COLUMBIA, MO. > One finalist remains for UM president — Theyearlong search for a new University of Missouri president is downto a single, unnamed finalist.
Flanked by campus police to ensure the confidential process, 13members of a 20-person advisory panel met in private for more thanfive hours and interviewed its sole candidate Tuesday in a guardedconference room inside Mizzou Arena. The group of professors,students, campus workers and alumni will make a recommendation tothe university’s Board of Curators, which has final approval of thehiring. Curators are scheduled meet Thursday in St. Louis but don’texpect to announce a decision.
“We interviewed one candidate,” said Hal Williamson, vicechancellor for the University of Missouri Health System andchairman of the advisory group. “It’s up to the Board of Curatorsfrom here.”
The curators are seeking a replacement for Gary Forsee, whostepped down as president in January to care for his wife as shebattles cancer. Interim president Steve Owens has said he is not acandidate for the permanent job and expects to resume his duties asgeneral counsel.
CLARKSON VALLEY > decision on solar panels is delayed — Avote on a new ordinance regulating the use and placement of solarpanels was put on hold because the Board of Aldermen did not have aquorum at its Tuesday night meeting.
Officials still heard from supporters of Frances and Jim Babb,residents whose inquiry about placing solar panels on their homeprompted the city’s proposed ordinance. Among other things, theordinance would ban homeowners from placing the panels on the frontof their homes.
Dave Glueck, president of the Missouri Solar Industries EnergyAssociation, said Clarkson Valley officials should loosen some ofthe restrictions in the proposal, instead looking at visibilityfrom the road and neighborhood approval.
Jim Babb argued that because his and his wife’s request promptedthe discussion, their request should be taken into considerationand approved. (Marlon A. Walker)
CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO. > Army Corps halts levee rebuilding —U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is shutting down its work rebuilding aMississippi River levee that was damaged during heavy floodingalong the river in southeastern Missouri earlier this year.
In may, the corps blew three holes in the Birds Point levee torelieve pressure at the height of the Mississippi River floodingthat was threatening nearby Cairo, Ill. About 130,000 acres offarmland were damaged, along with dozens of homes.
The corps said Tuesday that it will begin closing down itsrepair work on the Birds Point project area because forecasts callfor sustained high river levels and more rain.
The corps says that before shutting down the repair work, crewswill bring the levee system up to 55 feet using temporary repairtools, such as sandbags. (AP)
BRENTWOOD > City to add finance director — In the wake ofrevelations about embezzlement by a former city administrator andunearned overtime pay for firefighters, the Brentwood Board ofAldermen approved Monday the hiring of the city’s first financedirector.
City Administrator Bola Akande said the outlay for the positionwould be between $75,000 and $90,000. The funding is included inthe city’s next budget of about $15.7 million. Akande said thesearch for a director began in August and she expects to have aperson in position when the new budget kicks in Jan. 1.
Akande said the city previously has had a finance officer butnever a director. The position would provide a check over the cityadministrator’s position, previously held by Chris Seemayer.
Seemayer resigned his position in March. He admitted in June toembezzling nearly $30,000 from the city since Jan. 1, 2010 andgambling it away. Seemayer was sentenced in October in federalcourt to five years’ probation, with six months of it to be spentunder house arrest.
The ensuing investigation of Seemayer uncovered that cityfirefighters had been paid overtime for work they hadn’t done. Thepractice had gone on for more than 24 years and resulted inhundreds of thousands of dollars in unearned pay. (Special to thePost-Dispatch)
O’FALLON, ILL. > City hires law firm to help with suit overtax district — The O’Fallon, Ill., City Council has hired a lawfirm to represent the city in a lawsuit filed by a local schooldistrict.
Central School District 104, which comprises an elementary andmiddle school in O’Fallon, filed the lawsuit Nov. 22, a day afterthe city approved a tax increment financing district built around a106-acre tract north of Interstate 64 near Green Mount Road.
The tract is the location of a proposed $300 million hospitalcomplex backed by Hospital Sisters Health System. Health Systemofficials said they wouldn’t accept the land unless it was packagedinto a TIF district. City officials said funds from the special taxdistrict is supposed to pay off $8 million to $10 million inremediation work on the site because of mine shafts and undergroundcaverns.
The school district’s lawsuit challenges the TIF district’slegality.
City officials said the school district was worried it couldlose potential property taxes.
Belsheim & Bruckert LLC of O’Fallon will represent the cityin the case because of the firm’s expertise in TIF law, and CityAttorney Dale Funk will serve as co-counsel.
Legal costs are not known, but city officials said the amountcan be reimbursed through money raised by the tax district. A courtdate has not been set. (Special to the Post-Dispatch)
GLENDALE > Rates hold steady for trash collection, employeehealth care — Glendale will continue refuse and recycling andemployee health insurance without a cost increase next year.
“We lucked out,” City Administrator Jeremy Hayes said Mondaynight after the Board of Aldermen approved new contracts. “We maybe facing increases a year from now, however.”
Allied Services will continue refuse and recycling for $19.63per household per month. Residents are billed quarterly for theservice by the city. there has not been a cost increase since2004.
Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield will continue as the healthinsurer for the city’s 38 full-time employees. The city pays fullemployee costs and 90 percent of family costs. Hayes noted that in2009 the city took on annual deductible payments, which has keptannual premium costs down. In 2012 the city expects to pay $401,000for premiums (the same as this year) and about $47,500 to coverdeductibles, which will total about $44,338 this year. (Special tothe Post-Dispatch)
JEFFERSON CITY > Lawsuit over budget cuts moves on — Alawsuit over the power of Missouri governors to make budget cuts isproceeding. Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beteem denied a requestby Gov. Jay Nixon to decide the case based on what has already beensubmitted to the court. A hearing is scheduled Dec. 16.
Republican Auditor Tom Schweich challenged budget cuts made byNixon, a Democrat. The cuts amount to about $170 million and affectuniversities, scholarships, the judiciary and early childhoodprograms. Nixon says spending cuts were necessary to help pay thecosts from the Joplin tornado and flooding
Schweich said Tuesday that the budget cuts violated the stateconstitution. A spokesman for Nixon called the ruling “procedural”and said it did not affect governors’ constitutional authority tomanage state finances. (AP)
Local news digest is a post from: buildthesolarpanel.com
