Following up on their April 21 discussion on food trucks inside Cuba city limits, aldermen on May 5 received an update from Ward 3 Alderman Joyce Hartzell.

She told the board she asked multiple restaurants in Cuba, including Frisco’s, Rich’s Famous Burgers and Riviera Maya, for their opinion on local food trucks.

“There were a few that said that they did think it took a little bit of money away from them, but none of them wanted to complain about the food trucks,” Hartzell said.

Mayor Pitts Lesesne said that he ran an informal poll through his mayoral Facebook page and feels that the main issue they need to address is food trucks in public areas like Hood Park. He wants input from a small, diverse group of entities, including the Cuba Parks and Recreation board commission members, several food truck owners, the Crawford County Youth Football Program and the Cuba Soccer Program, to help determine guidelines for the trucks that would benefit the city and those who would normally use the public spaces.

Laura Wallace, owner of the Cuba Bakery & Deli, was the one who originally brought this discussion to the board, but she didn’t think they properly addressed her concern.

“So when I presented a couple of weeks ago, I was not specifically attacking food trucks,” Wallace said. “So when I handed you the ordinance, it specifically said absent any event…I had no problem with rallies. Those things are perfect because they bring people into the city.”

She adds that food trucks are just adding to the struggle for local businesses. She explained that there isn’t a restaurant problem, but a lack of people in town to support all of them.

Besides the previous Owensville ordinance she mentioned, which prevents food trucks within city limits except for events, she also said that Pacific imposed big restrictions on them.

“I’m not asking for you to eliminate food trucks, I own one,” Wallace said. “I’m asking for some parameters around the problem that we have, which is we don’t have the people in this town to support the number of eateries that we have.”

Alderman Ward 1 Louis Raineri said he works in Owensville, and there are no food trucks there, but they have set up right on the other side of the city limits.

Wallace said that she wants restrictions set, like in Columbia, where, she claimed, food trucks can’t set up within 300 feet of an established restaurant. She also wanted to clarify that she may own a food truck, but she doesn’t take it out anymore except for events.

Alderman Ward 2 Russell Crocker said that there is only so much the board can do.

“As long as they’re on private property, we have no means, really, to control them. It is considered government overreach for us to do that, to control the businesses in this town,” Crocker said.

Todd Honea, owner of the All-American Food Company LLC food truck, added that there is a Missouri House Bill, HB 3157, that, if passed, might make the board readdress any guidelines the city sets now.

“I read it in its entirety. There is a paragraph that says the cities don’t have the right to eliminate food trucks,” Honea said.

No action was taken.

Volunteers sought for rally race

Jim Ealer, of the American Rally Association (ARA) Rally Committee, wanted to discuss finding volunteers to help get the surrounding homeowners’ permission to close down roads in northern Crawford County.

After the success of the 100 Acre Wood Rally and Rally Fest, held in Hood Park, in March, the rally association hopes to expand within the county and create more race stages.

“I think we could have a nice little central stage, actually, in Hood Park,” Ealer said. “If you start off on Fleenor Road, which is right there in front of Jim’s Motors, and you go down the service road and you make that sharp turn, well, there’s a highline cut right through the woods there that people have been four-wheel driving on.”

Then drivers would turn left onto Mapleshade Road and stay on it until they reached McPherson Road and the Hood Park entrance.

Another idea was to make a loop through the industrial park, but they are running out of time for the July 11 Missouri Ozark Rally.

During the Crawford County Commission meeting earlier that morning, Ealer explained to the commissioners that the ARA liked to test out new roads at smaller rallies like the one coming up in July.

“(The commissioners are) concerned about the timeline on July 11,” Ealer said.

If anyone wants to volunteer with getting permission from landowners or knows any roads that may work for stages, Ealer said to contact him at 636-288-1803.