Cape County agrees to sponsor grant to benefit children's home

The Cape Girardeau County Commission agreed Thursday to sponsor a federal Community Development Block Grant to help renovate the Hope Children's Home, a residential foster care program in Jackson.

Dr. Dawn Caruso, president of Hope Children's Home, asked the commission for permission to apply for money that would enable the facility to paint and make repairs to the roof, gutters, window and air-conditioning system. In order to open last February, extensive repairs were made to the large brick home at 709 E. Main St. that dates back to the 1890s.

The home houses six foster children and will allow 12 once installation of their sprinkler system is completed. The program accommodates long-term placements from Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and Perry counties and provides a place where foster children can stay in emergency situations.

The grant amount will depend on the number of families determined to be served by the program, based on $5,000 maximum per family.

In other business, the county reviewed bids for the steel structure required to rebuild shelter No. 8 in Cape County Park North. Perryville Machine Shop of Jackson Arning Canopy Systems Inc. of Cassville, Mo., Snyder Engineering of Columbia, Mo., and FGR Mechanical Inc. of Cape Girardeau provided bids, which were accepted and referred to the parks department for review.

Associate Commissioner Paul Koeper introduced a plan to obtain a used asphalt patching machine for use by the Highway Department through an intergovernmental agreement with Iron County. The same machine was rented last year by the county and will be purchased, once approved, for $21,000. Koeper said a new machine would cost about $57,000.

The commission approved going out to bid for building restrooms in Cape County Park South, which will replace the portable restrooms by the park's large playground. Associate Commissioner Jay Purcell said that enough money will remain from the $120,000 of parks development and acquisition funds slated in the yearly budget to repave park roads and rebuild shelter No. 8 to pay for the project.

Purcell said he plans to consider the expense of hooking up to a sewer line before moving forward. Bids for contractors building the restrooms will be compared to the cost of the county completing the work.

Director Nancy Howland presented the annual report for the Riverside Regional Library. Howland said last year there were 117,000 visitors to the county library in Jackson, which has more than 76,000 books. The next initiative the library will undertake will be to allow borrowers to check out e-books, or books for electronic readers.

Following open session, the commission entered closed session to discuss a real estate matter.

salderman@semissourian.com

388-3648

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