Gower City Council approves electric work at City Park

The Gower City Council meeting Monday, April 10, resulted in two meetings. The first was to handle old business, with the second starting after the swearing in of newly-elected officials.

During the first session, Jeremy Henry with the Gower Days Committee provided a proposal to the council to upgrade the electrical service at City Park at no cost to the city. Henry explained the proposed upgrades and said the only cost to the city would be the labor and supervision for trenching, which is expected to take less than a day. The trenching equipment will be donated by Hal Myers Construction, all electrical supplies required will be acquired by donations and or paid for by the Gower Days Committee, and the electrical labor will be completed by JD Electric. The council accepted this proposal for the upgrade to the park.

Mayor Kenny Pike provided an update on the MoDOT TAP for the sidewalk projects, as well as the Gregory Drive project and the water line project.

City Administrator Carroll Fisher provided the council with an update on the Gregory Drainage project, stating that the city is dealing with a citizen’s private prop- erty, and thus, he needs to ensure the citizen understands the total scope of the job and is accepting of it before he starts work. There are two issues he is dealing with – one is a pond on private property and the second is a sewer line.

The water line project is in the bidding process with bids closing April 21. At that time, the bids will be opened and reviewed.

After adjourning the first meeting, Mayor Pike and Aldermen Randy Jameson and Mike Kruger took their oath of office for new terms. The council then accepted the election’s official results. The results from Buchanan

County were certified. However, the results from Clinton County were not yet official.

Mayor Pike said he called the Clinton County Clerk’s office and he was told by an unnamed individual that they did not have the official results, and the acting county clerk was unavailable at the time.

Following the recommendation of City Attorney Joe Gagnon to accept the results, the council did so.

Under new business, the city accepted a bid from Approved Paving for street work for $46,000. This was the lowest of three bids received for this work.

During department re- ports, Chief Hill presented two bids for digital tickets with the council accepting the bid from Omnigo Software for $3,250 for the first year. This price is expected to go up after the first year, but this bid was significantly less than the other bid received. He also reviewed his monthly report with the council.

Planning and Zoning Administrator Chip Holman informed the council of an upcoming public hearing for the rezoning of a lot on the southeast corner of S. Fourth Street and Whitney Avenue. This hearing will be held at Gower American Legion Post 393 to accommodate everyone. He also updated the council on recent building permits issued, stating most were for garages.

Fisher informed the council that the water tower leak has been repaired and the tower is again in operation. City crews have started pothole repairs with much more to do. All parks are open and eleven lights at the ball fields have been replaced, with one new ballast and some wiring issues corrected, at a cost of about $3,200. With no other business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned so the council could go into executive session to discuss real estate at 7:45 p.m. The next city council meeting will be May 8.