Bloomsdale Officials Promise Property Will Be Repaired
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By MARK EVANS
STE. GENEVIEVE HERALD
Bloomsdale officials had to deal with some misunderstandings that had arisen over their change of plans regarding Clement Road, during the June 13 board of aldermen meeting.
Herman Meyer of 229 Clement Road attended the meeting to express concern about stakes in his front yard, marking the easements for the waterline extension.
The city had originally planned to widen and improve Clement Road as part of the huge water main replacement project.
When strong opposition arose from property owners along the road, that part of the project was dropped. For the past several weeks, the plan has merely been to extend the new water main along Clement without doing any widening.
That message has not always been clearly received, though.
Meyer complained that stakes put in his front yard did not match paperwork he had received in the mail.
“The paperwork you got in the mail no longer exists,” Mayor Paul Monia said, explaining how the road-widening part of the project was dropped from the overall water main project.. He explained that the idea now was to get the water lines extended to the new 300,000-gallon water tower
“Quite honestly, we’ve got to make it up to the water tower, with the new lines,” Monia said. “That’s Clement, Bader, Skywood, Parkway, Parkview, and that entire line going up 61.”
He said another letter is coming out clarifying that the stakes being put out are merely for an easement for the water line extension.
Meyer complained about the amount of front yard space he felt he was being asked to give up.
“You want to make a straight line, so you’re coming eight feet on my property in the front yard plus you want another 10 feet for construction,” he said. “So, that’s 20 feet of my front yard, which is the whole front yard.”
He said he was “not well-pleased with it, to put it mildly,” and that he would not grant the easement.
Meyer said he feared the work would “destroy everything I’ve got in the front yard.”
Monia said his own front yard was torn up by construction earlier and that it was completely restored when the work was finished.
He stressed the need to replace the aging transite concrete pipes still in use around the city.
“The current waterline that’s going down Clement Road was laid down in 1963 and 1964,” Monia said. “I can no longer buy decent repair parts for those water lines.”
Monia said if easements cannot be obtained on Clement Road, he will be forced to “forfeit” pipe replacement on it “and go straight up 61” with the new pipe instead.
“But when I have a break on Clement Road, and I don’t have repair parts, I’m going to shut it off at 61,” he said.
City Clerk Lynnette Randoll reminded Meyer that while water line replacement on Mill Hill Road “kind of resembled a war zone” during the work, but that “Now it looks better than it did before.”
“Everything that we do will be put back,” she said.
“You can’t put shrubbery back,” Meyer said.
Randoll said she didn’t know whether Meyer’s shrubbery would be affected, but that things would be put back “better than the way it was.”
“That’s the way he is,” she said, gesturing toward the mayor. “That’s the way Cochran Engineering is. Nobody’s going to let anyone tear anything up in Bloomsdale.”
Meyer asked why the water line couldn’t be moved closer to the street.
T.J. Garbs if Cochran Engineering said the stakes Meyer apparently was referring to were the back edge of the easement.
Ward 1 Alderman Chris “Sappy” Basler asked how often the existing easements on Meyers’ property had actually been used. Meyer said one time in 10 years.
“I’m just wanting you to rest assured it will be put back better than it is today,” Monia told Meyer.
“I’ve got my doubts,” Meyer said.
Meyer asked what would become of his blacktop driveway. Monia said it would be put back as was.
“You’re going to pay every penny?” Meyer asked.
“Absolutely,” Monia replied.
Monia also assured him that no driveway would remain cut open over night.
“What they can’t complete in a day, they’ll stop,” he said. “They’ll never leave you needing to park in the street.”
“That sounds good,” Meyer said. “I hope it’s true.”
Monia said he appreciated Meyer coming in and bringing his complaints to the board directly.
“There’s a lot of them that would rather talk behind our backs,” he said. “I’m glad to see somebody walk in and ask a question.”
Randoll noted that the walking path by the school was put back better than it had been, after work was done there, while Monia reminded him that he and the other officials will still be there after the work is done.
“We’re right here, Herman; we don’t go anywhere,” Monia stressed, noting that he had been there his whole life.
Randoll fervently backed Monia on his commitment to the city’s residents.
“I’ve been city clerk for 17-plus years, Herman,” she said, “and I have never seen this man or this council do one thing that ever put anything in the city of Bloomsdale in jeopardy. We won’t do that. We want the best for everybody.”
“I want you to rest assured when I tell you that, Herman, that it will be as good as or better than it was,” Monia said.
Monia and Randoll encouraged him to call if he had any complaints anywhere during the process.
Monia later said the city would “do whatever it takes” to make sure impacted residents are satisfied.
Meyer finally said, “I’ll take your word for it.”
Notes
• Garbs said that the permit application to ready to send to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for getting a new 30-horsepower pump, and that it would probably be 15 to 30 days after that before it is approved.
• Randoll reported that Tom Rottler agreed to power wash the picnic tables in the park for 41,500.
• The city’s insurance has been renewed.