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TRENTON
THURS. DEC. 1, 2022
REPUBLICAN-TIMES “GOD BLESS AMERICA”
Old Glory flying at Five Points
republican-times.com
Toy Drive Planned Wright Memorial Physicians’ Group, Saint Luke’s Mercer County Clinic, and North Central Missouri College Athletic Department are partnering together to host a toy drive that will benefit children in Grundy and Mercer counties. The toy drive will begin on Monday, November 28, and ends on Thursday, December 15. "We are so excited to partner with our friends in the NCMC Athletic Department to collect toys and
bring some joy to some local kids this holiday season,” said Shane Lynch, practice manager at Wright Memorial Physicians’ Group and Saint Luke’s Mercer County Clinic. “We hope to make this an annual tradition for our community.” The event will benefit children ages 2-17 years old. Toys will be donated to the Department of Social Services Children’s Division and Trenton Kiwanis [See Toys, Page 2]
BRIEFS DAR Chapter to Host Reception
The Dorcus Richardson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution would like to invite the public to a cookie and coffee reception to pay tribute to all are Veterans, Active-Duty and Reserve Service personnel and area First Responders. The reception will be held on Monday, December 5, at 2:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall at the First Baptist Church, 2421 Oklahoma Avenue in Trenton. In addition to the reception, as a part of the Wreath Across America program, the DAR will be dedicating a Christmas Wreath to be placed at the World War I Monument at Moberly park in remembrance of our departed heroes.
“Showdown at the Hoedown”
The Trenton High School Gilded will present their play “Showdown at the Hoedown” on Friday, December 2. The play will be held in the Performing Arts Center at Trenton High School at 7:00 p.m. Admission prices are $8 for adults and $6 for children/students, tickets will be available at the door.
Letters To Santa
The Trenton Republican Times will be publishing Letters to Santa in a special section that will be included in the newspaper on Thursday, December 22. Children who are not submitting letters through their class at school are encouraged to write letters to Santa to let him know their Christmas wishes. Letters must include the child’s name, age, address (town) and a telephone number in order to be published. Only the child’s name, age and town will be included in the letter. Because of space constraints, letters should be kept to a minimum and the R-T reserves the right to edit letters, if necessary. The deadline to submit letters is 4:00 p.m. on Friday, December 9. Letters should be emailed, with the subject line “Letters to Santa”, to news@republican-times.com.
Community Blood Drive
The Community Blood Center of Greater Kansas City will host a blood drive on Monday, December 12. The drive will be held from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the North 65 Center, located at 2901 Hoover Drive. All presenting donors will take home a free Chiefs T-Shirt. Donors are encouraged to make an appointment by visiting savealifenow.org/group and use Group Code: TN. For additional details, contact Betty Tinker at (816) 3519308 or Sue Ball at (660) 359-3836.
Retirement Party
A retirement party honoring Jackie Soptic will take place on December 8, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The party will be held at the First Christian Church located at 1700 Princeton Road. Please RSVP by calling Cortney at 660-359-5636 extension 17.
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Established Sept. 4, 1864 - 159th Year - No. 13
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City Council Approves Ordinances and Sponsorship for Way Finding Signs Grant The Trenton City Council met at City Hall on Monday, November 28. Those in attendance were Police Chief Rex Ross, City Administrator Ron Urton, City Clerk Cindy Simpson, City Attorney Tara Walker and councilman David Mlika, Glenn Briggs, Danny Brewer and Marvin Humphreys. Attending via zoom were Mayor Linda Crooks and councilman John Dolan. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Crooks. The minutes and bills were approved. An ordinance authorizing a general election to be held on Tuesday, April 4, 2023 was approved. The four-year term of Mayor and a two-year term for one councilman from each ward is up for election. Those with terms expiring are Mayor Linda Crooks and councilmen John Dolan, Robert Romesburg, Danny Brewer and Lance Otto. An ordinance was approved to amend the headgear for a motorcycle and motor tricycles of the Trenton city code to reflect the state law changes. Jackie Soptic representing the Green Hills Regional Planning Commission and Scott Sharp representing NCMDA attended the meeting to discuss the way finding grant in further
