CHAFFEE VOTERS SAY OK TO $500,000 BOND-ISSUE PLAN FOR TREATMENT PLANT

CHAFFEE -- City officials here Tuesday got voter approval for a $500,000 bond issue to finance waste water treatment plant and sewer line improvements.

The issue passed 395 to 145, with 608 of the city's 2,134 registered voters turning out for the election, Scott County Clerk Bob Kielhofner said. Only a simple majority was needed for the bond issue to pass.

The city's overall voter turnout Tuesday amounted to just over 28 percent. City voters also went to the polls for the statewide Proposition B education reform measure.

Improvements are needed for the city's waste water treatment plant because its discharge, due to high algae growth, is out of compliance with state standards.

The bond issue will also fund a sewer line and lift station along North Frisco Street. No new city taxes are to result from the bond issue, city officials said.

Tuesday night, City Mayor Ron Moyers applauded the passage of the bond issue, saying he was happy the issue went through with as large a majority as it did.

"I think it's great," he said. "You never know in a situation like this what's going to happen.

"We felt relieved the other night when we had a small turnout for the (bond issue's public) hearing. We kind of wanted to make ourselves believe that was a good sign; that there wasn't too much negative (response) out there."

Moyers said the city would proceed as soon as possible with renovating the treatment plant.

Chaffee officials had stressed the city's perilous footing on the waste water issue before the election. Moyers, calling the issue "do-or-die," had warned that the Missouri Department of Natural Resources could have fined the city as much as $15,000 a day for the violating the state standards.

The city plans to correct the waste water treatment plant pro~blem by having the plant's final cell deepened from 3 to 8 feet; implementing a duckweed treatment system to remove 95 percent of the algae in the plant's discharge; replacing necessary transfer structures and fluid valves; and rebuilding levees.

Ward 4 Councilman Tom Cunningham, chairman of the city's water and sewer committee, said city officials appreciated the voter support. The officials, he said, tried to be honest with city residents about the bond issue, which needed to pass.

"I think it's fantastic," he said. "We asked the people to pass it and they did."

The duckweed treatment system would reportedly be the first in the state, city officials have said. It would work through the use of netting and cables draped over the plant's cells. The duckweed, which would grow through the netting and be harvested, would stem the algae growth by blocking sunlight.

Later, the duckweed could reportedly be used for composting, livestock feed or fertilizer.

A handbill on the bond issue said the waste water treatment plant is at the end of its "useful life" of 20 years. The improvements are expected to have a "useful life" of another 20 years, it said.

The 28 percent voter turnout was a good turnout for Chaffee, Moyers said. "But I'm sure Proposition B probably brought a lot of them out," he added.