The bond measure that could have possibly funded Operation Launchpad in Joplin is now dead (for now), thanks to a unanimous vote by the Joplin City Council on Monday. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

In May of this year, a rare meeting took place with representatives from the Joplin Chamber of Commerce, Joplin Schools, Missouri Southern State University, and the city of Joplin. Southern hosted the roundtable discussion about the former downtown home of the Joplin Public Library which has been vacant for five years.

City Manager Nick Edwards speaking about the project Monday “A couple of months ago, or a month ago community partners working on Project Launchpad met, reflectively decided that it’s probably best to delay moving forward with Project Launchpad until there’s some ability to get some Chamber leadership and a better review of the project.” Former Chamber President Toby Teeter said earlier this year that he envisioned projects like Launchpad to have the opportunity to quote, “change the path and trajectory of a community.” Teeter resigned from the Chamber in the following month. A replacement has not been named. For 89 9 KRPS, I’m Fred Fletcher-Fierro