St. Peters Aldermen Learn About City Emergency Preparedness

In case of emergency, the city of St. Peters is prepared.

Members of the Board of Aldermen, Mayor Len Pagano and city staff got a tour of the Emergency Operations Center at the Justice Center in between meetings Thursday night.

In the bottom floor of the recently opened Justice Center is St. Peters Emergency Operations Center. The 2,200 square foot center has 29 workstations, a conference room and many other amenities. With five bunkrooms, a kitchen and two bathrooms with showers, workers at the Center can work for days at time.

The city workers got a tour from Director of Emergency Management Sgt. Ed Gilliam.  Gilliam explained the functionality of the room—an entire wall is a white board—and how the one room enables the city to keep working in the event of emergencies.

Gilliam said the city had already used the Center during the winter storms. By using camera to check road conditions and following weather updates from Kansas City and other places West of St. Peters, the city was able to predict and anticipate snowfall.

The Emergency Operations Center is the first built in the St. Louis area in 13 years. St. Charles County has a center, but no city in the county besides St. Peters has its own center. Gilliam said the County workers have come to St. Peters and have been impressed by the state-of-the-art conditions.

During the Board’s work session, the Aldermen got an update on the Salt River Road Project. With the weather warming up, more work is being done to complete the project.

Manager of Public Works Services Russ Batzel said work is nearly done and completion of the project should be done by late June.

Batzel said the landscaping and signage is all done at the Spencer Road/Interstate 370 section. He said pavement markings were still needed and road crews were still working to add an additional lane.

The Board of Aldermen said goodbye to retiring City Clerk Rhonda Shaw and hello to new City Clerk Patricia Smith.

After spending 13 years with the city, Shaw is retiring and moving to Kentucky.  The Board lavished Shaw with praise and gifts for her service at City Clerk since 2000. Board president Tommy Roberts thanked Shaw for being his first friend when he was running for office. Judy Bateman, Ward 2, got emotional over the retirement of her friend.

After honoring Shaw, Mayor Pagano swore in Smith as the new City Clerk. Pagano said this was normally a ceremony done behind closed doors, but he wanted to recognize Smith in a public setting. Shaw said the city was in good hands with the new City Clerk.

“You’re going to be so wonderful,” Shaw said about her successor.

OTHER NOTES

• The BOA approved all three ordinances on the agenda with an 8-0 vote.
• During the work session, the city agreed to use funds from the Natatorium Foundation to pay for a new pool filter that was approved in February. The Foundation is the self-sustaining fund established for the maintenance of the Natatorium. The Foundation started with $2 million in funds, has spent $2 million and still has $2 million.