A lot behind Atwoods at the dead end of East Second Street is in the process of being rezoned from industrial to residential.

The Webb City Council on Monday accepted first reading of a bill to make the change.

Joe Beard, of Carterville, said he intends to build two houses at 401 E. Second St.

A related bill to vacate 118 feet of an east-west alley between Second and First streets was also accepted on first reading.

There were no objections to either the rezoning or vacation of the alley during public hearings held by the Planning and Zoning Commission.

In other action, the council:

• Approved a $40,000 bid from Smithley Environmental, of Sand Springs, Okla., to do a finer grind of wood used in the compost at the Center Creek 201 Wastwater Treatment Plant. The city will be reimbursed by a grant from the Cardinal Valley Habitat Restoration Project.

The treatment plant staff does an initial grind, but the machine on site isn’t capable of grinding to a size conducive to being applied as topsoil. This will be the second year that a contractor has done the fine grading. It was estimated that the cost of the type of grinder needed is about $700,000.

• Allowed the police department to accept grant from the Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services (DOJ-COPS) to hire three new full-time officers. 

Police Chief Don Melton said the department has three positions that aren’t filled. As each one of those positions is filled, the city will eligible to hire a new officer under provisions of the grant.

The city could receive a total of $313,667, if the three existing positions are filled and three new positions are filled.

• Allowed the police department to purchase nine computer tablets with a $4,800 grant from the Missouri Department of Transportation. Melton said the department has chosen to purchase MicroSoft Surface Pro tablets at $549 each from Best Buy. The grant will cover all but $149 of the purchase cost.

• Allowed the police department to accept a $25,904 grant from the Jasper County Law Enforcement Sales Tax Grant Board to:

– Equip the two new SUVs the department purchased in November.

– Pay for half the cost of 16 ballistic vests. Melton has successfully applied for a grant from the Department of Justice Bulletproof  Vest Partnership to pay the other half. The vests to be replaced were purchased in 2017 and are scheduled to be retired after five years.

• Expressed gratitude to the public works employees who pretreated and cleared the roads during the last storm and wished them success in battling the storm bearing down on us presently.

A commercial-to-residential rezoning public hearing is on the P&Z agenda