City council accepts survey bid

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by Mark Cheffey

The Palmyra City Council Thursday unanimously voted to move ahead with cultural resource survey required before starting a proposed bridge project.

The council accepted the low bid of two received to perform the survey at a cost of $1,740, from Environmental Research Center of Missouri, Inc. out of Jefferson City.

Mayor Rusty Adrian said the survey was an unforeseen expense, but that it needed to be done before moving ahead with plans to replace the Main Cross/Bradley Street bridge project.

There was some discussion about the paying for the unbudgeted expense, but City Clerk Deena Parsons indicated that shouldn’t be a problem.

“Our budget looks very good,” Parsons said.

The only other bid with a maximum of $4,700 and a minimum of $4,300 came from SCI Engineering, Inc. out of St. Charles, Mo.

Parsons said Mark Bross of Klingner & Associates, which is engineering the project, gave Environmental Research Center, Inc. a positive recommendation based on pasts experience with the firm.

In other business, it was the consensus of the council to accept Parsons’ recommendation of designating Marion County 911 with the responsibility of handling the city’s street address numbering in the future.

Parsons said she always consults with county 911 on all street address numbering issues because of their expertise and recommended, with their permission, to have them do it all in the future.

“It’s better if there is one designated person doing it,” she said, noting it would also avoid any problems that could come up.

Adrian told the board he, Parsons and Bross had met to discuss plans to move ahead with a storm water drainage project in the south part of the the city.

It was decided to invite property owners affected by the project to a meeting in order to inform them of what plans are in the works.

Adrian said there are 20 property owners along the route of the project through the area of Bailey and Home streets.

“We don’t want this process to be held up,” Adrian said of the need to move forward with the project this year.

Parsons called for a meeting of the Finance Committee to begin the budget process for Fiscal 2022-23. The meeting was set for 5:30 p.m. Feb. 10 at city hall.

Council member Patrick Barnes reported on a recent meeting of the Police Committee he chairs during which it was discussed ending the department’s policy of helping people who are locked out of their vehicles unless it is an emergency.

Barnes said there are liability issues involved and that, in the future, motorists would be given a list of those who are able and can provide the unlocking service.

BPW Superintendent Brent Abell said his department has continued its efforts to stop water loss in the city’s distribution system, and that while there continues to be loss, due to a number of factors, the city is better off than most other municipalities.

“I think we’re sitting fairly nice. There’s nothing major,” Abell said.

He also reported his department adopted a newly designed logo which will appear on utility vehicles and employee clothing.