City Engineer Terris Cates updated the Steelville Board of Aldermen on July 6 about funding and proposed projects.

Cates said that the Spring Street bridge at Hoppe Spring Park will be made into a pedestrian bridge. The city can apply for an $8,000-$9,000 grant with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to allocate toward the project.

“We’ll work with (MoDOT) to do the evaluation on the bridge to convert it to a pedestrian bridge,” Cates said.

Alderman Ward 2 Jason Ward was concerned because he believed, from previous discussions, that the bridge was going to be repaired for automobile traffic.

Cates clarified that the bridge would be both a driving and pedestrian bridge. It will be made a little wider to allow for pedestrians, which will make the project eligible for a grant.

Regarding the Yadkin Creek Trail bridge, Cates suggested the city pay for a hydraulic analysis since the bridge is “more like a dam.”

“We need to do a profile of all kinds of cross sections. We need to figure how high that bridge needs to be,” Cates said. “We’ve got to get it high enough so it’s not impeding the flood waters at all, and so with that, we’re looking to do all the survey that’s required, do all the hydraulic modeling, and so forth. We’re looking around somewhere $25,000 to do that.”

He said that to do the bridge design and bidding after the hydraulic modeling would be much cheaper.

During discussion of the Steelville Community Park and Recreation Area, Cates said that they are planning for two lanes to be added to the track around the soccer field, for a total of eight lanes with a rubberized surface. The project will possibly have room left over for bleachers. They are looking to convert the tennis courts into pickleball courts, add parking, redo the restrooms, purchase some new recreational equipment for kids, build a 40-foot-by-40-foot concession stand and add lighting around the circular drive and parking lots.

The proposed improvements are estimated to cost between $1.7 and $1.9 million. The city is researching a fifty-fifty match grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which means they would have to match at least 50 percent of whatever funds they may receive.

Part of the additional parking proposal was to eliminate the softball field and use that land. Both Bennett and DeRennaux said that the park needs both fields.

“We may have extra land for parking, which we can work on that with you in the future,” DeRennaux said. “We do need two fields because right now we have an understanding with the school system, and they need softball for women and then baseball for the men.”

Cates will keep working to adjust the proposed plans for the park.

Public Works Supervisor Jason Evans updated the board on recent public works activities.

In preparation for Freedom Fest at the Steelville Community Park and Recreation Area, public works powerwashed and stained all the pavilions, replaced roofs, added small renovations to the bathrooms and powerwashed, painted and stained the walk bridge.

Evans announced that pool renovations are complete, and that he spoke with Treasurer Regina Slovensky about the utility department’s budget.

“The budget does include a lease purchase payment on a new 70-foot bucket truck,” Evans said. “Our old one failed its last test a couple months back, and it is going to be auctioned in two weeks, so we’re without one.”

Market value of the bucket truck is about $321,000, with an annual payment of $83,000. It is a brand new bucket truck with an eight-year warranty.

“We budgeted a couple implements for our mini excavator, a forestry mulcher and just a standard flail mower,” Evans said. “This will be taken from all departments because we honestly use it in all departments.”