The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

MILAN, MO. -- It was a packed house at the Sullivan County Community Center Monday.

Senator Kit Bond came to town for a discussion on federal support of the East Locust Creek Reservoir Project. The East Locust Creek Reservoir is a natural resource conservation service project with 2,200 acres of water and almost 6,000 acres of land.

Senator Bond says he has been a long-time supporter of the project and hopes that voters of Sullivan County will commit to the project will moving forward.

“About 40 years ago I heard about the needs for this project so all the time I’ve served in Washington I’ve gotten grants; a half-million here and a half-million there to build water lines to take care of the other needs.  We worked with the federal agency: The National Resources Conservation Services to get them to handle 75% and all those things are coming together,” says Bond.

One member on the sales tax steering committee says after visiting with citizens, he could only seem to find one concern shared by many.

“The only concern they have is we have all been working on this for so long….you know…some of them are getting tires and not against the lake, they’re just concerned that it’s not moving forward fast enough,” said Dennis Meseke.

General Manager of North Central Missouri Regional Water Commission Brad Scott said folks do have the right to be concerned about the amount of time that it’s taken to get this project off the ground, but added that now is the time to move forward.  For additional information on the East Locust Creek Reservoir go to: http://ncmrwc.com/reservoir.htm .

Senator Bond says the time has come for citizens throughout Sullivan County to make a financial commitment for the project.  He believes this is a great plan for the area and will eliminate lots of problems, while creating jobs.  He warns against a “no” vote.

“If they decide not to do it, then the water problems will remain.  The local community, the individual voters have to make the choice and that’s up to them.  We’ve done everything we can at the federal level.  The state has come together.  I believe all the elements are there.  We had the presentation.  It’s a lot of things working together, but if the voters decide to go ahead, then it will be a tremendous opportunity,” says Bond.

Senator Bond says if voters are ready to improve the water system it’s now in their hands. The Sullivan County commission has placed a half-cent retail sales tax on the April 6^th ballot.