County hears update on APR, bridge

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by Patty Cheffey

Although still waiting on guidelines, the Marion County Commission again discussed the American Rescue Plan funds.

Alonna Kizer with the Mark Twain Regional Council of Governments updated the commissioners on the program during their meeting Monday, at which they also heard an update on the County Road 402 bridge project, approved a bid for painting Lady Liberty and parts of the Palmyra Courthouse roof and discussed storage.

Mark Twain Regional Council of Governments has hired a specialist to assist them with the ARP program, Kizer said, noting they are still waiting on some answers to their more than two pages of questions sent to the specialist.

Three have to do with groups wanting to build facilities, and Kizer said she was not sure where those fit into the guidelines.

She did note, however, ARP funds cannot be used to match other federal funds, which could present a problem to one group which has asked the county for funds.

Douglass Community Services has asked for $500,000 in county ARP funds to match a Community Development Block Grant for which they have applied to build a new facility. 

Commissioners did not further discuss the issue, but Teya Stice, county improvement coordinator, said she would be discussing the issue with Stephanie Cox with Douglass Community Services.

The county did approve reimbursing Douglass Community Services the $14,360, which the commissioners had earlier approved for the engineer’s study. 

Kizer said she also had a Zoom meeting with Harvest Outreach, which is also wanting to build a new facility, but expressed her concern there is no way to track their profit and loss or how they will maintain a facility.

In other business, Matthew Walker with Poepping, Stone, Bach and Associates, was present to update the commissioners on the County Road 402 bridge.

Walker said they are still waiting on approval from MoDOT for the contractor and the bid, and once those are approved, the county can move forward with construction.

A bid of $17,102 was approved from A.H. Kemner & Sons, Inc., Quincy, for repair and painting of Lady Justice and the high column caps on the Marion County Courthouse in Palmyra.

Cost for materials and preparation work is $9,558 to do that work, which includes the four stone metal caps and clock faces. The additional $7,544 will be used to pay for materials to paint the exterior metal fretwork around each clock face.

At the request of Luke Bryant, county prosecuting attorney, the county approved appointing him to investigate further and be the signatory on a settlement for the opioid crisis. 

Bryant indicated he would keep the commissioners informed every step of the way on the settlement and what it could mean for Marion County, but he noted the funds from the settlement are to be used for treatment programs.

Stice also reported on possible storage options for the county, including the AT&T building near the Hannibal Courthouse and the basement of a Douglass Community Services facility across from the Hannibal Courthouse.

She said she is waiting on further information on both of those sites.

Commissioners also:

• reviewed sales tax and fund balances, both are which in good shape;

• approved having Durst Construction do snow removal from the Hannibal Courthouse parking lots;

• approved turning over the county’s portion of Shinn Lane to the city of Hannibal upon their requests; and

• tabled a resolution supporting the Hannibal Convention and Visitor’s Bureau because of a concern about one line in the resolution.