May 10, 2007 10:42 pm
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By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
CARTHAGE, Mo. — Workers with the Jasper County Health Department soon will begin water-quality testing on three streams in the county.
The County Commission on Thursday endorsed a budget amendment that would allocate $7,500 to the project.
Tony Moehr, county health director, said he sought the funding for equipment and supplies so the county could start testing parts of Spring River, Center Creek and Turkey Creek for bacteria levels.
The plan is aimed at expanding on testing started several years ago in Spring River by the Carthage Senior High School Stream Team. That sampling turned up high E. coli levels and contributed, Moehr said, to a state decision to declare that part of the stream as impaired.
“They (stream team members) have done a good job, and we want to add to some degree in what they’re doing and add some other streams,” he said.
Moehr said the department’s plans call for weekly sampling on 20 sites. He said the schedule may have to be adjusted because the work will be done with existing staff.
Frank Martinez, a stream team sponsor, said he is “tickled to death” that the county will join the testing.
“That will be outstanding,” he said. “We’ve been hoping for some sort of support for a long time now. It’s a problem that work needs to be done on, and I’m sure we’ll be willing to cooperate with them in any way we can.”
Moehr said he, for some time, had wanted the department to start water testing, and he recently asked Richard Webster, county auditor, if the department’s budget could be revised to allocate money for the work.
Webster said the department had taken in additional money from supplying birth certificates needed for residents’ driver licenses, so he was able to allocate funding for the testing program.
Moehr said the county tests also would be helpful for local groups that are looking into starting a study of the Spring River watershed. He said results also would shed light on water quality in the region, and hopefully attract more attention and funding from the state.
“We felt like we needed a better picture of stream conditions, but we hadn’t been able to put it in our budget earlier,” he said.
In other business Thursday, the County Commission approved a resolution endorsing Joplin’s application to the Missouri Department of Economic Development for designation of an enhanced enterprise zone.
Jim Woestman, Carthage mayor, attended the session. The Joplin zone includes land in Carthage and the Carthage R-9 School District, and Joplin and Carthage have adopted an agreement that will allow projects to be administered by a committee named to oversee a separate enterprise zone for Carthage and the county.
“I was opposed to the idea at first, but after learning more about it, I think it will be good for the area, and that’s what we’re after,” Woestman said. “We need to think regionally.”
The commission also approved a revised fee schedule with Allgeier, Martin & Associates Inc., the firm that designs the county’s bridge and culvert projects. Jim Honey, Eastern District commissioner, said overall costs should not change, because the county will pay more on some projects and less on others.
Darieus Adams presided at the meeting in the absence of John Bartosh, presiding commissioner, who was attending a training session on boards of equalization in Springfield.
Attendance, next meeting: Adams and Honey attended. The next meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, May 17.
County offices: 358-0421 or 625-4350.
Budget action
Final action on the proposed budget amendments will come next Thursday, after a public hearing on the proposed changes.
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