Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Rolla City Council Mtg. set for Feb. 6

The next Rolla City Council meeting will be held on Monday, Feb. 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Rolla City Hall, 901 N. Elm Street.

Rolla City Council meetings are ordinarily held the first and third Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. except when there is a conflict with an observed holiday.

To review a copy of the City Council agendas or the full agenda packet, please visit http://rollacity.org/admin/agenda.shtml#agenda. For more information, please contact Rolla City Administration at 426-6948.

City Council meetings are also broadcast live on Rolla Channel 16 (RC16). To check to see when the City Council meetings are rebroadcast, please check the RC16 Program Guide online at http://rollachannel16.pegcentral.com.

City of Rolla Weekly Updates (Jan. 30, 2012)

Rolla City Council

Mtg. set for Feb. 6

The next Rolla City Council meeting will be held on Monday, Feb. 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Rolla City Hall, 901 N. Elm Street.

Rolla City Council meetings are ordinarily held the first and third Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. except when there is a conflict with an observed holiday. To review a copy of the City Council agendas or the full agenda packet, please visit http://www.rollacity.org/admin/agenda.shtm. For more information, please contact Rolla City Administration at 426-6948.

Daddy Daughter

Valentine Dance

at The Centre, Feb. 10

A Daddy Daughter Valentine Dance will be held on Friday, Feb. 10 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at The Centre - Rolla's Health & Recreation Complex located in the Fidelity Gymnasium, 1200 N. Holloway St.

The event is open to all daughters ages three and above to attend with their Dads! The cost to attend is $25 for non-members and $20 for Centre members. Each additional child will be $2.50. This first time event at The Centre will be a fun-filled night for Dads and their little ladies.

Dad's - put on your best suits and daughter's put on your prettiest dresses and join us for a very special evening to remember. The event will include dancing with a live DJ, refreshment area, craft table, soft play equipment for the tiny ones and a keepsake picture.

Do not miss out on this magical evening and be sure to register early. Pre-registration at The Centre (341-2386) will be required and the event will be limited in numbers. Registration deadline: Tuesday, Feb. 7.

PLEASE NOTE: Only family members may register together for this special event!

Grand Family Conference

set for March 10

at The Centre

To register or for more information, please call (573-341-2FUN) or stop by The Centre located at 1200 N. Holloway Street in Rolla, Mo. You may also contact the following individuals: traubs@missouri.edu; kristy@rollacity.org; and krichards@rollacity.org.

Thanks to the event sponsors, this event is a FREE event for all! Free continental breakfast, free lunch, goody bags with great information to take home, free activities for the kids, and great door prizes!

Major event sponsors include: The Centre; AARP; and University of Missouri Extension.

2012: Environmental Services Department’s List of Important Dates

(clip & save coupon)

Feb. 20, 2012 – Presidents’ Day: Monday’s trash will be picked up Tuesday; Tuesday’s trash will be picked up Wednesday.

April 7, 2012 - Citywide Spring Clean Up: Saturday - Citywide clean up day (residential only).

May 28, 2012 - Memorial Day: Monday’s trash will be picked up Tuesday; Tuesday’s trash will be picked up Wednesday.

July 4, 2012 - Independence Day: Schedule will not change.

Sept. 3, 2012 - Labor Day: Monday’s trash will be picked up Tuesday; Tuesday’s trash will be picked up Wednesday.

Oct. 6, 2012 - Citywide Fall Clean Up: Saturday - Citywide clean up day (residential only).

Nov. 22, 2012 – Thanksgiving Day: Thursday’s trash will be picked up Wednesday.

Dec. 25, 2012 – Christmas Day: Tuesday’s trash will be picked up Wednesday.

Holidays NOT affecting trash or recycling collection:

Oct. 8, 2012 – Columbus Day

Nov. 12, 2012 – Veteran’s Day

Nov. 23, 2012 – Day after Thanksgiving

Rolla Channel 16

live streaming

24/7 on the Web

If you happen to miss the airing of a Rolla City Council meeting, Planning & Zoning meeting, Rolla Public School Board meeting or Board of Public Works meeting, you can now watch them online on the Rolla Channel 16 Website at http://rollachannel16.com.

Rolla Channel 16, Rolla’s premiere Education and Government channel, is also now live streaming (24/7) at http://rollachannel16.com. RC16 is live streaming all Rolla City Council meetings, Rolla Planning & Zoning Commission meetings, all future episodes of “City Minutes”, all Rolla Public Schools board meetings, and Rolla High School Review.

Other syndicated content on RC16 such as Missouri Outdoors, Army Newswatch, and Capitol Dialogue will also live stream on RC16 at http://rollachannel16.com.

For more information regarding programming or DVD duplication of Rolla City Council meetings, Rolla Planning & Zoning meetings, and Rolla Public Schools board meetings, etc., please contact Gabe Mankin, Digital Media Operations Manager, at (573) 426-3377 or at Gabe.Mankin@fidelitycommunications.com.

