Archive for 2023

The Salem R-80 Board of Education held their re-organizational meeting followed by their regular meeting last Thursday at the Salem High School Library. After the agenda was approved, Assistant Superintendent Nathan Wills swore in the newly elected board members comprised of Andrew Wynn, Marjorie Pyatt and Drusilla Howard. The election of officers was then held with Steven Patterson being elected board president, Sammi Parker as vice-president, Andrew Wynn as secretary and Phillip Mercer as the treasurer. Marjorie Pyatt was named the MSBA delegate with Drusilla Howard the alternate MSBA delegate. In the regular meeting, the board was updated on the Tin Gym and Locker Room renovation project, the CSIP update and were updated on legislation that may affect the district by Superintendent Dr. Lynne Reed. The building principals all gave their reports before the board approved MSBA policies with the exception of Form KC-AF1, and approved the annual renewal of food services provided to Salem R-80 Schools by Opaa!. The board accepted the resignations of Kolson Seay as a teacher and coach, teacher Katie Sapp, teacher Lauren Prugh, teacher Janelle Wesson, and Dustin Bell for his coaching responsibilities only. The board then went into closed session where two student issues were discussed, an employee spoke to the board and a parent spoke to the board. The board approved employing Hayden Harris as a teacher, Dr. Rachel Green as the Middle School Principal and Lacie Kolbe as the Assistant High School Principal. Closed session and the regular board meetings were then adjourned.

The Dent County Fire Protection District Board of Directors met Tuesday evening at the fire station located at #2 South Main Street. Bills were reviewed and approved with an ending balance as of March 31st of $210,121.79 in the general fund. The budget was then reviewed and compared to the 2022 budget noting that everything is virtually on track with last year. Treasurer Dave Wells reported all accounts have been reconciled. The department received a total of 23 calls for the month of March bringing the year to date calls to 88. After the election earlier this month, David Greenshields was elected to a 6-year-term and Leigh Ann Price was elected to a 2-year-term. The board accepted the election results and welcomed Price to the board before Secretary Wells administered the oath of office to both Greenshields and Price. After the adjournment of the outgoing board, the secretary called to order the incoming board. Officers were then selected with Craig Smith named the board president and Dave Wells be retained as the secretary/treasurer. Chief Brad Nash was also named the budget officer and custodian of records. In new business before the board, a motion was made to remove Randy Weldon from all checking accounts and add Leigh Ann Price to the checking accounts. Two new candidates for firefighters, Scott Montoya and Patrick Marchbanks, were interviewed and placed on the department for a one year probationary period. Fire Chief Brad Nash then reported to the board that the radio repeater went out and is being repaired by Wireless USA. Chief Nash was expected to go to Jefferson City to pick up the repaired radio for re-installation. The date for the next public meeting was then set for May, 9th at 6:00 at the fire station. The public portion of the meeting was then closed and the board went into closed session to discuss personnel.

The Dent County Sheriff’s Office released some reports. On Sunday April 2nd, deputies responded to the 1400 block of South Gertrude Street to serve an active Dent County arrest warrant. The suspect, a 30-year-old Salem woman, was found hiding in a bedroom closet and taken into custody. She was taken to the Dent County Jail and incarcerated on the warrant. On Wednesday, April 5th, a deputy attempted to stop a 1999 Dodge truck for an equipment violation. The operator of the truck failed to yield to the deputy and a pursuit ensued. The Missouri State Highway Patrol deployed stop sticks on Route O, disabling the vehicle and two suspects were arrested. The driver, a 23-year-old Rolla man was taken into custody and taken to the Dent County Jail where he was placed on a 24-Hour Hold pending the issuance of a warrant. The passenger, a 27-year-old Rolla man, was arrested on an active Phelps County warrant and turned over to Phelps County deputies. The next day, a deputy conducted a traffic stop at Shawnee Mac Lakes. The operator, an 18-year-old Salem man, was arrested for driving on a suspended driver’s license. The man was taken to the Dent County Jail where he was processed and released on a citation. Later that day, a deputy conducted a traffic stop on Highway 68. The operator, a 56-year-old Salem man, was arrested for driving on a revoked driver’s license. The man was taken to the Dent County Jail where he was processed and released on a citation. On Friday, April 7th, a deputy conducted a traffic stop on North Franklin Street. During the course of the stop, the driver was found to be in possession of a controlled substance. The suspect, a 40-year-old Salem man, was arrested and transported to the Dent County Sheriff’s Office. If you have any information regarding an investigation, contact the Dent County Sheriff’s Office at 729-3241.

