Jackson Aldermen decide no changes to this year's Homecomers

If any changes are made to the schedule or location of Jackson’s annual Homecomers celebration, it won’t be before 2020.

That was the consensus of the Jackson Board of Aldermen on Monday night after listening to Larry Koehler, chairman of American Legion Post 158 and chairman of the Jackson Homecomers committee, explain for all intents and purposes it’s too late to make any changes this year. The 2019 Homecomers event is scheduled for July 23 through 27.

A group of uptown Jackson merchants had petitioned the aldermen last month asking accommodations be made to either keep certain streets open during the event or ask Homecomers operate all day July 27 instead of waiting to open at 4:30 or 5 p.m. in order to help draw Homecomers attendees — and potential shoppers — to their stores. The merchants said the closed streets filled with carnival rides that aren’t operating during the day discourages people from coming to their stores, especially the ones in the 100 block of High Street.

“For this year, time is of the essence,” Koehler told the aldermen. “To make a major change in Homecomers this year is just not feasible.”

Koehler said he has been in touch with operators of Fountain City Amusements of De Soto, Missouri, to discuss the possibility of keeping the carnival rides open all day July 27. However, he said Joe Sutton, owner of the carnival company, could not ask his employees to open the carnival as at 11 a.m., keep it open until 10:30 or 11 p.m. and have the carnival packed up and streets cleared by 6 a.m. the following day.

“It’s a safety issue,” Koehler said. “I tend to trust experience. He (Sutton) has tried staying open all day in other cities and it hasn’t worked.”

Jackson city administrator Jim Roach asked Koehler whether moving Homecomers one block south, allowing the 100 block of High Street to remain open, might solve the problem. Koehler said he thought the idea might be a workable solution that could be considered for next year’s Homecomers activities.

It was agreed this year’s Homecomers would take place as planned with certain blocks of Main and High streets closed to traffic to allow for food tents and carnival rides, but follow up discussions take place later this year to consider the possibility of adjusting festival location to accommodate the merchants’ concerns.

Other business

• Discussion about the city’s agreement with the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri to take in feral cats on behalf of the City of Jackson and the possibility of adjusting the agreement to allow the Humane Society to charge the city for each feral feline city animal control officers bring to the shelter.
• Review of a storage building project at Russell Heights Cemetery.
• Discussion of an engineering proposal to remove railroad tracks along a portion of East Main Street as part of the water main replacement project on that street.
• Accepted the city’s 2018 audit report, prepared by the accounting firm of Beussink, Hey, Row and Stroder LLC.
• Set 6 p.m. July 15 as the time and date for a public hearing before the board related to zoning districts and minimum setback distances for medical marijuana dispensing, manufacturing, cultivation and testing facilities within the Jackson city limits.
• Approved a motion to accept a $24,995 change order to Fronabarger Concreters Inc., related to additional site work required for the traffic signal project at the intersection of East Main Street and Oak Hill Road.
• Approved the appointment of Autumn Pettit to serve an unexpired term ending May 2021 on the Jackson Historic Preservation Commission.