FRUITLAND AREA SEWER DISTRICT TO BE DECIDED

Voters in two Cape Girardeau County precincts will decide Nov. 4 whether to form a sewer district in the Fruitland-Pocahontas area.

Circuit Judge William Syler last week ordered the vote.

Chris Johnson, chairman of a proposed Cape Girardeau County Common Sewer District, said formation of the district is necessary to "make sure our children aren't playing in our own sewage."

The area has no unified sewage system, so residents and businesses depend on septic tanks, sewage lagoons and some subdivision package plants. Johnson said that with the area's rapidly growing population, the soil can't absorb all the discharge.

Johnson, who owns Frontier Food & Kitchen in Fruitland, said some of his customers complain about discharges polluting their land.

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

The five members submitted a petition to the Cape Girardeau County Commission. Following state law, the Commission sent the petition to the Circuit Court with the names of the trustees.

The court sent the proposal to the county clerk, who has approved it for the November election.

Should the proposal pass, the five members of the temporary board will be an official governing body. The members' terms would be staggered so that eventually the public 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 levy no taxes, said Martha Vandivort of the League of Women Voters, who has been active in the effort to start the sewer district. Voters could decide to float a revenue bond issue to be paid off with user fees, she said.

Unless something unexpected comes up, it will be the only election in Cape Girardeau County in November. The deadline for submitting ballot measures is today.