Local News – Friday, April 21st, 2023
The Dent County Commission met Thursday morning in the courthouse. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley appointed District Two Commission Gary Larson as the acting Presiding Commission for the meeting. In the road report, District One Commissioner Wes Mobray said he had two guys out so the rest of his crew was servicing dump trucks, pickups and other equipment. Commissioner Larson said that he had three guys out and the rest were doing maintenance work and patching chip and seal on Dent County Roads 2550 and 6680. He went on to report that one man with a backhoe was opening up pipes on county roads 2380, 3200, and 3180, while another with a backhoe was cleaning ditches on county road 3260. Larson also noted that his crew was performing other equipment maintenance. Clerk Curley reported that she balanced with the treasurer on all accounts for the month of March and that the commissioners had reviewed her reports and signed off on them. She also noted that there were a few bills to be approved for payment. It was noted that Commissioner Larson will be going to Jefferson City next Tuesday to meet with the Senate for confirmation of his appointment as Presiding Commissioner of Dent County. Corky Stack with Stack Engineering came in to talk about a cost proposal on a change order of the shingle portion of the courthouse for $66,636.00. The change would be from the original bid for metal shingles on all mansard roof areas only and not the whole roof. The change proposed was to take off the existing shingles, put on thermal and moisture protection, and put on metal seam roof. The commission felt they still had 5 to 6 years or more on the existing roof so they decided to wait on this until a roof is needed so the proposal was not approved. Stack presented Pay Estimate #3 from the contractor, Alexander Construction, in the amount of $183,346.35 and the commission approved it. Stack brought in an invoice for his services of $9,559.28. After a discussion, the commission approved Stack’s invoice. The next meeting of the Dent County Commission will be Monday morning at 9:00 and the meeting is open to the public.
Governor Mike Parson announced that the Missouri Department of Public Safety has approved 428 grants totaling over $6.3 million to law enforcement, fire service, and EMS providers across the state for new equipment, supplies, personnel, and training. To date, a total of 224 fire service agencies have been approved to receive a total of over $3 million for equipment, including turnout gear, extrication equipment, and thermal imaging cameras. Fire districts in our area that received funding include the Dent County Fire Protection District who got $19,972.73; the Timber Fire District who received $20,000; the Jadwin Fire District who received $20,000, the St. James Fire District who got $5,924; the City of Rolla Fire and Rescue who received $20,000 and the Rolla Rural Fire Department who received $17,935.73. The maximum amount of grant funding allowed was $20,000.
A one vehicle accident happened Tuesday afternoon at 2:15 in Dent County on Highway 19 about seven miles north of Salem. According to the highway patrol report a 2009 Dodge Durango being driven south by 37-year-old Jonathon Smith of Salem, traveled off the right side of the road before striking a fence and overturning. Smith, who was wearing a seat restraint, was transported to the Salem Memorial Hospital for treatment of moderate injuries. The Durango was totaled and removed from the scene by Whitaker’s Towing.
The Salem R-80 Board of Education met Thursday at noon at the district administrative office for a special meeting. Last week, the district and architect John Odom opened bids for the construction trades building. They received only one bid and that was from Cahill’s Construction out of Rolla. It was for the entire project and the board rejected that bid. City Administrator Sally Burbridge said the YOP expiration will be September 30th of this year unless an extension is granted while the CDBG grant will be ending on December 31st. The board did approved the rebidding of the addendum to the specs that calls for work on the building shell only which will be opened on May 19th. The board approved to move the consideration of bids on the baseball field to the May meeting. The board approved a contract with FFA Instructor Dalton Sanders to use a school bus he owns that was used at the Maries R-1 School District where they will pay six months of his insurance premium which comes to $2,500 and other consideration. The new bus the school ordered which was supposed to have already arrived, is now due to be delivered sometime in May. The board then accepted the resignation of teacher Karla Tiefenthaler who has accepted the principal’s job at Dent-Phelps R-3. The Special meeting of the Salem R-80 board was then adjourned.