Local News – Friday, January 19th, 2024

The Dent County Commission met Thursday morning at the courthouse. In the road report, the ground is too frozen for any type of road work so both districts will be working in the shop. District 1 Commissioner Wes Mobray said men would be working on fixing the sensor on a brush cutter and others would be putting a plow back on the county truck amongst other jobs. District 2 Commissioner Gary Polk said dumptruck #126 has a bad cylinder and will be taken to Springfield, a man will be moving chips for the chip and seal work later this year, and others will be moving old culvert pipes. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson said he attended the Phelps County Housing Authority meeting where they received a clean audit from HUD. He said the MRPC will have the Legislative day at the Capital on January 23rd where members will be meeting with state legislators to discuss some of the priorities affecting this area. One of those priorities is HB 1870 to extend the collection of fees to store hazardous materials. Larson went on to say the county is still waiting on guidance on how to handle the opioid settlement money they have received. He said some counties have already created committees and spent some of the money, but other counties in this region are still waiting on clarification on how and to who the money can be distributed. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said the 2024 county tentative budget is available for the public in her office. Curley reported on the Missouri Association of Counties meeting held Tuesday where they discussed unfunded and underfunded state mandates, jail Prisoner per Diem payments, assessor reimbursements, salaries, clarification on Senate Bill 190 and much more. Also, the budget hearing for the 2024 budget will be held Monday, January 29th at 10:00 at the courthouse. At 10:00, the commission opened bids on surplus and scrap property. Jarred Givens was awarded the small windows with his bid of $12 and the large windows with his bid of $15. Jordan Thompson was the high bid for the scrap cooper for $400, and Pat Tackett was the high bid for the round windows at $250.00, the wrought iron fence for $300 and the wrought iron corner for $100. At the last meeting, Dent County Collector Shannon VanKirk gave her updated turnover report for the month of December. A total of $5,134,017 was collected from Real Estate, Personal Property taxes and Merchant’s Licenses. Another $171,822.95 was collected from the State Assessed Utilities like railroads, pipelines, electric transmission lines, etc. The next meeting of the Dent County Commission will be Monday at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

The Dent County Fire Protection board of directors met Tuesday evening. After the roll call and approval of the consent agenda, the board approved the minutes of the December meeting as presented. The financial report showed an ending balance of 185,138.72 as of December 31st. That figure does include a part of next years tax money that was received earlier in December. During the budget review it was noted that firefighter equipment for the department was 289.31% over budget due to the replacement firefighter gear from insurance and gear purchased with grant money and the replacement of the engine on truck #85. Treasurer Dave Wells stated that at this time, with not all bills in, it appears that approximately 69,000.00 will be carried over from the 2023 budget. Bills, payments, and statements were reviewed with all accounts being reconciled. The budget was then reviewed with the 2022 comparison showing all tax money was collected and the budget was over in some categories due to the insurance paying for damaged gear. The monthly reimbursement report showed a total of 18 calls for the month of December and the same total year to date. Of the calls received, six were fire calls, four were medical, three calls that were canceled. One call each for utility problems, alarms, and Hazmat, with two calls being classified as other. In old business, Engine 85 is being refitted and parts are being used on other trucks. Engine 85 is still not back in service. In new business, Sarah Montoya was passed by the officers board to join the department as a fire fighter. The board of directors with interview Montoya at the next scheduled meeting and make a final decision. Chief Floyd then gave his report to the board and said the he had met with Sentinel Emergency Solutions to check truck prices for SCBA packs for the department and that pricing is being sent to him for review. The next meeting date was set for Tuesday, February 13th at 6:00 at the fire station. The meeting will be open to the public.