Picnic coming together

The El Dorado Springs City Council continued  the most important work of the summer, making sure everything is in place for the Picnic at the Monday, June 17.

The council voted to hire “E-Rock,” an Elvis impersonator, for Thursday, July 18, and hired Rick Brag with MB Systems for professional sound and lighting for the 2024  Picnic.

Three council members, Allen Hicks, Nathan Murrell and Alvan Reasoner were present as was City Manager Bruce Rogers.

During the public forum, Earl Ackley spoke again about unregulated gambling machines which lack restrictions.

According to Ackley the State of Missouri limits gambling to the confines of its 13 licensed casinos which contribute billions of tax revenue to education and local communities.  But Ackley’s main concern is the availability of the gaming devices to younger children.

After the meeting Ackley told the Sun that Springfield had enacted an ordinance that prohibited those types of machines.

Rogers said that after the deck, sides and bottom of the pool had been taken out of the ground the earth would be subject to  a monitoring authorized by the Osage Indian Tribe. Archeologists inspect the area for artifacts and report any finding to the Osage. This procedure is a necessary requirement of the federal grant process before the pool can be renovated.

Rogers also said since the grant they had originally written for the fire station was rejected, the city had applied for a CDBG Grant however the plans had to eliminate 1,000 ft of office space to meet the grant requirements.

Chief of Police Brett Dawn requested that the council start updating ordinances to make the police department’s job easier. He said that some things have to be referred to the county, because the city does not have a ordinance to deal with the situation.  He also said he was going to present a proposal for one of the officers to have a drug dog. Dawn stated that there had been 12 dog bites in one week.

During the Mayor Council report, one  of the council men reported an obnoxious oder in his neighborhood which he thought was probably marijuana.