The Dent County Commission met Thursday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. Gary Larson was again appointed acting presiding commissioner for the meeting. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams brought in her report on the sales tax monies received in April from the Department of Revenue. She said the General Revenue Fund and the Dent County LEST Fund each received $79,453.80 this month which is down over $21,000 from April of 2022, but year-to-date the fund is ahead of last year by $5,522.53 which comes to about a 1.52% increase. In the Road and Bridge Fund, the county received $34,528.19 which is $11,195.61 less than April of 2022. Year-to-date, the Road and Bridge Fund is up $3,621.02 over 2022 which is an increase near 2.21%. In the two jail funds, the trust fund and operating fund, revenues received from the state this month came in at $69,422.72 and that is down $21,468.78 from April of 2022, and year-to-date each fund is up $8,340.90. That is about a 2.55% over 2022. She also said she received the itemized report from the Department of Revenue for the deduction from each fund from the agreement concerning the paying back of the sales taxes erroneously given to the county. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Wes Mobray said workers were stockpiling rock at the county shed, others were patching Dent County Road 4220 with the ultimate paving material. Some chip and seal repair was also occurring. Mobray said some road signs were being straightened and/or repaired. He did report that he, Commissioner Gary Larson, County Clerk Angie Curley, County Assessor Jamie Homeyer and Treasurer Denita Williams attended the MAC Legislative Day at Jefferson City Tuesday night and Wednesday. District 2 Commissioner Larson said materials were added and grading done on Dent County Road 2120 while just materials were being added to county road 2200. He did say patch and seal repairs were being made to the county road 2550. Mobray said the renovation work on the courthouse is progressing as the workers did the tuckpointing work on the courthouse and sealed the grout work on Wednesday. Dent County Collector Shannon VanKirk wanted to remind those businesses affected that tourism tax forms are due in at the courthouse by the 20th and if you need more forms, they are available at the courthouse. You can also call the collector at 729-3911 and they can send you forms. Also, if you are a new business doing an Airbnb, you will need to come to the collector’s office and set your business up. At the last meeting, Bryan Williams from McCoy Construction and Forestry came in to discuss new John Deere graders. The price for the District 2 grader came in at $391,019.11 as it will have the antler rack controls and the grader for District 1 came in at $372,334.04 with the joystick controls. The trade in for both would be $269,296 with the subtotal coming to $485,897.15. McCoy also agreed to extend the current buy back agreement until the time of delivery of the new graders of $141,000 per machine. The commissioners agreed to order the new graders on the state bid and they are expected to be delivered by September of 2023. The next meeting of the commissioners will be Monday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

A three vehicle accident happened Wednesday morning at 8:00 in Washington County on Highway 21 just north of Tin Can Road. According to the highway patrol report, a 2003 Chevrolet S-10 being driven by 46-year-old Terry Perry of Cadet, was traveling north when he steered to the left to avoid traffic that was stopped from a previous accident. The Chevrolet then struck the front left side of a 2021 GMC that was traveling southbound and being driven by 42-year-old Kasey Johnston of Boss. After being struck, the GMC traveled off the right side of the road edge and struck two trees before coming to a rest. This caused the Chevrolet to turn causing a unit it was towing to strike the front of a 2013 Volkswagon Passat being driven southbound by 20-year-old Coleman Eye of Potosi. Johnston suffered moderate injuries and was taken by Washington County Ambulance to Washington County Memorial Hospital. Perry was taken by Washington County Ambulance to Mercy Hospital in St. Louis for treatment of serious injuries. The Chevrolet and GMC were totaled, and the Volkswagon sustained extensive damage. All three vehicles were removed by Elliot’s Towing. The report went on to state that all of the drivers, except Perry, were wearing seat restraints at the time of the accident.

