PORT FIRMS HAS GRANT, NEEDS WATER

SCOTT CITY -- The Canal Wood Co. has moved to the Southeast Missouri Port Authority and with it has come a significant state grant and a big demand for Scott City water.

Scott City received $100,000 in Community Development Block Grant money this month tied to recent industrial growth at the port. Scott City Public Works Director John Rogers told the city council Monday that the money will be used for a well and water service improvements.

Rogers said the city has to come up with $15,000 in matching funds.

Canal Wood, a wood chip company, should soon sign contracts for water and sewer hookups. Rogers said the company will need two separate lines and will use at least 70,000 gallons of water a day.

In other city business:

-- Rogers said the city will begin its recycling program Aug. 4. The city will collect plastics, paper, cardboard and aluminum but will not be take glass.

He said Cape Girardeau's program has had some problems with glass handling and Scott City isn't ready to tackle that just yet.

Rogers said public works hasn't decided what route to run a recycling truck and will wait for public input before establishing a route.

-- Fire Chief Les Crump said the railroad company will move a supply of creosote-treated railroad ties from along Main Street. The company will probably not store anymore treated ties in the city after these are gone.

The council has received complaints from residents living off of Main Street who aren't happy with the smell and say they are experiencing health problems because of the ties.

-- Council members voted to purchase an $80 Railroad Day Celebration banner from the chamber of commerce. The banner will hang on a light pole along Main Street during the festivities and joins at least 26 other banners that have already been purchased.

The vote was split 3-2 on the purchase, though. Council members Gary Miller and Teresa Crump voted against the measure while Rodney Holloway, Billy Barnett and Richard Reed voted for it.

Council members Marsha Zimmerman and J.T. Gulley, and Mayor Jerry Cummins, were not at the meeting.

-- The city will consider a proposal from Holloway to go from headstones and monuments to plaques as markers in a section of the cemetery.

Holloway said it would make maintenance of the grounds easier and the plaques would not tilt or crumble as some of the older markers are. If the council did decide to go this way, it would not affect the older sections, nor the sections of the cemetery already sold. This would only apply to sections of the cemetery that have not been sold.

The matter should be brought up at the council's meeting in August.

-- A July 14 chlorine spill at City Park has been cleaned up and the city pool is back to regular operation, reported Park Director Phyllis Spinks. The spill happened when one of the pool's chlorine storage tanks sprung a leak. Emergency workers mopped up the chlorine, Spinks said in a letter to the council, and the Department of Natural Resources has been informed.