JACKSON VOTES TO HELP PAVE OAK HILL

JACKSON -- Hours of research by city staff paid off in big dividends for Oak Hill Road residents.

Thanks to a 1987 advertisement in the Cash-Book Journal and an article in the Southeast Missourian, the residents will pay only half the cost of paving their road.

At the last Jackson Board of Aldermen meeting, residents objected to paying an estimated $30 per foot of frontage for concrete paving of Oak Hill Road. One said that the city agreed to help pay for the road.

Mayor Paul Sander said he wasn't aware of such an agreement but invited the group to prove its claim.

At Monday's meeting, Mike Onderdonk presented a page from the Oct. 21, 1987, Cash-Book Journal. Part of an advertisement recommending passage of Jackson's half-cent transportation sales tax listed Oak Hill Road as a street recommended for improvement.

City Administrator Steve Wilson had a copy of the ad and also had a 1987 copy of the Southeast Missourian. In an article about the upcoming vote on the sales tax, Oak Hill Road again was listed as a street in line for improvement, tying it into the tax.

The measure passed on Nov. 3, 1987.

Alderman Jack Piepenbrok, chairman of the Street Committee, suggested the council change its decision to not contribute anything to paving Oak Hill Road. He proposed the city pay for half the street paving, make the street 30 feet wide and allow parking on the west side.

His suggestion touched off a debate about the proposed width. Jan Onderdonk said she would prefer a 27-foot-wide road running in front of her house with the hope it would slow traffic.

"People will go down it at 60 miles per hour with it being gravel," she said. "My daughter is grown enough to know not to run in the street, but there are children who live across the street who aren't."

Piepenbrok said he thought traffic would go the same speed no matter what the street width.

The council unanimously passed Piepenbrok's recommendation. If anyone protests the paving, which will cost them an estimated $15 per foot, he must get over 50 percent of property owners on the road to object.

A spokesperson for the group said that wouldn't happen.

Regular Meeting

Monday, March 20

7:30 p.m.

Power and Light Committee

- Approved a contract with Sallee Power Line Construction for building of a transmission line and two distribution lines.

- Approved an agreement with Lee-Rowan Inc.

- Authorized the request for bids on a backhoe for Ditch Witch trencher for Electric Line Department.

- Authorized payment of Jackson Missouri Combined Waterworks and Sewerage Series 1988 bonds of $25,000 principal and $21,700 interest.

- Approved a contract with Caldwell Tanks Inc. for construction of a 300,000-gallon elevated water tank in the amount of $539,200.

- Accepted bid from Cape GMC Pontiac for purchase of 1995 3/4-ton pickup for the wastewater plant in the amount of $17,054.

Street Committee

- Purchased radio equipment costing $7,898 from Johnson Communications Service Inc.

- Approved a contract with Australian Courtworks Inc. in the amount of $14,500 for tennis court restoration and repair.

- Authorized the city engineer to prepare planned specifications for the improvement of Forest, Independence and Olive streets between Greensferry Road and Forest Street.

- Changed the proposed width of Oak Hill Road to 30 feet.