Sheriff's presence boosted in Russellville

The Cole County Commission has approved efforts to increase the Cole County Sheriff Department's presence in Russellville.

At a Tuesday meeting, commissioners signed a contract for the sheriff's department to enforce certain Russellville ordinances for traffic and animal control.

Sheriff John Wheeler said he would provide the full list to the commission in the next few days, but said the department could start enforcing state ordinance violations immediately. The municipal ordinance he's been told the city would like to address immediately involves keeping tractor-trailers from parking in Russellville's downtown area, he added.

Russellville Alderman Tina Amick said residents' concern for their community's safety has been growing. Thefts, homelessness and traffic issues are at the top of their list.

The city abandoned its own police department many years ago.

The sheriff's department includes the municipality - with a population of 807 - as part of its countywide patrol.

In 2016, the sheriff's office answered 372 calls for service in Russellville, just under 2 percent of its countywide call volume.

Wheeler said call types range from animal abuse to vehicle complaints, but the department cannot enforce municipal codes without a signed contract with the municipality regarding specific ordinances.

The contract calls for Russellville to pay the county up to 520 hours of overtime per year for deputies to render services.

Also Tuesday, commissioners approved engineering work to begin on a curb and gutter project on Rainbow Drive.

County Engineer Eric Landwehr said the small project will add curb and gutter on the south side of Rainbow Drive from the end of the county's Pioneer Trail sidewalk project completed a few years ago to past Paradigm Drive.

"A developer has been working on building a subdivision in the area, and his next phase is along Rainbow," Landwehr said. "The project is a cooperative between the county and developer in which the developer will pay for the curb and gutter along the road, and the county will do a small pavement widening and overlay to match. It's a benefit to both parties and will save some costs in the future if and when we upgrade the rest of Rainbow to curb and gutter."

The engineering contract is with Central Missouri Professional Services for $14,495, and the construction cost currently is unknown.

"There are several different pieces to the construction that could affect the final cost, and that will be fleshed out through the design process," Landwehr said. "I'd rather not speculate right now, but I'd be surprised if it was in excess of $100,000 for everything. The asphalt work will be included in our annual asphalt overlay and we were planning to overlay Rainbow this year anyway, so some of the cost we were going to incur regardless."

Landwehr said design work should start immediately. The developer wants to start soon next year, so he expects work to start in spring and be finished by summer.