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May 14, 2010 For more information, contact: Osage County Presiding Commissioner Elected Chairperson of MRPC ST. JAMES—Osage County Presiding Commissioner Russell Scheulen was elected chairperson of the Meramec Regional Planning Commission during its May meeting. Scheulen, who formerly served as vice chairman, replaces Laura Antolak of Rolla, who had served two terms as chair, the most allowed by MRPC bylaws. Other officers elected during the May 13 regular meeting were:
The board also approved the appointment of Nick French, human resource manager of Purcell Tire, Potosi, to serve a three-year term as the at-large representative for labor. The position was vacant after the resignation of Peter Herrington of Sullivan. French was nominated by Leo Dickey of Belgrade, at-large commissioner for farming. The board also re-appointed three at-large commissioners to three-year terms. Reappointed were Earl Brown, representing people with disabilities; Marcus Maggard, representing tourism; and Franky Todd, representing seniors. In other business, Dr. Joan B. Schuman, a professor at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, provided information on her engineering management class where graduate students help develop actual projects in local communities. “The best way to learn project management is to do it,” Schuman told the MRPC board. Schuman is following the lead of Dr. Karl Burgher, who started the practice of having student to work on actual community projects as a part of their management class at Missouri S & T. “S & T students get a chance to work on real projects, and communities get some preliminary work plans,” Schuman noted. Several Meramec communities have taken advantage of the student labor and expertise. “MRPC’s staff uses the reports to look for funding for the projects,” explained Richard Cavender, MRPC’s executive director, who worked in the past with Dr. Burgher to develop the process and locate interested communities. Potosi Mayor T.R. Dudley shared that one project that S& T students worked on in Potosi resulted in a successful tax credit application that lead to in the donation of a building for the local Sheltered Workshop. Dr. Schuman encouraged communities who were interested in working with the fall engineering management class to contact either MRPC or herself. In other business, the board:
Formed in 1969, MRPC is a voluntary council of governments serving Crawford, Dent, Gasconade, Maries, Osage, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington counties and their respective cities. A professional staff of 31, directed by the MRPC board, offers technical assistance and services, such as grant preparation and administration, housing assistance, transportation planning, environmental planning, ordinance codification, business loans and other services to member communities. The MRPC board will meet at 7:30 p.m. on June 12 at its office at 4 Industrial Drive in St. James. The board does not meet in July. All meetings are open to the public.
Newly elected MRPC Chairman Russell Scheulen of Osage County, left, presents an engraved gavel to outgoing Chairman Laura Antolak, who served two years as MRPC chairman, the maximum allowed under MRPC’s bylaws. Scheulen, who served two terms as vice chairman, will assume the chairmanship at the June meeting. |
