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Tuesday, March 17, 2020
REPUBLICAN-TIMES TRENTON
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per copy Check out the Republican-Times on the Internet: www.republican-times.com ©W.B. Rogers Printing Co., Inc.
Established Sept. 4, 1864 - 156th Year - No. 57
Trenton, MO 64683
Ten Pages CITY COUNCIL Budget Changes
Employee Salary Increases Get OK
R-T Photos/Diane Lowrey
Local talent was featured on Friday night at the Hoover Community Theater as Art’s Alive hosted “Music Mash Up.” Three musical acts performed during the evening including, pictured at left, Cree Mullenix, Gordy Hale and Hub Hatfield (Travis Mullenix) and, pictured above, Jack Bain and Mike Arnold. Violinist Luana McDonald of Jamesport also performed. Although admission was free, several donations were received, which will be used to help fund future Art’s Alive programs.
Briefs...
HEALTH DEPARTMENT
No COVID-19 Cases Reported In County
Trenton n R-9 Can nce els Eve en ts The Trenton R-9 School District has announced that all activities. practices, events and meetings for all sports, clubs and organizations are canceled until further notice. Classes in the Trenton R-9 District are not being held this week due to spring break.
Citty Commiittees To Me eet The Utility and Finance committees of the Trenton City Council will meet tonight (Tuesday) at city hall. The Utility Committee will meet at 6 o’clock. Agenda items include department reports, a director’s update and a review of monthly financial statements. The Finance Committee will meet at 7 o’clock. The only item listed on the agenda is a discussion of rental inspections and nuisance duties.
Ag Contests Cancelled North Central Missouri College has announced it will be cancelling the NCMC Ag Club Contests, which had been scheduled on campus this Thursday, March 19. The event is held in conjunction with the Area II FFA Association agriculture instructors and draws students from several high schools around the area. The decision to cancel was made based on the precautionary measures being taken by NCMC to address concerns with COVID-19. There are no plans to reschedule the event.
Ba anque et Po ostpo oned In an effort to address concerns regarding COVID-19 (coronavirus), the Trenton Area Chamber of Commerce has announced it is postponing the annual banquet until Friday, May 1. The banquet had originally been scheduled for Friday, March 27 at the Ketcham Community Center, located on the North Central Missouri College campus. However, NCMC officials have announced they will not be holding in-person classes on campus through April 3 as well as looking at rescheduling other activities in which large groups would be gathering. As a result, chamber officials made the decision to move the banquet to the May 1 date. Chamber Executive Director Debbie Carman said the banquet schedule will remain the same with the Pillars of Community, Businesses of the Year and Organizaton of the Year to be honored. The chamber has also announced postponement of the quarterly luncheon, scheduled for this Wednesday at Black Silo Winery. A new date will be announced later.
NORTH CENTRAL MISSOURI COLLEGE
Takes Steps To Prevent Spread
The Grundy County Health Department has announced there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 (coronavirus) in Grundy County. As of Saturday, March 14, there were five reported positive cases in Missouri, however, none of those cases are reported locally. President Donald Trump and Gov. Mike Parson, on Friday, March 13, declared a state of emergency, which makes funding available to help address the outbreak. In an effort to slow the spread of the virus, the department said that many local organizations have postponed or cancelled events that would draw large crowds. North Central Missouri College has halted in-person classes through April 3 (see story at the bottom of the page) and Sunnyview Nursing Home and Apartments has restricted visitors. The department said there is no vaccine for COVID-19 at this time. The best way for persons to protect themselves from contracting a respiratory illness such as COVID-19 is with common sense precautions, including: • Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
CITY OF SPICKARD
• Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. • Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol if soap and water are not available. If someone is sick, the department asks that the following steps be taken to prevent the spread of illness to others: • Stay home. • Cough or sneeze into an elbow or cover a cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash. • Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces. The symptoms of COVID-19 are cough, fever and shortness of breath. Persons who have symptoms or believe they have been exposed are asked to stay home except to seek medical care. Persons should call ahead before going to the doctor so appropriate preparations can be made prior to arrival. The health department said the Center for See Health, Page 4
The Trenton Finance Committee has agreed to make changes in the proposed 202021 budget that would provide city employee salary increases. City Administrator Ron Urton said the committee, during a meeting on Wednesday, March 11, voted to increase the minimum base pay for the fire department to $12.50 per hour and increased the base pay for one of its law enforcement dispatchers to $12.50 per hour, which Urton said had been missed when minimum salaries were set last year. The committee then agreed to a 75-cent across-the-board increase for all city and utility employees as well as implementing a step-increment system for additional pay increases based on employee qualifications, which had been discussed by the council at a meeting on Monday, March 9. Urton said the increases would be based on such qualifications as training, certifications, college classes, etc. With the 75-cent acrossthe-board increase, Urton said the minimum base salary for all city employees would now be at least $13.25 an hour (some positions already have a higher base pay). The salary changes will be reviewed by the committee during a meeting at 9 a.m. on Friday, March 20 at city hall, during which time a final vote will be taken on the budget before sending it to the council. Urton said the committee hopes to have the budget vote at its March 23 meeting.
