Sikeston council approves primary; mayor addresses virus concerns

Friday, November 20, 2020

SIKESTON — The Sikeston City Council approved a primary election for a city council seat and Mayor Steven Burch spoke out on the increasing COVID-19 cases during a special meeting Friday afternoon.

In a meeting held over Zoom, Council unanimously approved an emergency bill for a Feb. 2, 2021, primary election for the Ward 2 councilman seat. Vest Baker, Pershard D. Owens and James Crowe Sr. all filed for the position and the top two in the primary election will face off in the April 6, 2021, general election.

The emergency bill was needed to get the ballot information to Scott County by a Nov. 24 deadline.

Before the meeting adjourned, Burch said there has been a lot of conversations in the community about local hospitals running to capacity and virus numbers increasing in the region.

He added that the issue is being discussed by the Scott County Commission and that governor has said he will not issue a mask mandate while urging people to wear them and social distance properly.

“There are lots of people talking about that,” Burch said. “Most people I’ve talked to are of the opinion we try to encourage people to do what they can to socially distance and to wear masks but I haven’t heard anybody wanting to move forward on any hard-fast rules.”

Burch said the Council will continue to see what the county health department and commissioners do over the next few days.

“The situation does seem to be getting pretty bad if you talk to the local hospital administrators in the region, both here and Cape and the numbers in southeast Missouri are some of the worst in the state and unfortunately some of the worst in the nation,” Burch said. “We encourage the community to do their part and wear their masks when they can and when they feel it’s appropriate and try to socially distance.”

The next Council meeting is scheduled for Nov. 30 at 5 p.m. and will be held over Zoom.

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