Council gives OK for storm water project
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.
by Mark Cheffey
The Palmyra City Council opened the way during its regular meeting Thursday for moving ahead with a storm water draining project to be completed jointly by the county and city.
In addition, the council drew closer to reaching separate agreements with Greenwood cemetery and the Palmyra Chamber of Commerce for leasing of the park grounds for the fair.
The council voted unanimously to approve the engineering plans and budget provided by engineers for a project to correct a storm water issue at the Marion County Courthouse and authorize the project to be bid out.
The project will involve installing below-ground drainage to take away storm water that gathers along Lafayette and Dickerson streets on the south and west side of the courthouse square.
With Brad Speak, a cemetery board member present at the meeting, Council Member Brock Fahy reported on a recent meeting that brought the city and cemetery closer to reaching an agreement on how the city will help maintain the cemetery.
Fahy said the discussion has led to some changes to a proposed agreement that has been passed on to City Attorney James Lemons, who will put it in proper legal form.
The council also discussed continued efforts to reach a lease agreement for the fairgrounds with the Chamber of Commerce. It was the council consensus to require the $2,000 rental fee be paid up front.
Following the recommendation of Street Commissioner Austin Dornberger, the council voted unanimously to approved the purchase of a concrete saw from Sydenstrickers at a cost of $1,099. The item had been included in the current city budget.
Council member Pam Behring reported on a recent Ordinance Committee meeting which focused on the possibility of adding code inspection of new commercial businesses and commercial businesses when a tenant moves a business from one location to another.
She also noted the city’s code requires the fire department to do safety checks of commercial buildings twice a year, but are not being done.
She said the committee has also asked the city attorney to look into steps to revoke a business license when notice comes from the state of Missouri or when a violation of city code is occurring.
Referring to questions from social media, it was noted the disabled city siren, which is set off daily at 7 a.m., noon and 6 and 10 p.m. will be back in operation soon.
Council members discussed the question of why city residents were not notified through the Code Red Alert system of a scheduled maintenance power outage recently.
Mayor Adrian said county 911 received numerous calls about the outage, and that it would have helped if the Board of Public Works had alerted residents ahead of time.
Council member Patrick Barns reported on a recent Police Committee meeting during which was noted local fundraising efforts were successful in raising the money needed for the purchase of a D.A.R.E. car.
Also discussed was a need for an power generation system for the police station.