Archive for 2020

The Salem Board of Aldermen met Monday evening in the Council Cambers of City Hall. At the meeting, Public Works Director Mark Nash talked about getting replacement pumps for pump stations and getting a spare. The only place to get the pumps was Vandevanter Engineering and the price for each single phase 7.5 HP pump was $10,636.00. The city would have to pay for freight and do the installation. The board approved the purchase. Nash also talked about needing new chlorine analyzers for the wells. The bids for three came to $11,034.50 and these analyzers will cut back on overtime as they can be read by smart phones instead of physically having to check them. The board approved the purchase of all three. Alderman Kevin James, Chairman of the Finance Committee, gave his report on that meeting held August 27th. The Finance Committee had recommended employing a city engineer with a salary cap of $50,000 for six months service. James recommended that cap be dropped to between $55,000 and $85,000 depending upon experience of applicant and not to provide a vehicle until the second year of employment. The board approved his recommendation. City Administrator Ray Walden said he and City Clerk Mary Happel attended the MML first virtual conference. He said the Fall Community Wide Yard Salem will go on except the city will NOT be rending parking spaces at the City Administration Building. Walden explained the July bills will be mailed this week with information on the new bills about the payment options that person selected. Additional information will be included in the bills that go out. Walden said he is working with vendors to offer additional payment options such as prepaid electric, credit card payments and more. He also said the city is putting out informational videos on the Facebook page and people can watch give their feedback to an e-mail address on the screen. He said he would like to form a media committee to figure out the best way to get out information that will reach most of the area. Walden provided the alderman with a KPI report that summarizes information about sales tax income, ongoing projects, utility income and more. Walden also discussed the brand standards that the board had discussed at an earlier meeting. The board approved the use of the new logos on letterhead and on vehicles as long as the cost was not prohibitive. The board approved the suggestion by City Attorney Weber to follow the Missouri State Statute when it comes to electioneering within 25 feet of the door. He said if there are violators, the police should be contacted. The board approved the improvements to the police department roof as suggested by Archer-Elgin Engineering that framing be added to the roof with tie downs to attach the roof framing to the building. They also recommended installing metal on free hanging clay tile to prevent it from ever falling. After a long discussion about airport leases and what “airworthy” means, Alderwoman Rachel Hinderliter said she would call an airport board meeting and discuss these items with the board with the help of City Attorney Weber. The board then reapproved the bids for the renovation project for the police department dispatch area from Village Gallery, Rommel’s Lock and Alarm, and Quality Drywall Service, LLC. The board approved Resolution #19-2020 to enter into an investment grade audit agreement between the City of Salem and Energy Solutions Professionals, LLC to see if they can find some energy saving facility improvements. City Clerk Mary Happel then gave the board a list of old records she planned to have destroyed. This included old utility bills and purchase order duplicate copies all the way back to July 1 of 2000. The list also included a number of obsolete forms that will be destroyed. The board approved the Trailer Park License for Park Street Mobile Park owned by Glen Sapaugh, and they approved appointing City Clerk Mary Happel to attend the LAGERS annual meeting for the city’s retirement plan. The meeting was then adjourned.

The Dent County Health Center Monday reported there is now one death from the coronavirus here in Dent County. They are reporting that there are currently 26 active cases of COVID-19 in Dent County out of 129 confirmed cases. Of the cases that have been identified in Dent County, 103 of those people have been released from isolation. There are still three people in the hospital from COVID while six other hospitalized patients have now been released. A total of 2,647 COVID-19 tests have come back negative. With the results reported Monday, the percentage of people in Dent County who have been tested that have a positive result with the COVID 19 virus comes to 4.65%.

The Salem R-80 Board of Education in closed session Thursday night approved moving Administrative Secretary Janelle Frederick to the insurance payroll pay scale, and agreed to pay a stipend of $3,500 to Bob Homer for his services as a football mentor to interim football Head Coach Lane Howard. The board also agreed to move para-professional Mandi Conway from 7.33 hours to 8.0 hours on the paraprofessional pay scale, and that high school attendance secretary Jamie Summers has moved to the high school principal’s secretary’s position. The board also approved exploring options to create a 100% district paid position instead of pursuing a new Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Salem for the Safety Resource Officer position. The meeting was then adjourned.

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the courthouse. At the meeting, Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams brought in the CART funds received by the county. She said the money received in September was $61,381.55 and that is down from last year’s total of $65,293.81. Year-to-date, the CART funds are down in 2020 by $28,351.83 from 2019 and that comes to about 5.6%. In the road report, 1st District Commissioner Dennis Purcell stated grading would be done on Dent County Roads 5050, 5100, 5103, 5105 and 5480. He said repairs were being made to county trucks #78 and #121. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson said Dent County Road 2070 would be shut down through October 1st for the rebuilding of a low water crossing that is in need of repair. He also said brush would be cut on county road 2200, a man would be going to Springfield to get oil for the Durapatch machine to do chip and seal road repairs, and another man would be screening brown rock. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles reported the CCAM Executive Board would be meeting in Columbia with the Holiday Inn Executive Center Management to discuss the contract for the CCAM Board meetings. He also reported that last week at the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District Executive Board meeting, waste reduction applications were reviewed and scored. He said there nine applications requesting about $240,000 while there is only $175,000 available. They will meet again to determine where the funding goes based upon the scoring. Skiles also said there were two CARES Act requests for funds: One from Green Forest R-2 for $14,698 and another from R-80 for $18,381. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said the tax rates have been approved by the state and they have been submitted to the collector. She also said she would be attending the South Central County Clerk’s regional meeting at West Plains. Curley wanted to remind everyone that absentee voting for the November 3rd General Election starts Tuesday and will go until November 2nd at 5:00 in her office. An absentee ballot can also be requested to have a ballot mailed to them. You need to do that by October 21st. Mail-in ballots can also be requested by October 21st. Make sure that you have your mail-in ballot notarized and return it by the US Mail service, it MUST be received by 7:00 on Tuesday, November 3rd to be counted. At the last meeting, four CARES Act request were approved and they were $7,315 for the Salem R-80 School District, $10,105.58 for the Dent-Phelps R-3 School District, $6,917.56 for the Green Forest R-2 School District and $7,480.66 was pre-approved for the Salem Public Library and a $256.24 reimbursement to the library was approved. Dent County Collector Shannon Vankirk reported the monthly collections for August came to $37,545.94. The next meeting of the Dent County Commissioners will be Monday morning at the courthouse at 9:00 and the meeting is open to the public.

The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors will conduct their September meeting tonight, in the hospital library beginning at 6:00. After approval of the agenda and minutes of the August 18th Public Tax Hearing and regular meeting, Hospital Administrator Kasey Lucas will report on the summary of the operations for the month of August followed by the Chief of Nursing Report by Debbie Hines. A report on the hospital foundation, plus the marketing and community perception report by Chief Operating Officer Jason Edwards will be followed by the Chief of Staff Report. Lucas will then go over the COVID-19 update and give an update on Hospital expansion and renovation. New business will include the Annual Bylaw Review and purchases since the last meeting. The board may vote to go into closed session. Due to COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, the September meeting of the Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors will be held by telephone/video conference. The meeting is open to anyone to join. For information on how to access the meeting via zoom, please email Karen Brown at kbrown@smdh.net or call her at (573) 729-5917, extension 4005.