Ice storm tops full agenda for Cape County commissioners

Effects of the ice storm will likely dominate Cape Girardeau County Commission's agenda Thursday.

The board ended its last meeting Feb. 11 by closing county offices as the storm rolled in. The offices remained closed for the next three days. Today the county is closed to observe Presidents Day.

Any agenda items intended for last week, which includes a discussion on webcams and broadcasting commission meetings online, have been moved to Thursday, according to Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones.

"We have a hell of lot to deal with," he said.

Figuring out just what the cost of ice storm damage and repairs will be is one of the top priorities, he said.

"We've had a lot of overtime for the sheriff department, the highway department. A lot of overtime," he said.

Jones placed the magnitude of the storm at a seven on a scale of 10.

He said the big snow of 1979 stranded people for a day or so, "but at least you could move the snow around."

Cleanup in Cape Girardeau County and other hard-hit areas of Southeast Missouri is expected to take up to two weeks. Jones, whose own home in north Cape Girardeau County was without power for days, said the county had few negative calls.

"We had one lady real fussy about me getting out there and watering her cattle -- and bringing hay along with it. We don't do that," he said. He said a Humane Society of Missouri volunteer was able to help the woman care for the animals.

He said his own 12-acre wooded lot "looks like a war zone."

"But nobody's hurt. A limb didn't fall on anybody. A limb fell on my daughter's car, and she was pretty upset, but I told her to worry about bigger things," he said.

Next to assessing storm damage and cleanup, "bigger things" on the commissioners' agenda will be road-paving bids and Web technology.

The Cape Girardeau County Road and Bridge Advisory Board meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday to review five bids for chip and seal paving. That meeting is in the second-floor conference room of the county administration building, 1 Barton Square, in Jackson.

Commissioner Jay Purcell said a Web technology agenda item is merely a discussion about improving the board's ability to communicate with voters.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127