Want your neighborhood to flood? Do this!

On Monday morning a thunderstorm dumped 2.5 inches of rain on Sikeston just before dawn. Our Public Works crews were out first thing in the morning cleaning clogged drains and putting up warning signs where minor flooding occurred. Unfortunately, many flooding problems could have been easily avoided by simple changes to behavior. The picture above is a storm drain I saw a few hours after the rain stopped. Blowing grass clippings into the street is illegal. Littering is illegal. These actions may seem inconsequential - until your street floods because grass clippings and litter clog pipes and drains. Help keep your neighborhood dry by keeping the streets clean. 

And who is my neighbor?

Many people are familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan, where Jesus gave the commandment to "love thy neighbor as thyself." A doubter scoffed and asked, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus answered by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan, who acted as a true neighbor by stopping to help a stranger in need who had crossed his path. 

Yesterday a fire started at an oil distributor located in Sikeston. Fueled by large amounts of stored propane and other combustibles, it turned out to be one of the largest fires Sikeston has experienced in many years. When an incident like this occurs, it's an "all hands on deck" situation for our Department of Public Safety (DPS), which includes police, firefighters, and 911 dispatchers. Firefighters and trucks were immediately dispatched to the scene. Public safety officers quickly closed down nearby roads and evacuated nearby businesses as it became apparent that the fire would be extremely large and dangerous. Flames rose high into the air as propane tanks exploded and thick black smoke rolled off the fire. 

Calls went out to our "neighbors" in nearby communities and at several first response agencies. The City of Cape Girardeau sent firefighters and equipment to help fight the fire and staff a fire station in Sikeston in case other fire calls came in. The City of Morehouse sent firefighters and equipment to staff another fire station. The Missouri Highway Patrol closed Highway 60 in both directions to keep drivers away from the explosive materials. The Federal Aviation Administration declared a temporary flight restriction zone to keep small aircraft from coming close to a scene that was more dangerous than they might have known. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources sent crews and equipment to help contain the spread of spilled fuel. The Red Cross sent a canteen truck to help keep first responders hydrated in the 90+ degree weather. The New Madrid County Ambulance District, Stoddard County Ambulance District, and South Scott County Ambulance District all sent ambulances to help treat any wounded, of which thankfully there were few. The New Madrid County Sheriff's Office sent officers to help with traffic control. The State Fire Marshal's Office sent a crew to help with the cause and origin investigation. Sikeston BMU monitored water supplies and pressure. BMU and Ameren turned off power supplies to allow firefighters to safely fight the fire. Liberty Utilities turned off gas supplies and checked damaged meters as the fire diminished.

Multiple private businesses provided or offered meeting space, food, water, ice, and more, including Lowe's, Holiday Inn, Pizza Inn, Cott Beverage, and probably others of which I am not aware. UPS allowed Sikeston DPS to stage personnel, equipment and vehicles from their property across the street from the fire scene, and MikeRentals brought cooling fans over. After the fire was contained Sikeston DPS stayed on scene throughout the night to fight flare ups and hot spots. Sikeston Public Works employees were called in with heavy equipment to move dirt and contain spilled fuel before it entered storm drains and ditches.

All of these agencies and people acted as true neighbors to the Sikeston community throughout this incident. My sincere thanks go out to them, and to the many Sikeston DPS employees who put their lives on the line to protect our community. 

The Good Guys

Photo courtesy of Sikeston Standard Democrat

Recently you may have seen a viral news story and photo of a police officer comforting and distracting a toddler while other officers were tending to a fatal vehicle accident in the background. What you may not realize is that scenes like that happen everyday in the law enforcement world, even locally here in Sikeston. Above, a photo of Sikeston Public Safety Officer Scott Kim tending to a child after responding to a car accident scene. And sometimes our local officers's feel good stories do get recognized by the media as well, like this story of Sikeston officers playing basketball with some local kids:
http://www.kfvs12.com/clip/11624402/raw-sikeston-dps-officers-play-basketball 

Orgill Expansion Announced

Orgill, Inc. is the world's largest and fastest growing independent distributor of retail hardware and home improvement products. In 2009 they built a 795,000 sq ft distribution center in the Sikeston Business, Education and Technology Park. Today Orgill announced a $10.3 million, 250,000 sq ft expansion of the facility. The expansion will add 70 jobs to Orgill's operations in Sikeston, and bring the facility to over 1,000,000 sq ft. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Director of Agriculture Richard Fordyce traveled to Sikeston to announce the project. We're proud to have Orgill as one of our great corporate citizens in Sikeston!

Orgill, Inc.'s current facility in the Sikeston Business, Education and Technology Park. 

Sawing logs with butter knives

Having the right tools for the job matters. The City of Sikeston hired me and a new public works director just as the winter of 2013 began. Unfortunately, during my first week on the job we got the worst winter weather since the ice storm of 2009. More unfortunately, during that storm and some subsequent snows, we learned that our snow plowing equipment was badly in need of replacement. We had four dump trucks with plow attachments, all 18-25 years old. They spent more time in the shop than on the road during a big snow storm.

As a result, snow plowing operations did not go very well. So for the next year we budgeted for replacement of the three worst dump trucks. Our three new dump trucks arrived in the middle of the following winter. In fact, they arrived about a week after an 8" snow storm, and a week before another 8" snow storm. The difference between the old trucks and the new ones was astounding. After the first storm, it took us 5 days to plow all of the streets with the old trucks. Under virtually identical conditions, we completed the job in only 36 hours with the new trucks, simply because they are bigger and they stayed on the road instead of in the shop. As the public works director explained, with the old trucks it was like we were "sawing logs with butter knives."

