Commissioners OK agreement

At the Jan. 9 commission meeting, Farmington City Administrator Greg Beavers and MoDOT Engineer Brian Okenfuss requested the commission’s signature on a MoDOT funding agreement for the J-turn.

A signature from the commission was necessary because a portion of the land on which the intersection will be constructed is owned by the county, not the city. Beavers stressed, however, that the county has no financial obligation to the project. He told the commissioners that the city had worked with MoDOT to fast track the project so it could be completed prior to the arrival of a company moving into industrial park in the fourth quarter of this year that is expected to bring with it approximately 700 employees.

Due to a number of questions raised by the commissioners, as well as road and bridge employees at the Jan. 9 meeting, a final decision on the matter was delayed until Tuesday. Less than a week after a private meeting was held between Beavers; Okenfuss; commissioners; and road and bridge employees to iron out questions and concerns, the request was approved unanimously.

In other action, the commissioners approved the emergency purchase of a failed heating unit at the Juvenile Detention Center; OK'd the placement of a four-way stop at the intersection of Loughboro and Rock Road in Bismarck; reappointed Holly Joyce to the St. Francois County Board for the Developmentally Disabled; approved the law enforcement salary schedule; declared a Ping-Pong table as surplus property.