SCOTT COUNTY PROGRESS SLOW, GRADUAL

The lack of revenue in Scott County is, in the opinion of the county's presiding commissioner, the major obstacle to sustained growth and progress in the county.

"We don't have a lot of progress down here. We don't have the money for progress," said Bob Kielhofner, presiding commissioner of the Scott County.

Because the county does not have expanding retail trade comparable to neighboring Cape Girardeau County, Scott County has a slower rate of increase in sales tax revenue, Kielhofner said. The end result is a slower rate of progress.

"We do things slower here because he have to take it a step at a time," he said.

Still, the progress the county has made in the last year, especially the construction of a new Sheriff's office and the continued work on roads and bridges, is something of which Kielhofner is proud.

Last year, the county replaced the old sheriff's office with a new $400,000 building.

The former office was an old house, built in the 1930s and used as the sheriff's office since the mid 70s, that was "coming apart at the seams," Kielhofner said.

There were 25 employees crowded in the small house, and they needed more space, Kielhofner said.

The biggest project facing the county in 1998 is the upgrading of roads and bridges, especially many of the wooden bridges that still exist on county roads.

About $900,000 was spent in 1997 by the county on roads and bridges, with more than $120,000 spent on asphalt alone. Six bridges were replaced with an average cost of about $37,000, Kielhofner said.

Scott City Mayor Jerry Cummins said that his city, like the county, is experiencing gradual growth.

"We'll grow as other towns around us grow," he said.

Some growth has come to the city already in connection to the SEMO Regional Port Authority and the businesses that have located there within the last year. The city has made arrangements with the port authority and the businesses to provide water and sewer systems out to the port.

Additional improvements in the sewer and drainage systems and in the city streets are projects which are already in the works and, in the case of the drainage problems, nearly taken care of, Cummins said.

He is hoping that the city will get all the streets brought up to date in the near future, though he realizes that it will take a lot of money to accomplish the task, which is why he hopes the city will attract new business and industry.

He does point to the coming of Holligan Homes to town as something which will attract more people to the town.

But, because the city is, as Cummins calls it, a "bedroom city" -- meaning that many of the people who live in the town commute to jobs in Cape Girardeau -- the growth in industry within the city is sometimes slower than he wishes that it were.

Chaffee City Administrator Ron Eskew has seen some growth in industry within the city during the past year. In particular, he said, the expansion of S & W Cabinets and the coming of Carr Textiles to Chaffee have helped the community by providing new jobs to the people who live there and additional revenue to the city.

Eskew also said the city is presently in negotiation with two other companies considering a move to the town.

Growth in the city is coming not only in business and industry, but in the trees around the city. A Branch-Out Grant from the state has allowed the city to plant 61 new trees in the circle park.

"Right now, the future looks bright," Eskew said.