Officials, residents herald start of city sewer project

MORLEY - Citizens of Morley are finally getting their wish, and one can bet they will be celebrating it for a long time.

A ground breaking ceremony for the city's new sewer system was held Wednesday morning next to the Morley Community Building with the mayor, city council and U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson present for the event.

"I'm just so happy that it's (ground breaking day) here," Mayor Wilma Smith said. "I'm happy we are going to be getting sewers."

Construction for the sewer system is scheduled to begin around Feb. 1 and is projected to take approximately one year.

Longtime citizen of Morley Jeannie Williams said that everyone is so thrilled that the sewer project has finally been approved and ready to begin. This was the third attempt at getting the sewer system, she said.

"I've lived here since I was 9 or 10 years old," Williams said. "We've been trying to get a sewer system since at least the 1970s. In the first attempt, there was a problem with the type of program proposed, and in the second attempt, we didn't have the funding. Now, everything has just fallen into place."

Many reasons exist as to why the sewer system is so vital to the City of Morley. One of these reasons includes health and safety concerns.

The mayor explained that every third house was checked by the health department to determine if the septic tanks met health standards. Fifty percent of those tanks checked, she said, were not approved.

Another area of concern according to Greg Branum, state director of Rural Development, is that without a good sewer system, new businesses will not want to locate to Morley.

"There are three factors businesses look at when deciding the location of a business: access to highways, water systems and community sewers. With the new sewer system, Morley is now complete," Branum said.

Approximately 30 to 40 citizens and city and government agency officials attended the ceremony.

Smith said she was pleased to see so many people at the ground breaking and that everyone was interested in the project.

Among those interested and involved in the project was Joe E. Lane, director of community planning for the Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission. Lane was involved in the Block Grant application and funding for the project.

"I'm just pleased to be a part of this project," Lane said, "and I look forward to working with the City of Morley in the future."

Funding for Morley's sewer system was obtained from the State of Missouri's Community Development Block Grant Program and USDA, Rural Development's Water and Waste loan and grant program.

Contractors for the project are Young's General Contracting from Poplar Bluff and Clark and Son Excavating from Cape Girardeau. Waters and Associates of Sikeston are the engineers for the project.

Once construction is completed, an estimated 395 households will be served by the new sewer system.

"When we get this completed," Williams said with a laugh, "we're going to have a party, and everyone's going to flush their toilets all at the same time!"