Your World Today

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. At the meeting, Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams reported on the CART tax money received in the month of May. Williams said the county received $67,277.65 this May compared to $47,523.42 in May of 2020 which is an increase of $19,754.23. Year-to-date, the CART funds received by the county are up $16,235.24. In the road report, 1st District Commissioner Wes Mobray stated materials would be added and grading done on Dent County Roads 2400 and 4220, while only grading would be done on county roads 5170 and 5550. He said the installation of four culverts on Dent County Road 4160 had been completed. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson said grading would be done on county roads 2140, 2150 and 6160, while materials would be added and grading done on Dent County Road 2500. Larson went on to say materials would also be added to county road 2533. Larson said these last two roads are conservation area roads and should be done by this week. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles said that he, treasurer Denita Williams, Sheriff Bob Wells and Sergeant Lenny Pabin attended an American Rescue Plan Act meeting at the MRPC last Wednesday to discuss funds that may become available in the county. There are still no guidelines yet or when the money will become available. The commission had to indicate what person would be able to obligate the county to the ARPA program and another who would be responsible for the funds. The commission approved allowing Skiles to be the contact person for the county and named Treasurer Denita Williams as the person responsible for the distribution of funds. Skiles said the MRPC would once again offer their services to help review applications to allow for ARPA fund distributions. Skiles said he would be attending a broadband Zoom meeting this morning at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory at 10:00 to get an update on what is going on, and then be in Jefferson City Wednesday for the insurance consortium meeting. Dent County Collector Shannon VanKirk came in to tell the commissioners that Forte, the company that allows people to pay their tax bills by credit card, has updated their site and has a new web address that will be on the county website shortly, and will be on the tax statements come November. The new address to pay tax bills through Forte is: https://billpay.forte.net/dentcountymotax/. At the last meeting, the commissioners held a Budget hearing to make adjustments to the county 2021 budget. Due to the Department of Revenue error, the county adjusted the decrease in sales tax revenues for the General Revenue Fund, both jail funds, the Road and Bridge Department Fund and the Law Enforcement Salem Tax Fund. They included the new American Rescue Plan Act funds the county expects to get and made a transfer of $150,000 from General Revenue to the LEST Fund to keep it financially sound. The county then went on to increase the culvert line from $20,000 to $30,000 in the Road and Bridge budget in the 2021 budget. With no opposition, the commissioners approved the budget amendments. The commissioners will not be meeting on May 31st due to it being Memorial Day and their next meeting will be on June 7th.

In closed session Thursday evening at the Salem R-80 Board of Education meeting, the board approved the employment of Cody Woody as a high school physical education instructor and middle school football coach, Jared Patterson as a high school social studies instructor and middle school football coach, Mark Howard as a middle school football coach and Chris Kamprath as an assistant track coach. The board also approved allowing Kyle Anderson to take a sabbatical year as high school assistant football coach for the 2021-2022 year, extending Will Hubbs contract by 10 days, and approved adding an extra duty drama stipend at Group #4 and to hire Shannon Phelps for that position. Superintendent Dr. Lynne Reed then discussed the individual building climate survey results with the board before they adjourned closed session and the regular meeting.

As part of an ongoing improvement project taking place on various roadways in Dent and Phelps Counties, work crews plan to start on two of the next phases of the project this week. Yesterday, a contractor working for the Missouri Department of Transportation will begin pavement improvement work on Dent County Route F. This work is expected to take up to two weeks to complete and will require daily intermittent lane closures with flaggers to guide motorists through the work zone. Crews will also begin improvement work on the barrier curb of the Phelps County Route K bridge over Sherrill Creek. This work is expected to take up to three weeks to complete and will require temporary signals at the bridge to guide motorists through the work zone. Once this work is complete, crews will begin resurfacing and widening the shoulders of Highway 68 in both counties and Dent County Route HH near Salem. Crews will also continue to work on box culvert extensions along Highway 68. This work is weather permitting and could be delayed. For more information and updates about this project or other transportation-related matters, please call 1-888-ASK-MoDOT (275-6636) you can also follow the MoDOT Central Missouri District on Facebook and Twitter for project updates.

A fatal crash Saturday evening at 7:40 in Maries County on Highway 63 about five miles south of Vienna took the life of a Salem man. According to the highway patrol report, a 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt driven by 23-year-old Nathan Reid of Salem, was travelling northbound when he travelled off the right side of the roadway and then returned the road. The Cobalt began skidding, travelled off the right side of the road again where the Cobalt struck a rock embankment and partially ejected Reid. The Cobalt came to rest blocking the northbound lane. Reid was not wearing a safety restraint at the time of the accident. Reid was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:05 that evening by Dr. Garcia. Reid’s body was transported to the Birmingham Martin Funeral Home in Vienna by the Maries Conty Coroner. The Cobalt was totaled and removed from the scene by DLH Auto. The highway patrol was assisted by deputies from the Maries County Sheriff’s Department, the Maries/Osage Ambulance District, and the Vichy Fire Department.

A motorcycle accident happened Friday evening at around 8:30 in Dent County on Dent County Road 6670, about sixteen miles southwest of Salem. The report from the highway patrol states that a 2001 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic being operated by 35-year-old Damon Robertson of Salem, lost control of the motorcycle in a curve, traveled off the left side of the road and overturned. A passenger, 36-year-old Belinda Watson, also of Salem, suffered moderate injuries and was taken by ambulance to Salem Memorial District Hospital for treatment. Robertson received minor injuries but refused treatment. The report went on state that neither were wearing safety devices at the time of the accident. The Harley was totaled in the accident and removed from the scene by Whitaker Towing.

A special Board of Aldermen meeting called by Alderwoman Kim Steelman and Alderman Shawn Bolerjack will be held this evening at 5:45 at the Civic Theater in the old city hall auditorium at 202 North Washington to consider resolution #17-2021, a lease proposal on a new Terex TL48 bucket truck for the city. After adjournment of the board of Aldermen meeting, the City of Salem Capital Improvement Committee and Finance Committee will hold a joint meeting at 6:00. Following an update on the 2020-2021 fiscal year projects and overall financial status, there will be a discussion of proposed 2021-2022 capital projects along with a discussion of other 2021-2022 budgeted items before adjourning. The meeting this evening of the board of Aldermen, Capital Improvement committee, and the Finance committee are open to the public.

The Salem R-80 Board of Education met Thursday for their regular meeting. Superintendent Dr. Lynne Reed told the board the open enrollment has been completed for our new insurance before reviewing budget revisions for June. Reed stated she was still working on increasing the starting pay to $10.00 for all support staff before sharing the results of the building climate survey with the board. She also said the Central Office will continue to work on communications for the 21-22 school year. After the building reports, the board approved the adult meal prices for the 2021-2022 school year. They will be $2.50 for breakfast and $4.00 for lunch. The board approved the purchase of two leased busses for $64,000 per bus before approving both a fall and spring softball schedule for 2021-2022. The board went on to approve a contract with Shield Solutions in the amount of $8,500 and also the bid to remove a trailer. The board tabled bids on a storage building, but did accept the surplus property bids. They also agreed to keep the next meeting date for June 17th, 2021. The board accepted the resignations of high school math instructor George Alex, middle school football coach Richard Beckett, upper elementary nurse Kristina Barton, paraprofessionals Katelyn Swyers and Shelly Kerr, and Tabitha Mackley will leave food service and move to transportation. The board then went into closed session.