After a one-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Homecomers will return to uptown Jackson in July.

That according to Larry Koehler of Jackson’s American Legion Post 158, the event’s sponsoring organization, who spoke the Jackson Board of Aldermen’s study session Monday night.

“It’s time to be proactive and have Homecomers if everything’s going to be ‘normal’ this year,” Koehler said. The festival — which will feature carnival rides, food tents, beer gardens and daily entertainment, is scheduled for July 27 to 31 along several blocks of High, Court, Barton and West Main streets.

“Our feeling is that people are going to be hungry to get out and do something,” Koehler said as he spoke on behalf of the American Legion’s special event permit application for Jackson’s 113th Homecomers celebration.

The American Legion has been the event’s presenting sponsor since the late 1930s and is the organization’s biggest fundraiser. Last year’s Homecomers, scheduled for late July, was canceled because of social distancing guidelines and health concerns discouraging, and in many cases prohibiting, large gatherings.

Koehler said it’s still possible the event could be canceled if the number of coronavirus cases were to significantly increase in the coming months, but for now, he said it appears the worst of the pandemic could be over by July.

Jackson utility costs

In addition to the Homecomers presentation, the aldermen heard from representatives of MPUA, the Missouri Public Utility Alliance, who discussed the impact of last month’s polar vortex that swept through the Midwest. MPUA represents approximately 35 municipal utilities in Missouri, including Jackson’s electric utility service.

Ewell Lawson, MPUA’s chief operating officer, said the mid-February snowstorm shut down power production in multiple states and boosted energy costs as utility companies tried to keep up with demand.

“We’ve never seen anything like it,” Lawson said. “I would say this was like a 500-year flood scenario.”

The storm resulted in an additional $1.5 million expense to Jackson to help cover the increased cost of power during the storm.

“We’ve got a bill for a million and a half dollars that we’re going to have to pay,” Jackson city administrator Jim Roach said.

The consensus of the aldermen was the additional cost could be paid out of Jackson’s utility reserve fund, possibly over the next 10 to 12 months.

Other matters discussed by the aldermen during Monday night’s study session included:

• An update on a bridge design to replace the Hubble Ford low-water crossing in Jackson City Park.
• A status report on Big River Communication’s fiber optic installation project in Jackson, part of a regional, $125 million fiber optic upgrade project over the next three to five years.
• A review of parking and sidewalk options along Court Street west of the old county courthouse designed to keep vehicles from jumping the curb and striking City Hall and several businesses along Court Street, which has happened at least twice in the last 12 months.
• And an update on the city’s wastewater facility improvement project, which city officials expect to extend over the next decade.

Earlier in the evening, during the board’s regular business meeting, the aldermen:

• Authorized a $30,000 contribution to the Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce to help fund a market analysis and retail recruitment project focused on commercial areas near exits 99 and 102 along Interstate 55.
• Approved a task order authorizations totaling $91,030 payable to Allen & Hoshall of Memphis, Tennessee, related to engineering services for the second phase of Jackson’s industrial substation circuit protective relay upgrade project and the inspection of certain 34.5 kilovolt electric transmission poles in the city.
• Approved the appointment of Mike Berti as an alternate member of Jackson’s Zoning Board of Adjustment.

Public hearings

The aldermen also scheduled a pair of public hearings during their next regular meeting, set for 6 p.m. April 5.

The first hearing will give the public an opportunity to comment on a proposal for a special-use permit for a community unit plan that would allow multiple attached single-family dwelling buildings on a single lot in a C-2 commercially-zoned district, located on a 6.41-acre tract on Old Toll Road, as proposed by The Villas of West Park LLC.

The second hearing will be on the proposed rezoning of a 3.93-acre tract on the west side of South Old Orchard Road from R-2 (single-family residential) to R-3 (one- and two-family residential) as submitted by Mastercraft Development LLC.

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