to all 16 of us.

Jan 20th, I attended an Emergency Management meeting in Sedalia, hosted by SEMA & Pettis County EMA. I still have lots to learn and do with this new position. I am grateful to those assisting me.

I attended the Mo River CIT meeting held at Compass Health. I offered our training room for future meeting location, due to room availability/IT issues at Compass. They were grateful and accepted the invitation.

I also attended the CERT meeting at our station. Among things discussed were leadership changes, CERT utilization improvements and the need to recruit more volunteers for the team.

Jan 21st, The CERT truck received recall repairs at Hoflander Ford. I am now managing its maintenance with the help of Darla.

Jessica and I set in our monthly zoom meeting with EMSMC. Billing seems to be going well, with improved reimbursement over previous years. The government shut down delayed some Medicare payments, but those are picking back up.

Jan 22nd, 4 of us on duty, sat in on a 90 min pediatric cardiac arrest zoom training from Prodigy. Dr Antevy was the leading presenter.

Jan 23rd, Ambulance #32 received preventative maintenance, including oil change and front tire rotation.

Jan 26th, Ambulance #35 was taken out of service and returned to Precision Diesel for reoccurring starting issues. As of yesterday, the issue has been diagnosed, but the part is proving to be difficult to locate.

Jan 27th, I attended a 4hour training on the nation Traffic Incident Management system. The goal of the course is for nationwide improvement of responder safety and roadway clearance during various roadway incidents, including vehicle crashes.

Electric / IT / GIS Ron Kumm, Sup’t

Electric Production MOPEP Energy Consumption for December

2025 Peak: 8,300 kW on December 13, with a temperature of 34 degrees. Low: 3,800 kW on December 19, with a temperature of 54 degrees. Total energy usage for December 4,717,600 kw.

Last year, December 2024 Peak: 8,703 kW on December 12, with a temperature of 26 degrees. Low: 3,027 kW on December 15, with a temperature of 54 degrees.

Total energy usage for December 4,003,387kw.

The LTC (Load Tap Changer) motor failed on the East substation 69 kv to 12,470 kv transformer; the oil was drained, cleaned housing, oil, replaced the motor, and refilled with clean oil. Put back into service.

Police Department Tom Long, Chief

The Police department is working on closing out its reports for 2025. Kyla has been working on the Department’s end of the year Racial Profiling and Crime statistics data to submit to the state. For 2025, the Department handled 8479 incidents. We performed 1485 traffic stops and investigated 61 traffic crashes.

From 1-14-26 to 1-2826, the Department handled 219 calls for service.

We have received the required training courses from MIRMA that all officers must complete online. Everyone has begun taking these during the inclement weather.

The latest winter storm went by without any major incidents.

I continue to assist Candy with the transition of Dispatch. The renovations to the new building continue, and it should be ready for the move shortly. Big thank you to the Electric Department for their assistance, as well.

I will begin going through the Departments SOP manual and updating policies and procedures. as needed, as some of them are out of date.

The Department is currently fully-staffed. Parking issues continue to be addressed as needed.

Bldg, Plan & Zoning Sandra Stephens, Dir

Total building permits in 2026: 14 Building Permit Applications: January 15, 2026 through January 28, 2026 Total Inspections this period: I performed 8 building inspections, 1 code enforcement inspection, and two construction consultations. I assisted Mr. Kays in locating property line boundary markers on one property for a fence installation. I performed one business occupancy inspection in preparation for their opening.

Of Note: The footings for the new houses at 301 and 303 W. 18th Street have been poured. The footings for three residential storage buildings at 7420 Hwy 13 have also been poured. Inside work at the new fire station is progressing. I have received a site plan application and drawings for a new diesel pump island addition to the Caseys at 6685 Hwy. 13 Blvd. I have also been in conversation with a design representative for the Pilot Travel Center for an interior remodel.

There has been no further progress at the Pinecrest Apartments.

With the weather, things are a little slow this time of year. I have started preparing the annual backflow prevention assembly testing reminders which will go out next month.

Candy Wing Dispatch Dir

Between 1/15/26 and 1/27/26, Higginsville Central Dispatch answered a total of 1911 phone calls. 439 of those were 911 emergency calls. 1472 came in on the administrative phone lines.

During that same time period, the Dispatch Center dispatched Lafayette County agencies to 1406 calls for service. The busiest day in the Dispatch Center was Friday, December 16th, with 125 incidents opened in that 24-hour period. All full-time Dispatchers took 2 online training courses to be able to monitor and search License Plate Readers for Law Enforcement.

A support beam was put in the new Dispatch building on Friday January 23rd. Drywall work is being finished, and carpet has been ordered to get the building move-in ready.