Council approves SRO renewal, tree-contract extension, solar lighting and culvert design

The Creve Coeur City Council approved several routine but operationally important contracts.

Police Chief Jeff Hartman requested renewal of a three-year School Resource Officer (SRO) agreement with the Parkway School District to continue a long-standing SRO partnership at Parkway Northeast Middle School; staff said the district reimburses roughly 75% of salary and benefits, the officer remains a city employee and the agreement includes provisions to withdraw an officer during an emergency. Chief Hartman named Mike Vakovic as the SRO who will remain assigned to the school.

Public Works Director Jim Hines presented a one-year extension with 1 Vision LLC to supply and plant trees for city projects and the shared-cost street-tree program; Hines said the vendor has supplied good stock and pricing and the extension continues existing relationships.

Hines also presented a contract with Meyer Electric Company for six solar-powered parking-lot lights at Millennium Park for a lump sum of $28,830; council discussed Kelvin ratings (3,000K for residential context versus 4,000K for a parking lot), wildlife/bird considerations and auto-dimming programming. The lights are expected to have an approximately eight-week lead time.

Finally, council approved a not-to-exceed $107,045 contract work order with Wrightson Gens Inc. for final engineering design on the Beaver Drive culvert replacement project, which includes tied-in retaining-wall work and erosion mitigation; staff said construction could begin late 2025 or spring 2026 depending on procurement.

All four items were approved by the council in recorded votes during the meeting.