Water Concerns Addressed
Aldermen OK Balanced Budget The Spickard Board of Aldermen approved a balanced budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year when members met on Wednesday, March 11 at Spickard City Hall. The budget, approved on a 5-0 vote, shows income at $138,770 while expenditures were listed at $125,756, leaving the city with $13,014 of revenues over expenditures. Most of the city’s revenues will come from the collection of sewer, trash
and water fees. The biggest expenditure for the city will be payroll, repairs and maintenance, purchased water and electricity usage. City Clerk Amy Chapman reported the board heard from two residents concerning their water bill charges as well as a water leak. It was voted to charge both customers the water bill average, with the cost for any water usage after that amount being taken care of by the city due to a
water line break. The city will be seeking bids to hay the lagoon property and bids can be left at city hall. It was decided to get a dumpster from its trash hauler, Rapid Removal, for spring clean-up in April. The date of the spring clean-up will be announced once it has been determined. It was reported the February water loss was 6.7 percent. The next meeting of the board was set for 6 p.m. on Monday, April 13.
Campus Remains Open
Virus Concerns Send Local Students Online Although there are no known cases involving the coronavirus disease known as COVID-19 on the campuses of North Central Missouri College, NCMC is taking preventative and proactive measures to minimize the risk of exposure and the spread of COVID-19 through the reduction in mass assembly on campus. The safety of students, faculty, staff
and families is of the utmost concern for NCMC. As part of a global effort to contain and minimize risk and exposure to the virus, NCMC is taking several preventative measures to join the efforts in protecting our region and communities. After spring break, which is being held this week (March 16-20), all inperson classes held on NCMC cam-
puses beginning March 23 will be moved to an alternative online instructional approach to limit possible exposure to constituents as a result of spring break travel. Students taking in-person courses will continue their work through Blackboard online learning, email, and other virtual communication tools through April 3. During this time, campuses will re-
National Weather Service
It will be warm and rainy this week with a high reaching 71 on Thursday before the temperature drops into the low 40s on Friday. The high at Trenton on Thursday, March 12 was 63, Friday’s high was 48 and Saturday’s high was 43. Sunday’s high was 38, the low was 33 and a total of .67 of an inch of rain fell during that period. Sunday’s high near Spickard was 36, the low was 32 and .12 of an inch of rain was recorded.
main open and all faculty and staff will observe their usual work schedules. The Ketcham Community Center will remain open to the public. NCMC will continuously monitor control efforts and evaluate whether to continue alternative instructional methods. To address accommodations to students that have limited access to tech-
What’s Inside... The THS girls basketball team officially closed its 2019-20 season with the year-end banquet on Thursday night. See page 2 of today’s Republican-Times for a recap and list of award winners.
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nology at home, campus computer labs will remain open for use. Faculty are also asked to work with students regarding their technological limitations and provide alternative methods for course delivery to students should it be needed. No additional fees or charges will arise to students through See NCMC, Page 4
What’s Inside
Sports.............................page 2 Local.......................page 3 & 4 Community ...................page 5 Calendars ......................page 5 Comics ...........................page 6 Dear Annie ....................page 7 Crosswords....................page 7 Classifieds ..............page 8 & 9