Kocher Mailbox Issue Resolved

By MARK EVANS

mevans@stegenherald.com

Mailboxes will be able to be put at the end of individual driveways on Kocher Road. Until now, the boxes have been grouped together in one spot. 

The Ste. Genevieve County Commission has discussed the issue with the Ste. Genevieve postmaster and announced at last Thursday’s meeting that the issue has been resolved.

First  District Commissioner Karen Stuppy informed Gary Otte, who served as a spokesman for the residents involved, that the boxes can go at the end of each driveway, only if all the residents agree to do it. It is an “all or none” option, according to the Post Office. Otte was given contact information with the Post Office to clear up any details.

The county’s only concerns are that the mailboxes cannot be in ditches or too close to the road, where snow plows or mowers could strike them.

HOLCIM MONEY NEEDS TO BE USED

Presiding Commissioner Garry Nelson brought up the Holcim grant program that has been administered by the Ste. Genevieve Community Foundation. For more than a decade, grants have been given out annually to area entities from money paid each year by LaforgeHolcim as payments in lieu of taxes, as part of the Chapter 100 agreement the firm signed with the county.

That ended last year, with the concrete plant coming onto the county tax rolls – although receiving those taxes has been delayed by a LaforgeHolcim appeal.

There is still some money left in that fund, though, and Nelson stressed that the Foundation needs to disperse what is left.