Local News – Friday, November 6th, 2020
An accident happened on Thursday afternoon, October 29th shortly before 4:00 at the intersection of Highway 19 and Truman. The report from the Salem Police Department states that a 2001 Ford F-250 being driven by Kelley Rector of Salem and owned by Ronald Lewis of Salem, was traveling southbound on Highway 19 approaching Truman Street. The Ford had stopped in traffic and was signaling to turn left. At that time, a 2001 Dodge Ram 3500 being driven by Tyler Harrison of Salem and owned by Jannelle Harrison of Salem, was also traveling south on Highway 19 approaching Truman. Harrison stated he looked down for a moment and then realized the Ford was stopped. The Dodge then started to skid on the wet road surface and struck the Ford from behind. A passenger in the Dodge suffered probable minor injuries but refused medical treatment. Harrison suffered probable minor injuries and was transported by a private vehicle to the Salem Memorial District Hospital for evaluation and treatment. The Dodge had moderate damage and the Ford had minor damage. The report states that the crash was not investigated at the scene.
The Dent County Fire Protection Board of Directors met Tuesday evening at the fire station. After approval of the consent agenda, minutes from the October meeting were reviewed and approved as presented. The board then heard the financial report with bills being presented and approved. The budget showed an ending balance of $136,466.49 as of October 31st. The Calendar was then reviewed before the hearing of the monthly reimbursement report. The department had a total of 20 calls for the month of October including four structure fires, one flu fire, three brush fires, five first responder calls, three vehicle accidents, two training calls and two listed as other. Total calls year to date stand at 201 with the average cost per call of $117.15. Chief Nash reported that the building project is still ongoing with the ceiling tiles and lights being replaced. The front room and the kitchen are now complete. The date for the next meeting was set for Tuesday, December 1st at 6:00 at the fire station at #2 South Main Street. That meeting will be open to the public.
An audit of Edgar Springs found numerous problems with the city’s accounting controls and procedures, as well as other operations of city government. State Auditor Nicole Galloway conducted the audit at the request of residents who submitted a petition to her office. The report gave a rating of “poor.” Galloway said the audit of Edgar Springs found several significant concerns, including incomplete budgets and inaccurate financial statements. These are serious issues that impact transparency for citizens on how their taxpayer dollars are used and went on to say that city officials need to address and implement the recommendations in the audit in order to get on the right track. The audit found city officials did not prepare complete annual budgets as required by state law or monitor budgets appropriately. City officials also did not prepare and maintain accurate financial statements and accounting records, resulting in errors on monthly financial statements. In addition, city officials did not publish complete and accurate financial statements or file accurate and timely financial reports with the State Auditor’s Office, as required by state law. The audit also found several concerns with accounting controls and procedures in the operation of the city’s sewer system, including how rates are determined and how deposits, adjustments and delinquent accounts are handled. The city also needs to segregate accounting duties and improve receipting and depositing procedures to safeguard monies collected, and to improve procedures over disbursements. In addition, the audit found the city does not have a bidding policy to ensure taxpayers get the best deal for services. For example, the city did not solicit bids or document the process for selecting a vendor that completed street and building repairs funded through federal grants and totaling more than $37,000. The audit also found city officials did not always comply with the Sunshine Law. In March, after city hall was closed to the public due to COVID-19, the former Mayor directed the city clerk to only process and bill sewer payments. In June, the former Mayor resigned and the city clerk resumed responding to records requests.