JACKSON STREET PROGRESSING

JACKSON -- The intersection of Russell and West Adams may be reopened to pedestrian traffic before Sunday, acting City Engineer Rich Bowen told the Board of Aldermen Tuesday.

The intersection has been closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic because of the repaving of West Adams.

The board approved his request for a partial payment of $47,606 to Fronabarger Concreters of Jackson for the West Adams project. Bowen said the West Adams paving work is now 20 percent complete. Total cost is $234,000.

The board authorized Bowen to work with architect John Dudley, who is preparing plans for making Brookside Park and Rotary Lake accessible to handicapped people.

The Brookside Park project would include a handicapped parking lot and walkway into the park.

The Rotary Lake project will include construction of a hard-surface access ramp from the parking lot to a dock that would extend out into the southwest corner of the lake, near the dam. The lake is in the Jackson Central Park. The lake project will be funded by a grant from the Missouri Department of Conservation. The Brookside Park project will be paid from park funds.

In other business, City Administrator Carl Talley made a brief report on the Region 8 Solid-Waste Management hearing held Monday in Jackson. Talley said if everyone in the Region 8 area participated in the plan the tipping fee for the proposed regional landfill would still be around $40 per ton. Bowen agreed: "It's a realistic figure."

Bowen is currently compiling a cost study on the future operation of the Jackson landfill, which should be complete in about two weeks to 30 days.

Mayor Paul Sander announced the appointment of four persons to represent Jackson at the Region 8 Solid-Waste District meetings. They are Sander, Talley, Bowen, and Phil Penzel.

Sander also appointed himself, Talley, and Alderman Kevin Sawyer to an ad hoc city hall building committee that will work on a daily basis with the architect who is preparing plans for the conversion of the former Jackson Exchange Bank building into the new city hall.

The illnesses of Aldermen Jack Piepenbrok and LeRoy Brown reduced the number of aldermen present at Tuesday's meeting to five. Alderman David Ludwig is still recovering from a recent heart attack, but is expected to return to the next board meeting on Nov. 15.