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City of Lake Ozark Awarded $300,000 Community Development Block Grant for Demolition Project: Lake Ozark, MO — The City of Lake Ozark has been named the recipient of a $300,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from the Missouri Department of Economic Development to support a $433,030 building demolition project focused on improving safety and redevelopment opportunities in the Bagnell Dam Strip area. The remaining $133,030 required to complete the project will be provided to the City by the property owner, Reese Development. As a result of the grant award, 23 structures on and around the historic Bagnell Dam Strip will be demolished. All properties included in the project are owned by Reese Development. Among the structures slated for demolition is the former Shoreland Motel located on the Bagnell Dam Strip. Additional buildings included in the project consist of a series of residential and commercial structures located along Carls Drive, Ballenger Road, Thornsberry Road, Beach Drive, and School Road. These structures were determined eligible for CDBG funding due to their advanced state of blight and lack of structural safety, in accordance with adopted building codes. Several of the buildings contain asbestos and other environmental contaminants, and all have been formally certified by the City as dangerous buildings. Buildings were prioritized based on safety concerns, structural deterioration, and overall risk to the public. To qualify for the grant, each structure was required to have been vacant for an extended period of time. Demolition work associated with this project is expected to commence in 2026. “We are proud to partner with the City of Lake Ozark and the Missouri Department of Economic Development to continue the momentum of the last two years on the historic Bagnell Dam Strip,” stated Peter Colovos, Chief Operating Officer of Reese Development. “Brick by brick and block by block we are committed to redeveloping this jewel of the Midwest,” he added. Reese Development has invested more than $600,000 over the last two years in cleaning up the Strip and demolishing dilapidated structures. City Administrator Harrison Fry expressed appreciation for the state’s support:“We are grateful to the State of Missouri for recognizing the opportunity to breathe new life into the Bagnell Dam Strip corridor. This project begins by removing long-standing, dilapidated structures so that safe, meaningful redevelopment can move forward. I would also like to thank Reese Development for their cooperation and commitment to property revitalization, as well as grant writer Tonya Raines for preparing a successful application that made this project possible.” For more information, please contact the City of Lake Ozark.

TEST TW WEATHER

Posted on by dan

Lake Ozark moves toward pay adjustments

The City of Lake Ozark wants to appropriately reward its employees and do its best to retain employees.

The board of aldermen recently approved first reading of an ordinance authorizing pay adjustments for employees in the police, dispatch, and public works departments. Second reading is expected at the regular Sept. 28 meeting.

City Administrator Dave Van Dee said that the recent passage of a Camden County sales tax increase to fund the Camden County Sheriff’s Department was one motivator in Lake Ozark deciding to address the pay issue.

“There appears to be an effort to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and my goal is to bring our lowest starting wage closer to that level,” he said.

That will help the next city administrator to adjust future pay raises with less budgetary stress, he added.

 

Highlights

Police Department 

•Officers will see a pay adjustment from $15.39 an hour to $16.32/hour. The pay has been adjusted from the new-hire level through the chief to maintain an equitable pay structure.

•All employees are hired with a six-month probationary period during which they receive the base pay of $16.32/hour for officers. At the end of the probationary period, with satisfactory completion, the officer would increase to $16.81.

•On or about an officer’s one-year anniversary, again with satisfactory completion, the officer would increase to $17.32/hour.

•A new officer will start at $33,950.96 and raise to $36,018.58 after one year.

“This would allow the city to be more competitive in the market with incremental improvements in the future,” Van Dee said.

 

Dispatch Department 

•Starting wage of $14.49 an hour, up from the current $12.88 an hour. There would be regular increases based on tenure and time in service.

 

Public Works Departments

•Six employees will be impacted by the change which calls for the starting wage to increase from $12.36 to $13.51 an hour. New hires will move to $14.33 after a six-month probationary period. In the current plan, an employee would take four years before reaching that threshold. The adjustment is limited to mostly recently hired employees since upper-level employees were adjusted upward in January 2021.

“All of these changes have been incorporated into the proposed budget amendment and the financial impact has been discussed with the Budget Committee, and they expressed their support,” Van Dee said.