Odor Ordinance PASSED

The City of Carthage passed their new Odor Ordinance, Tuesday, January 27, 2009. The vote was unanimous, even after J. Stan Sexton, attorney with the law firm, Shook, Hardy & Bacon-Kansas City Missouri tried to persuade them otherwise. City Council Member Diane Sharits said it all, “It’s a little bit difficult for someone to come in here and tell us what smells and what doesn’t smell when we smell it on a regular basis. The reason we enacted this (ordinance) this evening is because we smell it… on a daily basis, and we always get responses (from RES) saying ‘We’ve had a problem, we’re fixing it.’ Well, the problem hasn’t been fixed for a number of years, and we’re ready to move forward.” The Carthage Press, 01/28/2009.

City of Carthage Mayor, Jim Woestman said, “We still want to get along, but they stink.” Woestman said he has no objection to a cooperative effort, but that the city is not willing to back off on a new ordinance that would impose stricter odor standards than current state rules, and impose fines when industries are found guilty of violations. The council has approved the purchase of an odor-measuring device, and the ordinance sets the dilution ratio for violations at 5-to-1. Companies now can be found in violation of state rules if they emit odors that are detectable at a dilution of 7-to-1. Woestman said the measure won’t go into effect immediately, because the equipment won’t arrive until next month, and city workers will have to be trained. The Joplin Globe, 01/28/2009