New Grant City Water Line Set to Turn On

The new 11 mile water line for the Grant City and Parnell water systems is set to turn on sometime next week, Randy Mehendall of  Snyder & Associates told the Grant City Council at the regular meeting tonight. The council could not conduct business due to a lack of quorum; however, they heard presentations and reports. A special meeting will be conducted January 29th to approve the budget and to do paperwork for the project.

The first sample will be taken sometime next week and sent in for testing. Once the tests come back OK, the city can then switch over to the new water lines. Afterwards, the final cleanup for the project will take place sometime this Spring. Total cost for the project was around $851,000, paid for by a USDA grant/loan program and passage of a bond issue by the city.

Linda Laderoute of the Solid Waste District reported on the regional recycling program that they are doing. There have been 273 responses to the recycling surveys that are online; the survey is open until March 15th. Once the survey is complete, there will be a followup meeting with all participating counties and cities. Worth County is participating in the survey. Currently, Grant City has a recycling bin by the school and the Worth County PTO has an aluminum dropoff point near Darold Hughes' shop (formerly Moutray's). For Grant City, the biggest issue is not having a place to get rid of glass. The nearest glass recycling bins are in Blockton (clear glass only), Bedford (in the Hy-Vee parking lot), and at Northwest Missouri State University. The project is paid for by a USDA rural utilities solid waste grant.

Incumbents Bruce Downing and Catherine Runde have filed for reelection for the Grant City Council. They will be unopposed this election.

Public Works Director Carl Staton reported that there were a few small water leaks, some frozen water meters, and a plugged sewer main on the southwest corner of town caused by tree roots. Staton said that he had gotten requests to fix private sewer systems from two customers. He said that it was not city policy to fix private sewer systems.

Jeannie Claypool reported on her work on hunger and homelessness issues. She said that she had housed 60 homeless people throughout her lifetime and that she had been homeless herself twice. She said that homelessness could happen in a heartbeat. She has completed a book of poetry and is now seeking a publisher. Her ministry is named Angel Flight Ministries. She said that she has come to realize how valuable life really is and that many people in the community had a positive impact on her life. She noted that the size of Grant City used to be 1200 to 1400 in the past; it is now between 800 and 900. She said that babysitting kids had helped pull her through over the years.