Olivette council approves subdivision plat, code updates and city contracts; budget gets first reading

Olivette, Mo. ' On June 11 the Olivette City Council voted unanimously to approve a final subdivision plat consolidating two Dolores Avenue properties, adopt municipal-code updates tied to the city's new 2024 comprehensive plan and authorize a set of administrative contracts and reappointments.

The council approved Bill 3025 to record a final subdivision plat that consolidates 1011 and 1013 Dolores Avenue; Carlos Trejo, the city's director of planning and community development, told the council the consolidation is primarily for taxing purposes. "This bill would authorize the mayor and the city clerk to sign the plats to get recorded with St. Louis County," Trejo said.

Council members also approved Bill 3026 and Bill 3027, which update references in the Olivette Municipal Code to the 2024 comprehensive plan across land-use chapters including zoning, subdivision and community-design provisions and administrative references for the Economic Development Commission. Trejo entered the staff memorandum, the current and updated comprehensive plans, the city's zoning map and the affidavit of publication into the public record during the hearing; no public speakers participated.

Finance staff presented the first reading of the FY25 budget, which Mann described as "a roughly $20,000,000 budget" covering departmental operating funds, capital requests and a salary schedule; the council scheduled a second reading and public hearing in two weeks and took no final action on the budget tonight.

On procurement and administrative items, the council:

- Approved Resolution 2024-249 authorizing the city manager to contract with PeopleGuru for payroll and human-resources software after a multi-stage selection process; Mann said the recommended vendor rose to the top of nine initial responses and two finalists.

- Approved a purchase and installation agreement for an on-site video-recording server at the 5 Oaks facility, with hardware from TurnKey Security Solutions (not to exceed $10,000) and additional equipment from a certified-network vendor (not to exceed $1,500). Mann said the police department will retain video feeds while the recording data will be housed at 5 Oaks.

- Reappointed three directors to the Alavitt Gateway Community Improvement District board (Jennifer Yackley, Michael Repinski and Greg Yowitsch), with terms ending June 16, 2028.

- Approved two sets of municipal-code housekeeping changes submitted after the Planning & Community Design Commission's review and accepted meeting minutes from May 28 and June 4.

All motions recorded on these items passed by unanimous vote of the five-member council.

Looking ahead, the council approved a request to submit a five-year map plan to the St. Louis County Boundary Commission (Resolution 2024-250) as a preliminary step should the city pursue future annexation; City Manager Jennifer Yackley noted submission does not obligate the city to annex and said similar submissions were reviewed in 2012 and 2018.

The council then entered an executive session under Missouri statute RSMo ' 610.021 for attorney'client communications and contract negotiations and returned at 8:21 p.m. with no votes taken. The council adjourned following the closed session.

The council will hold the second reading and public hearing on the FY25 budget at its next regular meeting.