Sikeston City Council marks new year with livestreamed meeting

SIKESTON — During its first meeting of the new year — and also the first to be streamed live — Sikeston City Council heard the first reading of a bill proposing a nuisance party ordinance.

Over the last several years, Sikeston has seen an increase in frequent large gatherings in residential and adjacent residential areas. 

According to Sikeston Department of Public Safety Chief Jim McMillen, many times the parties last until 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m. or sometimes later.

McMillen showed the council a video presentation of various party events.

The presentation began with a larger gathering at night at the beginning of Montgomery Street, near the post office.

“This is just a large gathering that is considered a street party,” McMillen explained.

The following footage showed another gathering in the depot parking lot, where McMillen said there had been littering and trash issues.

Other footage shown was of the Huck’s parking lot, where many people gathered after leaving the Shriners. 

Video footage also showed other streets where house parties are held.

Citizens and officers have complained to the Sikeston DPS about litter, vehicles blocking home access/egress, disorderly conduct, fighting, restricting emergency vehicle access, trespassing, firearm discharge, open containers, public urination, noise violations and people being shot, McMillen said.

“In the middle of residential neighborhoods, we’ve had lots of complaints from the citizens in these areas about the parties,” McMillen said. “People block residents driveways and leave liter. We’ve had shootings as well as other issues and even an ally way gets filled up.”

One video footage even consists of a night where a shooting occurred and a woman who was trying to steal the ambulance. 

McMillen said research on this issue shows several other municipalities have similar ordinances to help control and even disperse out-of-control parties or gatherings.

“These parties are becoming more frequent and we have gotten numerous complaints,” McMillen said. “We just started looking into it to see if we could find an ordinance similar to other municipalities to help us address some of these complaints that we’ve been getting.

McMillen continued: “From my perspective, I think most citizens are just trying to have a good time, but you have a small percentage that can bring violence into that group and then when violence erupts, we are really just trying to look for an ordinance to help us shut those parties down at 3 in the morning when we have gunfire or fighting.”

McMillen said they understand people’s rights to assemble and gather, and they are not opposed to it; however, they are having to station several officers at these locations for hours at a time to try to reduce the violence.

The council will vote on the bill at its next meeting on Jan. 27.

The council also heard from Barry Blevins, community development director, who presented a list of the top ten most problematic properties in the city.

According to Blevins, the properties are constantly violating nuisance codes, and there have been no condemnation actions. 

The list of properties are: 208 Alabama, 518 Coleman, 302 Daniel, 233-237 Edmondson, 519 Hart/139 Fifth, 847 Gladys, 209 Lee, 523 Malcolm, 409/407 S. New Madrid and 826-840 Ruth Street (Ruth Street Compound)

“One of our goals in community development is to keep our city clean,” Blevins said. 

Blevin said community development continues to make contact and work with the property owners without much success.

Council also approved the surplus of three Sikeston DPS vehicles. One is a 2011 Ford F250 and the other two are Chevrolet Tahoes, one a 2016 and the other a 2018. 

“Certain vehicles in the city’s inventory due to their age or state of disrepair can no longer be adequately perform the day-to-day operations of the city,” said Capt. Ryan Smith with Sikeston DPS. 

The Tahoes will be traded to help offset the costs of the purchase of a new DPS vehicle.

Council also approved the purchase of a 2024 Ford F-150 truck from Joe Machen’s Ford Lincoln for $51,449. Most of the purchase will be covered by funds from past money seizures DPS received from drug investigations and the trade-in of two Tahoes (see above) for a trade-in value of $4,000.

Mayor Greg Turnbow encouraged Sikeston residents to be responsible and lock their car doors. Council Tom Robison also encouraged residents to not leave firearms in their cars, whether locked or not. 

Video of the live meeting can be found on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/AVKWXHvhBH0

In other action by the Council:

— Anderson & Green was awarded the contract for commercial property and casualty insurance and cyber insurance broker services by Council for a three-year period with the option of extending for another three years.

— Council approved Xybix’s bid to replace furniture for the 911 consolidation of Sikeston DPS and Scott County Sheriff’s Department. All costs associated with the proposal are being reimbursed to the city under a signed contract with Scott County.

— Council approved Spread Hope Now’s proposal for the use of funds from a national opioid settlement. The City of Sikeston joined the State of Missouri and other cities in opioid litigation, which resulted in a settlement that is shared by the agencies. Over the next 15 years, the City of Sikeston is expected to receive annual payouts of $297,113.25, which can only be used for opioid remediation. Staff determined that it was best for the community to request proposals for the use of the funds, and Spread Hope Now followed all reporting and compliance guidelines.

— Council awarded a contract to Midwest Environmental Services for asbestos removal and abatement, as well as other hazardous cleanups that the city may encounter during home demolitions or code enforcement abatements.