Jackson: Quaint, resilient, growing

The city of Jackson faces rolling changes.

"It's a bedroom community. We're trying to move beyond that," said Jim Roach, the city administrator. "We'd like to grow and be a little more diversified than that."

On Saturday, a small-town attitude prevailed as dozens of people turned out to clear City Park of ice storm debris.

Sheryl Spiecker and her sons, Billy, 14 and Ben, 12, raked small branches and leaves into a pile. They worked in a light drizzle.

Sheryl Spiecker said they heard about the project at the Boy Scout Troop 311 meeting that morning. The Spieckers arrived to see a few familiar faces and many that were not.

Jackson is getting bigger, she said, "but it's still kind of quaint and peaceful."

The Spiecker family moved to Jackson 19 years ago; her husband is a railroad worker with assignments from St. Louis to Dexter, Mo.

"We've chosen to stay here and he drives both ends on the road because we like it here so much," she said.

Billy sees the city as friendly but slow-paced; Ben likes the park's scenery.

Damage from the ice storm has been "a stress test for the entire city, but we've weathered well," said Dave Reiminger, pausing to gas up his chain saw while helping clear storm debris from City Park. An alderman and business owner, he wants to preserve the community spirit as the city matures.

Melody Payne, 17, dropped a load of branches near a curb and straightened up. She likes the weekend excitement at the bowling alley and seeing friends at the park, but on weekdays — school days — Jackson can be boring, she said.

Cabinetmaker Kevin Kluesner pulled a gas-powered tree trimmer out of his truck and scanned the park. He lives just outside of Jackson on Route D, but plays softball at City Park each summer. Jackson is a nice, quiet, loving town, he said. But it's getting crowded.

"You have to time when you go to work," he said. "There's not enough roads that can lead you away from Jackson."

Kluesner wondered why, with more than 12,000 neighbors, he saw only an estimated 50 arrive for Saturday's cleanup detail. Then he shrugs.

"I'm sure if [the weather] was nicer, you'd have more people," he said.

The mild attitude appears to pervade Jackson's upcoming election. Candidates for school board include 20-year incumbent, T. Wayne Lewis. All four incumbent city aldermen are unopposed: Curtis Poore, Joe Bob Baker, Dave Reiminger and Larry Cunningham. Baker has also put his name in the hat for the county commission race.

Despite limited incentives, the elected officials hope to ensure a robust tax base by drawing businesses to town, particularly the East Main Street interchange at Interstate 55.

Melody Payne's mother, Jo Payne, said she enjoys using the East Main extension and looks forward to seeing businesses line that street someday.

She remembers when the city limits barely stretched to Wal-Mart. It seems a little amazing that the line has moved all the way to I-55, she said.

Roach hesitates to keep all the focus on one part of the city.

"The newly improved highway east-west 34/72 has been improved by MoDOT. It's a really nice corridor for development," he said. And projects such as the new Oak Street Recreation Trail to be built this year will add to the draw. MoDOT is paying 70 percent of the $169,021.95 construction cost.

If Jo Payne could tweak what she calls "a beautiful town" it would be to add workers to the city's street crews and eliminate one library.

"They should do away with Jackson Public Library and have Riverside Public, have it right outside of town ... and everybody could use it," she said. Some of her neighbors use both and pay nothing, but she pays to use Riverside.

She's happy to see the school construction, but hesitates to suggest higher taxes. Still, she would like more city services unless the money is dedicated to specific projects.

"We are a pretty conservative bunch around here," Lohr said. "I don't think we overextended ourselves."

Lesli Golden wants the whole city have high-speed Internet access. Her service is limited to dial-up.

"You'd think you'd have updated resources," Golden said.

Jason Mouser, named Jackson fire chief in July, is getting ready to move his family back into town after living on his parents' Millersville farm.

He said Jackson is a perfect place to raise a family — in part because of the school system. But he also wants to make it a better place.

Mouser said a committee of firefighters, city officials and aldermen is in the process of figuring out how to get a second fire station built and staffed. Mouser would like to double the size of his 15-man department to meet the needs of a growing city. Firefighters face expanding duties, such as medical calls, acting as safety monitors for city workers in manholes or other tight areas, disposing of meth lab materials and making equipment safety checks for new parents.

He said response times to the city's east side are the longest.

He wants the city's fire department to maintain or improve its Insurance Services Office rating, a one-to-10 scale, with 10 being the worst. Jackson's rating is four, but at risk.

Fifty percent of the ISO rating is based on firehouse standards and practices; 40 percent is based on the city's water supply and 10 percent is based on alarms and response times. Mouser wants the city to earn a three or better. He said businesses and homeowners will benefit through lower insurance rates.

The department's equipment is aging. Trucks range from 10 to 25 years old.

The city recently learned its electric utility won the American Public Power Association's gold-level Reliable Public Power Provider award.

Over the last year, Jackson's police department pursued and won accreditation with the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) by improving policing practices and citizen communication. At the same time, officers responded to two shootings.

In July, Jonathan D, McClard, then 16, shot Jeremy D. Voshage, 17, at a Jackson carwash. In January, McClard took his own life while incarcerated at a Bonne Terre correctional facility. On Dec. 4, Mir Shahin Moshiri shot three children and himself in the family's home. He and two of the children died.

Carmen Simpher, a Jackson native, said the tragedies have been tough, particularly for police officers.

"They're not used to seeing that kind of thing, even though they're trained policemen," she said.

Reiminger said the crimes illustrate the limits of what any city can do.

"It's shocking when those things hit home, but you can't always do everything. You can't see ahead far enough to know all the individuals in the population of Jackson to head some of that off," he said. Despite the challenges, the city is getting ready to celebrate triple centennials: the county court house is 100; Homecomers — this year set for July 22 through 26 — reaches the century mark, as does Jackson High's football team.

Simpher, president of the city's park board, said plans are moving ahead for another free outdoor movie in June and a free rock concert in City Park's rock garden.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127

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