Central Methodist President Roger Drake appeared before the Fayette city council last week to discuss the university’s plan to construct a new eight-foot wide, ADA-compliant sidewalk along the western boundary of campus along Church Street.

The project has met with a divided city council that can’t seem to come together to support the project, which will benefit the community at no cost to city taxpayers.

The university is the recipient of a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant through the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) that will pay for 80% of the project. Central will pay the remaining 20% of the total $548,000 cost.

Yet, for weeks the city council has been unable to simply vote to support the project, mainly to the credit of East Ward Alderwoman Ronda Gerlt. During a previous meeting on July 9, Mayor Greg Stidham tried to bring the council together to at least put the matter to a vote. But Mrs. Gerlt demanded the matter be tabled until a representative from the university came before the council with an engineer’s rendering.

Dr. Drake had last discussed the matter with the council on June 27, 2023, during a time when the alderwomen were considering a parking ban along Church Street in retaliation to the university’s plan to cut down some trees to make way for a later project to address parallel parking issues along Church Street. While the action was essentially quashed amid uproar from most of the Fayette community, it briefly arose again on Tuesday.

“It simply wouldn’t work,” said Dr. Drake regarding a parking ban along Church Street. “And those aren’t students that park in those places. If you drove by there today, those parking places were full. And there’s not a lot of students on campus. Those are faculty, staff, many people who have limited access. We need those parking places there. It would be a major sacrifice for us if we were without the parking on Church Street.”

However, addressing the parking alongside Church Street is part of a larger campuswide plan. The matter at hand is the simple approval of a project to improve several blocks of cracked public sidewalk.

President Drake essentially reiterated the exact information about the project in his appearance last week, which he had told the council a year ago. And it was the same information that Mayor Stidham presented to the council last month that Mrs. Gerlt called “hearsay.”

Mrs. Gerlt, who was appointed by the council on July 11, 2023, by former Mayor Jeremy Dawson, later ran without opposition during the most recent municipal election in April to hold on to the seat through the end of the term. She has been a zealous opponent of both the sidewalk project and the potential parking project along Church Street.

Her initial gripe was the plan to cut down trees that grow along a grass strip between the street and the sidewalk. Most of those trees will need to be removed regardless of any proposed improvements to the area, either because they are dead or dying from the invasive Emerald Ash Borer or because they are growing through the overhead power lines. The university has also pledged to plant at least as many new trees as it will cut down.

She later said that she doesn’t like parallel parking because a three-year-old relative was run over and killed by a car “because of parallel parking.”

City lineman Sonny Conrow told the council that at least one of the trees must be removed because it interferes with overhead electrical lines. 

City Marshal David Ford spoke in favor of the parking project with regard to public safety.

Well-known Fayette citizen Tim Jackman, also a member of the CMU Board of Trustees, spoke in support of both projects. He said that when the board is in session, it often discusses the beatification of campus borders.

“We’re a private institution here, and hopefully, we all feel fortunate to have Central Methodist in this community. But I can tell you that there are a lot of private schools, in particular, that are shutting their doors. And you don’t look very far. There are some that are in this state that are being threatened. And so, I think we need to really take note of that. Having an attractive campus, the first thing they see when they come into town is the borders. We’re competing like all other schools trying to get students here. And students are customers to Central Methodist, but they’re consumers to this community. They buy a lot from this community. I think sometimes we don’t think about that. I would only ask you to give this serious consideration because it definitely means a lot to Central Methodist. It means just as much if not more for this community as well.”

Deanna Cooper, President of Downtown Fayette (formerly Fayette Main Street) and a former CMU employee, also spoke in favor of improving parking along Church Street in front of the college. She stressed the need for better parallel parking there for the sake of people with disabilities.

“If you ever walk from the softball fields up to the top of the hill, that’s a hike,” she said.

Once again, the council did not vote on the matter of supporting the sidewalk project. The issue will undoubtedly come up again at the next council meeting. 

Central plans to submit bids to begin construction of the sidewalk early next year. The grant stipulates that the project must be completed by October 1 of 2025.

In other business, the council tabled four of the major items on its agenda, including ordinances amending the city code with regard to historic buildings, a committee appointment, a change to an ordinance regarding dog licenses, and a bill to amend the city’s trash service fee.

Council members did agree to purchase cameras for the Fayette City Pool and splash pad to combat recent vandalism. They also gave unanimous consent for three new business licenses and waived excess sewer charges for two residents.

The board also received a report from Angie Malone, with whom the city has contracted as a building inspector. “We’re getting some properties cleaned up,” she said.

Chief Ford reported that the police department received a grant from the local Barker Fund to purchase a new mobile radar unit for $2,571.31. He also explained that the narcotics incinerator, which the council had previously approved to purchase, would cost more than expected. The county commission agreed to pay for part of it, but the City of Glasgow turned him down. Now instead of splitting the cost three ways, Fayette and the council will have to pay $3,500 each. The matter will be added to the next agenda.

The Fayette Board of Aldermen meets regularly at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month in City Hall. Meetings are open, agendas are published in advance, and the public is invited.