Warrenton city leaders took time at their regular gathering Feb. 18 to reflect on major milestones reached by the city this year. Many have future implications for the city and its residents.

City Administrator Terri Thorn said major accomplishments included sidewalk infrastructure projects and work being done within several city departments.

“We obtained MoDOT approval for the engineering plans for the sidewalks along North Highway 47, which is a much needed safety issue,” Thorn said. “At the very end of the year we initiated right of way acquisition efforts. It’s planned to take about a year to get all the right of way taken care of and acquired.”

“The soooner we get the acquisition piece taken care of, the sooner the actual contstruction can start,” Thorn added.

A more immediate and noticeable sidewalk improvement is on Main Street, where a section of elevated sidewalk was replaced to be handicap accessible. Thorn said she received comments about a person in a wheelchair who was able to visit one of the downtown restaurants because of the new sidewalk.

Thorn highlighted several notable developments within city staff, including taking direct control of the city aquatic center that opened in 2018.

“I think we’ve already started to see the benefits of that to the residents of our community, and them being able to see improvements in what they want to see in that aquatics center,” Thorn commented.

Lisa Kramer, who took over as the city’s aquatics director in October, said the new pool’s first full year in operation saw positive growth in attendance.

“We’ve had over 30,000 attendees this year visit the pool. We have sold almost 600 passes and we had 1,865 guests attend 103 parties throughout the year,” Kramer said. 

Ward 1 Alderman Cheryl Dyer commented that she is pleased with the number of seniors who have purchased aquatic center memberships.

“I think it shows that a lot more people are using it than just kids,” Dyer said.

Another department making strides are the city’s police officers. Thorn said the Warrenton Police Department has completed 97 percent of the work to become certified by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). The multi-year effort has involved significant policy work and officer training to ensure Warrenton police are working at the highest standards of their profession.

“We look forward this year to actually moving forward with having some of the inspections and reviews,” for accreditation, Thorn said.

The city’s animal control officers, a subset of the police department, received their own praise for recording their highest ever success rate for placing animals in long-term homes.

Other accomplishments highlighted by the city for 2019:

• Warrenton implemented requirements for home inspections any time a new resident moves into a property. The inspections are intended to ensure safe conditions for residents, especially renters. Thorn said there have been few issues thus far which have been difficult to resolve.

• The board of aldermen approved zoning ordinances for where medical marijuana-related businesses can be located. One dispensary has since been approved by the state for a location on Highway 47 south of Interstate 70.

• Seventeen new businesses opened in 2019 within the Warrenton city limits, providing 49 new jobs.