Page 1 of 6 January 2014 In This Issue 2014 Legislative Conference Cities Prevail in Kimble Lawsuit Video Conference Policy CDBG Application Training Workshops Follow MML! www.twitter.com/mocities www.facebook.com/mocities Become a Certified Municipal Official! REGISTER TODAY! MML's Legislative Conference is scheduled for Feb. 11-12, 2014, in Jefferson City. Network with local officials from around the state while learning about the most pressing legislative issues that directly impact your city. It is the perfect time to visit face-to-face with your legislators and share how they can keep municipalities strong. Register today! CITIES PREVAIL IN KIMBLE LAWSUIT In January of 2013, Bert Kimble, as an individual and on behalf of all Missouri customers of AT&T Mobility that paid for city or county business license taxes collected by Defendants upon the provision of internet access services on bills issued from Nov. 1, 2005 through Sept. 30, 2010 (purported class) filed a lawsuit against more than 260 municipalities. The suit sought to obtain over $14 million from municipalities and St. Louis County. On Jan. 13, 2014, U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey entered an order granting all Defendants' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. This order effectively ends the trial court phase of the case unless a successful appeal by Plaintiffs results in a remand to the trial court. An order dismissing the case has been entered that will commence the thirty (30) day period for the Plaintiffs to file an appeal if they so desire. In the order that was entered, Judge Laughrey addressed the three theories of recovery in the Plaintiffs' petition that the Defendants (1) violated the equal protection clause of the United States and Missouri constitutions; (2) were unjustly enriched by collection of money through AT&T on internet access charges; and (3) violated the civil rights of Plaintiffs (42 U.S.C. 1983) by requiring payment of surcharges for business license taxes. Judge Laughrey found that while municipalities are state actors, a requirement for both equal protection and civil rights claims, nothing in the pleadings would provide evidence that "a reasonable juror could conclude that the Defendants' actions caused' AT&T to charge its customers a surcharge Judge Laughrey rejected an assertion that the failure of the Defendants to prohibit the use of a surcharge could be treated as state action. The Court attributed the injury to actions of AT&T related to coding error(s) and declared "Defendants did nothing to cause that error. The Court
Page 2 of 6 concluded that the Plaintiffs failed to show any state actor caused their injury and granted the Motions for Judgment on Counts I (Equal Protection) and III (42 U.S.C. 1983). MML is pleased to report this defense was provided at no cost to defendant municipalities and wishes to thank all the municipal and other attorneys who worked so diligently on this case. VOLUNTEER EMERGENCY RESPONDERS NOT COUNTED UNDER AFFORDABLE CARE ACT The National League of Cities received news on Jan. 10, 2014, from the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Tax Policy regarding the treatment of volunteer firefighters and other emergency responders under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In the statement released, Mark J. Mazur, Assistant Treasury Secretary for Tax Policy, writes: [T]he forthcoming final regulations relating to employer shared responsibility generally will not require volunteer hours of bona fide volunteer firefighters and volunteer emergency medical personnel at governmental or tax-exempt organizations to be counted when determining full-time employees (or full-time equivalents). This is a major victory for cities, towns, as well as their volunteer firefighters and other emergency medical personnel, and an interpretation that NLC urged the federal agencies to adopt. VIDEO CONFERENCING POLICY SB 170 passed during the 2013 legislative session that provides an option for elected officials to cast roll call votes via video conferencing. At the request of the League, Lauber Municipal Law has prepared a sample policy for member cities to use should the municipality decide to implement this option. Copies of the policy are available on the League website. As with all sample policy the League suggests having the policy reviewed by a city attorney prior to adoption. NEW GRANT NOW AVAILABLE FOR WASTEWATER ENGINEERING ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL COMMUNITIES A new grant opportunity has recently become available through the Department of Natural Resources for small communities that need engineering assistance for wastewater system plans. The program is called the Small Community Engineering Assistance Program. It is available to municipalities, counties, public sewer or water districts, political subdivisions or instrumentalities of the state with a population of less than 10,000 people. The program offers funding for wastewater engineering costs
Page 3 of 6 incurred in preparation of a facility plan. The funding is only available for recipients yet to achieve a funding commitment and who plan to pursue funding. Some communities may be eligible to receive an 80 percent grant with a 20 percent recipient match, while disadvantaged communities may be eligible to receive a 90 percent grant with a 10 percent recipient match. A disadvantaged community is defined as any community with a population of 3,300 or less, whose user rates will be at or above 2 percent of the median household income and the median household income is at or below 75 percent of the state average. The grant amount shall not exceed $50,000. Applications are accepted at any time. For more information, or to learn how to apply for this grant, contact the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Financial Assistance Center at 573-751-1192. MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TO VISIT SIX LOCAL COMMUNITIES During the annual Missouri Community Betterment Program Conference, held Oct. 20-21, 2013, Department of Economic Development Director Mike Downing issued a competition to the community representatives in attendance. The first five attendees to email him that night on behalf of their city would receive a visit from the DED team to discuss the community's needs and help find solutions to local economic