At a unique March 7 meeting in Hollister City Hall, local stake holders and representatives of the governments of Branson, Hollister, and Taney Country were told by the areas state legislators that they had been told by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) that the downtown Lake Taneycomo Bridge between Branson and Hollister would not be closed. The meeting was unique in the fact that it was a local meeting attended by virtually all of the state legislators representing the area, Senator Jack Goodman, and Representatives Dennis Wood, Maynard Wallace, and Ray Weter to address a specific problem.
The meeting was the result of the action initiated at the Feb. 21 Partners In Progress meeting after MoDOT had informed the group that it did not believe that the Cost Share Funding that had been the basis of the planning up to that point would be available. As a result of MoDOT’s action, those at that meeting decided that the Cost Share Application should be submitted formally to MoDOT so that its rejection could serve as the basis for further action, including but not limited to getting local legislators involved. In addition, the group wanted to try to set up a local meeting with the area’s state legislators to enlist their help. Western District Taney County Commissioner, Ron Herschend, volunteered to coordinate the setting up of the meeting.
After a brief introduction by Herschend, Rick Ziegenfuss, Hollister City Administrator, gave an overview of the process that had led to the meeting culminating with MoDOT’s action regarding the unlikelyhood of getting Cost Sharing Funds for the project. After the presentation by Ziegenfuss, Representative Wood commended the group for the leadership they had given the project and for the high esteem in which they are held by MoDOT.
He then informed the group that he, and the other state legislators present had had a meeting with MoDOT on March 3 in his office. While cautioning those present that he was not speaking for MoDOT he said, at that meeting, attended by Keith, Chief Engineer for MoDOT, they had been told by MoDOT leadership that the “bridge closing is not an option” and that “something else will be done.” The other three legislators present agreed with Wood as to his interpretation of what happened at the meeting.
Although the clear impression that the “something else” would involve a new bridge no specific details were available. The legislators present believed that some of the details would be discussed during a MoDOT meeting in Jefferson City during the week of March 10.
