The Wright City Board of Aldermen unanimously approved the grant proposal for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services Grant to renew its current grant that allows the city to pay the salary of three officers.

The vote occurred during the board’s April 9 meeting, and according to Mayor Michelle Heiliger, was to make up for a previous discussion that did not result in a vote.

Heiliger said the city is currently operating under a COPS grant that pays 75 percent of the wages and benefits of three officers in the Wright City Police Department. She says that because of the grant the cost to the city for those three officers for three years is only $122,000 total.

The board approved the grant proposal by a 3-0 vote as Alderman Karey Owens was not present at the April 9 meeting.

The board also voted 3-0 to approve an ordinance which would amend the Wright City Municipal Code with respect to streets where parking is prohibited. Heiliger said the city has been receiving calls from residents about semi-trucks parking on the west on ramp to Interstate 70 at Wildcat Drive. She said that if the city has an ordinance prohibiting parking, Missouri Department of Transportation officials have said they would pay for and place signs along the on-ramp.

The board also briefly discussed the city’s Flock Security cameras. Heiliger said that Owens voiced some concerns about approving the use of Flock cameras. Heiliger said Owens’ concerns were that any resident could file a Missouri Sunshine Law request and obtain personal information about other residents through the system.

City Attorney Paul Rost said that there are a lot of people using public records requests to put pressure on Flock, specifically those concerned with the “surveillance state.”

“There are a lot of issues going on as to where that’s (challenges to Flock) going to end,” Rost said. “It is an evolving situation.”

As part of the concern regarding the issue, the board did not approve a payment to Flock in the amount of $6,000 until the issue could be discussed further.

The board also approved the special event permit for this year’s Strassenbash Festival to be held at Diekroeger Park Oct. 3. The board also approved a special event permit for the third annual No Time to Spare Car Show to be held June 20.

During the meeting the board also viewed a presentation from City Clerk Abbie Ogborn on the city’s new website to be operational at some point in the very near future. One of the new features that will be available on the city’s website is the ability to submit various forms to the city through the website without having to print out paper copies of the forms and then submitting them in a more traditional fashion. This would include things like filing for permits with the city.

Ogborn noted that the new website is very interactive and was designed to give residents all the city information they could need.