BELLE — The Belle Board of Aldermen approved a $300-per-month contract on Aug. 26 with a licensed backup operator after city officials said the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) requires two qualified operators.

Mayor James (Pudd) Mitchell said Belle currently has one person with the required license but needs a second operator to remain within DNR requirements.

“That is because we don’t have anybody that has another license. We have one person, but according to DNR, we have to have two,” Mitchell said.

The backup operator contract was added to the agenda under new business.

Mitchell said the arrangement will remain necessary until a city employee obtains the required license or Belle finds another person who already holds the necessary water and sewer credentials.

“You know, it’s gonna cost us until either one of the guys gets their license, or we find somebody that has a water and sewer license,” Mitchell said.

During the discussion, an alderman said the city had little choice but to move forward.

“We don’t have a choice. We need to stay in compliance,” Alderman Jeanette Struemph said.

Mitchell said a neighboring city’s public works director agreed to serve as backup operator.

“The person that has agreed to help us is Rodney Turner from Bland,” Mitchell said. “He’s very knowledgeable, and he comes up here and helps us at different times.”

The board approved paying Turner $300 per month for his services.

Charro Reasor, city treasurer and office manager, explained that the arrangement would require a formal agreement involving Belle, DNR and Turner.

“This will be a binding contract agreement between the city, DNR and Rodney,” Reasor said.

The board then approved authorizing Mitchell to approve the agreement.

Turner has assisted Belle numerous times before with utility problems, officials said during the discussion. Mitchell said Turner had recently spent approximately eight hours helping city crews during a water-main break.

“When we had the water main break at Casey’s, he was here for eight hours that day,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said Turner frequently assists city crews and is available when problems arise.

“He’s very knowledgeable, and I mean we can call him, or we can be having a problem,” Mitchell said. “We don’t have to call him. He’ll call us or he just shows up.”