County Commission confirms Berry Road Bridge project has begun
At the October 29 St. Francois County Commission meeting, County Road and Bridge Superintendent, Clay Copeland, announced that work has begun on the long-awaited Berry Bridge project, north of Bonne Terre.
Demolition of the unsafe previous bridge over Big River on Berry Road has caused school buses and resident traffic to cross US 67 in order to reach their given destinations and complete their routes. “They’re doing excavation and tree clearing and all the preliminary work.” Copeland said the bridge project, “We’re hoping it’ll be finished mid to late July” of 2025. He added that “the floor for the Sand Creek bridge is being poured today.”
County Clerk, Kevin Engler, said that early voting was underway at the Weber Rd. facility. The hours are from 8-6 during the week. He urged voters to familiarize themselves with the amendments and propositions before voting, noting that reading the amendments for the first time will take considerable time and cause lines at the polls. Engler expects a 75-80% turnout for the election, but believes, based on early voting, that nearly 1/3 of the public will vote before November 5. A photo ID is required to vote in Missouri.
County Park Superintendent, Mike Sumpter, confirmed that Owl Creek Park will hold its grand opening Monday, November 4, at 11 a.m. The park is currently open for walkers, from dawn to dusk, daily.
Presiding Commissioner Harold Gallaher has returned from a medical leave and presided at the meeting.
County Treasurer, Parks Peterson, informed the Commission regarding the County’s current presorted mail. “Our machines are going to be obsolete by the end of the year. We use Pitner-Bowles now. We’re estimating the machines to be about $20,000 apiece. In 2015, they were about $10,000 apiece. We have to take care of everything with them.” He continued, “A couple of reasons to go to PreSort. PreSort has already picked up here at our location. They work at the collector’s office now and also the street from the circuit clerk. They do all our mail pickup as it is now.” He concluded, “I just think this is the best for the county. It’s going to save the county the most money.” He also recommended putting the Pitney-Bowles machines on Purple Wage for auction. The Commission approved the recommendation.
The Sheriff’s Department recommended the disposal of 6 old vehicles. Fleet manager, Buck Copeland told the Commission, “We’ve got all the parts off of them that we can use, so they need to be gone. They’ve got 250,000 miles on them.” The Commission approved the recommendation.
The Sheriff’s Department was given permission to hire 5 new sheriff deputies. The funding for this will come from Prop P. The campaign to pass Prop P promised that 10 new deputies would be added. With the addition of these 5 new deputies, a total of ten would be reached. The Commission approved the hiring.
Permission was given for the placement of a Marine Corps Toys 4 Tots Collection Box to be placed in the Courthouse Annex.
Permission was granted to destroy 2019 paid tax receipts, duplicates, waivers, address changes, escrow lists, and records to the collector’s office. It was explained that it was routine to clean out the office after this period (5 years) of time.
The next meeting of the St. Francois County Commission will be November 12. There will be no meeting next week due to the general election. The deadline for information to be included in the agenda for the next meeting will be Friday, November 8.
Commission meetings are held in the Courthouse Annex, on the 3rd floor, in the Commission meeting room, beginning at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, and are open to the public.
