Local News – Friday, May 13th, 2022
The Dent County Commissioners met Thursday morning in the courthouse for their regular meeting. Denita Williams, Dent County Treasurer, was in with the sales tax receipts for May. General Revenue and LEST both received $85,421.01 compared to $86,319.73 in May of 2021. Both are down $898.72 from last May and they are up year-to-date, $288,216.15. The Road and Bridge Fund received $38,708.12, which is up $2,783.38 when compared to the $35,924.74 received in May of 2021. Year-to-date, the Road and Bridge Fund is up about $142,890.00. Finally, the Jail Operations and Jail Trust funds each received $76,858.96. The figure for May of ’21 was $71,756.64, which yields an increase of $5,102.32. The Jail Funds are up year-to-date $284,584.11 each. In the road report, District One Commissioner Wes Mobray said grading would be done and materials would be added to Dent County Roads 6580, 6430 and 6435. He also reported that he attended the Health Consortium Board Meeting Wednesday in Columbia and the public informational meeting at Montauk State Park Thursday evening. District Two Commissioner Gary Larson said that grading would be done on Dent County Roads 4030, 3330, 3337, 3333, 2600 and 2590. He noted that these are all roadways providing access to cemeteries in the district as they prepare for Memorial Day. Larson went on to point out that conservation rock was being hauled to county roads 2530 and 2540. Larson also said he went to Arkansas to purchase a dump truck for his district, and he would be attending the Healthy Dent County meeting after adjournment of the Commission meeting. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles said he would attend the public meeting at Montauk to see what improvements are planned there. He reported that on Tuesday he attended the Ozark Solid Waste Management District Board meeting. Skiles noted that the district funded the cleanup of over 60 illegal dump sites in the Meramec region, one of which was in Dent County. That site yielded 38.04 tons of trash. Another project was the special collection at Brewer Science on May 30th that yielded 11.2 tons of tires and 13.1 tons of electronics. Skiles also said he attended the SACBA awards banquet Saturday night and wanted to congratulate all the nominees and winners. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said she balanced with the collector and assessor on all accounts, add-ons, and abatements, plus bills were being approved by the commissioners for payment. The Commission opened bids for the replacement of 16 digital cameras with HD ones, plus the addition of 4 new cameras in some blind spot areas. The Wave Technologies, LLC, bid was for $10,175.00, while the bid from Rommel’s Lock and Alarm was for $19,995.00. Dent County Collector Shannon VanKirk was included in the comparison of the bids since some of the costs were to be paid from the collector’s funds. After a lengthy discussion and comparisons, the bid from Rommel’s Lock and Alarm was accepted since it more nearly fit the bid specifications, plus it included three years of service compared to one by Wave. The commission received one letter expressing interest in the vacant Dent County Health Center Board of Trustees position and Dennis Floyd was appointed to the position to serve until the next municipal election. The next meeting of the Commission will be Monday morning in the courthouse at 9:00 and the meeting is open to the public.
The 2022 Senior Class of Salem High School will have a parade to celebrate their achievement this Saturday at 5:00 pm in downtown Salem. The parade route will begin on 4th Street, then turn on to 3rd Street, and end at the high school. The community is encouraged to come congratulate the seniors on their hard work.
The Ozark Natural and Cultural Resource Center is featuring an exhibit running through the end of May called “Bear Necessitates”. While enjoying the display you can get a collectible bear pin, see and touch the bear and other bear display items. Also available will be coloring pages, and other bear related books are out at the Salem Public Library. For more information, you may call Liz Condray at 729-0029. The display will run through the end of May.