detail as requested by the council. The grant is an ARPA funded grant in the tourism category. This is a two year project with the main focus being 30 way finding signs to show the way to many public places such as schools, parks, college, museum, hospital and lodging to name a few. The money would also be used to fund two downtown murals, flower pots for downtown, picnic tables for Missouri Days and a metal cover for the Tom Brown log cabin project. The grant has a minimum request of $250,000 that requires a fifty percent match which would be $125,000. If awarded the minimum amount that would give a total project fund of $375,000. Soptic and Sharp are talking with prospective contributors to get pledges for the match. Currently, the Convention and Visitors Bureau has pledged $50,000 and Wright Memorial Hospital has pledged $5,000. The city is being asked to be the sponsor applicant and to also provide an in-kind donation to help with putting the signs up once they are completed. Soptic provided a cost estimate from Largeprinting.com out of Kansas City showing an estimate
of $151,277.67 for the 30 two-sided signs. However if the grant is awarded a public bid request will be required. The city council approved being the sponsor of the application on a 41 vote with Briggs voting No. Briggs stated he was concerned that if a prospective pledger had to back out of a pledge that the city would then be left responsible for the money pledged. Since the application deadline for the grant is December 14, Mayor Crooks asked Jackie Soptic if she would attend the council meeting on December 12 to give an update on the progress of the application. Mrs. Soptic said that if they could not raise the pledged amount of $125,000 then they would not be sending in the grant. A discussion of the lead line service policy was held with the corrections from the last meeting made and approval was given. In new business, the board approved Norris Quarries out of Mount Moriah to provide sand and rock for 2023. The price of sand is $10.25 per ton with 10,000 tons purchased, which is up from $9.05 per ton last [See Council, Page 2]
NCMC Board Approves New Gym Floor for Ketcham and New Academic Calendar The North Central Missouri College Board of Trustees met in regular session on November 22, 2022. During the meeting, Trustees heard communication reports and voted on bids/purchases, and personnel items. In communication reports, the Trustees heard from Shellee Castanada, Resource Center Coordinator on her new role and plans for her position. Megan Pester provided an update on current efforts and future plans for the marketing/admissions departments. Head Start Director Janet Gott discussed Head Start enrollment, alternative methods of instruction, a partnership with Second Hand Harvest, and a recent leadership conference/training staff attended. In Vice President reports, Dr. Klaver provided Dr. Tristan Londre’s report and discussed course evaluations, accreditation visits, end of semester wrap-up, spring enrollment, and Sa-
vannah Campus academic update. He also mentioned a micro apps class Sarah Bird is teaching had 100% pass rate on Microsoft Office Specialist certification. Dr. Kristen Alley discussed registration for the spring semester, an upcoming VA compliance audit, and the Light the Way Tree Lighting Ceremony activities on November 30th. Jennifer Triplett provided an update on Savannah Campus IT infrastructure and audio/visual efforts for classrooms. She also provided information on upcoming network security testing. During the President’s report, Dr. Lenny Klaver discussed the Missouri funding formula for higher education, fall election results for the service region, an upcoming MCCA conference, Savannah Campus progress, capital campaign, international student embassy work, a recent campus update breakfast, and
graduation and retention rates. He also mentioned the criminal justice program was ranked #1 in the nation. For action items, the board approved the purchase and renewal of a service contract with Network Technology Partners and a bid from Charles Luebbert Hardwood Floors for a complete replacement of the Ketcham Community Center gym floor. Trustees also approved the new 2023-2025 academic calendar and approved a date change for the December board meeting to December 20th at 12:00 p.m. in the Frey Administrative Center. In personnel items, the board approved Green Hills Head Start resignations from Katie Gadberry, Ashley Sensenich, Alexis Clements, and Megan Ruffier. For NCMC, the board approved the hire of Ashley Bonnett for the Campus [See NCMC, Page 3]
GRVCO To Present Winter Concert
The Grand River Valley Choir and Orchestra will present its annual Winter Concert, “The Bells of Christmas,” at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, December 10, in the Trenton R-9 Performing Arts Center. Holiday music will be performed. The doors will open at 2:30 p.m. following the dress rehearsal and picture-taking session. Our GRVCO musicians represent the 13 Missouri communities of Altamont, Cameron, Chillicothe, Gallatin, Jamesport, Laredo, Ludlow, Marshall, Pattonsburg, St. Joseph, Trenton, Weatherby and Winston. The GRV Choir will open the program with “Silver Bells”, “Jingle Bells”, “The Gift”, and “All Is Well”. [See GRVCO, Page 2]