Just this week we took one of new dump trucks to buy some cold mix asphalt for filling potholes. In the old trucks we could haul about 4-6 tons of asphalt. The first load in the new truck was over 14 tons, which means in one trip to the asphalt plant we can now haul as much as we used to in 2-3 trips. The investment in new trucks, though certainly expensive up front, has paid tremendous dividends. We are providing better service to our citizens, and we are doing it faster and cheaper.

New dump trucks in the Public Works yard shortly after they were delivered.

Economic Strengths of the Missouri Bootheel

I serve as a board member at the Missouri Innovation Corporation (MIC) at Southeast Missouri State University. MIC supports business and community development in the region through research, financial assistance, and other efforts to deliver University programs to the business community. MIC recently completed a Regional Entrepreneurship Assessment and Strategy for the Bootheel region of Southeast Missouri. One portion of the assessment identifies the economic strengths of the region, including Sikeston, which I thought I should share with my readers. The image below illustrates some of the employment growth factors in the region, including the concept of "clusters" of certain business sectors. This is something we have observed in Sikeston, particularly in the distribution center cluster. Our Sikeston Business, Education and Technology Park is home to several large distribution centers that take advantage of our strategic location at the crossroads of I-55, I-57, and Highway 60.        

Sikeston vs Ferguson

Like many local government officials, I have watched recent events in Ferguson and tried to learn from them. One of the criticisms leveled against the City of Ferguson is that the municipal court was used primarily as a revenue generator, rather than as a means to administer justice. The US Department of Justice found that in fiscal year 2013, Ferguson collected $2,460,000 in municipal court fines and fees. For comparison, in fiscal year 2013, Sikeston collected only $380,000 in municipal court fines and fees. Ferguson's court fines and fees accounted for approximately 23% of their city revenues. Sikeston's court fines and fees accounted for about 2.6% of our city revenues. And the bottom line is that Sikeston's municipal court in fiscal year 2015 is only projected to bring in $42,000 more than is spent on court operations - meaning that the court is in no way a cash cow for the city. I am glad that our friends in Ferguson seem to be on the road to healing, but it's also worth pointing out that the problems in Ferguson are not endemic to city municipal courts everywhere - especially not in Sikeston.

Thanks for your patience, and your service to neighbors!

A couple Sikeston Cub Scouts shovel a neighbor's driveway. 

We thought we might get through this winter without any major snow/ice events, but instead an entire winter's worth all hit this week! 87% of city employees work in Public Safety or Public Works, so the great majority of our workforce is involved in winter weather response - from Public Safety Officers controlling traffic at accident scenes to Street Maintenance Workers standing ankle deep in ice water shoveling open sewer grates by hand. And it's not just city employees working hard to keep our community running. BMU employees were out in the middle of the night during freezing rain making repairs to downed power lines. I even saw neighbors out in the street shoveling open storm sewer grates to let water drain off the streets.

During big snow events we get a lot of questions and comments about snow removal operations, so here are a few things to know:

• The City of Sikeston has four dump trucks with salt spreaders and snow plow attachments. 
• This year we added a plow to a front end loader, so we have one more piece of equipment on the streets this year that we didn't have last year.
• Snow has to go somewhere, which means that when we plow, it will create windrows in front of driveways. When it's possible to plow the snow to the other side of the street we do it, but many times it's just not possible. 
• We get a lot of requests to plow open the windrows at the ends of driveways to residences and businesses, and we have to politely decline those requests. If we took the time to do that for the thousands of driveways we plow past, we would never be able to get the streets done. We also can't simply lift the blade and not plow in front of driveways, for the same reason. 
• Our street crews work 12 hour shifts, 24 hours/day, until the streets are adequately clear or until they no longer can do it under the law (due to driving hour restrictions for CDL license holders). 
• Sometimes it takes a while to get to the residential streets, because there is no sense plowing residential streets if the main streets aren't passable. Oftentimes the main streets need multiple passes to keep them clear, especially early during a storm when snow is still falling or blowing. 
• Our dump trucks are all 20-25 years old with significant maintenance issues, and it's not always easy to get parts for them. This is something our new Public Works Director identified as a problem last winter and has taken steps to address. Over the summer we put in orders for three brand new dump trucks, which are under construction and should be here soon. We would have loved to have them already, but unfortunately cities all over the country are in the same boat and there is some backlog in production.  

The city appreciates your patience during major winter storms like this week. Thankfully in Southeast Missouri we only have to deal with weather like this a few weeks out of the year. Thanks for looking out for your neighbors, driving carefully, and for the kind words many of you have expressed for our hard working Public Safety and Public Works employees!

Sledding at the Sports Complex. Please park at the Clinton Building and not on N Ingram Rd.

DPS sponsors St Patty's 5K Run for Special Olympics

The Sikeston Department of Public Safety (DPS) is a big supporter of Special Olympics. DPS employees are currently organizing the 2nd Annual St Patty's 5K Run for Special Olympics to be held on 03/14/2015. DPS is seeking sponsors, volunteers, and runners for the event. The deadline for preregistration for runners is 02/28/2015. See http://www.sikeston.org/DPS_St_Patty_s_5K_Run_2015.pdf for more information! 

Too cold to work?

No way! But what does a street or park maintenance worker do when it's in the single digits outside? There's usually not much grass to mow, and patching potholes doesn't work as well in extreme cold, so usually they come inside and catch up on some projects in the shop. They are probably happy not to be plowing snow in the middle of the night! Here's a great story about City of Sikeston crews coming in from the cold to complete maintenance projects they will be too busy for once spring arrives.

http://www.kfvs12.com/story/27796355/outside-workers-working-indoors-due-to-extreme-cold.