Local News – Thursday, September 14th, 2023

The City of Salem Utility Committee met Wednesday evening for their regular meeting at the Salem Community Center@The Armory. At the meeting, City of Salem Finance Director Stacey Houston went over the two month revenue and expense totals for the utilities that showed the Electric Fund had revenues over expenses of $483,585, the water fund had revenues over expenses of $24,721 and sewer fund had revenues over expenses of $75,666. In her report, Houston showed the utility fund balances since the beginning of the fiscal year as a whole have gained almost $530,000 and total $3,901,238 as of August 31st. City Administrator Sally Burbridge reported the city is working with Exceleron on accepting credit card payments online and on an automated phone system that will accept payments 24/7. The city will be working on the components over the next few weeks before putting this part of the system in operation. There will be a fee for users to charge their bills using either of these two credit card elements. The online and automated phone pay system are two of the three pieces that city wants to make happen with the other part being a pre-pay system which is not ready. She is not sure at this time when that will be ready. The city is also working on e-mailing utility bills. They are working with EnCode on this and they will be loading the program on the back end of the city’s system. Once these are tested, they will be offered to citizens and Administrator Burbridge hopes that will be by the next meeting, but said that is if everything works correctly. Burbridge also said she has signed up to attend the MPUA Annual Conference September 27th through the 29th in Branson. She also said an MMMPEP Committee meeting with the Plum Point participants will be held November 1st with an MMMPEP full committee meeting to be held November 2nd. After a discussion on having the water tested at each of the wells for $3,691 per well as quoted by Pace Laboratories, the committee made no motion to have the water tested. Committee Chair Kyle Williams said the Board of Aldermen would like to have a workshop with the Utility Committee to discuss utilities outside the city limits. Much if not all of the workshop may be in closed session after the next aldermen meeting depending upon the topic discussed. Net metering was discussed where a resident is concerned that he is not getting the credit due since his system was installed. Public Works Director Mark Nash said he believes the gentleman has, but the way the current electric meter is configured, it does not show how the credit is applied. Nash said the meter needs to be reprogrammed to provide a cumulative usage. He said that after the meter is reprogrammed, if it shows the gentleman did not get the proper credit, the utility department will make the appropriate credit. After other questions from the public, the meeting was adjourned.

The Dent County Fire Protection District Board of Directors met Tuesday evening at the fire station. The financial report showed an ending balance as of August 31st of $145,732.25. Bills, payments and statements along with the budget were then reviewed and approved. Treasurer Dave Wells then reminded the board that money will have to be transferred from the general account to the Progressive Ozark Bank account for the upcoming loan payment for the renovation loan. A motion was then made and approved to transfer $41,000 from the Town and County Bank to the Progressive Ozark loan payment account. After the calendar review, the monthly reimbursement report was presented showing a total of 18 calls for the month of August bringing the total calls year to date to 200. The department responded to five building fires, one outside equipment fire, three medical assist or EMS assist calls, two gas leaks, one call to assist police or other governmental agency, one lightning strike, and two other special incident calls. In old business, it was reported the department is still waiting for the motor mounts for Engine 85 to be manufactured. Fire Chief Brad Nash reported that turnout gear has been ordered including rental gear that should be arriving this week. The new replacement gear is still about six months out. Before adjourning, the date was then set for the next meeting which will be held Tuesday evening, October 12th, at 6:00 at the fire station located at #2 South Main Street. The meeting will be open to the public.

With the fall season right around the corner, if you are looking for breathtaking views, trails, or adventure, check out the Missouri State Parks website at missouristateparks.com. Check out the “Know Before You Go” list of all the state parks in the state of Missouri, park hours, any park advisories that may affect trails, access, camping or even warnings like tick advisories. The site is a virtual treasure trove of information on parks you may have never heard of that are virtually in your back yard. Many have guided hikes on the numerous trails you will find. At the site, you can find the website for each and every state park, the things you can do at each park and more.