Caraway Mayor Bo James was pleased to announce the future opening of a grocery store in Caraway at the Oct. 8 city council meeting.
The new owner of Faulkner Grocery in Arbyrd, Mo., Tracey Reinhart, will be expanding and opening a second grocery store in the former Roach’s Grocery building in Caraway.
Caraway has been without a full line grocery store for several years and Mayor James said this is great news for the citizens of Caraway. It should be opened for business by January.
“We continue to see good things happening in Caraway,” Mayor James said.
The council voted to hire Jerry Berry in the water department.
Mayor James updated the council on the progress of the water well. Caraway has been purchasing water from Buffalo Island Rural Water and has been in the process of getting grants/loans to restore their water services. Bidding stage has begun and bids will be opened at 11 a.m., Oct. 27.
The council discussed the DRA Grant in the amount of $183,000 for the renovations of the water tower. The decision was made to use the one cent sales tax to pay for the work as it is done. Receipts will be turned into DRA and the city will be reimbursed.
The Council discussed the feasibility study for retail. Mayor James said the study will help the city officials when they are searching for new businesses to locate in Caraway.
Council reviewed the 2019 audit with no findings.
Mayor James said he had been asked why the annual Harvest Festival had been canceled but there could still be a movie night in the park.
He explained, with festival vendors coming from other places, the crowds are larger and there is no control. With the movie night, it is inside the ballpark, temperatures can be taken, the crowd is smaller and there is room to distance.
Movie night in the park is sponsored by the park commission. Mayor James said there was about 100 attending the first one. A second movie in the park will be held on Oct. 30 at 6:30 p.m.
Caraway Council meets at 6 p.m. the second Thursday of the month.