CON V ERGING CA MPUS & COMMUNIT Y
NORTHWEST MISSOURIAN THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2023
MARYVILLE, MISSOURI
NWMISSOURINEWS.COM
VOL. 112, NO. 7
@THEMISSOURIAN
NW reports security and fire safety numbers, comparison HANNAH CLAYWELL News Editor | @Hannah_9504
GRAPHIC BY JULIANNA LAWRENCE ASST. DESIGN EDITOR
Pizza Ranch shuts down
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HANNAH CLAYWELL News Editor | @Hannah_9504
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he Maryville Pizza Ranch has closed down, seemingly without notice. Many of the workers said they had no idea it was going to happen so quickly. Workers are not happy with what has been happening at Pizza Ranch, and they are now out of a job. Former employee Stormy Straugh said the building might be sold, and there were no warnings given to the employees. “It laid off a lot of people — the people who make a living out of the building,” Straugh said. “I mean, I’ve got my apartment, I have my car, everything I own because of me working there. The out of nowhere ‘Hey, we all lost our jobs,’ so we have to basically go off a shortened paycheck and last paycheck quote … So we’re going to be strug-
“So it kind of puts me in a bad situation because I’m the only one in the house bringing income into the household, and I’m only 17 and a senior in high school, so it’s a lot of stress not having a job.”
VICTORIA GOMEZ FORMER EMPLOYEE
gling and doing what we can.” Former General Manager Kenneth Myers said he saw this coming because of the amount of money being lost by the business. Myers said every month the business was probably losing around $40,000. Myers said he received no training for his general manager position and was ultimately let go because the business was not seeing enough profit. He said with his lack of training and short time frame, it was not possible for him to make that turn around in just the around a month he was general manager. He said there was a lack of communication. He said he was given the chance to stay at Pizza Ranch but decided not to because of the concerns he had. He said he made the choice best for him, even if he was struggling for food and not able to pay for all of his bills.
SEE PIZZA RANCH | A4
MARYVILLE FISCAL YEAR 2024 BUDGET AFTER TRANSFERS Betterment Corporation $60,360 Cemetary Perpetual $133,447
Group Insurance $157,488 Debt Retirement $363,125 Event Center Debt $439,125 Transient Guest Tax $758,380 American Rescue Plan Act $1,037,213 Parks and Recreation $3,272,889
Capital Improvements $18,530,990
Water / Sewer $13,013,280
General $10,319,676
$53,493,818
Mozingo Recreation $5,407,845
On the last business day of Fiscal Year 2023, the Maryville City Council amended the 2023 budget and approved the Fiscal Year 2024 budget at a special meeting Sept. 29. Amending Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Finance Director Denise Town started the meeting off to make official changes based on the previous year’s spending and revenues. “At the end of the year, staff goes through and reviews to see if there’s any instances where it’s close that the total fund expenditures less than contingency might exceed the expenditures that were originally budgeted,” Town said. The General fund was increased by $188,584, which Town said was mainly due to the increase of fuel purchase at the Northwest Missouri Regional Airport and attor-
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1914.
ney fees in municipal court. The other line items were changed to reflect actual spending versus what the anticipated spending was through the original budget approved in September 2022. The Parks and Recreation budget was increased by $1,091. The Debt Retirement fund was brought up by $2,271 because of money from sales tax that has expired, but that extra revenue is being transferred to Parks and Recreation for use at the Maryville Community Center. The Maryville Betterment Corporation budget was amended, adding $8,446 due to additional fees related to filing the Form 990, a Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax form. The Mozingo Recreation fund added $228,400 for anticipated expenses with the renovations to the Mozingo Visitor’s Center. The Capital Improvement fund was changed, removing $7,215,667 due to grant funding for the second phase of the South Main Corridor Improvement Project. Town
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“So it gives us some direction, but we’re not looking to build any action off of there because it doesn’t track some of the data that is most compelling to us
CLARENCE GREEN UNIVERSITY POLICE CHIEF
GRAPHIC BY SIDNEY LOWRY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
City Council approves Fiscal Year ‘24 budget SIDNEY LOWRY Editor-in-Chief | @sidney_lowry
The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report was sent out to students Sept. 21 with crime information on both Northwest campuses in Maryville and Kansas City, Missouri. In the report, there is information on campus security and personal safety, with topics like crime prevention and fire safety. The report also compares the last couple of years with the 2022 year report. It is a part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which requires many universities in the northwest to provide this report. University Police Chief Clarence Green said there has not been much of a change in the crime reports compared to the previous year, which would be the 2021 calendar year. “If you look across all of the data trends, it is pretty comparable,” Green said. The most significant changes were an increase in fondling crimes, the previous year being zero on-campus reports and last year there were six on-campus reports and a couple of different categories, like burglary and drug abuse violations, going down. There were significantly less liquor law violations, with 69 in 2022 and 104 in 2021 on campus.
Fiscal Year 2024 Budget After multiple budget planning workshops and City Council meetings discussing the budget for FY 2024, City Manager Greg McDanel walked through multiple different budget items and goals. McDanel said FY 2024 is the highest budget he’s seen in a long time, coming in at $53,493,818.
Green said the importance of this report is the transparency it brings. He said it allows people to have access to all of the crime data that has occurred around campus and be able to take different safety precautions. The University Police Department goes through a full process to get information for both Northwest campuses, which includes working with law jurisdictions in Kansas City and different offices on the Maryville campus. “It’s a process where I work with many others across campus, like folks from Title IX,” Green said. The report starts with the general safety and security procedures. This includes the drug and alcohol policy, reporting policies and drug and alcohol laws.
SEE CITY COUNCIL | A4
SEE REPORT | A4
said the FY 2023 budget assumed the start of Phase II on South Main Street, but there were many additional expenses that weren’t necessary, along with the grant money. In April, the city was awarded a $5.9 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity from the Department of Transportation. Phase II of the project includes more road improvements, like new curb lines, storm drains and water lines south of South Avenue.
PLEASE
RECYCLE