Alcohol ordinance to be put on April ballot

PORTAGEVILLE — An alcohol ordinance has been a hot topic in Portageville for the last four months and will continue to be until next April.

At the September monthly meeting of the Portageville City Board of Alderman held Sept. 3, the alderman voted three to one to place the topic on the municipal election ballot in April 2020.

The first discussion and vote were for the appeal of Ordinance 1289. Two aldermen, Vince Berry and Lynn Doering, voted against, while Neil Essary voted yes. Alderman Jesse James abstained from the vote and the motion to repeal failed.

The second discussion on the original alcohol ordinance to be placed on the ballot as a non-binding vote passed by the 3-1 vote with Berry, Doering and James voting yes and Essary voting no.

In another important issue from the Planning and Zoning committee, the Board was approached for permission to have a medical marijuana dispensary ordinance prepared and passed.

"Since the State of Missouri has passed a statewide measure about medical marijuana, our current zoning does not have that available,” said chairperson of the P&Z committee Patty Johnson. “The planning and zoning committee held a public hearing and is asking the council to approve an ordinance for medical marijuana dispensary."

"We do have one gentleman that is planning on getting a dispensary in Portageville but is waiting for City approval and further state licensing," she added.

Johnson said the the process is a lengthy one, and it may be six months or a year to come to fruition.

Berry made the motion to make an ordinance for medical marijuana dispensary use. Doering seconded and, motion passes, no nays.

In other business, the sewer treatment plant needed the alderman to pass a change order for a rock pad for dumpster pick up. The alderman approved change order #11 to install of a rock pad in front of bar screen and grit structure for dumpster pick up, 30' long X 30' wide X 8" thick for a cost of $3,181.

Next, the Board approved the purchase of new cameras for the Portageville Police Department's existing security system instead of using the old cameras and purchasing a new DVR. The total cost was $1,765. The bid is from Hi-Tech.

The aldermen also discussed a USDA loan that may be used in repairing the police department's roof. Originally, the USDA loan was intended for police equipment, however, the initial application had tasers attached to it and tasers are considered weapons and cannot be obtained with federal funding. The issue of the roof came around the same timeline. Since it was for the police department, the City can add it to the application. No bids were accepted, but there were three quotes for preliminary pricing information.

All three companies had a different way to repair the roof. The decision the board made was to go with a rubber roof or foam roof. They had a quote brought in for the rubber and they are waiting on a quote for the foam.

On Wednesday morning, Portageville City Clerk Rachel Wrather was informed to let USDA know they want to go this route and the preliminary pricing seems to be between $65,000 and $75,000.

"This allows the application to be submitted. The project will be sent out for bids when USDA instructs us to do so," Wrather said.

With the paying of the bills, there was a vote to go into a closed session.

At the beginning of the meeting, Berry informed those in attendance that Portageville Mayor Floyd Simmons was not able to be at the meeting due to health reasons. Berry said Simmons is home recuperating and is doing very well.