Bob Foos
They’re preparing at Webb City Hall to mail 5,000 survey letters – one to each household in the city – to identify any homes that are served by lead water pipes.
City Administrator Carl Francis told the City Council Monday that he doesn’t expect lead pipes to be a problem in Webb City, but the city is required by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to find out anyway.
Lead pipes are associated with older housing and were still being installed into the 1980s, but galvanized pipe was primarily used here.
“I don’t think there will be a lot (of lead pipes identified here), but we’ll find out anyway,” Francis said.
He asked Rick Roth, public works director, whether he had ever seen a house here with lead pipes.
Roth replied, “the most you’ll see is (lead) joints. I have not seen any lead pipes.”
Francis said the easiest way to be certain is to stick a magnet on the service line at the meter. If it holds, it’s not lead.
Fire Chief Andrew Roughton honored battalion chief Jackie Clark for his upcoming retirement after 41 years with Webb City Fire Department.
Clark joined the department in 1983, and as Roughton noted, he was the first paramedic. He also obtained the department’s first extraction tools.
Clark is especially known in the community for promoting the city employees’ Badges & Burgers fundraiser for United Way and Webb City CARES.
“We hope he comes back for that,” said Roughton.
“There’s never been a better city to work for,” Clark said.
He said he feels he “made a difference in people’s lives and their property.
“I will miss it. I really hate to go.”
And then he had to go – back to fighting a brush fire.
The department will hold a reception for Clark from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 14, at the fire station.
The council received the Webb City Farmers Market’s annual financial and progress report, presented by board president Stefanie Thomasma and market coordinator Roen Procter.
Thomasma thanked the city for cooperating to pave the parking lot south of the pavilion and replace the vinyl sides of the pavilion that allow the market to be open during the winter.
She noted the market served 3,000 free kids meals in 2023, in addition to the implementing the SNAP Double-Up Food Bucks, Women’s Infants and Children and Lions Cub programs.
A freeze canceled peaches in 2023, but Thomasma predicted six weeks of peach sales this year.
In other action, the council:
• Heard that several good offers have been received so far to purchase the 20 acres originally sold by the council prior to the pandemic for a dollar an acre to 3rd Row Entertainment. The deadline to make an offer is noon Friday, April 26.
• Approved the purchase of a 2022 1/2-ton Dodge Ram 1500 Big Horn truck for the low-bid price of $37,056 from Wood Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Carthage. It is a replacement truck for the wasewater department. A new truck had been budgeted and ordered, but delivery kept being delayed. The truck being purchased has 23,035 miles.
• Approved implementation of a 2% Cost of Living Adjustment for all employees for the six months left in this fiscal year. The approximate total cost of the COLA is $52,000. It was included in the budget, along with 2.5% annual merit raises, which took effect Nov. 1, 2023.
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