There was no closed session at the end of the Webb City Council meeting Monday.

For some time now, it’s been common for the council to meet after their public session to discuss real-estate deals, primarily in the Centennial Retail and Industrial Park.

Although there was no deal to talk about this week, City Administrator Carl Francis reported that deals already in the works are about to come to fruition.

“Everyone is working to move forward as the price of materials appears to be starting to drop,” Francis wrote in his report. “We hope to be holding additional groundbreakings very soon.”

The council’s short agenda included finalization of three ordinances.

Second readings were approved to:

Rezone four lots on the southwest corner of the intersection of South Madison Street and Seventh Street (1016 W. Seventh St., 706, 710, and 714 S. Madison St.) from residential to commercial. The properties are for sale by Burns Investment, and most of the property has been cleared.

Rezone 720 and 724 S. Madison St. from residential to commercial. These are the rezonings requested by the city staff to bring the lots’ zoning in line with most of the lots on South Madison Street. The lots, with occupied houses on them, are not expected to become used for commercial purposes in the near future.

Rezone 512 and 514 N. Main Street for Schuber Mitchell Homes to build two houses. The lots were previously zoned commercial and have been cleared.

In other action, the council approved the purchase of a diesel Kubota as a replacement mower for the park department at a cost of $14,847 from Anderson Car and Tractor. Anderson, the lower of two bidders, is accepting a Grasshopper mower in trade for $3,000 and a Frontier finish mower for $500. The trade-ins will reduce the final cost to $11,347.

One of the more interesting items in Francis’ regular report is the recent surprise discovery of a major water leak.

He wrote that the company replacing natural gas lines “did us a big favor by locating a water leak that had been puzzling us for some time.”

He and public works staff had assumed  ground water was somehow entering a sewer main because there was excessive water in the collection system flowing north of Seventh Street in the Chesterfield area. 

But it was large water leak that the gas crew stumbled onto.

Francis said the water from the leak didn’t surface because it was flowing into sewer collection system.

Once the leak was repaired, he said the nearby well pump ran two hours less. 

Francis calls wasting less water and running less water through the waste water treatment plant a “win-win.”