Council made aware of roaming cats and drivers running stop signs

Roaming cats – feral and those with owners – are an ongoing problem that was discussed Monday by the Webb City Council.

The issue came up when a resident spoke aboujt a huge cat problem in her northwest neighborhood that “we all complain about.” They run at large, spray and get on vehicles.

She cited the portion of the city code that says it’s unlawful for dogs – and cats – to run at large.

Mayor Lynn Ragsdale told her she’s not the only one plagued by cats. “We’re pretty well run over by those rescals.” In fact, he said the code enforcement officer has been working in the former golf course neighborhood, where people are dealing with fleas spread by feral cats.

The speaker, however, said her problem isn’t with feral cats. “They’re owned by people.”

City Administrator Carl Francis said the police department is not allowed to trap cats when temperatures fall below 50°. “Come spring, call us, and we’ll put traps out,” he said.

The speaker also reported that drivers are running stop signs at Meadow View Drive and Country Crossing, where there are a lot of children and walkers.

Again, Ragsdale told her he knows of other locations “where it’s like they (stop signs) don’t exist. They just blow right through it.”

Francis said the police department can put the speaker’s area under extra patrol.

On other matters, the council:

• Heard from Francis that the owner of the building on North Main Street with the rear wall collapsing had taken steps to fix the public threat and has plans to rehabilitate the structure.

“So right now, we don’t have to spend $50 grand” to demolish it. The council had approved acceptance of a bid in that amount in case the owner wouldn’t promise a solution.

• Eddie Kreighbaum, public works director, reported that the leaf vacuum crew has made one complete pass around town picking up leaves piled on the curb by residents.

For those who didn’t have their leaves piled up yet, he said they can call public works (417-673-6297) to get their address on the list for later pickup, possibly after Christmas.

• Accepted the low bid of $6,456 from Overhead Door to install automatic door openers at the entrance to municipal court/council chambers, on the north side of City Hall. The front doors were equipped earlier by Overhead Door with automatic openers.

• Agreed to accept the low bid of $6,000 per year from Westrum Leak Detection to survey the entire water system. Francis said that although some big leaks have been found and fixed he thinks the system may still be losing 40% of what is pumped. The average loss for water systems is said to be 25%.

• Approved the budgeted purchase of two 1/2 ton four-wheel-drive trucks as replacements for two wastewater department trucks that are in bad shape. Crain Automotive Team, of Conway, Ark., submitted the best-value bid of $42,379 each for two 2024 GMC Sierra 1500s.