Walker has new mayor

Nevada Daily Mail

During the Walker Board of Aldermen meeting on Monday Phillip Martin was sworn in as the mayor. Norman Radde and Pamela Scholes joined the board as newly elected aldermen, and Radde was elected president of the board.

The aldermen approved resolutions allowing the mayor and clerk to sign checks and have access to the safe deposit box for the town.

Martin told the aldermen he planned on having a budget for the board to review at the next meeting.

"If you accept the budget, we will follow it," he said.

Martin told the board there are several things needing repairs including broken lights, the net on the tennis court, street signs, as well as the community center's windows and doors needing paint.

"I'd like for each of you to come up with a to-do list of improvements to the town," he told the aldermen. "I'll work with the guys to see what we can do. Cities are just like anything else, if you don't do upkeep on a daily basis, something deteriorates."

Alderman Radde said he talked to the Missouri Department of Transportation and he will drive them through town and point out defects in the drainage because of their lack of maintenance.

"I'm going to show them everything that needs to be taken care of so we can get better drainage," he said. "We've got a lot of culverts that need replacing and a lot of ditches that need to be flushed."

Martin said he worked out a deal to use the fire department's tankers to flush the ditches.

In other business, he asked clerk Linda Longstreth about becoming a notary and city employee William Jeffery about the price of adding softener to the water system.

"We are no longer required to have softener," Jeffery said. "It would take a total rebuild to add it. DNR told us that costs $30,000 to $40,000. The reason we used to have softener was for radionuclides. We no longer have radionuclides. DNR says sometimes it works its way out of the system. We had to remove the softener, because it'll stagnate if we don't need it."

Martin also asked for estimates to repair a leaking fire hydrant and a cordless saw.

Alderman Lois McGraw said the Walker Easter breakfast served 58 people and made $235 for next years' Easter fund.