Local News – Friday, May 12th, 2017

The Dent County Commissioners met for their regular meeting Thursday morning in the Dent County Courthouse. Donnie Gray was in inquiring about the Dent County Jail Project. County Clerk Angie Curley went to her office and got a Request for Qualifications packet for Gray. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams was in with the sales tax receipts for May which were $52,699.28 for General Revenue and $25,718.61 for Road and Bridge. Williams indicated that GR was up $9,104.95 or 2.8172% and R&B was up $6,449.45 which is 4.3624%. In the road report District One Commissioner Dennis Purcell said that grading would be done on and materials would be added to Dent County road 5080, while grading only would be done on county roads 5460, 5440, 6670 and 6650, plus patch grading would be done on county roads 5100 and 5103. Purcell went on to say that a crew was replacing tires on dump truck #117 and that crew would be continuing to remove the landslide on county road 6660, after which they would move to county road 6635 to work on repairs and make it more passable. Purcell also asked that county residents be patient as some low lying roads are still too wet and soft to grade, but they are passable. District Two Commissioner Gary Larson interjected that residents need to understand that it takes considerable time to deal with over 630 miles of county roads. Larson said that if a resident can’t get out they just need to get word to the Commissioners and they will get the road passable. In the District Two report Larson said that materials would be added to and patch grading done on Dent County roads 4283 and 4290, while grading only would be done on county roads 3020, 3220 and 2530 depending on how wet the roads are due to Wednesday nights rain which ranged from one to eight tenths of an inch. Larson went on to say that materials would be added to county roads 3160, 2540 and 2530, while brush would be cut on county road 2330. Presiding Commissioner Skiles said that Wednesday he attended the County Commissioners Association board meeting in Jefferson City. He said that major discussion centered on what could be done to help Carter County after their devastating flood. Skiles went on to say that the counties will be receiving information about what their specific needs are. Skiles added that Thursday afternoon he would be in St. James attending the Public Housing Authority meeting and the MRPC Board meeting Thursday night. Sally Lonning was in to complain to Commissioner Larson about what she felt was a safety issue on Dent County road 2240. Ellen Baum of the Scenic Rivers Industries Board was in to invite the Commissioners to the 40th Anniversary Celebration in June. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley reported that bills were being approved by the Commissioners for payment. She went on to say that she balanced with the Dent County Treasurer on all accounts for April, as well as with the County Collector and Assessor on all add-ons, abatements and collections for April and the Commissioners approved her reports. Curley added that on Tuesday she attended a productive website meeting at The Salem Community Center @ The Armory with City Administrator Ray Walden, Salem Chamber Director Tabitha Utley, and Cory Crocker of the Salem Initiative. Bids for the grader financing for five years were received from Bank of Salem at 2.55% with no fees stated, from Town and Country Bank at 2.24% with no fees stated, and from US Bank at 2.17% with no fees. The Commissioners voted 3 to 0 to accept the US Bank bid. The next meeting of the Dent County Commission will be Monday morning in the Courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

The Dry Valley Creek Bridge on Highway 32 in Dent County is set for replacement this summer under a contract approved by the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission. The commission awarded the contract to KCI Construction Company, after the company submitted the lowest bid of $1,194,449. The bridge, located east of Salem, will be wider when work is complete by the fall. Work on the bridge will require the road to be closed. For more information about this project or other transportation-related matters, please call 1-888-ASK-MoDOT (275-6636).