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See how Lathrop, Plattsburg and East Buchanan are stacking up || PAGE A6
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Thursday, August 29, 2024 | Plattsburg • Lathrop • Gower • Cameron | FREE |
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CITY OF CAMERON
City hall repairs projected at $3.14M by jamey honeycutt leader publisher
The long-awaited totals for repairs to make Cameron City Hall safe and leak proof were announced before the finance committee discussed the 2024-2025 city budget on Monday, August 26. Roof upgrades, complete
CITY OF LATHROP
Council OKs tax levy, truck purchase
mold remediation, brick and mortar repair and inspections will total an estimated $3,143,000. Evidence of advanced deterioration of the roof was documented as early as 2011 by former city manager Mark Gaugh, but no action was taken for 12 years. Those en-
gineering reports only came to light recently as employees were being relocated to the second floor of Bank Midwest. The massive expense will be split over two budget years but that still had council members searching for ways to cut expenses and becoming increasingly frustrated as at-
tempts to shave the budget met with little success when questioning city staff and manager Steve Rasmussen. Councilman John Feighert III again questioned having both merit and cost of living salary increases in light of the recently-announced $3 mil||Continued on A3
GRIDIRON RETURN
by brett adkison leader editor
The City of Lathrop will be purchasing a new truck for the public works department. The Lathrop City Council approved the purchase of a 2023 Ford Super Duty 550 with a dump bed during the council’s regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, August 20. The truck cost $89,600 through a government bid and will replace two of the department’s trucks—a dump truck and dump bed Chevrolet—that were older and need of more frequent repair. Also that evening, the district held a public hearing for its annual tax rate levy, which was approved later in the meeting. The total levy for this tax year is $1.1434 per $100 assessed value, which City Administrator Bob Burns told The Leader is down about two percent from the previous year. The general levy was set at $0.5712 per $100 assessed value, while the park levy was set at $0.1503 and the debt service levy was set at $0.4219. The council heard from engineer Scott McDonald of Veenstra and Kimm on a pair of subjects. The city is preparing for a full overlay of a northto-south street as part of its new street improvement tax. Burns said that the council is heavily considering Maple Street, but the city could possibly do more roadway this round. There will be a work session on Monday, September 30, 7 p.m. to discuss it more. McDonald also gave the council information about the minor bridge over Shoal Creek on Clinton Street (near Valley Street). Burns said that the city will need to fix the bridge at some point but it isn’t currently an emergency situation, but rather he
Football teams clash in preseason jamborees Friday night lights make their official return later this week, but area football teams looked to shake off the rust last week with annual jamboree contests. For more on several area football teams, see The Leader’s preview inside, as well as more jamboree photos on page A12. (Above) A trio of Cameron defenders--Talan Edwards (2), Chase Bell (22) and Malachi Jones (57) bring down an Excelsior Springs ball carrier on Friday during the Dragons’ annual home jamboree. (Left) East Buchanan’s Ben Rhoad finds space on the edge to run Friday in Cameron. brett adkison | the leader
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EAST BUCHANAN SCHOOLS
Board sets tax levy, considers changes to EBMS building At the East Buchanan Board of Education meeting held on Monday, August 19, the board approved the tax rate of $5.95 per $100 assessed valuation, with $4.20 of the levy going to incidentals and $1.75 for capital
projects. A significant amount of time was spent discussing engineering options for the new East Buchanan Middle School building. Of the 15 total options, four were considered to have a moderate to major effect in the appearance and or func-
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INSIDE
by jim bonebrake leader reporter
Est. 1895
Winner of 100+ awards from the Missouri press assoc.
tion of the project. These included replacement of the PRS System with Envelope 2000, cast stone with metal trim, manual bleachers versus electric operating ones, and replacing phenolic panel with metal. Engineers estimate these measures could save the district approxi-
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mately $54,000. The four options discussed that would make minor differences to appearance or function included changing the glass color, hollow metal doors, reducing the topping slab areas, and removing the lighting protection, which would not
be a code violation, amounting to savings of approximately $71,585. There were seven areas that would have no noticeable impact on appearance or function. These included appliance manufacturing change, thermally broken doors, plumbing fixture
Park Board Concerns Raised
This Week’s Sheriff ’s Report
With major questions about the budget, the Cameron Park Board has concerns with its funding.
See which calls for service came through the Clinton County Sheriff ’s Dispatch for the previous week.
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change of manufacture, PEX pipe where lines are one inch or less instead of copper, Dakin HVAC, casework, and change type of the art door. These changes could result in savings of approximately $176,899. The board decided to go ||Continued on A2
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VOL. 129, NO. 44