BOARD SETS HEARING DATES; CANDIDATE FILES FOR ELECTION

JACKSON -- Declaring that Jackson's city government is in need of a new outlook, first-time aldermanic candidate Donna Langford filed for office Tuesday.

Langford, 41, will run against 14-year Alderman David Ludwig in Ward 1. The challenger works at Langford Service Co., co-owned by her husband, Ray, and holds a bachelor's degree in education from Southeast Missouri State University.

The couple has two children, Rob, a freshman at the University of Missouri-Rolla, and Jackie, a junior at Jackson High School.

"I've lived in Jackson for 21 years, and I'm very interested in the growth going on in our city," Langford said.

She said that if elected, she would want to serve only a couple of terms before stepping aside.

"I'd like to be involved and then give someone else a chance," Langford said. "That way, we would keep getting new ideas in city government."

She joins challengers John Powers and Larry Cunningham and incumbents Fred Leimer, Dave Reiminger, Kerry Hoffman and Glenn Oldham in running for office. The deadline to file is 5 p.m. Jan. 30. The election will be Tuesday, April 2.

Current board members conducted their regular meeting Tuesday night at Jackson City Hall, scheduling four public hearings on annexations and rezonings.

On Feb. 6, Jackson residents will express their opinions about rezoning some property owned by Kimbeland Country Club on East Jackson Boulevard. Dave Clabaugh would like it go from residential to commercial.

On Feb. 20, a hearing will be held on rezoning land in Chrisemma Subdivision, owned by Lawson Burgfeld and Emogene Schnurbusch, from residential to commercial.

A second hearing Feb. 20 will be about lots in Sappington Court Subdivision. The owners want some to be rezoned from industrial to commercial and residential.

The third hearing scheduled for that night involves the voluntary annex of Fairfield Estates.

All the annexation and rezoning points to Jackson's considerable growth, which the aldermen have been struggling to deal with.

As part of their efforts to control the growth, they unanimously passed new subdivision regulations.

The regulations most notably call for concrete-only streets in new subdivisions and generally for 36-foot-wide streets.

In neighborhoods where the lots are larger than 15,000 square feet, 30-foot-wide streets will be allowed.

"We aren't saying these regulations are perfect, but they are a good step in the orderly growth of Jackson," said Mayor Paul Sander.