Hannibal Mayor Darrell McCoy proclaims July 19 as NEMO Shriners Day

In addition to the items mentioned in this article, the council discussed an ordinance regarding fireworks. Get the story here.

HANNIBAL, Mo. — Hannibal Mayor Darrell McCoy proclaimed July 19th as NEMO Shriners Day in recognition of the Moolah NEMO Shriners at the Hannibal City Council meeting Tuesday night.

The organization, made up of “men driving little cars and wearing funny red hats,” sponsors fundraising events like the Casino Royale and the Fez-tival of Trees to provide assistance for families with children in need of medical care. According to a 2024 report, Shriners International “invested nearly $1.19 billion in support of pediatric specialty health care” last year.

The Moolah NEMO Shriners chapter was founded in Hannibal in 1950. A parade will be held at 11 a.m. on July 19 to mark 75 years of service in the community.

The council unanimously approved applications for events to be held next year in honor of the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the country’s semiquincentennial. 

A parade in honor of Tom Sawyer will be held March 28, and a drone show in honor of both Tom Sawyer and the 250th birthday of the United States will be held June 6. The 15-minute show will begin at 9 p.m. over the Clemens Field area and consist of 500 lighted drones.

“I don’t like that we have to wait a year for this,” joked Nathan Munger, Sixth Ward council member.

Several ordinances and charter revisions were given a first reading at the meeting, including an ordinance proposed by Interim City Manager Andy Dorian regarding mobile food vendors and food trucks. The ordinance:

• Requires vendors and food truck operators to secure applicable motor vehicle and business licenses, provide trash receptacles for customers and bathroom access for employees within a reasonable distance, secure their own power source and properly dispose of wastewater offsite
• Restricts operations to Zones C (local business), D (highway business), E (commercial) and F (industrial) between the  business hours of 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. 
• Establishes criteria for a mobile food vendor license, such as the requirement of an inspection from the health department and proof of insurance
• Prohibits the use of outdoor amplifying equipment and unnecessary lights, as well as the sale of items on public property, within city facilities and within 100 feet of a restaurant

A first reading was also given to a revision of section 2.12 of the city’s charter that would establish a more thorough procedure for adding items to meeting agendas.

The revision allows anyone to submit a request to the city clerk for a matter to be added to the agenda pending the mayor’s approval, including council members. If the mayor doesn’t approve the request of a council member, two members acting together can override his decision and request the clerk add it to the agenda.

It also requires that before a council member can direct the city attorney to draft a resolution, ordinance or other legal document, the matter must be presented to the council as a whole for a vote. Upon approval, the document can be drafted.

Yet another first reading was given to another charter revision regarding the building commission. The charter currently states the fire chief must be a member, and that the commission “shall supervise… the city sanitarian.” The revision would allow other fire department members designated by the chief to serve in his place and would revoke supervision over the city sanitarian, a position that no longer exists.

The council approved an ordinance revision regarding membership in the Hannibal Convention and Visitors Bureau. The current ordinance states that no members may serve more than two terms consecutively, while the revised ordinance adds further clarification that no members may serve more than two full terms consecutively, in instances when someone is appointed to complete someone else’s term.

Finance Director Bianca Quinn appeared before the council requesting an amendment to two errors within the FY 2026 payroll ordinance. One error, due to a formatting issue, left some police officers out, while another error miscalculated the salaries of several firefighters. 

Quinn also presented the council with a contract of obligation, as required by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, to allow the state to withhold $171,040 in funds if the city fails to properly care for a closed landfill. The contract has been presented to the council annually since the landfill was decommissioned.

“This landfill has been closed 27 years now,” Quinn said. “We have three more years to go.”

Both matters presented to the council by Quinn were given a first reading and will be put to a vote at the next meeting. 

The council approved the purchase of a new 2026 Freightliner 114SD Plus dump truck with a 16’ dump bed, bed stabilizer, hydraulics and tarp for the street department from Midway Freightliner in the amount of $191,351. It will be the first new truck purchased by the street department.

“Everything else has always been used. It’s one of our most utilized pieces of equipment,” Dorian said. “This will be a truck we have for 15, 20 years probably.”

The truck comes with a five-year/100,000-mile warranty and will primarily be used to haul asphalt, rock and sand. The purchase was included in the recently approved budget for fiscal year (FY) 2026. 

Hannibal Fire Chief Ryan Neisen appeared before the council requesting an increase to the clothing allowance for uniforms, currently set at $550. Neisen said that, after accounting for income and sales taxes and shipping charges, the amount is not enough for new firefighters to secure all of the uniforms they need to get started.

The Hannibal Fire Department and the local firefighter’s union agreed to move to a quarter master system, which would allow the city to buy uniforms in bulk to keep in stock rather than issuing the allowance to each firefighter. The switch to a quarter master system was unanimously approved by the council.

Matthew Munzlinger, the director of operations for the Hannibal Board of Public Works (HBPW), requested the council’s approval for the board’s participation in phase one of the Northeast Generation Project. The project was established in collaboration with other entities within the same market zone (Zone 5) of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) to address skyrocketing electricity capacity costs in recent years.

A first reading was given to an ordinance that would authorize the city to partake in a 40-year power purchase agreement with the Missouri Electric Commission, allowing the HBPW to partake in the project.

Phase one of the project includes the installation of one gas-fired turbine generator in Fulton, Mo. and two in Hannibal, resulting in “79 MW of new generation capacity” and the guaranteed availability of 30 MW, or nearly 40 percent, of Hannibal’s capacity requirements “at a known cost for the foreseeable future” upon entering into commercial operation in 2029 or sooner, according to a memo addressed to the council from Munzlinger. 

A zone’s ability to generate its own capacity lowers its additional capacity costs, as determined by MISO’s annual auction. While lower and predictable capacity costs are unlikely to result in rate decreases at this time, they could buy the HBPW more time before it needs to implement another increase that, at this point, is likely inevitable. 

“The more capacity we have available in Zone 5, the lower the cost is,” Munzlinger said after the meeting.

Additionally, the council:

• Approved the appointment of Hunter Haynes to the Hannibal Development District Commission, for a term to expire May 2028
• Heard McCoy’s recommendations of appointments for Ben Devlin and Jamie Thompson to the Employee Benefit Trust Board, both for terms to expire May 2028
• Heard McCoy’s recommendation of appointment for David Todd to the Building Commission, for an unspecified term

The meeting concluded with the council heading into its tenth closed session of the year. The meeting’s agenda suggested the subject matter involved pending litigation.

A copy of the entire agenda packet for the council’s July 15 meeting can be found on the city’s website. The next meeting will take place at 7 p.m. in Hannibal City Hall Council Chambers on August 5.