Substation project near 4th Street, IOOF Cemetery moves forward

By Jessica Breger Special to the Monett Monthly

The Monett City Council held its regular meeting on May 14, discussing updates to local government policies and city projects. 

The council began by updating requirements for applications for residents to join the charter commission, an ongoing effort to change the layout of city government to a charter style government. 

Ordinance 9149 would allow applicants to provide a “short form” of personnel financial disclosure to be on the charter commission and “any elected official from there on” according to Monett Mayor Randy Burke. 

The council also made updates to the city’s Records Policy for the Purpose of Updating the Code to Reflect Changes in the Sunshine Law.

An amendment was made to change incorrect numeration and wording. 

“Missouri law has changed and now we have the right form so we are consistent with Missouri state law, and we’ve also cleaned up,” Burke said.

The update also clarified that public notices are to be posted both at city hall and the newly added city annex where previously city hall was the only posting place required. 

During the public comments portion of the motion, council was asked by resident Mike Randall to postpone the motion on the ordinance to the next regular city council, as he said he felt the packet provided did not highlight all changes made to the policy.

Randall pointed to the packet provided to the public within the posted agenda, which contained the document as a whole, however did not specify changes within. 

“Ordinary citizens have no way, to my knowledge, to be aware of what changes were made,” Randall said. “There’s two sets of changes that were made. One, the changes that were made by the state legislature. Certainly those ought to be highlighted, and my recommendation would be that the city mirror those changes.”

Randall mentioned that he had watched the workshop meeting where the issue had been discussed and had concerns about added language, and he would like to see it discussed further at an upcoming workshop meeting to clarify who added the language and for what reasons. 

He noted that the changes at the state level were made in August of 2025 without the city updating, therefore holding off the vote for one more month should not be an issue as urgency was not a priority. 

The council voted to amend the policy as stated.

The council approved bids for work to move forward with construction of the City of Monett North Substation Project. 

The new city-owned substation located near 4th Street on the South end of the IOOF Cemetery. The total estimated cost of the substation is approximately $4 million, including components, engineering and construction.

According to the city’s Facebook page, the new substation will increase the city’s power capacity and provide redundancy should another city substation be damaged or taken offline for maintenance. 

Council members also approved an ordinance to allow the city to accept a donation of approximately three acres of real property located in the north portion of the city for the construction and operation of Fire Station No. 3. 

This authorized the land donation agreement and set an effective date for the project. A fire assessment performed last year highlighted a need for more coverage in the north section of the city by fire and rescue. The city approved the land donation by the Rauch family for the new station.

The council also took time at the beginning of the meeting to recognize the anniversaries of two notable city establishments. 

Council recognized the Monett Lion’s Club’s 80th Anniversary and the club’s contributions to the city during that time, as well as the 50th anniversary of Schreiber Foods and its contribution to the city’s workforce and industry.  

Regular City Council Meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. at the Monett City Annex located at 100 South Maple St., with video available on the city’s website the following day.