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THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2022
R-T
TRENTON
REPUBLICAN-TIMES
75¢
©Honeycutt Media, LLC
Established Sept. 4, 1864 - 158th Year - No. 72
12 PAGES + 4 INSERTS
republican-times.com
Utility Committee Hears Results Of Water Study The Trenton Utility Committee met on Wednesday, May 17 at City Hall. Items on the agenda included Department and Administrator reports along with a Toth and Associates Rate Study Review and review of proposals by Altorfer and RS Electric. The Electric Department reported they are working on tree trimming, pole replacements and maintenance of systems. The Water Department reported they will begin lead sampling in 40 houses in June and they are beginning to develop Lead Service Line Inventory which will need to be completed by October 2024. The Sewer Department reported they are performing routine cleaning and repair work and are also installing a manhole at 7th & Van Buren streets to replace an old metal one which will also improve conditions to the sewer main. City Administrator Ron Urton spoke on the concerns for long lead times on materials and parts. The AMI Meters have a 6 to 8 month wait time, piping materials for the reservoir pump station will be 40 weeks along with Pumps taking 12 to 16 weeks to arrive. Material prices are rapidly rising during these wait times as costs are 2 to 4 times the normal prices. Two members of Toth and Associates presented a revised study on possible water and wastewater increases via Zoom. The water study has two options. The first option would see a rate increase of 9.7% in one year. The second option would see a rate increase of 6.5% in year one and 7.8% in year two. The wastewater study also had two options presented. Option one would be a 6% rate increase in one year with option two being a 3% increase each year for three years. The study was geared toward residential customers, however it will affect business and commercial customers also as it is based on meter size and usage. Committee member Duane Urich requested that the committee take another 30 days to review the revised proposal before presenting it to the City Council for approval. All other committee [See Utility, Page 6]
WEATHER ALMANAC Day: High/Low Rain Monday 70/49 – Tuesday 63/54 .37 Barton Campus Tuesday 72/53 .57
TMS “Top Dawgs”
Grundy R-V Holds Graduation Ceremonies May 21 Eight Receive Diplomas, Scholarships
RT Photo/Megan Graham
The Trenton Middle School “Top Dawg” award is given to one female and one male in each class, fifth through eighth grade, for demonstrating the best overall qualities of academic success, citizenship and character education. Each student chosen receives a certificate and a t-shirt. Those receiving the “Top Dawg” award for the 2021-22 school year were, from left to right, fifth graders Betsy Price and Logan Harris, sixth graders Johanna Goodin and Drake Weaver, seventh graders Lucy Price and Bradly Miller and eighth graders Chylissa Turner and Isaac Bonta.
City Council Approves Bids Olsson, Inc. To Perform Floodplain Study For Airport Improvements The Trenton City Council met at 7 p.m. on Monday, May 23 at City Hall. Council members Robert Romesburg, David Mlika, Duane Urich, Glen Briggs, Danny Brewer and Marvin Humphreys were present with John Dolan and Lance Otto joining via Zoom. Other officials present were City Administrator Ron Urton, City Clerk Cindy Simpson, City Attorney Tara Walker, Police Chief Rex Ross and Mayor Linda Crooks. Mayor Crooks called the meeting to order, minutes and bills were approved. Councilman Humphreys brought a motion to the board from the Convention and Visitors Bureau meeting he had attended earlier in the week. The bureau is asking to change their member numbers from 7 to 9 so that they have a better quorum. The council asked City Attorney Tara Walker to prepare a revised ordinance on this to present at a future meeting. Councilman Briggs thanked everyone for their patience with the utility crews and all those who helped during the power outage that affected Trenton and surrounding communities last week. The council voted on and approved sev-
eral ordinances at the meeting. On a 7-1 approval with Brewer voting no, the council awarded Olsson, Inc to conduct a Floodplain study for the Airport Runway Improvement Project, which is the first step in a multi-step process to replace the existing runway. The cost of the study is not to exceed $166,591.79, however the city will only be responsible for $11,500 of that amount and the rest will come from federal and state sources. Asplundh Tree Expert, LLC will be performing tree trimming services at a cost of $160.45 per hour for a two-man crew up to the $25,000 budgeted amount for the services. The services are to be completed by January 2023. Strategy Marketing & Tech Agency received bid approval of $30,959.25 for the upgrade of 15 company computers. The upgrades will allow the computers to be updated to the current operating systems. On all 8-0 votes, RS Electric Corp had 4 ordinances approved. They will be replacing an existing High Service Pump VFD which is broken and needs to be replaced. A Chlorine Analyzer will be installed at the Wastewater Plant which will improve efficiency. A 15-year old SCADA system, which controls the existing Wastewater Plant Facility, will be replaced to upgrade to current operating systems. RS [See City, Page 3]
