Chat about how the new St. Mary's Health Center will impact Jefferson City's Fourth Ward dominated the discussion at a town hall meeting Saturday.
About 12 Fourth Ward residents came to listen to city leaders at the event, hosted by Fourth Ward Council members Carlos Graham and Glen Costales. Although they posed a few questions, none seemed deeply perturbed about any particular issue related to city governance.
Janette Scott wanted to know if Rolling Hills Drive was going to become a new artery once the hospital is operating in November.
"Will it be a route to St. Marys?" she asked. "I'm concerned how traffic is going to change in that area."
Graham and Costales both tried to allay Scott's concerns, saying there will likely be some increase in traffic, but nothing of a large magnitude.
Graham said it's quicker for most drivers to take Missouri 179 and Costales said EMS personnel plan to use that route, too.
"Rolling Hills won't be the most-used vein to the hospital," Graham added.
Ed Nelson, another Rolling Hills resident, said he felt his street is too narrow in one spot, creating a bottleneck. He also said his neighbors probably will resist the idea of sidewalks on their street.
"I think if you talk about putting sidewalks on Rolling Hills Drive, you'll have a battle," Nelson said.
Others in the audience raised concerns about yards being dug up to accommodate fiber-optic lines to the hospital. They also wanted to know if a new water tower in the Fourth Ward might cause water pressure problems when it comes online.
Jefferson City Police Officer Joseph Matherne said speeding is the No. 1 complaint of many Fourth Ward residents.
"That's the majority of calls we get," he said.
He said residents with concerns are invited to contact him or Officer Chuck Walker; both men serve on the department's Community Action Team. (Matherne's e-mail is [email protected].)
Matherne said crime is low in the Fourth Ward, which has only one building on the city's list of abandoned structures. But he noted a few neighbors are annoyed some buildings aren't being appropriately maintained.
"We have a few bad ones and they are being dealt with," he said. "It's a slow-moving process, but they will eventually be cleaned up."
Matherne also said city police are working to create a new Crisis Intervention Team to cope with people exhibiting signs of mental illness, depression and addiction.
"We have learned over the years that handling mental illness by taking the problem to jail doesn't work," he said.
Instead local leaders want to create a coalition of officers and mental health specialists who could be on-call to respond to a crises. Matherne said he's hopeful the new team will mean busy officers are tied up for shorter periods of time.
"It gives us another tool, but it also frees us up, since we are working a little short-handed right now," he said.
Graham also offered listeners a run-down on what city officials will be working on in the near future. He noted the council is embarking upon creating a new city budget and he noted the city's contract for trash services needs to be reauthorized in the next year.
"We've set a timeline for discussions to take place about trash service," he said.
Graham and Costales hope to meet with constituents again. Those meetings will be 10-11 a.m. on the following dates:
• July 19 at Dunn Bros. Coffee
• Aug. 16 at Panera Bread
• Sept. 20 at Barnes and Noble Bookstore