STE. GENEVIEVE – Ste. Genevieve City Administrator Happy Welch told the board of aldermen at its meeting Thursday that MLC (formerly Mississippi Lime Company) told him in a phone call that it has no interest in selling the property which the city had planned to use for the Northwest Detention Basin to hold back the water which flows from the property causing problems for houses downstream.
Welch said MLC is also not interested in having an easement placed on their property.
Two members of the board of aldermen indicated their disappointment, noting that MLC had told the city to go forward with the planning for the basin. The city spent approximately $30,000 in work on the planning for the detention basin.
It was noted that MLC’s action will cause the Ste. Genevieve County School District R-II to come up with a plan for stormwater detention on its Maple Street property where an early childhood center is being constructed.
Alderman Robert Donovan says the affected homeowners are disappointed.
“I don’t know what to tell the people, ‘forget about it’, I don’t know, but it is very disheartening that a company that has been a part of this town for a long time has just turned their opinions on the city and the people,” he said.
Aldermen Joe Steiger accused MLC of “bad faith” in negotiating the sale of its property to the school district for its early childhood center.
“For what they charged the school district to buy that property, knowing that they would have stormwater issues up there, I think that was negotiations in bad faith for them to do that to the school,” he said.
Steiger said the R-II school board must now be scrambling to come up with a stormwater plan for their property.
The city may now have to go to a secondary plan without the detention basin.
“That (is) to open up more of the ditch that goes from up there, through the properties,” Welch said.
In other business at Thursday’s meeting:
Two improvement projects in Ste. Genevieve can now move forward, after the Ste. Genevieve Board of Aldermen gave first and second approval to them at Thursday night’s meeting.
SG Engineering LLC DBA Cochran for has been hired to provide professional services for the St. Mary’s Road Sidewalk Improvement Project and Kluesner Construction of Kelso, Mo. has been approved for the (Pere) Marquette Park Trail Rehabilitation Project at a cost of $63,063.80.
The aldermen also approved the following consent items:
A liquor license for Hausteca Potosina Mexican Restaurant, LLC., at 634 Ste. Genevieve Drive.
A liquor license for Brix Urban Winery and Market, 245 Merchant Street.
A street closure request from Ste. Genevieve Oktoberfest for the Oktoberfest celebration September 14 and 15, 2024. Merchant Street will be closed from Front to DuBourg from 7 p.m. Friday, September 13 to Sunday, September 15 at 6 p.m. Cross streets will remain open.
Resolution 2024-29 approving post-purchase the acquisition of three dump trucks from Purple Wave for $103,950.
Resolution2024-30 declaring multiple vehicles and equipment from the Public Works Department be declared surplus property and disposed of.
The aldermen approved a not to exceed $8,000 quote from Bader Land Surveying to create rural coverage map boundaries for the Ste. Genevieve Volunteer Fire Department.
President of the Board of Aldermen Joe Steiger conducted the meeting in the absence of Mayor Brian Keim.
The meeting was shown live on SteGenTV Channel 991 and is now available on the SteGenTV You Tube Channel at https://youtu.be/oaLc3XHBGzs