2006 -- a Year in Review

July

Nevada Daily Mail

In July the city's financial crisis came to a head and culminated with a complete reorganization of the city government and the elimination of about 30 jobs, 10 of which were vacancies at the time, to balance the city's budget.

During the July 5 council meeting, Terry Sercer, an auditor hired by the city council to look at the city's financial records, reported that, because of a bookkeeping error, the city had $1 million less than the budget reflected.

Sercer told the council that in 1993 the city had put $600,000 in an interest-bearing trust fund that was held separately from the rest of the city's accounts, with the intention of using the accumulated funds to pay off the city's 1993 combined waterworks and sewage system bonds.

In 2004, those funds were used as intended to make the final $1,060,000 payment on the city's bonds and was removed from the books; however, because of a bookkeeping error the money was not removed from the budget. "And everyone works from the budget," councilman Dick Meyers said.

Since this money was included in the budget as cash in the water and sewer, removing it from the budget left the city in the position of not having a balanced budget as required by the city's charter.

To bring the budget into alignment interim city manager, Harlan Moore, announced during a July 25 special city council meeting that he was totally reorganizing the city government and in the process eliminating about 30 jobs and making additional cuts that would save the city about $260,000 during the remainder of 2006 and another $783,000 in 2007.

The Bushwhacker Museum added to its collection of historic documents when Linda Carlton donated a manuscript, "(A) First Brief History From Real Life" to the Museum in July. The manuscript is a first -hand account of the settlement of Harmony Mission in Bates County written by her great-great-grandmother Sally (Dodge) Morris in 1893.

Morris was the daughter of the Rev. N.B. Dodge. Carlton also donated a photograph of Milton and Sally (Dodge) Morris.

The Carnegie Library building was formally reopened after being renovated and turned into office space by Greg and Melissa Hoffman.

The building now houses Hoffman's offices, as well as the Nevada-Vernon County Chamber of Commerce and the Vernon County Arts Council on the lower floor.

The second week of July saw the 61st annual Vernon County Youth Fair bring Vernon County 4-H and FFA members to Nevada for the week to show their livestock and other entries and see friends.

Whitney Hinkle was crowned the 2006 Vernon County Youth Fair Queen and Katherine Kerbs was selected as the Vernon County Youth Fair Princess.

Community Support Services, Joplin, told the Nevada City Council that they want to put a complex of five group homes in Nevada to serve about 30 individuals with developmental disabilities.

Jahan Hurn, Community Support Services executive director, said the project would bring about 70 new jobs to the community.

The 2006 campaign for the U.S. Senate came to Nevada in July with Claire McCaskill bringing the details of her plan to end America's dependence on foreign oil through the use of renewable resources. McCaskill, who won the election, made no more visits to Vernon County, but Jim Talent visited several times during the campaign season.

Terry Ramsey told the IMPACT Nevada Tourism Board that she hoped that there would soon be national recognition of the Civil War in the Missouri-Kansas border area.

August

Nevada Daily Mail

The Vernon County prosecutor's race took center stage in August when it took nearly two weeks and a hand recount of the ballots to determine that two-term incumbent prosecutor Lynn Ewing III squeaked by newcomer Jeff Feuquay winning the Democratic primary on Aug. 8 and running unopposed in the November general election.

When the votes were tallied Aug. 8, Feuquay came out on top by one vote. After two days of work by County Clerk Tammi Beach and her staff to canvass the vote, the result was reversed, with Ewing gaining enough votes for a 1,253 to 1,251 victory over Feuquay. With the election hanging on a two-vote margin Feuquay requested and was granted a hand recount of the ballots on Aug. 18. He also requested a new election be held, but that was denied by 28th Circuit Presiding Judge Jim Bickel, who oversaw the hand recount. The hand recount added three votes to Ewing's total and two votes to Feuquay, giving Ewing the victory by a three-vote margin.

During the Aug. 8 election Nevada voters also voted overwhelming to pass the city's 1/2-cent transportation sales tax for the third time. During the next five years the city will be spending $500,000 per year on new street construction, up from the $400,000 per year they have spent for the last 10 years.

Nevada residents looking for a pet to adopt can now look on the Internet to see what is available through the Nevada Animal Shelter or Vernon County People for Pets, which announced that they are listing pets available for adoption on the Petfinder.com. Locally available pets can be found at http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/MO359.html.

Petfinder.com is the largest and oldest database of adoptable animals on the Internet.

During the Aug. 15 Nevada City Council meeting, the council raised the property tax rate in Nevada for the first time since they voluntarily began reducing the tax rate in 2002. This time the council voted to raise the property tax to the ceiling permitted by the state. This will bring in an additional $100,000 in property taxes in January 2007 to help replenish the city's depleted coffers.

The city of Nevada and Vernon County have worked out an agreement to hook residents of the Rolling Meadows, Fall Creek and Lakeview developments south of Nevada on Highway BB to Nevada's sewer system instead of the 40-year-old lagoon they currently use. The commission agreed to pay the added cost to hook those developments into a pump station located at the Stonegate development south of Nevada on Spring Street.

The Nevada Police Department and the Vernon County Sheriffs Department will be one of a number of communities to receive a LiveScan fingerprint system because of a donation from the L.F. Richardson Foundation to cover the 2008 maintenance costs. Both departments had originally turned down the system because of concerns about the $5,000 annual maintenance cost.

September

Nevada Daily Mail

September 2006 began with the city council still on the search for a new city manager. The Robert J. Saunders Organization continued the search to find someone who would "fit well" with Nevada's profile.

Six months after the Nevada animalshelter was closed due to a canine parvovirus outbreak and inadequate living facilities for the animals, the shelter re-opened with repairs.

The facility was fully disinfected and repaired, both inside and out, and was fully licensed by the Missouri Department of Agriculture.

Jeff Morris was hired to serve as the new animal control officer, while Melissa Melech was hired as the shelter's manager.

Then Nevada R-5 School District declared on Wednesday, Sept. 13, that the district had met the requirements to fulfill the No Child Left Behind Act. The current standard to be met is 34.7 percent of students reaching passing levels on the standardized testing with proficiency and advancement abilities. Nevada R-5 checked in with 47.1 percent of students meeting these requirements.

Gas prices took a dip in many areas across the region during the month; however, Nevada residents failed to see the savings.

In nearby towns like Lamar, and Joplin, the gas prices fell as much as 10-15 cents per gallon, but in Nevada prices were questioned for staying the same.

The Nevada City Police Department kept busy during the month when an armed robber struck the Fastrip store on North Ash shortly after it opened its doors at 6 a.m., Sunday, and made off with an undetermined amount of money. Yockey Motors of Nevada also experienced thefts when two cars and an undisclosed amount of cash were taken from the lot on Wednesday, Sept. 13.

The month of September ended with many discussions of the upcoming November ballot issues. Locally, Vernon County Ambulance District Director James Mackenzie discussed the topic at meetings and noted that the ambulance district had "waited two years to put this on the ballot."

The sales tax issue failed, but McKenzie later maintained it would have added extra needed funds to the County Ambulance District.

The Vernon County Democrats also headed into discussions on the highly debated stem cell research initiative scheduled to be on the November ballot. A speaker from The Missouri Coalition of Lifesaving Cures came to Nevada to talk to area residents about the proposed initiative.