Signs of progress seen in routine business 

Poplar Bluff City Council members heard a request Monday from Spire Gas to place a cathodic protection well at Roxie Road and Shelby Drive.
I know that doesn’t sound that exciting, right?
Most of us have no idea what a cathodic protection well is. I know I didn’t until Reggie Flowers, a manager with Spire, explained.
But it wasn’t the ‘what’ that got my attention so much as the ‘why.’ A lot of the meetings I’ve attended over the years have been like that, whether it be a council meeting, school board or sewer district.
Their day-to-day business can seem pretty routine and even boring at times, but it all adds up to a bigger picture that is important for all of us.
In this case, Spire is adding infrastructure to the Shelby Road area in anticipation of future development.
What that says to me is that this company sees enough positive signs about Poplar Bluff’s future growth to spend what I assume will be thousands on preparing their service system to support it.
“We are looking to further expand our gas services along Shelby Road with the existing improvements that have now taken place now that you all have got Shelby Road moved through,” Flowers said.
There certainly is a lot of traffic on Shelby since it opened and we’re already seeing signs of new construction.
It will be interesting to see what the next five and 10 years bring for that part of town, and all of our up-and-coming growth.
When we see improvements in one section of Poplar Bluff, it benefits all of us, just as when one section of town suffers, it impacts us all.
And for those of you who are interested in cathodic protection wells, this will be a 300-foot well designed to help prevent corrosion in steel mains. It uses a completed electronic circuit to protect the main from corrosion building up using a small DC voltage.
Corrosion is the main factor that is harmful to steel mains, Flowers explained.
The city council also took up a renewal agreement with Spire during their Monday meeting.
Again, that doesn’t sound that exciting. Except it is.
The agreement, which expires in October, allows Spire to place gas lines in exchange for paying a franchise tax to the city. This generates about $200,000 in revenue for the city each year. Combined with taxes collected from other utilities, including phone, cable and electric, franchise fees make up more than $2.5 million in city revenues.
Routine business like this is what keeps the city moving and I’m looking forward to seeing more signs of growth and development like this.
Donna Farley is editor of the Daily American Republic and can be reached at dfarley.dar@gmail.com.