Be sure to watch Rolla Channel 16 – Education, Government and Community for you!

Upcoming Events

FEBRUARY 2012

Feb. 6 – City Council Mtg. (6:30 p.m.)

Feb. 10 – Daddy Daughter Valentine Dance (7-8:30 p.m.); The Centre

Feb. 20 – City Hall closed for Presidents’ Day

Feb. 20 – Environmental Services Dept. closed for Presidents’ Day; Monday’s trash picked up on Tuesday; Tuesday’s trash picked up on Wednesday

Feb. 21 – City Council Mtg. (6:30 p.m.)

MARCH 2012

March 5 – City Council Mtg. (6:30 p.m.)

March 10 – Grand Family Conference (8:15 a.m. – 2 p.m.); The Centre; FREE; to register, call 341-2386

March 17 – 104^th St. Pat’s Parade (11 a.m.); Pine Street, downtown Rolla

March 19 – City Council Mtg. (6:30 p.m.)

APRIL 2012

April 2 – City Council Mtg. (6:30 p.m.)

April 3 – Rolla Municipal General Election (polls open at 6 a.m.)

April 7 – City-wide Spring Clean-Up; items to curb by 6 a.m. (residential only)

April 16 – City Council Mtg. (6:30 p.m.)

Scott A. Grahl

Communications Director

City of Rolla, Missouri

(573) 426-6943

& Twitter at www.rollacity.org

Monday, January 30, 2012

Grand Family Conference set for March 10 at The Centre

Find out more about the resources in Phelps County that are available for grandparents raising their grandchildren by attending the Grand Family Conference on Saturday, March 10 from 8:15 a.m. to 2 p.m. at The Centre, 1200 N,. Holloway St.

To register or for more information, please call (573-341-2FUN) or stop by The Centre located at 1200 N. Holloway Street in Rolla, Mo. You may also contact the following individuals: traubs@missouri.edu; kristy@rollacity.org; and krichards@rollacity.org.

Thanks to the event sponsors, this event is a FREE event for all! Free continental breakfast, free lunch, goody bags with great information to take home, free activities for the kids, and great door prizes! Major event sponsors include: The Centre; AARP; and University of Missouri Extension.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Meade Property development underway

By Mayor Bill Jenks, III

If you have driven by the Rolla Recycling Center or the compost site located off McCutchen Road and Old St. James Road lately you may have noticed the large concrete stormwater drain pipes, and a significant large track of land being graded and developed.

While most folks may not venture out to this area unless they are dropping off compost at the compost site or recycling, I thought it would be helpful to explain the plans that are underway for this expansive area.

Realizing the need to upgrade the City’s aging, outdated and badly deteriorating Vehicle Maintenance building, Sanitation building, Street Department building and Animal Shelter, the City, in October 2005, purchased the former Meade Technology site, which consisted of 102.3 acres, for a future multi-phased public services yard. Since that time, the City purchased an additional 30 acres for stormwater improvements and future expansion of industrial properties

During the last City Council meeting on Jan. 17 the Public Works Department proposed to subdivide the 132 acre tract (known as Rolla Industrial Park West Subdivision) to accommodate the construction of a new, consolidated public service yard and to make available for economic development the remaining lots located along Industrial Park Drive. The first reading of the proposed ordinance regarding this proposal was read, and will be brought back for consideration and a second reading at the next City Council meeting on Feb. 6 at 6:30 p.m.

About 40 acres of the total area has been set aside to build a new multi-phased Public Works yard, including the construction of a new Vehicle Maintenance building and new Sanitation Division building that will replace the badly deteriorating structures located at 18th and Old St. James Road and off Sharp Road. The required funding for the construction of the new buildings will be provided by the City’s Environmental Services’ enterprise fund. The design and preliminary engineering work for those new buildings is currently underway and should be completed in the next few months. All other operations mentioned above will continue at their current locations, and there are no immediate plans for further improvements. The plans for this badly needed and adequate working conditions for our city employees have been underway for nearly eight years. I will continue to keep the community updated regarding this development and the status of the new buildings as we get closer to a ground breaking date.

In closing, I’d like to mention that we are encouraged that we have seen a 6.9% increase in sales tax through the first four months of Fiscal Year 2012! While we have not yet seen the December and January sales tax results from the holidays, the positive numbers thus far indicate we may have turned a corner on this economy!

Enjoy the weekend and have a safe week!

Friday, January 27, 2012

Police Chief Chat

Drug Watch: The South Central Drug Task Force, Phelps County Sheriff’s Department and the Rolla Police Department served a search warrant in the 700 block of East 10th Street whereas marijuana and drug paraphernalia were located and seized. A suspect was incarcerated at the Phelps County Jail pending charges.

This past week, the Rolla Police Department handled 599 calls for service. Of these calls there were: 11 arrests, 14 alarm calls, 20 traffic accidents, 19 traffic complaints, 19 check the well being requests, 65 traffic stops, 26 disturbance calls (including domestics), 14 suspicious nature complaints, 9 assist other agency requests, 5 field interviews, 9 escorts, 3 leave without pay reports, 1 death, 2 trespassing complaints, 4 benevolent fund requests and 42 security checks. This call total is up 21 calls from last week and yes, another busy week!