The City of Salem Utility committee met Wednesday evening at the Salem Community Center@The Armory. Alderman Kyle Williams was unable to attend due an illness in his family. Mayor Greg Parker ran the meeting and the committee heard from City Treasurer Stacey Houston who reported the electric fund sales are up 30% over last year but most of that is due to a rate increase earlier this year. She said the $10 residential fee and the $15 commercial availability fee has accumulated $229,075 which will be transferred to the reserve fund at the end of the fiscal year. For this fiscal year, the electric department has collected $5,276,227. Houston said the amount of water sold is up about 6% from last year and will exceed the expected budgeted revenue for the fiscal year as 92% has already been billed. She also said the sewer revenues for this fiscal year have already exceeded what was budgeted and that again, that was due to the increase in sewer rates back in the fall as was needed to apply for the ARPA Funds DNR grant. She said the city is paying this year 7.15 cents per kilowatt hour while last year, the city was paying 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour, an increase of about 10.5%. The committee reviewed Public Works Director Mark Nash’s infrastructure report in their packet and he also reported that in the last two weeks, the street department has put down 18 tons of asphalt in filling potholes and patching roads. City Administrator Sally Burbridge presented some charges for water meters from Rolla and Columbia to show the different prices for varying sizes of water meters, but she also showed rates for St. James that was actually based on the water consumption of the customer with their sewer rate rather than the water meter. The discussion was to focus around residents in Salem that are not paying the service availability fee because of a single water meter covering trailer parks, housing developments, etc., but the discussion was anything but focused. There was also a discussion of residents that do not have all the city utilities (water, electric, sewer, trash) that still receive a bill from the city for the services they have. So for the next meeting, the committee wants to know how many residents are being served by a common meter on property and how many residents in the city are billed devoid of a specific utility service. Burbridge then explained net metering and that the city ordinance does comply with the state statutes in providing those who are on net metering to get the avoided fuel cost credit if their system provides enough electric. After a discussion on how that rate is calculated, Burbridge said she would recommend to the aldermen to stay with the current ordinance for net metering systems. The meeting was then adjourned.

The Salem R-80 Board of Education will be holding a re-organizational meeting this evening at 5:45 in the high school library. After the roll call and approval of the agenda, the board will certify the results of the election April 4th and swear in newly elected board members by the board secretary. Superintendent Dr. Lynne Reed will act as temporary chairman to select a new board president and vice president. The new board president will then preside over the election of a secretary and treasurer. The board will then elect an MSBA delegate and alternate before adjourning and opening the regular meeting at 6:00. After approval of the consent agenda, Superintendent Reed will then give her report to the board followed by principals’ reports from William Lynch Elementary, the upper elementary, middle school and senior high as well as the activities and athletics report. In new business, the board will adopt MSBA policies and discuss the OPAA Food service renewal. The board will hear any resignations before voting to go into executive session to discuss personnel. The meeting of the Salem R-80 Board of Education Thursday night at 6:00 is open to the public.

A one vehicle accident happened Tuesday morning at 5:45 in Crawford County on Highway 8 just west of Highway 19. According to the highway patrol report, a 1993 Ford Ranger being driven west by 21-year-old Jessie Bullock of Steelville, stalled on Highway 8 and began rolling backwards. Bullock, while trying to gain control, over corrected and overturned. Bullock suffered minor injuries and was taken to Phelps Health in Rolla by a private conveyance for treatment. The Ford was totaled and removed from the scene by Miles and Sons Towing.

National Drug Take Back Day is Saturday, April 22nd. The drop boxes are provided to keep unwanted and expired medication away from kids, persons struggling with substance use disorder, and out of the water supply. Medications can be left in the drop boxes located at the Dent County Sheriff’s Department and the Salem Police Department. A drop box is also located at Vandivort Drug on 4th Street in downtown Salem. Items not accepted include needles, blood/infectious waste, hydrogen peroxide, aerosol cans, and inhalers. Drug Take Back Day is supported by the Healthy Dent County Prevention Coalition and Prevention Consultants of Missouri.