On the Edges

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Nixa|ret||ret||tab|

Bingle named city administrator|ret||ret||tab|

The Nixa Board of Aldermen voted Feb. 14 to hire Brian Bingle as Nixa's city administrator. |ret||ret||tab|

Mayor Jay Wasson said Bingle had served on an interim basis since Mike MacPherson left the position Oct. 22, 1999.|ret||ret||tab|

"He has done a good job and the board thought there was no need to look elsewhere or look outside City Hall. We wanted to keep him in there," Wasson said. Bingle will oversee the planning and zoning functions for the city, as well as handling city administrator duties. |ret||ret||tab|

"He feels confident that he's able to handle both positions for the time being," Wasson said.|ret||ret||tab|

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Chamber seeks Nixpo sponsors|ret||ret||tab|

Companies seeking to gain exposure in the Nixa market are needed as sponsors of the Nixa Area Chamber of Commerce's annual Nixpo business exposition April 8. |ret||ret||tab|

The Saturday event will be held 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in the Nixa High School gym. For $150, sponsors receive advertising benefits, including mention in utility bill inserts, on cable TV ads, on posters, in the Nixpo program and in the chamber newsletter, News and Views. |ret||ret||tab|

Twenty sponsors will be accepted through March 1. For more information, call Larry Perney, executive director, at 725-1545.|ret||ret||tab|

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Public meeting on McCauley Park|ret||ret||tab|

Nixa citizens are invited to give city leaders their ideas for the community building and aquatic center to be built in the new McCauley Park. |ret||ret||tab|

Mayor Jay Wasson said a meeting will be held 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Feb. 26 at City Hall.|ret||ret||tab|

"The architects will be there basically to gather information or ideas from the public. We hope to show the public what ideas we have put together and what should be in them and at the same time we hope to get ideas from the public on what they may want. |ret||ret||tab|

"It's one last chance to see what everybody thinks and how they view these two ideas, a pool and community building," Wasson said.|ret||ret||tab|

After this session, the architects will draw up plans and take them to the public once more. |ret||ret||tab|

Once the designs are finished, cost estimates will also be available, which will be used to make final design decisions, according to Wasson.|ret||ret||tab|

Sapp Design Associates, Architects, PC is working on a master plan for an approximately 36,000-square-foot community building for the park. Larkin Aquatics, a division of the Larkin Group Inc., has been chosen to design the park's aquatic element. |ret||ret||tab|

The project will probably cost $4 million, of which $300,000 in city sales tax revenue has already been earmarked to pay for the project, City Administrator Brian Bingle said.|ret||ret||tab|

The community building will house the city's Parks and Recreation Department. In addition, the building will provide recreation space, meeting rooms, a one-thirteenth mile walking track and an exercise/cardiovascular facility.|ret||ret||tab|

The building and pool will be paid for with the increased sales tax Nixa has experienced during the last few years as a result of increased acitivity. |ret||ret||tab|

"The city has gained about $36,000 a month more in sales tax from 1998 to 1999. We hope to use about $300,000 a year from the new increase. Whether that will pay for everything everybody wants, I don't know," Wasson said. "We're a big enough city now that we should be able to have those sorts of things for our people. Citizens shouldn't have to leave Nixa to swim, play basketball or go to a fitness center."|ret||ret||tab|

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