Grundy County R-V school held commencement exercises on Saturday, May 21 at 2:00 p.m. in the school gymnasium. Named Valedictorian was Logan Foster and the Salutatorian was Fletcher Christy. All graduates received certificates of recognition from the Missouri House of Representatives signed by Representative Rusty Black and Representative Danny Busick and the U.S. House of Representatives signed by Representative Sam Graves. Additionally, A+ recipients were announced. This year the A+ scholarship is valued at approximately $12,000. In order to be A+ eligible, students must maintain a 2.5 GPA or higher, 95% attendance or better over a 4-year period, complete 50 hours of unpaid tutoring, and maintain a record of good citizenship. Those graduating included: Daya Allnutt - Daya plans to attend North Central Missouri College and obtain her associates degree in teaching. She then plans to transfer to a fouryear university to obtain her Bachelor’s degree. She completed the A+ program, obtained a certificate in Health Services Technology from Grand River Technical School and received the DAR Good Citizen award. She received the Lainie Lewis Memorial Athletic Scholarship, the FFA Alumni Scholarship, the Grundy R-V Alumni Scholarship, the Carolyn Whitney Scholarship, the D. Lee Cloyed Scholarship
Gift, the Trenton CocaCola Scholarship, and the Smithfield Scholarship. Fletcher Christy Fletcher plans to attend North Central Missouri College and obtain his associates degree in Applied Technologies. He completed the A+ program, received the Academic Achievement of Excellence Award, the Academic Excellence Award, the Josten’s Scholastic Award, and obtained a certificate in Industrial Welding from Grand River Technical School. He received the Galt Lion’s Club Scholarship, the Lainie Lewis Memorial Academic Scholarship, the FFA Alumni Scholarship, the Pebble Horn Memorial Scholarship, the Trenton Coca-Cola Scholarship, the Nestlé Scholarship, and the Edward & Betty Hatcher Scholarship. Jessica Courtney - Jessica plans to acquire an apprenticeship to become a tattoo artist after graduation. Ayden Dell - Ayden plans to enlist in the U.S. Air Force after graduation. Logan Foster - Logan plans to continue his education at Grand River Technical School to complete his Industrial Welding Certification and obtain a certificate in diesel mechanics. He completed the A+ program, received the Josten’s scholastic award, the academic achievement of excellence award, and the academic excellence award. He also received the Galt Lion’s Club Scholarship, the Lainie Lewis Memorial FFA scholarship, the FFA Alumni Scholarship, the Pebble Horn Memorial Scholarship, and the RayCarroll County Grain Growers Scholarship. [See R-V, Page 8]
BRIEFS R-9 Holds Special Meeting
The Trenton R-IX Board of Education met in a closed session on Friday, May 20 at the District office. During the meeting, the board accepted the resignations of Kayce Terhune, THS business teacher; Adriane Todd, Rissler Elementary kindergarten teacher; Taron Loyd, Rissler special education; and Amber Sprague as Rissler yearbook sponsor. The board voted to hire Jessica Romine as Rissler Elementary kindergarten teacher and Rob Deaver as Interim Superintendent on a part-time, as needed basis. Deaver retired in 2019 from Grundy County R-5 School District where he had served as Superintendent for 14 years.
Trenton Entered In Contest
The City of Trenton has been entered into the Missouri Humanities Small Town Showcase 2023. Trenton is one of 41 nominations received by Missouri Humanities for the Small Town Showcase 2023. Voting for the “Featured Five” is now open. To place your vote for Trenton, go to the mohumanities.org website and click on the “Small Town Showcase” icon. Voting will end at 11:59 p.m. on July 1, 2022. Winners will be announced on August 1, 2022. For more information, contact caitlin@mohumanities.org.
Humphreys Alumni Reunion Set
The Humphreys School Alumni Reunion will be held Saturday, May 28 from 2-4 p.m. at the Humphreys Community Building. All past graduates, classmates and friends are invited to attend. All those attending are asked to bring finger foods or desserts. Drinks and table service will be provided.
Submitted Photo
Rural and town mail carriers collected 3,000 pounds of food and paper products during the Stamp Out Hunger food drive held May 14th. All donations collected were given to the Grundy County Food Pantry. Kaci Moulin is the post office supervisor and Jennifer Hoover is the current post master. Pictured are Kaci Moulin and her daughter, Adi Baker.