Commissioners Agree With Caller About Need For Light

By MARK EVANS

STE. GENEVIEVE HERALD

Mary Schilli was preaching to the proverbial choir when she suggested to the Ste. Genevieve County Commission that a stoplight would be a good idea at the intersection of Interstate 55 and US Highway 32.

Schilli called during last Thursday’s commission meeting and asked about the possibility of a light being put in at the dangerous intersection.

Like the commissioners informed her, they have been arguing for such a light for years.

In 2016, the commissioners (at that time Garry Nelson, Joe Gettinger and Randy Bahr) said that Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) personnel had essentially said there had not been a sufficient number of fatalities at that spot to justify the light. (A MoDOT representative denied using fatality figures as a gauge in a later phone call with the Herald that year.)

Every year, the Southeast Missouri Transportation Advisory Committee has each county list their construction priorities for MoDOT. More than once, the commissioners listed this as their priority.

After several years, the project is said to be in MoDOT’s “skiff” of approved projects to be tackled at some point in the future.

IMPROVING COMMUNICATIONS

With the passage of the county’s 911 ales tax, area entities, such as police, sheriff, fire and ambulance district will be able to upgrade their radios and communications equipment.

Thursday, Rey Freeman and Dave Pieczynski of RFCC Communications spoke to the commissioners about the upcoming process of upgrading things.

It will take two years to implement the changes. Replacing towers will be one of the first jobs. Two new towers are needed in Ste. Genevieve County. The newer, self-supporting towers require only ¼ of an acre to build on. The tower at the 911 center also needs replacing.