ELECTION DAY: SEWER DISTRICT LONE ISSUE IN CAPE COUNTY

Voters in the Fruitland-Pocahontas area of Cape Girardeau County will decide today whether to form a sewer district in the area.

It is the only ballot issue in Cape Girardeau County. Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

The area has no unified sewage system. Residents and businesses depend on septic tanks, sewage lagoons and some subdivision package plants.

Chris Johnston, chairman of the proposed Cape Girardeau County Common Sewer District, said that with the area's growing development, soil can't absorb all the discharge.

The sewer district must be formed before the project can proceed, he said.

Should the proposal pass, the five members of a temporary board will be an official governing body. The members' terms would be staggered so that eventually the district's voters would elect one member a year to a five-year term.

The board would have the power to appoint an engineer, hire a staff and raise money from grants, loans and user fees, but couldn't levy taxes. Voters could approve revenue bonds to be paid off with user fees.

At a public meeting May 15, area residents decided to work to form a sewer district, elected the five-member board of trustees and chose Johnston chairman.

The five members submitted a petition to the Cape Girardeau County Commission. Following state law, the County Commission sent the petition to the Circuit Court with the names of the trustees. The court sent the proposal to the county clerk, who approved it for today's election.