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Softball field to get new dugouts

A girls softball field in Jackson City Park will get new concrete dugouts, thanks to a donation from the Jackson R-2 School District, whose girls teams play there.

The Jackson Mayor and Board of Aldermen approved a park donation and memorial form for the donation at its Nov. 16 meeting.

The dugouts will be constructed by School District personnel and then donated to the City. The School District will maintain the dugouts up to and during the girls softball season.

The two poured-concrete dugouts will be installed at Field No. 5, near the swimming pool, replacing the wire mesh dugouts that currently exist. The approximate value of the donation is $20,000.

“What we want to do is build something comparable for our girls teams like what the boys have,” Dr. Keenan Kinder, associate superintendent for Jackson R-2, told the Board of Aldermen at its study session Nov. 2. “Our girls varsity and JV play at Field 5, and they have been playing there for a long, long, long time, and we want to make nice dugouts for our girls.”

Both dugouts will be the same, there will be no advantage to the home or visiting team.

Inside the dugouts will be electric outlets to recharge video cameras, iPads, phones, etc. Storage areas will be lighted with garage-door access. The garage doors will be red and the buildings will be gray. Access to storage areas will be either through the dugout or through the garage doors.

One big tree will have to be removed to make the project work.

The current dugouts have a footprint of 28 feet. The new ones will be 46 feet.

In other action

• Vacate alley: No one spoke at a public hearing to consider the vacation of a public alley in Weltecke’s Addition as requested by Travis and Jessica King. The Board later approved the vacation.

• Meeting date change: The Board changed its meeting date of Monday, Jan. 18, 2021, to Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

• Employee health plan: The Board accepted a proposal from SoutheastHEALTH of Cape Girardeau and Standard Insurance Co. of Portland, OR, to provide medical, dental, vision and life insurance for city employees.

• Industrial Park: The Board authorized a contract with BRS, LLC, of Cape Girardeau, relative to the purchase of real estate in the Jackson North Industrial Park Subdivision, Phase 1. BRS will purchase property at 451 Cane Creek Road from the City for $110,000.

• Director of Retail Development: The Board renewed the City’s contract with the Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce to help pay for the position of a director of retail development (Jen Berti).

• Financial services: The Board approved an agreement for Piper Sandler & Co. of Leawood, KS, to provide financial services to the City.

• Sewer extension: The Board approved a task order of $17,700 to Koehler Engineering & Land Surveying, Inc., of Cape Girardeau, to provide engineering services for the North Industrial Park Sanitary Sewer Extension Project.

• Wastewater Rate Study: The Board approved a payment of $26,695 to Horner & Shifrin, Inc., of St. Louis for providing engineering services under the Wastewater Rate Study Update.

• Asphalt improvement: The Board approved a $13,545.09 change order to ASA Asphalt of Cape Girardeau for its work on the 2020 Asphalt Pavement Improvement Program. This change order includes costs for additional full-depth patches on North Farmington Road.

• Humane Society: The Board approved a contract between the City and the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri for $28,600.

• Mayor’s priorities: During study session, Mayor Hahs outlined his priorities for the City based upon a projects survey. For more information, see the mayor’s column in the Nov. 18 issue of The Cash-Book Journal.

• Land donation: The Board discussed the donation of 1.44 acres of land adjacent to Brookside Park during study session. Formal action will be taken Dec. 7.

Gregory Dullum has worked for The Cash-Book Journal for more than 25 years. Prior to becoming the editor in May 2017, he was production manager, circulation manager and reporter. Before moving to Cape Girardeau in 1988, he was editor of the Saint Louis Park Sailor, a weekly community newspaper in suburban Minneapolis, MN. A native of Minnesota, he returned there after graduating with distinction in 1978 from Ambassador College in Pasadena, CA, with a degree in mass communications. His wife, Marie, whom he met in college, is a native of Zalma, a small town in southeast Missouri. They have two grown daughters and five grandchildren. Gregory may be reached at cashbook@mvp.net.

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