SHINE A LIGHT ON CITY GOVERNMENT

Friends & Neighbors,

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. My wife and I finally got out of the house by driving down to Johnson Shut-ins State Park and then back north to Crawford County to visit friends over a pizza.

Here are few things I thought you would want to know:

Municipal Elections are next Tuesday, June 2. There are three Dardenne Prairie Aldermen who are running for re-election unopposed: Dave Wandling in Ward 1; Justin Ungerboeck in Ward 2; and Dan Koch in Ward 3. Also on the ballot for Dardenne Prairie voters are 6 annexations. I urge you to vote yes for each of these annexations. These properties are little islands of unincorporated St. Charles County located within subdivisions or on the edge of Dardenne Prairie. The property owners benefit from our City services, such as police and trash pick-up and street repairs. It is basic fair play that those who benefit from the taxpayers of Dardenne Prairie pay their fair share. The tax burden for City property tax is very small, probably averaging about $50 or 60 per year. In order to bring these islands into the city limits there must be a majority of city voters who vote YES and a majority of voters registered at the property to be annexed to vote Yes as well. Some of those voters may decide to skip the vote or vote yes. If, however, a registered voter residing at the property to be annexed votes NO, the annexation will fail.

The Dardenne Prairie Athletic Complex Project is proceeding on Schedule. The City was given ownership of the 4.5 acres comprising the existing baseball fields next to City Hall. We thank the Board of Directors of the Dardenne Athletic Association, a non-profit organization that built the fields and ran youth baseball and softball in Dardenne Prairie since the early 1950’s, for their generosity and their vision of a better future. The City will now have 6.5 acres on which to build the Athletic Complex, consisting of 2 existing fields to be refurbished, a new field, new restrooms, storage rooms, new LED lights, a walking trail around the complex; at least 2 pickleball courts; a maintenance building to store City vehicles and equipment; and a larger PAVED parking lot.

The City completed its financing of the project by the sale of Certificates of Participation by which the City was loaned funds for the project to be repaid over 15 years. Today we issued the Invitation for Bids for construction work. The Bids are due by June 17. We expect to award construction contracts by July 1 and work should begin on July 15 and be complete by April 1, 2021 in time for the Spring Baseball Season.

Recovery from Covid 19 Shutdown. Businesses are back in operation, except JC Penney. Restaurants are open for dining as well as carry out. As you may know, JC Penney filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 which will enable the company to restructure and continue in business. The JC Penney store at Town Square was doing fairly well and we hope the company decides to keep our Penney’s store. Please make a point of patronizing our Dardenne Prairie businesses.

Youth Baseball and Softball. The spring season was delayed 2 months but is now scheduled to begin next Monday, June 1. We are excited to see the kids back at play. The New Horizon League has adopted some special rules to encourage social distancing and we will be keeping an eye on things. The bleachers have been removed and parents and other spectators are encouraged to bring their own chairs to enable them to maintain social distances.

Summer Concerts in the Park. Dardenne Prairie opened the summer concert season on May 15. We plan to hold concerts on the third Friday of each month through August. Check out the details on the City’s website.

City has a new website. We redesigned the City website (dardenneprairie.org). It is going to be fully operational on June 1. Check it out!!

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Aldermen is Wednesday, June 3. The work session begins at 6:00 PM and the business meeting begins at 7:00 PM. We provide seating for the public that maintains social distance. The next Planning & Zoning Commission meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 10 at 7:00 PM. All meetings are at Dardenne Prairie City Hall at 2032 Hanley Road.

“Shine a Light on City Government”

DAVID C. ZUCKER
Mayor,
City of Dardenne Prairie, MO
636-755-5306