TROY – While the meeting lacked any yelling, name-calling or exclamations of “shut-up,” the presence of a new member of the Troy Board of Aldermen didn’t prevent a couple split votes and disagreements on the proposed construction of an outer road along Highway 61.

In his first meeting since the mayor appointed him and the board approved him, Quentin Laws twice voted to table proposals related to the outer road project first mentioned by Mayor Ron Sconce in February.

Laws and Rachel Dunard first suggested tabling the mayor’s request to advertise for engineers for the project until after a workshop meeting to discuss it in detail.

However, Sconce successfully argued advertising for a request for qualifications allows the city to hire an engineering company that will provide specifics for discussion at a workshop meeting.

“This is where you would look at the qualifications and decide what engineering firm we might want to select and approach them with a contract,” Sconce said. “No more.”

In his final meeting on the board, alderman Gary Leifert enthusiastically supported fast-tracking the project.

“I see no reason whatsoever to delay moving forward in trying to get this outer road put together,” Leifert said. “We’re asking simply to solicit bids for engineering. That’s all we’re doing, we need to move forward.”

Aldermen Harold Horner and Steven Jones agreed with Leifert and Sconce, voting in favor of a second motion to go ahead and start the advertising process.

However, moments after agreeing to solicit engineering proposals, the aldermen voted 4-1 tabling a proposal to allocate the estimated $1.5 million to build the 2,400-foot extension from Old Moscow Mills road to the southern edge of the city limits. Only Leifert voted against delaying that vote until after the workshop.

“So I was approached by a couple of citizens and some business owners that asked about having a workshop where all of our stakeholders can get together and have a discussion,” Laws said, when explaining why he wanted to slow down the process.

The road would dead end near an undeveloped residential area, with a goal of the residential developer later extending it west and connecting with Elm Tree Road, which connects with Highway C.

The project resurrects in part a cost-share project between Troy, Moscow Mills, Lincoln County and the Missouri Department of Transportation that would have funded construction of an outer road on Highway 51 connecting the two towns. But due to various complications, the county abandoned the project earlier this year.

Dunard argued the city is getting ahead of itself as they still haven’t had formal discussions with the developer.

“We are putting $1.5 million on hold for a road that is going to be a dead end,” she said. “The road the county was doing was going to Moscow. This is not. Our roads are terrible in Troy and if we have $1.5 million to give let’s fix the roads all these folks drive on.”

Also at the meeting, the Troy Board of Aldermen:

• Voted to solicit two more cost proposals to upgrade the city’s pension plan for municipal employees. Under the first proposal, the city would have to spend about $220K annually to upgrade the retirement plan with a 4 percent employee match. At the cost of $1,000, the board voted to solicit two more proposals with a 2 percent and a 0 percent employee match to determine how those options would cost the city.
• Voted to increase the connection fees for water and sewer service due to the rising cost of meters. Sconce reported the price of meters had doubled in recent years to $12,000, necessitating the connection fee increase. Public works officials attending the meeting also warned the board if President Trump maintains a 25 percent tariff on Mexico, prices of the meters will likely increase as many of their components come from that country.
• Fielded a request from Kelly Hardcastle, Executive Director of the Lincoln County Council on Aging (LCCOA) to provide annual funding for the local not-for-profit that hosts a daily lunch, Meals on Wheels for homebound senior citizens, classes, Veterans Coffee Talk and activities throughout the year. Founded in 1978, he said the county commission has allocated funds regularly to support the group, but the city of Troy never has.