Old Essex building is used to aid local plant

SIKESTON -- The city has found another temporary tenant for the former Essex building.

During the special Sikeston City Council briefing meeting Monday, City Council members gave their OK for a lease contract with Cott Beverages USA.

"They authorized the mayor to sign it," said Linda Lowes, director of governmental services for the city.

Cott Beverage USA's lawyers have some small changes to make before the contract is ready to be signed, according to Lowes. "The council did not find any problems with it and authorized the mayor to execute it once the lawyers are through with it," she said.

Cott Beverages USA will lease 50,000 square feet in the back of the city-

owned Essex building for 90 days with the option to extended it on a monthly basis.

Cott's officials approached Ed Dust, director of the Sikeston Department of Economic Development, and advised they needed warehouse space for storage to keep their bottled water production line going.

"They are full and all the warehouses they usually rent are full," Dust said. "They were pretty desperate to keep these people working. They needed something immediately and there wasn't anything else available."

Dust said the city is always ready to help local industries and preserve jobs in the area.

The 196,500-square-foot building, located at 1620 East Malone, has six loading docks and three overhead doors.

It was donated to Sikeston by Essex Electrical Products in March. The company closed the plant in August 2003.

In August of this year, city officials authorized Heritage American Homes, a division of Patriot Homes Inc., to use about 40,000 square feet at the old Essex building to store production materials free of charge for 90 days to help it fulfill a large contract to build spec houses for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The finish date for the FEMA homes was Dec. 15.

In other business during Monday's meeting:

* Bills amending the city's traffic code to install stop signs on Persimmon Place at Col. George E. Day Parkway, on Allen at Wakefield and on Davis at Wakefield, and on Plaza at Dudley were read for the first time.

Council members also read a subdivision bill for Fodge's Subdivision, located east of South Main off Virginia, for the first time.

* Drew Juden, Department of Public Safety director, briefed council members on the purchase of a SEMO Bomb Team Response Vehicle and four-wheel drive truck for the DPS detective division.

* Doug Friend, city manager, presented the Planning and Zoning Commission's recommendation for the Fiscal Year 2006 Street Program.

The recommended program would include $588,900 worth of street and sidewalk improvements.

Staff is recommending that amount be reduced by $56,000 so that money could be used as matching funds for a Community Development Block Grant for a possible housing rehabilitation program.

* The April general election was certified.