OWENSVILLE — The city’s new online payment system is now available for residents to use. City Clerk Peggy Farrell gave an update on the project at the Board of Alderman meeting at City Hall Monday night.

The new system allows Owensville residents to use the online portal to pay bills from the city. Employees at City Hall are still training with BS&A Payments, the company which provided the software system. So, they are still working out some kinks and learning how to efficiently use the software to process payments.

The payment portal can be accessed on the city of Owensville website. Keep an eye on the Gasconade County Republican website for a follow up on exactly what residents can expect when using the new software.

In other news from City Hall, Mayor Kevin McFadden spoke about the discrepancy in gas prices between Owensville and most of the surrounding areas that residents had brought to his attention. He has already reached out to Representative Bruce Sassmann and the offices of Attorney General Catherine Hanaway and Senator Josh Hawley to ask what might cause the difference in price of up to 40 cents and whether anything can be done about it, McFadden said.

Parks and Recreation Director Angela Lairmore updated aldermen on the park’s new security camera system and automatic locks on bathrooms. The automatic locks mean that the parks system no longer needs to have an employee there in the morning and evening to manually lock and unlock doors.

McFadden commended the entire group of city employees for the actions they’ve taken over recent months to save money for Owensville.

“We’re cutting costs, but we’re not cutting services and results,” McFadden said.

The parks department will be winterizing bathrooms and water fountains by the end of the month, but there will be two porta-potties available at Memorial Park and one at Buschmann Park throughout the winter. The golf course clubhouse will also close at the end of the month. Carts won’t be available throughout the winter, but golfers can still play the course on foot and pay course fees on site through the honor system.

Aldermen also approved a motion to add Juneteenth, a federally recognized holiday, to the list of days that city employees will have off of work. The move means that the holiday will be treated the same way in Owensville as it is in nearly all nearby cities, said City Administrator Randy Blaske.

The next meeting of the Board of Aldermen will be at 6 p.m. on Nov. 16 at City Hall.