Commission names road advisory board

The task of deciding how, when and where to lay asphalt on Cape Girardeau County roads is now in the hands of 11 county residents.

The county commission Thursday named the new Road and Bridge Advisory Board during a discussion that focused on the strong points of each candidate. The final list was approved unanimously after a township-by-township selection process that saw split votes on six of the 11 members.

Commissioners agreed in advance that they would try to approve the final list without dissent regardless of their personal opinions on individual selections.

"What we have ended up with is a really, really good advisory board," Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said after the selections were completed.

A letter going out to advisory board members will notify them of their first meeting, Oct. 16, and alert them that they will hear from the county commission regarding their mission. Commissioners said Thursday that they anticipate the board will meet regularly, as often as every week, during the first months of work as they work through issues such as county paving policies.

"I would like to attend their first meeting and then leave them alone," Jones said.

The advisory board was established during the campaign for Proposition 1, the half-cent county sales tax that takes effect Jan. 1. The tax, expected to raise more than $6 million annually, will pay for an accelerated paving program for county roads and increased law enforcement by the sheriff's department.

County paving policies, which call for laying asphalt on roads after landowners petition the county and grant easements to widen the gravel surface, have been controversial in the past. A single landowner opposing a paving project can hold up the desires of their neighbors for a hard surface road.

Commissioner Larry Bock said he would like to see the board's suggestions for paving rules by the spring.

And Commissioner Jay Purcell said the new board needs to have a session where the details of the Missouri Sunshine Law governing meetings and records are discussed.

The board will also discuss which roads to pave. Jones said board members need the county's list of roads slated for paving over the next six years so they can make recommendations for any changes.

"This is not chiseled that much in concrete," Jones said.

In other county business, the commissioners voted 2-to-1 to give Rocky Holler USA the old steel pony truss bridge recently removed from County Road 439.

Commissioners had received

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Advisory board

The following people were chosen Thursday for the Cape Girardeau County Road and Bridge Advisory Board.

* Weldon Macke, at-large member

* Ken Evans, Apple Creek Township

* Billy Gene Hahs, Shawnee Township

* George Miller, Whitewater Township

* Glen Birk, Byrd Township

* Larry Payne, Randol Township

* Kenny Spooler, Kinder Township

* John Helderman, Liberty Township

* Ernie Brown, Welch Township

* Dale Kester, Cape Township

* David Blumenberg, Hubble Township