The May 18 meeting of the Dent County Commission was called to order at 9:05 a.m. in the commission chambers at the Dent County Courthouse.
During the public comment period of the meeting, President of the Dent County Historical Society Deloris Gray Wood returned to brief the commission on developments in the cost estimates for her project “Telling the Story of the Current River from the Road”. The project will feature interpretive signs telling the history of the area which will be placed in significant locations around the Current River area. In previous meetings, the commission indicated that the county would provide the labor to install the signs as a donation, which would count as in-kind matching for the grant that funds the project. Since then, Wood and the commission have been discussing specifics such as materials. Wood brought new material estimates before the commission and said that instead of the four-inch posts mentioned in the last meeting, the signs would utilize three-inch square tubing as posts. District One Commissioner Wes Mobray commented that it looked like quality material.
Bob Parsons was also present at the meeting, reporting for KSMO Media. During public comment, he asked the commission if they would be willing to haul wood chips for an event.
“As a member of the Junior Livestock Committee, we met this week. Of course, the Expo is on for July. Annually, we ask the commission if they would be able to haul chips for us,” said Parsons.
“I don’t think there’ll be a problem there,” said Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson.
During road reports, Mobray reported that District One crews would be grading county roads 6245 and 6670. He said crews were also patching up roads in the Bunker area. According to Mobray, that area recently experienced heavy rainfall that caused extensive road damage.
“They had five inches of rain in three or four hours, and it destroyed everything,” said Mobray.
Larson has been filling in for District Two with regards to road reports until the vacant District Two position is filled by gubernatorial appointment. Larson said crews would be grading county roads 2570, 2510, 2540, 2550, 4060, and 4050. He reported that crews would be hauling material to county roads 2540 and 2550, and that brush was being cut on County Road 2050.
Larson also reported that the commission was on track to meet a deadline for the Missouri Department of Conservation.
“Every year we get close to $10,000 or maybe more from the (Department of Conservation) to take care of their roads, out there in their area,” said Larson. “We had a deadline to get this conservation rock down, and we’re going to make it. Next week I have to send all that information in to the (Department of Conservation).”
During his Presiding Commissioner’s Report, Larson said he attended a meeting of the Tourism Committee on the evening of May 15. He reported three reimbursements, and three funding applications. He gave some examples of amounts approved.
“There were three that they agreed to pay a percentage of what they put in before,” said Larson. “For example, one of them put in for $5584.24; they agreed to pay $2,239.42. The Salem Area Community Betterment Association put in for $25,500, and they approved $5,500. Quite a bit of shortage there, but they’ve only got so much money that they’ve got to work with, and they’ve got to make it all go around. Can’t give it all to one entity.”
Larson reported that there were two requests for events to use the courthouse lawn. Event organizer David Lytle had spoken to the commission about Summerfest, an event planned for June 17 around the courthouse. Larson also said that Catherine Dent had asked if the Community Choir could sing on the courthouse lawn July 9 and August 13. Larson said the concerts would be 30 minutes long and would begin at 2 p.m. on the courthouse lawn. Both commissioners agreed to allow the requests.
Larson reported that the Missouri legislative session had finished up on May 12, with 58 bills passing out of 2,323. Larson gave some examples of items included in the state budget.
“$49 billion budgeted includes $2.8 billion to widen Highway I-70 across the state, $20 million for an environmental impact study for I-44, $40 million for low-volume roads; So that’s a good deal. And then the big one here is $250 million for broadband grant programs, which everyone is always interested in Broadband,” said Larson.
Deputy County Clerk Melissa Piatt reported that the clerk’s office is processing voter ID cards as they are returned in the mail and updating voter information.
Mobray also reported that the commission was getting ready to put out a bid request for chip and seal.
After the agenda and previous minutes were approved, the commission moved on to road reports.
For District One, Mobray reported that crews would be grading county roads 5390, 4220, 6650, 6490, and 6480. He said one employee was travelling to Springfield for chip and seal oil, and one employee is hauling material for District Two.
For District Two, Larson reported that crews would be grading county roads 2550, 2510, 2613, 2610, 2580, and 2533. He said crews were hauling material to county roads 2550, 2533, and 2320. Larson also reported that brush was being cut on County Road 2050. He also said rock for the Department of Conservation would be completed.
The commissioners also added that crews would be working on the roads at the cemetery as much as possible to get them ready for Memorial Day.
During his presiding commissioner’s report, Larson said he had no meetings to attend this week, but that more meetings would be coming up in June.
Larson reported that the County Republicans will be interviewing the three candidates for Larson’s former District Two position. He listed Gary Polk, Sean Collins, and Jimmy Williams as the candidates for the position. Larson and Mobray pointed out that the commissioners could have appointed someone to the position pending gubernatorial approval. The commissioners said they decided to wait on the Governor’s appointment for the sake of transparency, and to avoid any conflict of interest.
At 10:00 a.m., a bid for a financial audit was opened. The audit will be for the years 2021-2022, and will be completed in 2024. The only bid received was from Daniel Jones and Associates, CPA, out of Arnold, Missouri. The bid amount for the total audit cost was $27,800. The commissioners contacted County Clerk Angie Curley, who was out of town at the time of the meeting, to seek her input. After discussion with Curley, the bid was accepted 2-0. Curley said the bid was cheaper than she thought it would be, and that she was confident that they would do a good job, as she recommended the commission accept the bid.
It was also announced during the meeting that there will be no meeting on Memorial Day, Monday, May 29. The June 5 meeting, as well as the June 9 meeting, due to Mobray being out of town that week. Larson said he would be in the office on June 5, but not June 9.
