How Fruitland would provide services questioned

Editor's note: This is the second in a series of stories about each of the three "points of contention" outlined by Cape Girardeau County in response to Fruitland's bid to incorporate as a village.

Before allowing the village of Fruitland to incorporate, Cape Girardeau County wants to be sure it will provide adequate services to its residents.

In a letter dated Feb. 23, the county responded to a petition filed in August signed by 238 of the 302 taxable inhabitants of the potential village. Three major concerns were identified -- the land included in and excluded from the parcel, the services that would be furnished to residents and the village's financial plan.

In meetings with the county and the city of Jackson, which had to decline to annex Fruitland for it to be eligible to incorporate, county residents within the proposed incorporation area have repeatedly voiced concerns about how the area would provide safety and sewer services.

But in Fruitland, there are currently no significant plans to provide either, and state law doesn't specifically require major service plans as a condition of incorporation.

According to Tim Sutterer, who presented the original petition to the county, two services in Fruitland are currently supplied by the county -- sheriff protection and road maintenance. He said in March that one option used by other small communities is to contract with the county for those services after incorporation, which would provide basic safety services.

Other services in Fruitland would remain unchanged. Water is provided by Public Water Supply District No. 1, volunteers at Fruitland Area Fire District respond to fire emergencies, Citizens Electric Corp. of Ste. Genevieve, Mo., provides electricity and landowners contract individually for trash pickup.

As for wastewater treatment facilities, Fruitland is a mishmash of individual septic systems and larger localized facilities. No initial plan was suggested to change it by petitioners.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has identified numerous systems that need to be brought into compliance in the general area, mostly owned by subdivisions.

Joe Tousignant is chairman of Cape Girardeau County Common Sewer District No. 1, a not-for-profit with service boundaries that cover the Oak Ridge, Pocahontas and the Fruitland area. He thinks the district may be one solution to the village's wastewater treatment needs.

Right now, people on localized systems can join the district for a $500 initial fee that provides for engineering and legal costs, then pay monthly charges of $35 to $40. In exchange, the district will upgrade their services as necessary to meet regulatory guidelines and work to develop a larger regional system. As it grows, it could become available to residents with individual septic systems.

Tousignant said the district's services are available "independently of whether Fruitland incorporates." However, if Fruitland did become a village, it would increase opportunities for funding to build a wastewater system. He said Friday he was scheduled to meet with petitioners to explain the potential benefits.

The most recent local community to receive approval to become a village is Dutchtown. Incorporation documents recorded by the county in 1998 do not include a plan for services to residents or a financial plan. Signatures of 76 taxable inhabitants out of 92 were collected in December 1997, and incorporation was approved two months later. The population in the 2010 census was 94.

Angela Crutsinger, chairwoman of the board of trustees that governs the village, said Dutchtown has no paid employees and provides no water treatment services. She said the sheriff's department patrols the area but that the village does not compensate the county for those services.

Doyle Parmer has served as Dutchtown's clerk since it became incorporated. He said Friday that residents wanted to become a village in order to pursue funding for a levee to protect the area from flooding. At the time, he said, there were no dissenters to incorporation and the few who did not sign the petition did not want to get involved on either side of the issue.

County records show the commission has received eight written objections to being included in Fruitland village -- four from Fruitland residents, one from a landowner and three from businesses, including two quarries.

Missouri law specifies the minimum process an area must follow to become a village -- basically, a petition signed by at least two-thirds of an area's taxable inhabitants. But the law allows for the county to determine what is "reasonable" in excess of the minimum before approving incorporation, according to an incorporation handbook published by the University of Missouri-Columbia.

"Our ultimate goal in this process is to see that should the residents of Fruitland deem incorporation is the best avenue, that it is done so in a manner according to the laws of Missouri. We also want to ensure that the residents of Fruitland receive the services they are due and the Village of Fruitland is positioned for success," the commission said in the two-page response to the incorporation petition, signed by Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy and Commissioner Paul Koeper.

Commissioners did not respond to requests for comment Friday. Tracy was serving Naval Reserve duty.

Sutterer said by email Friday that petitioners would complete planning meetings in "the next few days" and would have a response to the commission "in the next week or so."

salderman@semissourian.com

388-3648

Pertinent address:

Fruitland, MO

Dutchtown, MO