Answer on Fruitland incorporation could come this month

Word on whether a second try at incorporation by Fruitland residents is legally possible could come soon, Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy said on Tuesday.

The county commission in February turned over the second of two petitions from Fruitland residents to an attorney for review. Tracy said the commission expects to hear an opinion by Thursday at the earliest and no later than April 18. The commission is scheduled to hold regular meetings on both days.

Since residents submitted their most recent petition in January, several have attended commission meetings with questions for commissioners, who must vote to place the incorporation question on the ballot.

Residents were hopeful the question could go on the April ballot, but commissioners told them in January they could be looking at a longer timeline.

In August 2011, residents of Fruitland, an unincorporated village, submitted a petition to the county asking to become an incorporated village. During the process, Fruitland had to be turned down for annexation by nearby cities. Cape Girardeau was not interested in annexation, but Jackson was. A vote by Jackson residents in 2012 nixed the city's plan to annex parts of Fruitland. A legal battle ensued, and it was decided in court Jackson could not annex a right of way area near the village, and hence had no boundaries with Fruitland.

The second and latest petition asks for the village to become a fourth-class city -- some have cited a desire for the ability to regulate business and industry through ordinances. Two limestone quarries, Heartland Materials LLC and Strack Excavating LLC, are in the Fruitland area.

Boundaries also have been redrawn, and residents again collected signatures from 15 percent of voters who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election. County Clerk Kara Clark Summers said on Tuesday the signatures have been verified by her office and the latest the ballot question could be certified and make the Aug. 6 ballot would be May 28. Aug. 6 is the next available election date since an annual June election date was eliminated at the state level. No other questions have been identified for the August ballot, Clark Summers said.

She had not yet done a calculation on the cost of a special election should an incorporation question alone be placed on the ballot alone.

Tracy said the changes in the current petition compared to the last petition, which the commission voted to decline in May, are the reason an attorney, Helmut Starr of St. Louis, was hired for the review.

"Our whole goal is to make sure we do everything right," Commissioner Paul Koeper said during a March meeting of the commission, at which residents asked why an outside attorney was hired to look at the petition.

Questions the county's attorney will attempt to answer include whether nearby cities may again need to be approached for annexation opportunities. The petition states all provisions of state statutes governing the incorporation of cities within two miles of any existing city have been satisfied.

An attorney representing petitioners also is discussing the petition with the county's attorney, according to Tracy.

The petitioners in January told commissioners they have met all requirements for incorporation set out by the state constitution and laws, and have answered requests made by commissioners last year before the commission voted against placing an incorporation question on the ballot.

Commissioners had outlined three "points of contention" with the group's original petition: the type of land included in the village boundaries, the village's financial plan and the services organizers intended to provide to residents. A financial plan was included with the petition filed in January.

Some Fruitland landowners and residents, along with a representative of Strack Excavating, spoke against incorporation at the January meeting, citing concerns with landowners' rights and the effect on industry through possible future taxation.

The county commission meets at 9 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays at the county administration building in Jackson.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

Fruitland, Mo.

1 Barton Square, Jackson, Mo.