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The Salem Board of Aldermen held their regular meeting Monday evening at the city hall council chambers. The board approved the purchase of 10 Alleycat bins for the recycle trailer. The funds are from a MRPC grant and will cost $6,842.02. The consent agenda was reviewed and it showed sales taxes collected for January to be $92,164.82, this is up $18,240.44 over last year’s total. Mayor Gary Brown reported that the finance committee met to review the first six months of the budget year. It showed expenses over revenues of $422,689, but real estate taxes have not been received for this time period. The committee reviewed the $23,000 loss at the swimming pool for the past summer. The average daily attendance at the pool has dropped to 72 per day, down from 127 per day just two years ago. The board asked if the fee structure that was recently changed and the elimination of the family pool pass was the reason. Parks and Recreation Director Greg Nash explained that the pool attendance on weekends has decreased dramatically and at times the pool was closed because of low attendance. The Park Board will meet soon to discuss the number of employees and ways to decrease expenses and increase revenue. Brown reported that there is $72,000 in unpaid electric bills since 2008 and the credit agency that was recently hired is working to decrease this amount. Brown reported that the Utility Committee recently met and discussed decreasing the discount for paying early since the city does not get the discount from Sho-Me Power anymore. They also discussed passing the 5% electric rate increase on to the citizens and possibly passing an ordinance to automatically pass on all rate increases as they occur. All of the committees’ recommendations will be presented as an ordinance at the next meeting.  Brown reported that the city would advertise for bids on a sound system for the council chambers. Jared Brown has been hired as the new Animal Control/Nuisance Officer for the city. The March aldermen meetings will be moved to Thursday, March 3^rd and Thursday, March 17^th since the Mayor will be in Washington DC representing MRPC. Alderman Kenneth Nash made a motion to move the Fourth of July fireworks display back to the Commons and Jerry Randell seconded.  Attorney Nancy Wisdom advised the board not to vote on this issue until the public could be notified and have input on the decision. The board voted to approve the motion with Brad Nash voting no after hearing the recommendation of the city attorney. The board approved Resolution #2-2011 that allows the mayor to sign a lease/purchase agreement with the Bank of Salem for the 2011 Ford Explorer that was ordered several months ago from C&E Auto. Wisdom read Bills 3213-3217 dealing with a number of appointed positions within the city that created a limit on their terms and the aldermen approved them all. Mayor Brown said that he would veto them all and would not sign them. He will give his reasoning at the next meeting. Wisdom reported that she recently attended meetings of the Western Cherokee Tribal Council. The Council, the tribal members present and the governing body of the non-profit board all agreed to transfer the old high school property on Tenth Street back to the City. However, it has not yet been determined who has legal authority to do so. Interim Chief, Wanda Nash, and some members are looking into their options on the property and will let the city know of their intent.  After the bills were approved, the Board went into closed session.

A friendly reminder that tonight is the final Livestock Quality Assurance Meeting for Dent County starting at 7:00 at The Commons. If you missed last week’s meeting, but plan to exhibit an animal at the 2011 Fair (this includes Clover Kids), you must attend this meeting. The only other alternative is to call Ted Cunningham at the Extension office at 729-3196 for Quality Assurance meeting dates in surrounding counties. There are NO exceptions as this is a state mandated meeting for all animal exhibitors at the fair.

A report on the feasibility study for a potential National Heritage Area in the Missouri Ozarks is available to the public for their review and comments. The study encompasses an area that would include Carter, Dent, Douglas, Howell, Iron, Oregon, Ozark, Reynolds, Ripley, Shannon, Texas, Wayne and Wright counties. The report is available at the Salem Public Library and online at www.wparts.org or www.scogog.org. This project was spearheaded by Ozark Action, Inc., the Ozarks Preservation, Inc. and the West Plains Council on the Arts and was started in December of 2009. The project was federally funded by ARRA funds received by Ozark Action, Inc. from the US Department of Health and Human Services provided by the Missouri Department of Social Services, Family Support Division. The project premise is to find a way to market the cultural assets of the area that include the works of traditional artists and craftspeople, locally grown foods, and related resources of the Ozarks in a more integrated and effective way. National Heritage Areas are a program initiated by the National Park Service where they can provide technical, planning and limited financial assistance to the area. The NHA program’s website says, “the National Park Service is a partner and advisor, leaving the decision making authority in the hands of the local people and organizations.” The site also said that “Nothing in this management plan shall be construed to modify any provision of federal, state, or local law with regard to public access to or use of private lands.” Area residents are encouraged to read the report and to comment on it by writing to the West Plains Council on the Arts, P.O. Box 339, West Plains, MO. 65775, or emailing them at arts@townsqr.com. The original cut off date to submit your comments was March 5^th, but they have extended the comment period to March 15^th for Dent County residents.

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