East-West Gateway Council honor local entities

Representatives from St. Charles County, Cottleville, Dardenne Prairie, Lake Saint Louis, O’Fallon, St. Charles, St. Peters, Weldon Spring and MoDOT are being honored with a 2012 Outstanding Local Government Achievement Award from the East-West Gateway Council of Governments at its annual luncheon meeting.

Edward Hillhouse, executive director of East-West Gateway, said the “Funding Partnership for the Route 364 Phase III Extension” recognizes this “successful intergovernmental collaboration and underscores that great results can come from collaborative public efforts that pool resources and value innovation and regionalism.”

St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann nominated the funding partnership for the award.

“Working together the county and its municipal partners determined that the completion of Route 364 (Page Extension) from Mid Rivers Mall Drive to I-64 was the most important transportation project in St. Charles County and agreed to work together with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission to secure the required funding,” Ehlmann said.

The partnership resulted in $25 million in federal surface transportation funds, $20 million in state funds from MoDOT’s innovative finance program, $30 million in state funds for major projects, and $25 million in local transportation sales tax funds.

Ehlmann pointed out that the funding partnership was a county-wide effort and included municipalities not served by Phase III of the Page Extension. For example, the cities ofSt. Charles,St. Peters, Weldon Spring and Wentzville do not have frontage on the new roadway, but participated in the funding partnership for the common good of all residents of St. Charles County.

Those expected to receive the awards include Mayor Sally Faith of St. Charles; Mayor Pam Fogarty of Dardenne Prairie; St. Charles County Director of Administration Chuck Gross; Rose Mack of the O’Fallon City Council; Cottleville City Administrator Scott Lewis; Weldon Spring Mayor Don Licklider; Grace Nichols of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission; Mayor Michael Potter of Lake Saint Louis, and Larry Tucker, Wentzville Business Development Manager.