The Monmouth City Council proudly swore in two Monmouth City Police Officers during their regular city council meeting this week. Sergeant Joe Bratcher was promoted to MPD Lieutenant, and Investigator Brandon Blackman was promoted to MPD Sergeant. Monmouth City Clerk Susan Trevor performed the oath of office. Both officers were supported by a good crowd of family and friends.
The Building and Zoning Director Wade Woodward reported on several Building and Zoning projects currently performed in the city. The ground breaking started this week on a new Super Casey’s store on the corner of 34 and 67 across from both Petey’s and Beck’s. The new roadway on Sunny Lane has progress, and the area should be open to traffic sometime next week. There will be some final work after the street is opened. The new well is scheduled to be online by the beginning of October. Work on the campground improvement has been placed on halt due to a delay in one of the bidding openings.
The City Website has a new look! Director of Community Engagement Kenny Helms reported two new tab options at the top of the page. The new tabs are Community Outreach and Transparency. Director Helms has included these two tabs to make public information more easily available to the public. The City will also have a table in the Industrial Tent at the Prime Beef Festival. Several different staff members will be manning the table at different times. Council woman Susan Twomey thanked Director Helms for his efforts to improve relations between the city and the public.
The next meeting of the Monmouth City Council will consider an ordinance to annex property into city limits. As part of the employment agreement with Chief Joe Switzer, the city must look over annexing Switzer’s property into city limits, fulfilling the requirement for a city chief to be located within city limits. Switzer’s property is adjacent to the current city limits. A voluntary petition was submitted by Chief Switzer and his wife. The council as a whole will consider this petition in the form of an ordinance during their next regular meeting.
written by Amy Patterson
