The Cole County Commission decided Wednesday to continue to contract with the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce for economic development services.
The commission reached the decision after more than an hour in closed session.
"We'll bring it up in the future to move forward," Presiding Commissioner Marc Ellinger said. "We'll have to deal with the issue in open session to vote on approving the contract."
Ellinger said he didn't anticipate the contract would be for any less than the $150,000 they had contracted for last year with the chamber.
Ellinger did not say what specifically was discussed, but seemed optimistic about the future with the chamber saying, "We had a good discussion and I think we will be able to do more outside of Jefferson City."
Last week, commission members questioned the economic development success of the chamber and whether it provides any economic development services outside of Jefferson City limits.
Chamber Board President Bob Gilbert said he was surprised by some of the comments from the commission last week, but feels better communication will help alleviate those concerns.
"We talked about today how we've been reaching out to Wardsville on how we can help their community grow and if we keep the commission better informed about our efforts I think that will help," he said.
In other commission business, the commission gave its approval for improvements at the intersection of Lafayette and Dunklin streets as part of a cooperative project with Jefferson City.
JC Industries was awarded the work with a bid of $1,087,707. Of that, $788,082 is for street and signal work and will be split between the county and city's half-cent sales taxes. The remaining $299,624 is for sewer improvement work that will be done in the area and paid by the city.
The Jefferson City Council is expected to approve the contract at its meeting next week. If that happens, the intersection could be shut down around June 2 and hopefully be done by Aug. 15 in time for classes starting again at Lincoln University.
Also at Wednesday's commission meeting, commissioners approved the asphalt overlay program for roads in the county this year.
Jefferson Asphalt had the lone bid at $1,165,588.
The roads that will be upgraded from gravel to asphalt this year are Millbrook Road, with work scheduled to start July 1, and Moreau Ridge Road, with work to start Sept. 1.
The roads to be overlayed starting July 1 include Shamrock Road, Tyrone Drive, Anthony Lane, Anthony Court, Profits Creek Road and Upper Bottom Road.
Those roads to be overlayed starting Aug. 1 include Westview Drive, Westview Court and Highview Court.
Asphalt overlay work will also take place in St. Thomas starting July 1 and in Lohman starting Aug. 1.