City Set To Move
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By MARK EVANS
STE. GENEVIEVE HERALD
August 15 will be the date the city of Ste. Genevieve will move the base of its operation from the city hall building to 44 Plaza Drive.
The city is expected to occupy its temporary home, next to Dominos Pizza in the Pointe Basse Plaza, for about six months while renovation and remodeling is done on the city hall building at 165 Fourth Street.
City Administrator Happy Welch announced the date while giving his report during last Thursday night’s board of aldermen meeting.
Donze Construction is doing the work, with a price tag of $349,541.
Some discussion also took place during Welch’s report, regarding a site for an electric vehicle charging station.
He reported that the city has appropriated $15,000 from its America Relief Plan Act (ARPA) funds for one charging station. He said the Welcome Center parking lot had been seen as the best location. However, with ownership of the property being deeded over to the National Park Service, the location might not be ideal.
He suggested a spot by Main Street Park on Valle Street.
Ward 3 Alderman Joe Steiger questioned whether such an out of the way site would be used much overnight.
During discussion on the idea, Welch noted that the city is looking at getting a charging station that takes about seven hours to charge. He quick-chargers are much more expensive
Ward 4 Alderman Joe Prince suggested they see about working with the county to try and get a quick-charging station.
Meanwhile, Welch reported that Tom Keim, president of the Ste. Genevieve Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) had informed him of a matching grant available from the Delta Regional authority, through the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission that would help pay for the expansion of Basler Drive.
Expanding the street to link up with Progress Parkway is part of the plan for a new subdivision in that part of town. The street extension has a price tag of $1.3 to $1.5 million. The grant would cover up to $500,000 of the cost.
The board was unanimous in agreeing that the city should apply for the grant.
REPORTS GIVEN
Tourism Director Tanalyn Dollar gave her tourism report via Zoom. She said that 90% of people avoid visiting a new destination if they have trouble making the plans. She stressed the need to use Visit Widget, along with the upgrade being planned for the tourism website. The web developer, JRudny, and Visit Widget work together frequently.
She also said she had talked with tourism officials at the Lake of the Ozarks and Discover Illinois, getting ideas on how they run things. She suggested that co-marketing with another city (like Perryville) can be very effective.
For more of Dollar’s strategy see separate story on the June 20 Joint tourism meeting.)
Police Chief Jasen Crum reported that the department had 519 calls for May and that 12 arrests were made.
The new drug dog Ozzy had 10 narcotics deployments, four patrol deployments and three alarm deployments. He also assisted other agencies eight times. He found 10 grams of Fentanyl, among other contraband.
Crump also reported that he had written a Missouri Department of Transportation safety grant for two new portable breath testers. Two of the department’s current ones had gone down.
Steve Wilson, local manager for Alliance Water Resources, reported that sidewalk and concrete tear-outs are underway.
The electrical building has been constructed and most of the electrical components installed.
Notes
• A public hearing was also held to determine if the Downtown Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District is making satisfactory progress. This included data on the two businesses that have taken part in it, Audubon Development and ASL Pewter.
• The board passed on first and second reading an ordinance approving the transfer of the Welcome Center to the National Parks Service.