PORT AUTHORITY BOARD OKAYS BID LETTING FOR SPUR PROJECT

SCOTT CITY -- The Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority board of commissioners voted Monday to advertise for bids next month for phase two of the river port's railroad spur project.

The board also received an update from the port's executive director, Allan Maki, on the status of the Economic Development Agency (EDA) grant application to fund the second phase of the railroad spur project. The board also heard a report that the Lower Mississippi River Commission (LMRC) at Vicksburg, Miss. may hold the first of a series of public meetings during its April 1993 high water inspection tour at the port's public dock.

The actual date for the bid letting on the second phase of the railroad spur project will be determined by the board's construction committee, after meeting with the port's consulting engineer.

Commission Chairman Marty Potashnick said the first phase of the railroad spur project is nearly completed. He suggested the commissioners authorize the construction committee to proceed with plans for the bid letting. The project includes laying of rock ballast and steel rails, and installation of switches at each end of the "Y" that connects the rail spur with the Union Pacific tracks between Scott City and Cape Girardeau. The bid letting will depend on whether the port authority receives its EDA grant.

Maki said Sen. Christopher Bond's Washington office informed him Monday the grant application is under final review by the EDA's legal counsel office in Washington. "It's cleared all of the hurdles. Now it's just a matter of time," said Maki.

Maki also reported on his meetings with the Corps' St. Louis District Office and Lower Mississippi River Commission officials on board the M/V Mississippi IV, during the LMRC's recent annual low-water inspection tour from St. Louis to Morgan City, La.

Maki said the Corps wants to work with the port authority to develop a plan that would reduce the annual operating costs of dredging the mouth of the port authority's slackwater harbor. Also discussed were long-range plans and goals, including development of another harbor at the Diversion Channel, located about two miles upstream from the existing slackwater harbor.

Maki said LMRC officials told him they would like to schedule one of their April 1993 public meetings at the port's public dock as part of the LMRC's annual high-water inspection tour.

"The public meeting would be held aboard the commission's new inspection boat, Mississippi V, which will be commissioned early next year. It will be on its maiden voyage down the Mississippi River when it stops at Cape Girardeau," said Maki. "It will be an opportunity for the Corps and the LMRC to display their new boat to the people in this area, and an opportunity for us to host a public meeting at our public dock facility."

Maki noted the LMRC public meetings are usually held at the downtown waterfront area of cities on the inspection tour. The last LMRC public meeting held at Cape Girardeau was in April 1990. The most recent low-water public meeting was held earlier this month in Cairo, Ill.

Maki also reported 6,182 tons of cargo moved through the port in August. The year-to-date tonnage figure now stands at nearly 90,910 tons.