CHAFFEE VOTERS MAY BE AKSED TO HIKE PARK TAX

CHAFFEE -- Filing will begin Jan. 7 for four Chaffee City Council seats, and city voters could be asked to approve a park tax increase in the April municipal election.

The council approved an ordinance at its regular meeting Monday night establishing the city election and setting the filing period. The filing period will close Feb. 4. Municipal elections in Missouri will be held April 7, said the city's attorney, David Summers.

All the council positions carry two-year terms. Up for election are the seats held by Jerry Wolsey of Ward 1 and Irmgard Chronister of Ward 2; the Ward 3 seat formerly held by Randy Dooley, who recently vacated the seat after moving to Ward 4; and the Ward 4 seat of Brad Bader. Monday night, the council appointed Ron Eskew of 419 Gray to fill the seat vacated by Dooley.

The council approved Eskew's appointment Monday at the request of Mayor Ron Moyers. Moyers said Eskew, 35, works at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau as a collections officer. Originally from Delta, Eskew has lived in Chaffee since 1986, he said.

Chronister and Wolsey said after Monday's meeting they would file for re-election to second terms. Bader was the only council member not to attend Monday's meeting.

"I'm really trying to work for the people," said Chronister. "If I can help them do anything, I will do it.

"I really want to make Chaffee a better city to live in. It's a nice city anyway, but you can still do something to make it even better."

Wolsey said he's really enjoyed serving Chaffee residents for the past two years.

"With their vote of confidence, I hope I can continue serving them. It's really been a learning experience," he said.

Ward 2 Councilman Ed Gauthier suggested at the meeting that a vote on a city park tax increase could be held in April. But Gauthier, who described himself as the liaison between the park board and the council, said following the meeting that he didn't know if such a vote would be held. He said he just wanted to know when such a proposal would need to be submitted to get on the ballot.

"We've been operating at a $30,000 a year deficit." City general revenue has supported the parks, he said. Gauthier said the city's park tax is now 10 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

In separate action Monday, the council agreed to sell the city's emergency preparedness truck. The council voted unanimously to purchase the truck, a 1970 U-Haul, for $2,500 in October 1990. The city spent additional money to upgrade the truck.

"That thing was bought in the earthquake era and we jumped too quick," Moyers said in reference to the projections of the late climatologist Iben Browning that a major earthquake would occur along the New Madrid Fault on Dec. 3, 1990.

"I would like to see us get rid of it because it's been a large pain," he said.

Since buying the truck, the council has had to deal with how to house it. And recently, Chronister said, a new battery had to be purchased for the truck, which currently is parked outside.

Wolsey told a reporter later that the city would instead seek to purchase a smaller storage-type van to replace the truck. A smaller facility would be built near the city's fire station to house the van, he said, rather than the larger facility previously envisioned for the truck.

Moyers said sale of the former U-Haul truck would allow the city to recoup much of the cost.