Marzuco Tells City Plans For 2023 Down Syndrome Event

By MARK EVANS

STE. GENEVIEVE HERALD

Chip Marzuco updated the Ste. Genevieve Board of Aldermen on the upcoming Spring For Down Syndrome event, during last Thursday night’s meeting.

The 14th annual event will be held June 10. This time, the bulk of the event will be at the county fairgrounds, rather than at the Knights of Columbus Hall.

“We kind of outgrew the KC Hall, which was a tremendous thing,” Marzuco said. “The fairgrounds have opened their arms and are going to let us do everything we did down there, plus, which will be tremendous.”

He said he wanted to make sure everyone was aware that it is the same weekend as the French Heritage Festival, like in 2019. Marzuco said Cathy Grusling, French Heritage Festival director, “is ecstatic” about it.

The two events worked well together four years ago, other than flooding causing the UTVs to have to drive through one of the French Heritage activities. “We had a pretty picture” when that happened, Marzuco said, explaining that care will be taken to keep from infringing on the other festival this time around.

“She’s excited because it was the biggest weekend they had had, with us bringing extra people into town,” Marzuco said.

On that Thursday, Marzuco said, 18 people will be camping at the Moses Austin property and 10 at the fairgrounds. More will probably be coming in.

He said he hoped the board would be all right with waiving the normal UTV permit requirements for the hundreds of UTVs and Jeeps taking part in the Fifth Annual Poker Run, a big part of the event.

He said last year the Poker Run grew to 440 UTVs and 48 Jeeps and that he expects 550-600 total vehicles to take part this time around.

Marzuco said they are making use of every available large parking area, including the old Riverview at the Park site by Pere Marquette Park.

The Poker Run will be 60.8 miles, going past the Challenger playground and ball field, on to Charleville Winery.

The Herald will run a preview article on both the Spring For Down Syndrome and French Heritage Festival closer to the date.

REPORTS

ARE GIVEN

City Administrator Happy Welch reported that the city did not receive a grant to cover about 25% of the cost of a new dump truck. The board will need to rebudget money if a new truck is to be purchased this year.

He also noted that CBIZ would soon give a report on its salary survey to the board. The board has been waiting on this information before making decisions about salaries.

CE Contracting was expected to start work on concrete replacement on Claymont Street the first of this week.

Welch also reported that sales tax revenue was down by 12% from February 2022 to this February. For the year, though, the city is ahead by 17.5%.

Steve Wilson, Alliance Water Resources local manager, reported that the new electrical building is complete. Most of the components have been installed. He is still waiting a transfer switch to arrive.

He reported that the Vac truck that had been ordered had been backed up to a January 2024 arrival date.

David Bova, community development administrator, reported that the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee would meet March 29.

He also said the Historic Preservation grants planning and outreach grant had been signed.

Fire Chief Kenny Steiger reported that the department is down three people. Volunteers are still needed to form an applicant list.

He said that the department responded to 13 emergency calls in February, which he called “a slower month.”

He also asked permission to proceed with an American Relief Plan Act (ARPA) grant request. There is a 50% match required for the grant of up to $20,000. The money would come from the rural fire fund.

Tanalyn Dollar then made her first report to the board of aldermen as tourism director.

She listed upcoming events, including the Ste. Genevieve Gravel Classic on April 15, the same weekend as the hospital’s Taste of Ste. Gen.

She reported that she is working on standardizing icons, logins and profile descriptions on the website and doing other things to bring the city’s digital brand up to par.