Morehouse city officials continue with community improvements

A crew works Oct. 7 to pave Beech Street in front of Morehouse City Hall in Morehouse. Nearly three-fourths of Morehouse’s roads have been repaired, thanks to a grant that allowed the city to purchase over 6,200 tons of asphalt for the project. In addition to the street repairs, a new community center was constructed and completed this past year. Future improvements include another grant. (Photo provided)

MOREHOUSE, Mo. — Last month, Morehouse City Clerk Gayle Childs, 72, unexpectedly passed away from pneumonia.

Childs, who died Oct. 8, was instrumental in not only maintaining a lengthy to-do list for the town, such as bank account reconciliations every month to helping secure the necessary grants for community improvement projects.

On Dec. 16, 2022, Childs and her colleagues applied for a street and drainage grant, and the confirmation letter was received by the city on June 29, 2023, which was used for 6,224 tons of asphalt to repair approximately three-fourths of the town’s roads.

“We just finished the project up, and [we] will have the closeout meeting on the (Nov.) 18th,” said Morehouse Mayor Joe Brashears. “New Madrid County commissioners agreed to have the New Madrid Highway Department lay the asphalt. By them doing that, we were able to get about twice as much done, because they did the labor and all of the hauling. The money went a lot further. That paved more than three miles of streets in town — over half of the town.”

The grant was for $509,964, and simply is the beginning of future community improvement plans, Brashears said, who made that a top priority prior to being elected to the position.

The process of grant writing is a tedious process, but one Brashears wanted to pursue if it meant bettering the local community.

“The flood in 2011 really undermined our roads,” said Brashears. “All of the paperwork that you have to complete, it has been on the to-do list for quite some time.”

The secured grant simply comments on the city officials’ dedication to beautification and overall maintenance.

“My campaign slogan was ‘Focused on Your Future,’” said Brashears. “We have to build up our infrastructure to get people to want to come and live in this community. It is nice and quiet and has a lot of good people in it.”

Another grant — a community center grant — also was secured.

“That was a little [more than] a $700,000 grant. We just got a new community center, and we are having … when we meet on the 18th for the closeout, we are doing a closeout on the community center, as well,” said Brashears.

Future improvements, if all goes well, include another grant.

“We have already applied for a hazard mitigation grant,” Brashears said. “If awarded, [it] would pave the remaining streets and do a citywide drainage project. We have already put out for grant writing and administration selection and Bootheel Regional Planning Commission was awarded that.”

The hiring of an engineering firm currently is being weighed, Brashears said, which will be confirmed at an upcoming board meeting.

“We are opening bids on Thursday (Nov. 14) for a $5 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) wastewater grant that we received. It is out for bid right now and will build a new lagoon, rehab some manholes and fix a couple of lift stations that are having water infiltration. They are going to have to dig up and replace some of the sewer mains and are going to align other problem areas,” said Brashears.

It is a busy time for public officials in Morehouse.

Brashears thanked the following parties, especially Childs, whose selfless work ethic will benefit Morehouse for years to come.

“She worked very hard on these grants and these projects,” he said. “I would like to thank New Madrid County Commissioners and the New Madrid Highway Department. I would like to recognize the Board of Aldermen and the regional planning commission.”