Carthage has a new taxi service running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Bobbi Schrader-Hagen, Carthage, received approval from the city council Tuesday to begin operating A to B Taxi Service in Carthage.

The council waived a city ordinance requiring the potential operator of a taxi service to come to two council meetings and approved Schrader-Hagen’s request to begin operations immediately.

She told the council she would be operating one car immediately, but would look to add a handicapped-accessible minivan as soon as possible.

Schrader-Hagen said her rates would be higher at night than in the daytime.
From 5 a.m.-5 p.m., she’s charging $3 to take one person anywhere inside the city limits, and $1 for each additional person per trip. Senior citizens are $1.50 per person per trip and children under 12 are free when accompanied by a paying adult.

From 5 p.m.-5 a.m., rates are $4 per person per trip inside the city limits and $1 for each additional person. Senior citizens at night are $2 for the first person per trip and children, again, are free.

Trips outside the city limits are $2 per mile.

Council Member Tom Flanigan said A to B Taxi would fill an open niche in Carthage, especially with people needing to come to or leave McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital.
Currently, the city operates a taxi service through the Carthage Police Department that operates from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. daily.

In other business, the city approved a request from Allen Stinebrook to operate a modified golf cart around the square during the summer to sell Tropical Snow cones.
The council instructed City Attorney Nate Dally to come up with safety criteria and Stinebrook will be allowed to operate as soon as he meets the criteria.

The council approved a $5,800 bid from Southwest Heating to replace the heating and air conditioning system at the Carthage City Jail; a $3,566 bid from Johnson Stump Grinding, Neosho, to grind the stumps left from storm damaged trees; and a contract to pay J and R Disaster Services $24,999 to remove vines, trees and other vegetation from the three bridges on North Garrison Street between Central Street and Kendricktown.

The council also agreed to let the police department accept a grant from the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department for $11,706.17 to buy computers, a server and software to let the department join with the sheriff’s office’s Cornerstone project. Officials hope this project will computerize records from Jasper County and surrounding counties as well as the cities in those counties and place them in one database accessible to all participating departments.