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We learned from the Court’s ruling last week that former Poplar Bluff City Manager Doug Bagby had been operating under an illegal contract for over 10 years. Those who actually took five minutes to read the contract along with the unambiguous city ordinance and,  equally plain, Missouri state statutes knew immediately that it was an illegal contract. Any lawyer who saw that city manager contract would tell their client they have no contract. But, Bagby's lawyer pushed ahead and threatened to sue the city for the money stipulated in the illegal contract. Council turned to the courts and asked, "How much do we owe on an illegal contract?" The judges' answer was, "Not a dime." And now, the local Rust-owned daily

POPLAR BLUFF - A local court dismissed Doug Bagby's breach of contract case against the City of Poplar Bluff. Judge Kelly Parker ruled that there was no legal basis for former City Manager Bagby's claim that he had a three-year contract for life. In ruling for the City, and as SEMO TIMES reported earlier this year, the court determined that the claim was too weak to require a trial before a jury. The judge determined in Bagby's case that contracts greater than one year were against the law and, therefore, Bagby served at the pleasure of the City Council. This ruling follows longstanding state laws and local city ordinance. The City terminated Bagby's employment earlier this year.  After an extensive nationwide

Tuesday night’s meeting of the Poplar Bluff City Council practically set records on brevity, only meeting for 35 minutes before adjourning and moving to closed session A number of items of business were conducted though, including preparation for winter driving conditions by requesting bids for new snow plows and a salt bin. With last winter’s snows well within memory, the council decided to be proactive in getting ready for this winter by looking into new snow plows, which would go with the city’s current trucks. The council voted to amend its current budget for the Street Department in order include the purchase of the snowplows and salt bin. In other transportation matters, the council voted unanimously to execute an ordinance

We sat down with Heath Kaplan in the council chambers at city hall at 8:30 on Friday morning, September 19th, after his first 30 days on the job as Poplar Bluff’s new city manager. During our hour and a half interview, Kaplan was forthright, knowledgeable and assertive. There wasn’t any issue we touched upon that he didn’t have a well thought out answer for. One cannot help but be impressed by his passion and drive. Kaplan’s now a Poplar Bluffian and talks as though this is his hometown now. Given you’ve been on the job 30 days now, what are your impressions of Poplar Bluff? I’ve been very pleased with the city. There is no shortage of individuals here who

The Poplar Bluff City Council was forced into making a decision at Tuesday night’s council meeting on the issue of rezoning the property at the corner of Northwood Drive and Westmoore Drive. Jared Beaird, owner of the property had requested the rezoning to allow him to use the building as a dental practice. It was zoned residential, and the request was to rezone it as O-1, which would have allowed professional use of the property. Some on the Council had hoped to table the issue, allowing time for more study and more dialogue with both the property owners of the neighborhood and Beaird. But John Scott, attorney for property owner Darlene Hutchison, related to the council members that the residents