By Emily Bontrager
On October 3, a public hearing was held to outline the county’s NEMO Port Authority Application. The Clark County Commissioners were officially informed last week via an email from MoDot that the NEMO Port Authority has been granted.
The commissioners are planning on setting up a website to help keep the public informed on what is happening with the NEMO Port and its future development.
It will be a way for potential customers to contact us directly, so we are pretty excited about that,” Eastern District Commissioner Henry Dienst said.
Currently, the website is not up and running, but the plans are to have it running soon.
The next step the commissioners will be taking now that the port authority was granted, is setting up a plan for the NEMO Port.
“That plan is going to have to include professional engineering and layout, and that sort of thing. We will probably be hiring a professional engineer for that at one of our next meetings. In fact, we are going to invite Klinger and Associates and they are big in river and port work. That is just one group, there are probably several. So, we will have meetings with those folks and kind of get a preliminary plan,” Dienst said.
Another big step in the port development will be applying for several federal and state grants at the beginning of the year.
“That will probably be one of the most intensive parts of it is to get some money to work with,” Dienst said.
“Most of the grants are a cost/share type, so we will be working on funding as well as design and development. Then finally, the construction of it.”
The NEMO Port will take time to progress, but the commissioners are positive about its development and moving forward with the project.
“It has taken several years to get to where it is at now and how fast it will move from this point forward will depend on the economy and the federal government,” Dienst said.
“It is going to be a big deal for Clark County.”