development issues. Due to a tie, six communities were chosen, and DED and MCB have since put together teams of specialists to begin initial planning and research for the selected communities. Jamesport, Albany, Clinton, Grant City, Steelville and Windsor are the six Missouri cities that will receive a visit from DED to assess the drivers of the local economy and help develop a set of recommendations for growth. "It's important that every community has a sound plan to create jobs and spur economic growth, and the department and our partners are here to help with that, said Director Downing. Read more... MTFC LOAN PROGRAM Missouri Transportation Finance Corporation (MTFC) is a loan program administered by the Missouri Department of Transportation. The MTFC provides direct loans to public or private entities for transportation improvements. To learn more about the MTFC, visit http://www.modot.org/partnershipdevelopment/mtfc.htm. EVENTS CDBG APPLICATION TRAINING WORKSHOPS The Missouri Community Development Block Grant program will hold four training sessions in January to teach participants how to complete the FY2014 CDBG application for non-entitlement areas of the state (cities of less than 50,000 and counties of
Page 4 of 6 less than 200,000 in population). Dates and locations are: Jan. 22, 1-4 p.m., Madison, Mo. Jan. 23, 9 a.m. noon, Trenton, Mo. Jan. 29, 1-4 p.m., Poplar Bluff, Mo. Jan. 30, 9 a.m. noon, Springfield, Mo. Training is free and open to the public, and no registration is necessary. For more information, contact 573-751-3600. 2014 EXCAVATOR SAFETY MEETINGS Join Missouri One Call System, Missouri Employers Mutual and other safety organizations to learn more about safe excavation practices and how to deal with challenges as an excavator or member of Missouri One Call. There will also be a "small business safety component to each meeting. Find details of dates and locations here. GRANT WORKSHOPS St. Louis County and Municipal Police Academy, along with Grant Writing USA, will present a two-day grants workshop in Wellston / St. Louis, Feb. 24-25, 2014. This training is for grant seekers across all disciplines. Find more information here. MISSOURI PARK AND RECREATION ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONFERENCE The MPRA Annual Conference runs Feb. 25-28, 2014, and will be held at Tan-Tar-A Resort, Osage Beach, Mo. MARK YOUR CALENDARS The 2014 American Public Works Association Mid-America Conference will be held May 21-23, 2014, at the Overland Park Convention Center in Overland Park, Kan. The APWA regional conference involves public works officials from four states (MO, KS, IA, NE) and is held every three years. More information will be available soon at http://kcmetro.apwa.net. LOCAL GOVERNMENT WEEK Local Government Week will be here soon! The 2014 dates are May 6-10, 2014. The MML Local Government Week online toolkit will be updated to assist you in promoting local government to your community. If you have a suggestion of a specific idea or feature to share with other cities in the toolkit, please contact Laura Holloway at 573-635-9134 or Lholloway@mocities.com. MEMBER ACCOMPLISHMENTS AWARD OF MERIT The city of Riverside Municipal Court Clerk Shayla Jones has been named the 2013 recipient for the
Page 5 of 6 Western Association of Court Administrators' Award of Merit. According to the awards committee, Shayla was nominated and received the award because of her "willingness to help other courts by sharing her knowledge, not only over the phone, but also on her personal time. The Award of Merit is given annually to a court administrator in recognition of their dedication to the advancement of the professionalism of court administration. CERTIFIED MUNICIPAL CLERK The city of Riverside's City Clerk Robin Littrell for earning the prestigious Certified Municipal Clerk designation from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks! To earn this designation, a participant must attend extensive education programs and have pertinent experience in a municipality. Find more information on the program at http://www.iimc.com/. DIGITAL CITIES SURVEY The city of Independence has been ranked seventh in its population category (75,000-124,999) in the 13th annual Digital Cities Survey conducted by the Center for Digital Government and Digital Communities magazine. The Digital Cities Survey is open to all U.S. cities with a population of 30,000 or more and respondent cities are classified into four size-based categories. This is the 11th year Independence has been ranked as one of the most technology-advanced cities in America. The Center for Digital Government says the annual survey recognizes municipalities which successfully incorporate information technology into operations to better serve their constituents and businesses. BEST PERFORMING SMALL CITY The city of Columbia was chosen as the Best Performing Small City by the Milken Institute. The City was credited with high-tech industries like telecommunication that saw employment grow by 60 percent from 2007 to 2012. HAVE YOU SEEN THIS? A LOOK BACK ON A GREAT YEAR FOR BUSINESS IN MISSOURI Missouri is proud to celebrate the accomplishments of its business community throughout the past year. During 2013, the state of Missouri partnered with numerous local businesses and global brands to invest and expand across the state. The state's automotive sector saw substantial growth, including investments by Ford (adding a third production shift for the F-150 pickup truck and hiring an additional 900 workers in Kansas City), General Motors ($133 million investment, 55 jobs in Wentzville), Grupo Antolin ($15.7 million investment, 118 new jobs in Kansas City), Adrian Steel ($4.7 million investment, 39 new jobs in Kansas City), Toyota Bodine ($3 million investment, 35 new jobs in Troy), and
Page 6 of 6 Yanfeng USA Automotive Trim Systems ($45 million investment, 263 new jobs in Riverside). Last year also saw investments by several global brands headquartered in Missouri, including Monsanto ($400 million investment, 675 new jobs at its Chesterfield Village Research Center), and Reinsurance Group of America ($140 million investment, 300 new jobs in St. Louis County). To view more of Missouri's 2013 business announcements, please click here. Missouri Municipal League, 1727 Southridge Dr.. Jefferson City, MO 65109 info@mocities.comwww.mocities.com