News – Tuesday, June 24th 2025

The Salem Memorial Hospital Board of Directors will hold a special meeting tonight at 7:00 in the hospital library. After the call to order, roll call and approval of the agenda public comments or presentation that are limited to 3 minutes will be heard. No old business is on the agenda, however new business to be conducted includes purchases and updates to policies. The board will go into executive session to discuss personnel and legal issues. Except for the executive session the meeting of the Salem Hospital Board of Directors is open to the public. Anyone that would like to attend by telephone of electronic means should contact the SMH Administration office at 573-729-6626 Extension 4005. 

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams presented the CART tax monies received in June. The county received $91,402.67 which is $10,299.25 more than for June of 2024. Year-to-date, the CART funds are up about $41,066.26 which is about an 8.9% increase. Tom from TVC Trust was in to ask for help about property at 1102 East Third Street that he feels has been assessed too high. He told the commission he has talked with County Assessor Jamie Homeyer and has gotten nowhere, and also talked with the state assessor who told him to attend the Board of Equalization meeting on July 21st, but he is not going to be in Missouri that day and was wanting to know what he can do. The commissioners told him that he or his representative would have to be here that day with the information he has collected to make his case. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Keith Green said the crews will be adding rock and grading on Dent County Roads 5070 and 6020, while only grading will be done on county road 6040. Green said brush would be cut on county roads 4210 and 4215. District 2 Commissioner Jimmy Williams said crews will be in the Sligo area adding rock and grading on Dent County Roads 3350 and 3355, while only grading would be done on county roads 3295, 3300 and 3370. He also said rock would be added and grading done in the Boss area on Dent County Road 4405. Williams indicated bush would be cut on county roads 3233, 3235 and 3250. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson said last week he was named as chairman of the Meramec Community Enhancement Corporation while county representative Ray Walden was named as the treasurer. He said he attended the Dent County Tourism Tax Committee meeting last week where one application for funds was received and approved from the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce for the Chamber Rodeo in September. There were no reimbursements requests submitted. Dent County Collector Shannon VanKirk said the county has received 300 applications for the SB190 Homestead Real Estate Tax credits for senior citizens which she presented to the commissioners for their signature. Anyone still interested in applying for the real estate tax credit will need to submit their application by June 30th and those applications are available at courthouse. She also wanted to remind those who have not yet paid their real estate taxes from 2022 that those taxes must be paid by June 30th or that parcel will be sold on the courthouse steps. Checks will no longer be accepted for those taxes in the collector’s office and payments will need to be made in cash or by a cashier’s check. She said there were still 36 properties that have outstanding taxes from 2022. Dent County Assessor Jamie Homeyer was in to let the commissioners know that 85 of the 115 counties in Missouri were going to have an increase in assessment values, but Dent County was not one of them and she is in compliance with all state laws. She said 511 impact notices have been sent out to those who have made improvements to their real estate or personal property in Dent County. At the last meeting, Dent County Emergency Management Director Derrick Marfitt came in to give an update on the FEMA project for the road and bridge department. He was also going to collect the payroll information and get everything submitted as soon as possible. The next meeting of the Dent County Commission will be Thursday morning at the courthouse at 9:00 and the meeting is open to the public.

The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce and the City of Salem present “Vintage Americana” as the parade theme for this year’s 4th of July parade. Sign up is going on now to reserve your spot in the parade. The parade slots will be fall into line, first come first serve. Designated spots will be reserved for the Chamber parade leaders. Parade entry forms are due by June 27th, you can stop by the chamber and pick one up or email: chamber@salemmo.com. For any questions call the Chamber at 573-729-6900.