| Today's Feature New Airport Property Appraisal On Agenda
Tonight.
The City Council is scheduled
to meet this evening in City Hall for its regular
meeting at 7:30 p.m.
The agenda includes the second
reading of Council bill 99-24 which would
authorize the Mayor to enter into an agreement
with Hunter Appraisals of Joplin for the
appraisal of potential new airport property. If
approved, the appraisal of approximately 160
acres of land just north of the City should be
completed within thirty days.
The agenda also includes the
related first reading of Council bill 99-27 which
would authorize an agreement with Valuation Group
of Springfield for review of the appraisal
submitted by Hunter Appraisals. The review is one
of the requirements necessary to keep state and
federal grand funding options open.
According to City Administrator
Tom Short, after the satisfactory review of the
appraisal, the Council will take under
consideration the question of making an offer for
the property. If approved, negotiations for
purchase could begin shortly thereafter..
Applications Being Taken for
Residential Rehabilitation Housing.
Applications are being taken
for homeowner grants for rehabilitation of
substandard residential units. The program is
sponsored by Carthage Affordable Housing Task
Force and the Economic Security Corporation of SW
Area (ESC). Funding for the program is from the
Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC)
through a grant received by ESC from a Missouri
Housing Trust Fund award, The City of Carthage,
and the Housing Assistance Council (HAC),
Washington, D.C.
Program applicants must first
establish income, family composition, and home
ownership following review of the preliminary
application by the City of Carthage, Department
of Engineering Inspectors, Richard Rogers or Lynn
Shelley and ESC. Secondly, inspection and
assessment of the property will be required to
determine feasibility and priority based on the
greatest need. Other requirements may be made of
prospective applicants according to unforeseen
requirements placed by any funding agency.
Following inspection by the
City of Carthage, Department of Engineering
Inspector will assess and cost estimate the
proposed rehabilitations. Final selection of
grantees will be determined by the Carthage
Affordable Housing Task Force, Bob Faulk,
President, upon recommendations from the City
Inspector and ESC, funds will be expended until
exhausted.
Because some applicants may
also meet requirements of the Missouri Department
of Resources (DNR) Weatherization Program,
operated by ESC, additional funds may be
available to improve energy efficiency. According
to Dale Noland, ESC Weatherization Director, this
is possible because of DNR agreement to dovetail
their program with the Carthage Project,
providing no program conflicts occur.
Should more applicants meet
both income and "most in need"
requirements than funds permit rehabilitation,
those applications received first, by date and
time, will win the award.
Applications may be picked up
at the City of Carthage Department of
Engineering, 623 East 7th Street or at the Joplin
offices of Economic Security Corporation Housing
Division, 305 Virginia. Applicants awarded are
required to accept a lien against the property
requiring the awardee not to sell the home for a
period of five years following completion of
rehabilitation. Any fraudulent or undisclosed
information required of the awardee will be
grounds for disapproval of continued funding and
subject to legal recourse for recovery of funds.
Rehabilitation awards will be
made without regard to race, color, religion,
sex, handicap, family status, or national origin.
This notice of funding is consistent with
standards of the Equal Housing Opportunity Plan
of the Jasper County Board of Commissioners on
file with U. S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development.
Commentary
Martin
"Bubs" Hohulin
State
Representative District 126
Missourians may
be thwarted in their attempt to hold a
presidential primary election in 2000. The
obstacles are coming from, of all places, the
Democratic National Headquarters.
With the exception of 1988,
Missouri has used a caucus system to nominate
presidential candidates. There are good and bad
points to this system. The biggest obvious
drawback is that it reduces participation in the
process. The caucuses are open to anyone, but
many people don’t know about them. I will
admit that I have never been to a presidential
caucus.
Before I was in office, I
didn’t know about them and since I have been
in office, I have always been in Jefferson City
when they are held.
Many people think that if we
have a voting presidential primary we will
generate more interest in the election and
involve more voters. That is probably true. It is
easier to go into a voting booth, mark your
ballot and leave than it is to spend a whole
evening in a meeting deciding who the delegates
to the next caucus will be. There is no doubt in
my mind that more people would get involved.
So why are the democrats in
Washington D.C. trying to stop this? They have
said they would consider not seating the
delegates to their national convention from
Missouri unless Missourians declare a party
affiliation when they vote. Currently in Missouri
you don’t have to declare yourself as a
member of one party or the other when you
register to vote.
There is nothing to keep you
from taking a Republican ballot one election and
a democrat ballot the next election. There are
more people that vote split tickets than straight
party tickets. In fact, many of you have said you
would like to be able to vote in the republican
primary in one race and the democrat primary in
another race in the same election. There are
states that do this and it appears to work well.
The democrats are worried that
voters that aren’t ‘true
democrats’ will be voting in their primary.
I’m not sure what a ‘true
democrat’ is, but they want to be able to
monitor who comes to the polls and who picks up
which party’s ballot. The effect of this is
that many people will stay home because they
don’t want to be branded as one party or the
other. How would you like to go vote, only to
have someone there with a clipboard writing down
your name and which ballot you picked up?
I’m sure it is no secret
which ballot I take every election, but it is
still my business and not someone else’s
from Washington D.C.
We are being told that if we
don’t allow the branding of primary election
voters, the democrat delegates to the National
Convention won’t be allowed to participate.
That is the problem of the
Democrat National Headquarters, not ours. If we
let a national political party start dictating
what our state election laws will be to the point
of invading our citizen’s privacy, that is
just wrong. By the way, you are still welcome to
vote in any republican primary election and no
one will be there to make sure you are a
‘true republican’.
As usual, I can be reached at
House Post Office, State Capitol, Jefferson City,
MO 65101, or 1-800-878-7126, or
mhohulin@services.state.;mo.us for your
questions, comments, or advice.
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