A Steelville couple celebrated their centennial birthdays together this month. Both Robert and Olga Earney share December as their birth month, and both turned 100 years old within a week of one another this year.
City council members of Steelville met twice in November to conduct business for the city as follows.
November 5
• The council approved an amendment to the mobile home ordinance in place for the city. Following a question from property owner Tom Weisel, a change allowing either a 30- by 100-foot lot or a 40- by 80-foot lot per home in a mobile home community, was approved with the amended ordinance. All three aldermen present (Terry Beckham, Bill Bennett, and Sharon Hubbard) voted in favor of the update. Alderwoman Amanda Sherrill was absent.
Local timber harvesters with Larry Adams Logging were awarded the St. Louis Regional Logger of the Year award for 2018. This is the second time in three years that this crew has won the award. The local business has been logging in the area for 43 years.
Steelville City Council members have agreed to do further research into options for building a new facility to house unwanted dogs in the city. Although funding has always been cited as the reason why improvements haven’t been made in the past, a fundraising offer from a local rescue organization to assist with that problem has council members reconsidering the issue.
It could cost an estimated $5.75 million to renovate the Steelville School District’s old middle school building, originally constructed in 1938. That figure was presented by engineer Jack Mentink at the school board meeting held on Monday, November 19, during a report he gave on his evaluation of the old structure. On the flip side, the cost to demolish the old building could be between $300,000 and $500,000.