DUTCHTOWN GETS $8,000 LOAN FROM COUNTY

JACKSON -- A Dutchtown flood-control project got a financial boost Monday when the Cape Girardeau County Commission gave the newly formed village an $8,000 loan.

The loan provides the local match needed by the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a feasibility study for a flood-control levee at Dutchtown.

With the check in hand, Bud Obermann and Bob Moss headed out Monday to send it and supporting documents to the Corps.

"Once we get this to the Corps, the first phase should start," said Moss. "We are looking at a year or two before this phase is done."

"We have a promissory note for $8,000," said Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones.

The commissioners acknowledged that the tiny village, which incorporated just this month, has no money to pay back the loan.

"But down the line, they might have grants or other ways to pay us back," Jones said.

Residents of Dutchtown started their search for the $8,000 in October when they met with county commissioners and representatives from the Corps of Engineers. The Corps needed a governmental entity to take the lead in a levee project. In addition, the Corps wanted $8,000 up front to begin the project.

The Corps would pay the majority of costs for the feasibility study and any levee with federal flood-control money, but a local match will be required.

The County Commission didn't want to own a levee. It urged Dutchtown residents to take the lead, and they did.

While Dutchtown residents receive a direct benefit, Moss and Obermann said the entire region would benefit if highways 74 and 25 could remain open during floods.

Highway 74 has been closed by flooding four times in the past three decades: 1973, 1983, 1993 and 1995.