Cape County commissioners vote to accept repayment from Dutchtown promissory note

Cape Girardeau County commissioners voted Thursday to accept repayment of $8,000 from the unincorporated village of Dutchtown.

In 1998, Cape Girardeau County issued a promissory note to Dutchtown for a flood control study the village was doing with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Dutchtown needed to have local matching funds, which Cape Girardeau County provided.

When Dutchtown was unincorporated in March 2018, the county inherited $90,868.02 — of which the $8,000 repayment would come out of — which was to be used for items and issues around the Dutchtown area.

“The promissory note has really been due for a while,” Commissioner Paul Koeper said.

CARES Act

Commissioners discussed repayment of funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act would not be necessary as all of the money allotted to Cape Girardeau County will be used.

“The governor and some people in Jeff City said counties aren’t using their money, and they’re expected to allot that money back,” Koeper said. “In our case, that’s not going to happen. We will use all of our funds. I think our funds were a total of about $9.255 million.

“Right now, we’ve issued $7,701,000 worth of those funds in checks. Everybody was supposed to have all their requests and receipts in by Dec. 1. We are now processing those, and hopefully, within the next two weeks, we will have everything dispersed that we are supposed to have dispersed.”

In other business Thursday, commissioners voted to:

• Appoint Brad Dillow to the county’s Enhanced 911 Advisory Board.
• Pay $11,666.53 to the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission for membership dues.
• Raise the county treasurer’s budget by $10,000 for payroll and salary expenses.
• Allow American Legion Post 158 to hold a Pearl Harbor commemoration ceremony at 4 p.m. Sunday in front of the old courthouse in Jackson.