| Today's Feature Some Council Details.
City Council members were given
some new options for renovating Memorial Hall at
the regular Council meeting last week.
Charlie Bastin, liaison to the
Harry S. Truman Council of Governments, reported
a possible new source of grant money from The
Lemmons Charitable Trust administered locally by
the Mercantile Bank. City Administrator Tom Short
said the Veterans Affairs Office offers a 50/50
grant for such improvements. Additionally, the
Boylan Foundation recently gave the American
Legion $30,000 to renovate the north entrance and
kitchen of the hall with the stipulation that the
improvements meet current City Codes and are
approved before payment.
Bastin also reported the Harry
S. Truman Council requested a representative from
Southwest Missouri be appointed to the State
Highway Commission. He suggested that Mayor
Kenneth Johnson would be a perfect candidate due
to his many years of experience in road
construction. Mayor Pro Tem, J.D. Whitledge
indicated the information would be forwarded to
the Mayor for his consideration. Mayor Johnson
was out of town and not in attendance.
Police Chief Dennis Veach
reported on concerns raised by the recent school
shootings in Colorado and Georgia.
"We are in fact doing
numerous things in the school system, Veach told
the Council. "We don’t particularly
publicize what we are doing, but we are doing
things. We are not ignoring the situation. We
still enjoy a superb relationship with the
schools here and have the appropriate response in
place."
Veach also reported that
beginning in June, and continuing into the fall,
a special night patrol will be initiated on
randomly selected evenings to patrol the downtown
area. In July the patrol will be expanded to
include daytime hours in the same area.
Veach presented special request
from the Chautauqua organizers to close an area
from Garrison to Maple between 6th and 7th in the
evening between 6:30 and 9:30 for the week long
event. The motion was passed by Council without
comment.
A recent 4.5 million dollar
grant was awarded to the Missouri Department of
Public Safety (MoDOS) to establish a Juvenile
Accountability Incentive Block Program. according
to City Administrator Tom Short.
Participating cities had to
meet 12 criteria, but also had options of not
participating, establishing their own coalition,
or a waiver in favor of a larger organization.
Short said Mayor Johnson sent a letter to MoDOS
indicating the waiver. The new organization, when
formed, will receive the $7,600 allocated to
Carthage and in return it will be included as a
participating entity.
Max McKnight, City Economic
Development, reported Mayor Johnson received a
letter from the United States Post Office.
According to McKnight, the Postal Service was
pleased with the public hearing meeting turnout
and is "leaning" toward expansion of
facilities at the present location by purchasing
property currently owned by the City.
"This is step one of a
lot" (of steps), McKnight was quick to point
out.
In other business the First
Readings of Council Bill 99-36, which would lower
the speed limit on HH to 45 m.p.h., was amended
to change the wording from "west outer road
Route 71" to "station 27+ 08". The
change was merely a more precise location
according to Mayor Pro Tem Whitledge. The second
reading will be June 8 at the next scheduled
meeting of the Council.
Bill 99-37, concerning tarp and
truck covers, is a request to amend section
23-153 of the Carthage Code to parallel that of
MoDOT code RSMo 307.010. The second reading will
also be at the next meeting. The ordinance would
require all vehicles to secure anything hauled so
a to keep it from falling from the vehicle.
During the Finance Committee
meeting held earlier in the afternoon before the
Council meeting, Council member Art Dunaway
announced to the Committee that he is stepping
down as Co-Chair of the Committee. Dunaway
refused Co-Chair Lujene Clark’s request that
Dunaway serve as Vice-Chair. Dunaway said he will
continue as a regular member of the Committee.
Mayor Johnson will be asked to appoint a Vice
chair.
Commentary
Martin "Bubs" Hohulin
State Representative, District 126
This year we made some of the
most sweeping changes to drivers license laws
that we have seen in several years. Regular
readers of this column will probably remember a
couple years ago when I wrote about an attempt to
eliminate vehicle safety inspections. First off
let me say that I think vehicle safety
inspections are a farce. They are nothing but
another method for the state to get into your
pocket. Did you know that a portion of the fee
that you pay for a safety inspection goes to the
State? Studies have shown that compared to states
that don’t have vehicle safety inspections,
Missouri doesn’t have any better accident
record concerning vehicle defects. Furthermore,
it takes almost an hour to complete the
inspections described in the law. How many shops
do you know of that will spend almost an hour
looking at a car for only $7.00? While we were
not successful in eliminating the safety
inspection, we were able to change it to every
other year.
For those of you that enjoy
waiting in line at the License Bureau to get your
license renewed, I’m afraid I have bad news.
You will only get to wait in line half as long
now. We changed drivers license renewals from 3
years to 6 years. For the most part that is a
good deal but I do have concerns as I have in the
past about issuing licenses to elderly drivers
who, quite honestly, don’t belong on the
road. This is not to say that all bad drivers are
the elderly or that all elderly citizens are bad
drivers but lets face it, at a certain age eye
sight and reflexes start to go. On the other end
of the spectrum we now made it to where a 15 year
old can get a learners permit and up until age 18
has a restricted license. The biggest restriction
is that they are not allowed to drive between the
hours of 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. except in work
or emergency situations. Again, bad news for
those of you who enjoy waiting in line. You can
now license your car for two years at a time.
This won’t save any money since the per year
renewal fee will remain the same. But to do that
job for two years at a time is worth quite a bit.
This was one of the more positive bills to be
passed this session and one reason it was is
because the sponsor opened up the process to
members of both parties. Anybody that wanted one
had a seat at the table. If the same process were
used on tax and budget bills there’s no
telling what we could accomplish for the citizens
of Missouri.
As usual, I can be reached at
House Post Office, State Capitol, Jefferson City,
MO 65101 or 1-800-878-7126,
or
mhohulin@services.state.mo.us for your questions,
comments, or advice.
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