JACKSON COMMUNITY UPDATE

Residents can take advantage of our citywide semiannual Clean-up/Fix-up Week Oct. 7-11. During that week our refuse trucks will pick up items not normally collected at the curbside.

The city of Jackson has applied for a state grant to improve the American Legion baseball field in our city park. If approved, a variety of improvements could be made to make the legion field one of the best baseball facilities in Southeast Missouri. Stay tuned!

Improvements in the intersection of Route D and Highway 61, and also the Route D and Broadridge intersection, have helped some of the traffic congestion caused by school and residential expansion in the area. Soon a turn lane will be put in at the new middle school along Route D. We will continue to work with the Missouri State Highway Department on future improvements in this area and other areas of town where traffic congestion has become a problem.

The council recently reviewed three presentations from companies bidding on our city's comprehensive master plan update scheduled for 1997. This comprehensive master city plan has not been updated since 1981 and will be another great tool for present and future city leaders to plan and follow a progressive, sound course for Jackson's bright future. This master plan will take six to 12 months to complete and will require much work from the council, planning and zoning board, city staff and from the citizens giving their input and the appropriate time.

Last month, I, along with several councilmen, had the pleasure of touring all city departments. We were able to talk with employees, get a firsthand look at ongoing projects and listen to ideas of how we can improve our city. I can tell you that our employees who work for the city of Jackson are a dedicated, very proud group of people. On the average our employees have over 10 years' experience working for the city. I am proud to be working on the same team with our 100-plus city employees. My door is always open to our employees and any citizen of Jackson who has a suggestion, question or concern.

Our new solid waste transfer station is awaiting final approval and should open any day. This facility is located along Lee Avenue just before you get to our city wastewater facility. The new transfer station will be a great convenience to local citizens and will save the city of Jackson money in reduced tipping fees for our city trucks per our agreement with Allied Waste Co.

Our public library will be getting a minor face-lift on the second floor to improve the security of our library. Please pardon our progress as we try to improve our library facility.

In next month's update, I will review our progress on the major goals for Jackson in 1996. We have been pleased with the progress on most of these goals and I will outline where each one stands next month.

The council meets every Monday night at city hall at 7:30 p.m. Your input, suggestions and comments are always welcome.