The Ste. Genevieve Herald this week is adding polls to its website, giving readers a chance to weigh in on local issues. Originally, the Herald was going to conduct a poll in conjunction with the Jour de Fete Committee this month to get feedback on whether the event should take place. However, the committee is…
Bryce Giesler won the three-person race for a position on the Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital Board. Giesler drew 389 votes (44.6 percent), to 259 (29.7 percent) for Cynthia Glassey and 221 (25.3 percent) for Kevin Schaaf.
The race for mayor in the city of St. Mary ended in a tie Tuesday [June 2]. Incumbent Gloria Bader and former mayor Carl Wyatt each garnered 37 votes in a three-person race. Former alderman Paul Franklin received nine votes. County Clerk Sue Wolk said on Tuesday night that she would recount the votes on…
All three incumbents won reelection to the Ste. Genevieve R-II School Board. Eric Basler received the most votes, 565, or 30.54 percent, while Martha Resinger received 557 votes (30.1 percent). James Kirchner easily captured the final seat, with 488 votes (26.4 percent), to challenger Joshua Carlisle’s 228 votes (12.3 percent).
Although Ste. Genevieve County’s number of confirmed COVID-19 cases had risen from eight to 11 during the past week, health department administrator Sandra Bell was not panicking last Thursday when she reported the news to the County Commission. The county was still one of the best in the state, having adopted social distancing and other…
Ste. Genevieve city workers last Wednesday removed a tree that had fallen in the yard at Dr. Hertich’s House and was spread across North Main Street between Merchant and Jefferson. Wet ground likely contributed to the tree falling over. (Photo by TOBY CARRIG/Herald staff)
Jami Inman, long-time Jour de Fete Committee president, hopes a 53rd festival will take place this year. The catastrophic flood of 1993 has so far been the only event to cause cancellation of the celebration that began in 1966. Inman spoke to the Ste. Genevieve Board of Aldermen last Thursday night to update city officials…
Meeting for the first time in two months, the New Bourbon Regional Port Authority board passed a resolution to pursue federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding for the Ste. Genevieve-Modoc Ferry. The board met in person at the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission (SEMO RPC) office in Perryville on May 27,…
Cochran Engineering has given the city of Ste. Genevieve quotes for three options to replace the 84-year-old retaining wall that is falling over at Washington and North Fifth streets. In his report during last Thursday’s Board of Aldermen meeting, city administrator Happy Welch presented three quotes. For a concrete wall, the estimate is about $28,000.…
Parking on Dorlac Road near the Pickle Springs Conservation area took up a good portion of the Ste. Genevieve County Commission’s abbreviated meeting on May 26. The regular Monday meeting did not take place due to the Memorial Day holiday, but the commissioners met for about two hours the next day to address a few…
After considerable discussion, the Ste. Genevieve Board of Aldermen chose the Missouri Intergovernmental Risk Association (MIRMA) as its liability insurance and workers compensation provider in a 4-3 canvass vote over Lakenan Insurance last Thursday. Lee Lottes and Greg Lottes of Lakenan made a presentation to the board of about 30 minutes during a work session…
A crew from Vern Bauman Contracting was at work Monday morning [June 1] on the former site of the County Services Building and future site of a public parking lot off Market Street between Third and Second streets. The lot is a cooperative venture between the county and private entities on the block that will…
Municipal elections generally are quiet affairs without a lot of attention from voters. The run-up to this spring’s rescheduled election — delayed from April 7 to Tuesday, June 2 — has been even more low-key than usual. Even some of the candidates contacted last week weren’t sure when it was or how many days away…
Workers from R & S Tower Services in St. Louis erected a cell tower in Pere Marquette Park last week. The city had agreed to a lease deal with AT&T for the cell tower to be placed in the park. AT&T will pay $950 per month to lease the property in addition to providing $3,500…
Possible disaster was narrowly avoided last week in the restoration of the 87-year-old new home of the Ste. Genevieve Art Guild. The old Ste. Genevieve Museum building, built in 1933 for the city’s 1935 bicentennial, was scheduled to have its roof replaced last week. Tim Pekios of Midwest Environmental did the asbestos remediation and removed…
By a 6-1 vote, the Ste. Genevieve County Fair board voted to cancel the 2020 county fair. The vote took place during a special meeting on May 20. Board president Keith Skaggs reported the next morning to the County Commission that the fair would not be held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We went ahead…
