FRUITLAND-AREA SEWER MEETINGS SET

FRUITLAND -- Residents of the Fruitland-Pocahontas area have a chance at two meetings to ask questions and voice opinions about whether to form a sewer district.

Voters in the two Cape Girardeau County precincts will decide Nov. 4 the fate of the sewer district.

The first meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday at Zion Lutheran Church fellowship hall in Pocahontas. The second meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Oct. 23, at the VIP Building in Fruitland.

Chris Johnston, 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. Johnston said that with the area's rapidly growing population, the soil can't absorb all the discharge.

At the meetings, representatives from Missouri's Department of Natural Resources and Cape Girardeau County government will be on hand to answer questions, along with those organizing the sewer district.

"We want everyone's opinion," Johnston said. "This is the perfect time for community members to bring up their concerns and voice their opinions."

In addition to the meetings, Johnston said organizers have been distributing flyers door-to-door.

"People we are talking to see a definite need for it with the way the area is growing," he said.

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

The biggest question people have about the sewer district is how much it will cost. "I cannot give a price," Johnston said.

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

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 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 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. Voters could decide to float a revenue bond issue to be paid off with user fees.