Bourbon Board of Aldermen on Feb. 24 approved an ordinance that prevents new businesses from obtaining a business license if they have the slot-style games.

In federal court, it was determined on Feb. 13 that the “gray market” slot-style games operated in some of Missouri’s establishments, like convenience stores, bars and restaurants, were illegal since they are unregulated gambling devices and not constituted as a game of skill.

City Attorney Robert Davis said that he was asked by the aldermen sponsoring Bill No. 226-1, if a moratorium could be made on the issuance of business licenses for those coming with gaming machines.

“So, as far as the existing machines, I’m going to tell you right now, you can fire me, because I’m not going to do anything about it, because I think this law preempts the city from regulating. I think it’s all in the jurisdiction of the state,” Davis said.

Nathan Beers, owner of The Vault & Co., LLC, is worried about his business when the time comes to renew his license, since he has a few of the gaming machines there. The board doesn’t currently have an answer for him.

A motion was approved to pass Bill No. 226-1 as Ordinance 830, with a 3-1 vote, Alderman Ward 1 John Nelson against.

Bill No. 226-2, now Ordinance No. 831, was passed with a 4-0 vote, which had Bourbon adopt and enact all of last year’s state laws that related to Missouri municipalities.

Alderman Ward 1 Margie Brine presented an issue that was brought to her by a local resident.

“I’m sorry, but I’m one of the few people in this community that I probably know five people. Lived here since 1998, and I worked for a living, so I can’t tell you who it was,” Brine said.

A community member asked Brine about trash cans in the commuter lot, so she drove there to check it out, and the trash was either frozen in the trash container or on the ground.

“I have a couple comments I want to make, and I probably don’t know half the story. First off, I thought the state was supposed to take care of the commuter parking lot,” Brine said. “So the next question is, why are we putting a trash container on something that the state’s supposed to be running?”

Heywood explained that Bourbon has a trash pickup day on the first weekend of May to help kick off the tourism season. The commuter lot is always a spot where they have to clean up a lot of trash, so the boosters bought eight cans for the city, and two were placed at the commuter lot.

Brine mentioned there was another problem with the trash cans.

“Just based on what I saw there, people are bringing trash. I mean, this isn’t stuff they’re taking out of their car,” Brine said. “So my question is, do we want some extra trash cans in the city?”

It was decided that the trash cans at the commuter lot would be picked up and only put out for special events.

Bourbon Economic Development Group (BEDG) Board of Directors member Chuck Ray shared about the special waste collection that will be operated by Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) on June 27 at the one-acre lot across from Dollar General, owned by the BEDG.

“We will be holding the special waste collection. MRPC, the Ozark River Solid Waste Management District, will bring a 30 or 40 foot trailer with a bunch of containers for different classifications of waste, whether it’s appliances, tires, electronics or so forth,” Ray said. “There will be a charge for people to do that.”

Their main concern is traffic control. They plan to make it  “one way in, one way out” to help reduce this problem.

“Before I forget it, I have invited the American Legion Post to do a fundraiser where they get all the benefits, selling some barbecue to the crowd that day,” Ray said.

Alderman Ward 2 Mary Heywood asked Street Supervisor Mark McEuen if, since the city has a new boom truck, he would be putting the Bourbon banner up?

McEuen explained that it is possible, but they won’t because they have been having some issues with the boom truck, and he doesn’t trust it.

It was decided that the board would try to contact Crawford Electric to try to place the banners.

McEuen added that he needed some snowplow blades replaced, but it might put him over his spending budget. Even though he doesn’t have prices back on them, the board approved a motion for him to be able to purchase them with a 4-0 vote.

He also informed the board that one of the glass basketball backboards at the park was broken, but the incident was too far from surveillance, so the motion-activated cameras didn’t catch it. A decision to replace it with a metal backboard was made.

In other business, Cathy Alexander addressed the comments that she previously made during the Jan. 20 meeting about ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance of the Bourbon Café and Coffee Saloon.

Davis mentioned that the owners of the shop called him and voluntarily brought up the food establishment inspection reports from the Department of Health and Senior Services.

“And I’m sure they wouldn’t mind anybody looking at them; they are public records,” Davis said. “I told them about the setbacks. I put together a letter with regard to ADA, title two and title three of the ADA, indicating that they have to have certain setbacks. They agree. The mayor has been out. It’s a letter for the mayor to sign, to send out.”

Also, the board approved a motion to pay $2,500 to L&B Electronics to replace the emergency siren on one of the water towers because the intermittent controller is bad and is no longer manufactured.