The Fayette city council cannot seem to come together to support an upcoming sidewalk replacement program planned by Central Methodist University alongside campus on Church Street. The latest heated discussion came during the board’s most recent regular meeting on Tuesday, July 9.

The university won a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant through the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) worth $438,000 in federal funds. CMU will contribute $110,000, which has already been raised in gifts to the university. The total project will cost a maximum of $548,000. 

The project will be completed at zero cost to the city. The scope does not include the block in front of the First Christian Church between Spring and Elm streets.

At its most recent meeting on Tuesday, July 9, Mayor Greg Stidham outlined the details of CMU’s plan to replace the current cracked concrete walkway on the west border of campus between College and Spring streets with a new eight-foot wide, ADA-compliant sidewalk. East Ward Alderwoman Ronda Gerlt called those details “hearsay” and demanded university officials come before the council. Her motion to the table the matter was given unanimous approval by the remaining five alderwomen.

“I would like to invite the representatives from CMU and their engineers to give us a proper presentation of the scope of work they’re wanting to do,” Alderwoman Gerlt stated.

Mayor Stidham explained to the council that he had met with Central officials, including President Roger Drake, four times, and has a firm grasp of the details, which he shared with the council.

“The information I gave to you wasn’t overheard,” the mayor said. “You’re just saying I wasted all my time over the last two months.”

Fellow East Ward Alderwoman Stephanie Ford also suggested CMU send a representative to the council to explain the proposal, as did Southwest Ward Alderwoman Marsha Broadus.

“We need a representative. They came when the come with their high horse before,” Broadus said.

Mayor Stidham said he would invite CMU to a meeting “if there’s not going to be any more ‘high horse’ talk.”

Gerlt said she does not expect any visit from CMU officials to become confrontational but does want to hear directly from them and wants to see an engineer’s rendering of the project.

The sidewalk project is part of the university’s larger overall plan that hopes to one day improve parking along Church Street beside campus. Since cars began parking on the east side of the street many decades ago, tires have created a large rut in the grassy area between the curb and the sidewalk. Before that, it was horses and carriages that parked there. 

Once the new sidewalk is completed, the university wants to move the curb over five feet to better allow for dedicated parking. It would mean cars parked alongside the street would interfere less with traffic, especially when drivers enter and exit their vehicles.

“I believe this is a safety issue, not a parking issue,” Stidham said.

There is no date for when the parking project would begin. It is part of an overall campus improvement plan and would need the sidewalk to be completed in advance.

Julee Sherman, CMU CFO and Vice-President for Finance and Administration, told this newspaper that the university hasn’t had any design work done on the street parking project. It has had only a preliminary discussion and plan concept. “No costs or timeframe are determined yet, either,” she said.

But improving parking means cutting down several trees along the street. And that is the heart of the dissension. The city council even considered banning all parking in front of the CMU campus, except for Sunday church services, if the trees were to be cut down. The idea was considered grossly retaliatory and wrought considerable backlash among not only university officials but many Fayette citizens as well.

Gerlt has been a vocal critic of the project because she likes the trees.

“What’s happening to my trees,” she asked during a brief discussion of the matter during the council’s July 1 special budget meeting.

She initially addressed the council about her opposition to cutting down the trees on June 27, 2023, shortly before then-Mayor Jeremy Dawson appointed her to the vacant East Ward seat.

All but four of the trees along that stretch of Church Street will need to be taken down regardless of any proposed construction. Some of them are dead. Others are dying from the emerald ash borer. And still, others are caught up within electric lines. The other four would be removed to make way for the parking project.

Central pledged to plant additional trees on its already wooded campus to compensate for the lost trees. Additionally, other mature trees on the campus side of the sidewalk will be allowed to grow out over the sidewalk. Right now, they are impeded from doing so by the current trees.

Sherman said Central will advertise for bids in early 2025 for the sidewalk project, which must be completed by Oct. 1, 2025. OWN Engineering of Fayette is completing the design plans.

It had not been confirmed as of press time Tuesday morning whether a representative for the university would be on hand to speak with the council at its next meeting scheduled for Tuesday, July 23.

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.