If you have not been inside the Rolla Police Department lately, you will probably be mildly surprised the next time you visit. We have made several changes to the interior of the building both cosmetically and in layout. The Rolla Police Department moved into our current location in 1993 and have made significant changes to the building since then. Basically the building is a work in progress due to expansion, security issues and departmental needs. The latest series of changes involved switching my administrative assistant’s office with a staff conference room. This provided much needed space for staff briefings, citizen personnel boards and other meetings.

We also created another office for S/Sgt. Jim Macormic and utilized his former office as a copy and supply room. This move freed up space in our conference room where we added a small kitchenette and cabinet space in the space the copier occupied. Changes also included adding 2 secure doorways leading back to our officer report writing area that I described in last week’s Chief Chat column. And of course all these added improvements were financed through drug seizure monies with no cost to you the community.

Our new patrol cars are still in the process of being prepped for operation and will begin trickling into the fleet in the next few weeks. Lt. Doug James patrol car was one of the first completed and has been placed in service. This car and 2 others will not require the striping package as do the Patrol Division vehicles, so they were the first to be completed. The Patrol Division cars will be black with the white “wrap” along the sides in the black and white fashion but will be different than the traditional black and white markings on our current fleet. The new wrapping will allow us to use an all black patrol car rather than obtaining a black and white paint job from the factory at an added cost. We are truly excited with the new additions to our fleet, for not only the officers but also for the community in being able to better serve you with sound reliable equipment. Look for the new chargers coming to a neighborhood near you!

This next entry is from the desk of Sgt. Ken Moberly who writes: The Rolla Police Department conducted Alcohol and Breath Instrument training last week here at the Rolla Police Department. Eight (8) Rolla Officers and one (1) Doolittle Officer attended this 24 hour training. This training enables Police Officers to receive a Type III permit (Operator) from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to operate a Breath Testing Instrument. The training covers DWI Detection and Processing, Type III Responsibilities, The Chemistry of Alcohol, DWI Statutes and Case Law, and The Principles of Operating the BAC Datamaster. This course is one of the more difficult law enforcement courses and requires the officer to pass a 150 question final exam with a score of 80% or higher. Thanks Ken!

I will add that Sgt. Ken Moberly has attended the instructor course for this training and received a Type II permit, which allows him to train officers for the Type III permit. The Type II operators also complete monthly tests to ensure the calibration of the Rolla Police Department’s BAC Datamaster.

In national news: A Round Rock, TN., man who police say had hundreds of photos of child pornography and stole the identities of more than 50 people in Amarillo and Missouri has been charged with multiple felonies, according to several warrants. John Hugh Wiggins, 49, was charged with 20 counts of possession of child pornography, two counts of possession of child pornography with intent to promote and three counts of fraudulent use and possession of identifying information. Separately, police also received information from the Amarillo Police Department, the Mississippi attorney general's office, the Charlevoix County sheriff's office in Michigan and the Rolla Police Department in Missouri that Wiggins was stealing people's identities and selling vehicles that did not belong to him through Craigslist, the warrant said. This case was investigated by our own Reserve Detective Paul Rueff. Paul came to us initially as a VIPS volunteer and was then appointed to our Reserve Division to assist the Criminal Investigations Unit. Good work Paul!

In closing I would like to congratulate Senior Patrol Officer. Luke Kearse of the Street Crimes Unit, who also happens to be my son, on his 9 year anniversary of becoming a member of the Rolla Police Department. Luke came to us after serving several missions in Iraq while with the US Marine Corps. Congrat’s Luke!

Have a great week!

Chief Mark Kearse

City of Rolla Weekend Updates (Jan. 27, 2012)

Street lights turned

off on Hwy. 72 as

cost saving measure

As a cost saving measure to reduce electric street lighting expenses, Rolla Municipal Utilities recently assisted the City of Rolla’s Public Works Department with the process of turning off several street lights located along Hwy. 72 (east of Lions Club Drive).

A total of 15 lights have been turned off, and should result in a cost saving of about $2,500 for the citizens of Rolla. The City’s annual street lighting electric bill is $180,000.

The Rolla City Council approved the 2011-2012 budget, which included a proposal to look for opportunities to reduce excess street lighting without compromising the public’s safety.

“We want to assure the citizens and Rolla community that this new street lighting pilot program will not adversely impact the safety of motorists or the area,” said John Butz, Rolla City Administrator. Butz said the City will also be looking at other areas in the community where the need for additional street lighting may be more critical.

In addition as part of this street lighting pilot project the City’s Public Works Director, Steve Hargis, is looking into new technology options for installing L.E.D. lights and solar power lights as a further cost saving measure.

If you have any questions or would like more information on this pilot project, please contact Rolla City Administration at 426-6943.