SCOTT CITY COUNCIL TAKEN TO TASK OVER VOTE

SCOTT CITY -- The already months-long project of renumbering houses in Scott City was again put on hold Monday on the apparent advice of a high school business teacher.

The teacher, Pat Andrews, who sponsors the Future Business Leaders of America at Scott City High School and coaches the parliamentary procedure team there, told City Council members they did not follow parliamentary procedure when they voted Sept. 3 to go ahead with a plan to renumber houses in all parts of the town except the Country Club subdivision.

Andrews said she was "neutral" toward house numbering, but was asked by members of a committee appointed to evaluate the renumbering plan to point out to council members the apparent lack of procedure.

She said that after viewing videotapes of the Sept. 3 meeting, it was obvious the council did not follow procedure mandated by city bylaws. The videotapes were made by members of the committee studying the house numbering.

"If bylaws are not followed, all motions are invalid," she told council members.

The council then voted to strike a Sept. 3 ruling to go ahead with the renumbering plan in all parts of the city except the County Club subdivision.

Councilman Ron Oller and other city officials said after the meeting they were unsure what effect the ruling would have on residents who had already altered their house numbers in compliance with the plan.

"We didn't gain anything, we didn't lose anything" as a result of Monday's actions, said Oller, who heads the committee to evaluate the numbering plan.

Mayor Shirley Young said it is unclear what is going to happen at this point with the renumbering plan. She said the city sent out hundreds of letters just last week to citizens whose house numbers were missing or were not in plain view.

"The Post Office has been notified. (The plan) is a go," she said.

But members of the committee, who again videotaped Monday's council meeting, said they are in the process of completing a renumbering study of the entire town.

Committee members LaDonna Phelps said she and other members are through evaluating numbers in about one-third of the town, and hope to present a completed study to the city council in three weeks.

Phelps said the committee had found "at least 50" mistakes in the previous house-numbering plan compiled last year by Councilman John Smith and reserve city police officer Lloyd Young.

The mayor said if the committee presents a new study, which includes additional or alternate changes to the house-numbering plan, the council "will deal with that."

According to the house-numbering study completed last year and adopted in part by the City Council two weeks ago, 147 houses in the town houses not situated in the Country Club subdivision are not numbered correctly.

In the subdivision, 128 house numbers were designated as needing to be changed.

Because of the confusion over the house numbering, Police Chief David Beck said in the event of an emergency, residents should give both their old and new addresses when contacting the police or fire department.

The house-renumbering plan was originally designed to make it easier for emergency crews to find homes in the city during emergency calls.