The Jasper County Courthouse clock tower may soon be sporting a new addition, but if it’s done right, no one will see it.
Western District County Commissioner Darieus Adams said the county was finalizing an agreement with Verizon Wireless to install a cellular antenna in the louvers just below the clocks on the Jasper County Courthouse clock tower.
Adams said the company will install new louvers in the tower that will hide the antennal assembly and maintain the clock tower’s historic integrity.
The company will also use a former law library in the courthouse as space for machinery associated with the antennas.
Adams said the county is still negotiating the details, including how much money the county will receive to let the phone company lease the space.
In other business, Gerry “Ringo” Meyer, Shawnee, Kan., spoke with the commissioners about the county buying advertising space and getting involved in a travelogue his company was putting together about Route 66.
He described “Keeping You on the Mother Road” as a 300-page travelogue that was the first of its kind to detail the entire route from Chicago to Los Angeles.
He said it would have chapters about the different states, maps, stories about Route 66 icons and the people who live on the route and advertising by businesses on or near the route.
The commissioners said they would get back to him regarding whether the county could participate.
Eastern District Commissioner Jim Honey said two more culverts had been finished, one on Apple Road west of Missouri 59 and one on Maple Road east of Waco and west of Missouri Highway 43.
Honey said the culvert on Indigo Road east of Avilla is complete except for paving. The rainy weather had slowed work on it.
Roads still under construction were Jackpine Road west of Civil War Road and Osage Road.
Honey said those projects were paid for from the 2008-2009 county road budget.
“We still haven’t bid ‘09 projects yet, we’re still working with utility companies on those,” Honey said. “With all of the storms we can’t seem to get utility companies to help us on working on projects. I don’t know if we’ll spend the money this year or not.”