Bloomsdale Bank will handle the banking of the Ste. Genevieve County Ambulance District for the next five years. The ambulance board voted last Thursday to award its banking business — bid out five years at a time — to Bloomsdale Bank. All local banking institutions were invited to bid. Only First Bank, the district’s current…
Meeting in person but without an audience on May 19, the Ste. Genevieve R-II School District’s Board of Education addressed graduation and prom plans. May 13 had been the last day of school work for the seniors and all of them earned their diplomas. “I am very excited to report that every one of our…
Meeting for the first time since February 24, members of the Ste. Genevieve Heritage Commission addressed six requests for certificates of appropriateness in about 25 minutes on May 18. The group met at its usual venue in the council room at City Hall, but had each applicant wait outside the room until their case came…
Ste. Genevieve County Presiding Commissioner Garry Nelson turned to a trusted source to get suggestions on how the county can reconfigure its Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant for a pedestrian walkway over Progress Parkway. The grant would have covered 75 percent of the approximately $400,000 the project was expected to cost. As things developed during…
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft delivered election supplies to County Clerk Sue Wolk and her staff last Wednesday ahead of the June 2 Municipal Election. The supplies were primarily aimed at providing safety for poll workers and voters during this year’s COVID-19 pandemic. Ashcroft was crisscrossing the state last week, delivering supplies to Missouri …
By the middle of this week, the Ste. Genevieve County road and bridge department expected to have its two new Western Star dump trucks. The two trucks cost about $189,000 apiece. TAG Truck Center of Farmington had won the contract, with a bid of $112,300 per chassis. They were being outfitted, including installation of beds,…
The Jour de Fete Committee took an informal vote last Thursday that favored working with the National Park Service on transferring the Moses Austin outbuildings to the U.S. Department of the Interior for inclusion in the Sainte Genevieve National Historical Park. The National Park Service has acquired the Beauvais-Amoureux House on St. Mary’s Road from…
The Jour de Fete Committee has scheduled a meeting for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 3, at the Ste. Genevieve American Legion to discuss whether this year’s event should go on. The committee is seeking input from people in the community with their opinions. Committee president Jami Inman said last Friday that six board members…
Unusual times as these call for some creative thinking. With the school year altered drastically by the COVID-19 pandemic — students in the Ste. Genevieve R-II School District haven’t been on the campus since March 17 — the district’s commencement ceremonies also have been affected. Ste. Genevieve High School is planning a June 20 ceremony…
Just as the federal law to establish the Sainte Genevieve National Historical Park was part of an omnibus package, state legislation which may lead to acquisition of key properties for the park passed the Missouri General Assembly last Thursday as part of a large package. The bill passed on the next-to-last day of the session…
With the COVID-19 pandemic dominating the news, the Mississippi River has not received the attention it usually gets during the spring. So far this year, the river probably would not have commanded as much focus as normal anyway. After a May 4 crest of 28.67 feet, the river dropped below flood stage, falling to 24.5…
Ste. Genevieve County is ready to move into Phase Two of its reopening from the COVID-19 shutdown. Sandra Bell, Ste. Genevieve County Health Department administrator, distributed copies of the guidelines during last Thursday’s County Commission meeting. Phase Two has four steps. In Step One, businesses and organizations that have been shut down may be reopened…
Neither bidder for a new backhoe satisfied Ste. Genevieve County’s bid specifications, The County Commission sought bids that would include a trade-in value for the county’s 5-year-old John Deere backhoe and a breaker bar or hydraulic hammer that attaches to it. The commissioners prefer taking part in the buyback program, in which generally about half…
A pre-construction meeting for the New Bourbon Port Road repair project took place on May 11 during the Ste. Genevieve County Commission meeting. Steve Pleimann, owner of Steve’s Hauling and Excavating, LLC, of Oak Ridge, the firm that was awarded the contract based on a $64,349 bid, was present, as was Chris Koehler of Koehler…