News – Friday, January 23rd 2026

The Dent County Commission met Thursday morning at the courthouse. Dennis Cooksey who lives on Dent County Road 4055 came in to discuss that road not being graded or cared for to the degree it used to be in the past. Cooksey started the discussion with Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson who was the district two commissioner years ago, and Cooksey said the road care changed while he was commissioner. Their discussion centered around a failed arrangement to widen the road and the installation of gate on that road on the Cooksey property. Since Commissioner Larson no longer has any say over the roads, Cooksey moved his discussion to District 2 Commissioner Jimmy Williams and told him the gate is gone and showed him aerial photographs of where the road used to be taken care of by the county. Williams said he will check with the assessor’s office and/or recorder’s office to see if there is an easement for the road given to the county by the property owners for the area being discussed and get back to Mr. Cooksey. Dent County Deputy Canyon Goodbar reported the Local Violent Crime Prevention Grant submitted by the sheriff’s office was approved for $21,128.87 for the purchase of new radios. This is a reimbursement grant, and the commission signed the grant paperwork. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams presented the CART receipts for the month of January. She stated the county received $88,205.91 and that is down $3,245 from the December 2025 receipts, and higher than the January 2025 receipts by $2,672. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Keith Green said rock is being stockpiled in preparation for the anticipated winter storm, and the trucks and graders are being prepared with salt spreaders and blades. Green said fuel bids for 7,500 gallons of diesel fuel were taken and County Fuels had the low bid of $2.22 per gallon that beat the bids of Phil-Mart and MFA Oil. District 2 Commissioner Jimmy Williams reported grading is being done on Dent County Road 4060 while other equipment is being readied for the projected storm. Williams did say crews are also replacing signs on county roads 2520 and 2530. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson said he attended a tourism tax committee meeting where two applications were partially funded and four reimbursements approved. Larson also said he had to attend an emergency meeting at the MRPC office in St. James concerning the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District as legislation has been introduced at the state level to eliminate all the solid waste management districts statewide. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley was not in attendance due to her attending the Missouri Association of Counties Board meeting, but she wanted to remind everyone Monday morning at 10:00 in the commissioner’s office will be the 2026 county budget hearing. The 2026 county budget is available at the county clerk’s office in paper form and is free to anyone who would like to have one You can also contact the office at 573-729-4144 and they can e-mail the entire budget to you. The hearing Monday morning is open to the public. The next regular meeting of the Dent County Commission will be Monday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and it is open to the public. 

With accumulating snows expected, remember there are certain streets within the city limits of Salem that have been designated as emergency “Snow Routes.” These streets shall have priority over other streets for the clearing of snow, ice or other debris. The streets are marked with “Snow Route” signs. A list of the snow routes is available only at salemmo.com. Remember to remove your vehicle from these routes when an accumulation of ice and snow is expected so that the route can be cleared. Your car or truck could be towed at your expense, or you could be sited for a parking violation. If you have any questions, call the Salem Police Department at 729-4242.