Well No. 15, at Tracy and Walker streets, is now pumping into Webb City’s water system.,

Webb City is on the hunt for a site to drill another well

Bob Foos

February 14, 2024

Webb City’s first well, out of service for decades because the water level dropped, is back on line and one of the city’s best producing wells.

City Administrator Carl Francis told the City Council Monday that bringing that well, now designated as Well No. 15, back to help the system cost 40% less than was budgeted.

And… “Hopefully, we’ll be seeing the Mo Am (Missouri American Water) bill going down.”

Webb City buys water from Missouri American Water when its wells can’t keep up with customer demand. In 2023, the city paid Missouri American $366,200, while only $150,000 had been budgeted.

Now that the pretty-sure gamble on Well No. 15 was successful, the city staff is looking for a site to dig a new well in the northeast section of the city.

This Beacon screenshot shows the habitat addition, with a green border.

Cardinal Valley Habitat to purchase another lake

During a closed session, the council agreed to the undisclosed sale price of a lake on 74 acres owned by Brian Glades.

Trustees for the Cardinal Valley Habitat will provide the funding.

The property adjoins the east side of a lake that’s already in the habitat. That lake is on the east side of County Road 230 (North Madison Street) and north of Hawthorne Road. The Glades property has access to Hawthorne Road.

Joplin Trails Coalition’s alternate proposals for a new trail from Stadium Drive through the habitat to North Madison Street.

Council supports Joplin Trails grant application to extend trail

It’s the Joplin Trails Coalition’s goal for you to be able to walk on a trail to those lakes in the Center Creek Valley.

The organization received the council’s support of its application for approximately $200,000 from the Department of Natural Resources to extend the trail system from Stadium Drive north through the habitat to North Madison Street.

The city would donate initial dirt work, to be performed by the habitat staff, at an estimated value of $28,000.

This application represents the first phase of the Joplin Trails Coalition goal to connect Frisco Greenway trail in Webb City to the Ruby Jack Trail in Oronogo.

In other action, the council:

• Agreed to use federal ARPA funds to count previous allowable expenditures as ARPA spending. The KPM auditing firm recommended the plan for several compliance reasons, even though it won’t bill the city as much for auditing. The amount of remaining ARPA funds will be the same but won’t need to be spent before the deadline or reported.

• Completed approval of the special tax assessment ordinance, which places $13,308 in leins on 15 properties for bills in 2023 that the city has not been paid for. The leins will have to be paid when the properties are sold, if not sooner.

• Approved the purchase of two 2025 International dump trucks from Rush Truck Center of Missouri. The cost for the truck equipped for the water department with a Knapheide dump bed is $132,750. The street department’s truck will be equipped with a Knapheide bed and plow for a total cost of $151,268. Both purchases are in the budget.