News – Monday, December 29th 2025

The Dent County Commission met last Monday morning at the courthouse. District 1 Commissioner Keith Green said rock would be added and grading done on Dent County Road 5400 while only grading will be done on county road 6430. He also stated brush would be cut on county road 5615 and reflector signs are being installed on county road 5130. A crew will check other roads to see if reflectors need to be added. District 2 Commissioner Jimmy Williams reported rock will be added and grading done on Dent County Roads 2140 and 4130, while only grading would be done on county roads 2120 and 2130. He did state brush would be cut on county road 2200 and that a crew is straightening out a pipe at the intersection of county roads 2240 and 2260 where it was apparently run over. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said her office continues working on the budget for 2026. At 9:30, the commissioners approved an amended budget by the SB40 board for 2025 as they received insurance proceeds from the fire at the sheltered workshop and they also had larger than anticipated expenses from the fire cleanup. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams presented the CART receipts for the month of December. She stated the county received $91,450.98 and that is down $788 from the December of 2024. Williams reported that year to date that CART is up $72,782.18 which is about a 7.4% increase. At 10:00, the commission opened bids for the creation of a 1st floor ADA compliant bathroom at the courthouse. They received and approved the only bid and that was from Thomas Excavation for $20,990. At 11:00 Jeff Banderet from Great Rivers Engineering came in to talk about ongoing projects, starting with the sidewalk TAP grant around the courthouse. He felt the county will be able to advertise the project for bids in February with the construction possibly starting as early as late April or May. Banderet also talked about the FLAP project for the paving of the county gravel road as the backway to Montauk State Park. He said once he hears back from the state, the county will have to secure easements or get land donations from the existing landowners before the project can begin. Dent County Emergency Management Director Derrick Marfitt was in attendance and said the county has been reimbursed $183,646 which covers four FEMA projects out of the nine requests by the county for funding from the flooding of 2025. The commission authorized Great Rivers Engineering to proceed with the design phase for funded FEMA projects. According to Marfitt, Dent County still has outstanding requests for funding from FEMA of $1,437,000. Banderet went on to say there is funding for BRO bridge replacement projects, and those applications need to be submitted this spring. At the last meeting, the commissioner approved the revision to the County Personnel Policy and also heard from Craig Faigle from the 100-Acre Wood Road Rally. He said the event this year will be held in Dent County March 14, 2026. The commissioners went on to employ Joe Pogue as the new janitor at the courthouse after interviewing him and he will begin this Friday. The next meeting will be this morning at 9:00 in the courthouse. The meeting is open to the public.