The Show Me Green Sales Tax Holiday covers appliances up to $1,500 from April 19-25. The items purchased must be "energy star certified," meaning approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. Eligible appliances display an energy star label. Some of the items covered include washers and dryers, water heaters, trash compactors, dishwashers, conventional ovens, ranges, stoves, air conditioners, furnaces, refrigerators and freezers. To get a gauge on how many businesses inside the city limits could benefit, the board instructed City Clerk Chris McCormick to contact them prior to the next aldermen meeting on Feb. 17. A vote is expected to be made by aldermen then. City officials questioned if there were enough businesses who felt the exemption might be useful. "I don't know if people would be able to take advantage of it because of the limited time," Alderman Jerry Cullom said. An ordinance must be approved by aldermen 45 days before the sales tax exemption takes place. The exemption begins at 12:01 a.m. on April 19 and lasts through midnight on April 25. The Show Me Green Sales Tax Holiday is different from the Sales Tax Holiday in which the city has participated in past years. In the past, the city has participated in exempting sales tax on purchases of clothing, personal computers and school supplies on the first Friday in August until midnight of the following Sunday. Aldermen Approve Bids for Rec Leagues Aldermen voted to use two vendors for providing uniforms for the youth and adult teams playing in the recreation department's summer leagues. A motion passed 5-0 to use Hart's Sport Shop for caps and visors for $3.25 an items. Southside Sports out of St. Louis was awarded the T-shirt bid. The city will pay the company $4.55 for youth shirts and $5.80 for adult shirts. The approval from the board is contingent on both companies approving the bid prices since their proposals included both shirts and caps. Also, officials wanted to make sure colors from the different brands were similar. At the previous board meeting on Jan. 20, Recreation Director Patrick Randolph presented aldermen with bid prices, but a concern was voiced by aldermen about using a company out of the area. Randolph said the quality of the shirts would be the same and he brought samples for the board to view Feb. 3. City Makes Revisions to Tobacco Use Policy City employees who smoke will no longer have the freedom to light up when they please. Aldermen approved an updated tobacco use policy restricting employees to two smoke breaks during the day. Employees will be allowed two five-minute breaks - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The revised policy passed 5-0.