From staff reports

news@joplinglobe.com

A proposal to locate the Joplin Police Department’s special-enforcement unit on the west side of the city in the Iron Gates neighborhood will be presented today by Chief Lane Roberts to the Joplin City Council.

The council meeting is delayed a day from Monday because of Labor Day.

Jason Burns, assistant police chief, said the unit would serve the entire city but would be located on the west side of town as a sort of substation. The purpose of the unit is to give people a chance to contact officers without having to call or visit the main station.

Burns said the unit involves officers who go into the community and look for root causes of problems to reduce calls for patrols. The unit includes bicycle, rapid response, K9, warrants, Drug Abuse Resistance Education and traffic officers.

That is to be one of the topics of discussion at the council’s informal meeting at 5:15 p.m. today.

Grants to several local organizations for events that might attract visitors to the city will be considered during the council’s regular session at 6 p.m.

The Joplin Convention and Visitors Bureau proposes to give grants in varying amounts to nine local events.

Those are the Missouri Southern State University 2009 homecoming celebration; St. John’s Regional Medical Center for “Matters of the Heart”; The Bridge for the JoMoPro BMX event; Boomtown Days (two grants) for the festival and for its 10K and 5K runs; Ozark Christian College for its “Preaching and Teaching” convention; Spiva Center for the Arts for PhotoSpiva; Wildcat Glades Conservation and Audubon Center for its “Birdathon”; and the Dogwood Trailblazers for a convention walk it will hold.

Amounts of the grants were not listed on the council agenda. Vince Lundstrum, director of the bureau, was out of state Friday and unavailable for comment.

The grants are given each year so that the organizations can advertise to try to pull people into town to spend tourism dollars.

The council also will consider:

n An agreement with Cochran, Head, Vick & Co. to provide auditing services for the city. The cost of the agreement is not listed on the agenda.

n Purchase of right of way from property at 2802 and 2820 Connecticut Ave. for widening of Connecticut Avenue. The cost is $28,200 for both pieces of property.