Resident Travis Raymo addressed his concerns on July 6 about fixing the speeding issue on West Keysville Street with the Steelville Board of Aldermen.

He asked about the city adding speed bumps to the road to slow drivers. Police Chief Mike Sherman said that he has talked with Public Works Supervisor Jason Evans about that. Evans had some concerns with them. As an alternative to speed bumps, Sherman said that he has been looking at electric speed limit signs.

“I have been pricing those speed limit signs that light up and tell you how fast you’re going up and down through there, so…hopefully that’s a deterrent,” Sherman said.

To purchase the signs through MoDOT, Sherman claimed that it would cost $12,000-$15,000, but if the city could purchase them itself, it would be at a fraction of the cost. This raised an issue of whether the city, if it purchased the signs, would be allowed to place them on the road. Sherman is waiting for an answer from the MoDOT area supervisor.

“So I’ll try again to see if I can get through to him because I want to get those up as soon as possible,” Sherman said. “I’ve got my guys that are documenting every time they go up to Keysville, though they can’t sit there 24/7.”

Mayor Duane DeRennaux recommended using speed bumps.

“I don’t know if we can do it here. They’re about eight feet long, and they’re a slow incline and a decline,” DeRennaux said.

Evans said that Euclid Street actually has speed humps, not speed bumps. He added that a major flaw with them is that people would intentionally drive through someone’s yard to avoid them.

Sherman claimed that most of the traffic problems in Steelville come from the locals.

“I’ve complained about it before, and I know that Travis (Raymo) will probably agree with this, but if our parents around here would tell their kids to respect the authority a little bit, and the speed limits, we wouldn’t have so many issues with it,” Sherman said. “They’re making too many defenses for them, as opposed to actually getting on to them.”

Bennett suggested putting a couple of speed humps on the road for a trial period to see if it helps negate the issue.

Raymo suggested that the police department hand out more tickets, and people might slow down because they would tire of paying them.

The board decided to do a trial run of some speed humps being placed on Keysville Street.

In other business, City Clerk Jamey Griffith reported that there were 32 shutoffs for June, with two still unpaid, and zero final bills.