Missing chapter, dissected ordinances present challenges

BY MURRAY BISHOFF Special to the Cassville Democrat

Purdy City Council members discussed issues in trying to codify the city’s code book and public safety issues during their April meeting.

Mayor Brian Bowers welcomed back East Ward council member Kathy Davis and West Ward Alderman William Hughes, both having run unopposed for another term in the April 8 election. No vote was held as they were the only candidates. No swearing-in ceremony took place.

Clerk Katy Prock and attorney Toni Hendricks presented their efforts toward formalizing the city ordinances into a searchable and convenient package. Hendricks noted their work had become more difficult, requiring retyping numerous ordinances, as the original adopted ordinances had not survived over time. Several, she noted, seemed to have been “chopped and sliced together” as they entered chapters of the code. Section 5 of the code, pre-dating 2000, appears to have disappeared altogether, already missing by 2003. Records do not show what was in that section.

In Section 3, an “X” denoted a debate between the city and the school district about hooking up water to the school district’s FEMA shelter/performing arts center. Bowers remembered the building engineer saying something was needed to protect the city, but in the end, the mains were turned over to the city, eliminating the need for an exception.

Section 6, addressing how utility customers pay bills and the rules for late payments, came under review. Hendricks said the city could not charge renters a different deposit rate than homeowners as that represented discrimination. She suggested, with the city using a new collection agency, to establish two tiers of rates for deposits to open an account, one for customers without credit issues, and another for those who showed past bills left unpaid in a credit check.

Aldermen accepted Council Member Heather Van Note’s recommendation that for residential customers, those with good credit would pay a $180 deposit, and $280 for those with credit issues. Commercial customers would pay $280 and $380 if credit was poor. Both sets of rates rose by $30 to cover the anticipated cost of the credit check.

A method for how to notify customers who fall behind in their payments was relegated to a committee that Van Note agreed to head. Van Note said her committee would also review water and sewer rates to remain comparable to other towns, and to incorporate changes in sewer charges that would follow increases by the City of Monett, which processes Purdy’s sewage.

When all the changes were finished, Hendricks said the old city code book could be repealed in its entirely and readopted in its new form, thus overcoming compilation issues.

Police Chief Jackie Lowe turned in his annual report for 2024. He noted officers worked 2,476 hours, the lowest number in three years but higher than 2021. Miles driven, more than 12,000, were 25 fewer than in 2023. Calls for service at 521 were down 50 from 2023, and the total number of cases investigated at 91 was the lowest in four years. Specific types of cases worked ran fairly comparably to previous years.

Two incidents stood out in March. On March 6, Officer Russ Nichols responded to a verbal exchange between teens that generated what was reported as a threat “to shoot up the school the next day.” Taking the matter seriously, officers interviewed the accused teen, who denied the account. Lowe nonetheless spent the next day at the high school, and Sheriff Danny Boyd increased patrols.

On March 24, thieves hit the Farm Center in an unusual way, climbing onto a parked truck to tear off a 3-by-20-foot aluminum cover from the trailer roof, valued at around $3,000. Local recycling centers had been notified to watch for such an item coming in.

Nichols would be out on medical leave for possibly several months, following back surgery. Lowe said the sheriff would respond to calls as needed during Nichols’ absence at night.

Public works foreman Kevin Cook was absent due to illness. His report detailed routine business. Bowers said the public showed interest in the truck the city plans to sell. Bids will be opened at the council’s next meeting on May 14.