Cape Girardeau County commissioners approve family cemetery, payment requests

Drew Blattner, Cape Girardeau County Recorder of Deeds, spoke with county commissioners Monday, March 11, regarding a family cemetery his parents had requested in 2021.

He said his family had requested a portion of their land be deeded for a cemetery but have since decided to move it a short distance.

Blattner wanted the commissioners’ approval to give the previous land back to his family and institute the new area as a cemetery instead.

"Basically (it’s) just exchanging one portion for the other,” he said.

The three commissioners — Clint Tracy, Charlie Herbst and Paul Koeper — unanimously approved his request.

Pay requests and purchases

Tracy, Herbst and Koeper also approved pay requests to two Jackson construction companies.

One was a $715,181 request, covered by 2022 bond funding, to Penzel Construction for county jail expansion.

The other was to Sides Construction for its work on the county’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC). This request was for $402,800 from American Rescue Plan Act funding.

The commissioners also approved a quote for Sides Construction in the amount of $48,184 to install a 100-foot-tall, self-sustaining communications tower at the EOC.

“Three sections are out there, and when they come to pour the concrete for the base they’re going to bring the rest,” county emergency management director Sam Herndon said.

The commissioners decided to purchase a new steel pipe to replace a failing one on County Road 263. This pipe would come from the Columbia, Mississippi-based Landworx excavating contractor and cost $15,200 from the county’s highway department budget.

Herndon also recommended the commissioners rescind an earlier burn advisory on account of wetter weather, which they did.