CEREMONY WELCOMES PROJECT; SCOTT CITY BEGINS WATER, SEWER LINES

SCOTT CITY -- Construction of water and sewer lines to the Nash Road industrial site in Scott City is set to begin today, two years after the area was annexed by the city.

"This has been a long-awaited day," said Mayor Shirley Young. "It's been a long time in coming."

A groundbreaking ceremony will be held today at 9 a.m. along East Outer Road.

The industrial tract, which is home to businesses that employ about 500 people in all, was annexed in June 1989 with the city's promise that water and sewer lines would be built soon afterward.

But problems in funding construction of those lines held up the project for two years. Now, the project is going forward with funding from a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) grant and a city bond issue.

"This is an extremely important move for our city," the mayor said. "Extending service to this area can open up so much potential for business to locate there."

Young said growth in the area has been stalled because of a lack of city water and sewer service. But when the lines are completed, she said, businesses there would be able to expand and other businesses might move in.

The estimated cost for the entire project, which includes 16,000 feet of sewer and water lines, is $563,500. A DNR grant of $203,500 was obtained by the city in February, and bonds issued in the amount of $360,000 will fund the rest of the cost.

PR Developers Inc. of Cape Girardeau is the contractor for the project, and the project engineer is John Chittenden of Waters & Associates in Sikeston.

Young said Dan Bollinger, executive director of the Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Center in Malden, helped the city to obtain grant money for the project. And she said businesses located in the industrial tract have been "patient and cooperative" in their wait for city water and sewer service.

Soon after the area was annexed, the city applied for a grant of $290,000 from the Department of Economic Development (DED). And while it did receive $203,500 from the DNR, the DED grant fell through.

It was then that the city was forced to come up with matching funds of $166,500 to be able to accept the DNR grant.

The matching funds, and the rest of the money needed to pay for construction, would be funded through a bond issue, city officials decided in late April.

Businesses in the area collectively contributed $120,000, which was used as collateral for the bond issue.

Young said the city's potential to collect revenue from the area will grow with the construction of the water and sewer lines. She said the city has already collected more than $60,000 in franchise, sales and property taxes from the area in the past two years.

"Not very many cities have the opportunity to have an industrial tract that pays for itself," she said.

Some of the larger businesses operating in the industrial tract include Havco Wood Products, Industrial Fuels and Resources and Rhodes Oil Company.