Local News – Tuesday, April 26th, 2022

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the courthouse for their regular meeting. At the meeting, Deloris Grey Wood from the Dent County Historical Society was in attendance to thank Commissioners Wes Mobray and Darrell Skiles for attending their meeting Thursday evening at the Salem Community Center@The Armory that featured Superintendent Jason Lott of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. Wood said well over 100 people were in attendance to participate in the meeting. She said the meetings of the society are topics dealing with the history of the local area and they are always open to the public. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Mobray said crews will be cleaning up a trash pile on Dent County Road 5390 plus checking for downed trees and washouts. The commission is asking anyone who sees a truck or people stopped along a county roadway with trash or furniture to please get a vehicle description and or a license plate that can be provided to law enforcement. If someone is leaving trash on your road that is ending up on your property, cameras are available to help catch the culprits. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson said a crew will be patching chip and seal roads with the ultimate paving material while another crew will be checking for washouts and downed trees. He said work will be done to county road 2183 to provide better access to the Anutt Community Building. Larson said he received the contract back from the Missouri Department of Conservation to help provide funds to maintain county roads that access conservation areas for $19,652. Larson also is asking the public not post pictures of county roads that need attention on social media as the county road crews take care of over 630 miles of county roads and are not intentionally missing any roads. Rain and wet conditions as well as freezing temperatures have prevented crews from grading for quite some time where crews the last two weeks have been able to only grade about a day and a half. They ask for your patience and they will get to the roads once there is some dry weather. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles and Commissioner Mobray attended the South Central Regional Economic Development meeting held last Thursday in Houston arranged by Economic Development Director Sally Burbridge. They toured the Durham plant while in Houston who is still looking for about 50 more employees. They also discussed improving Highway 63 from Thayer to Jefferson City, preferably to a four-lane highway, and they also touched on broadband with the Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative. Skiles said he and Mobray also attended the historical society meeting at the Salem Community Center@The Armory on Thursday. Skiles said the commission needed to sign a Notice of Decision prepared by Kelly Sink of the MRPC so the Salem Memorial District Hospital could apply for the $200,000 in county ARPA funds. The next meeting of the Dent County Commission will be Thursday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

The Salem Board of Aldermen will meet this evening at 6:00 for the regular meeting at the City Hall Council Chambers. In the hearing of persons, Sara Massengale will address the board about closing Iron, 4th and 5th streets on Saturday, June 4th for an all-day Taste of Dent County event. After the consent agenda is approved which shows an invoice for $24,571.35 for implements to a 2022 Peterbilt as well as sales tax and CART tax reports. The board will hear and discuss Bill #3504 which would create an ordinance to authorize the mayor to execute a contingency allocation of $9,513 between the City of Salem and Energy Solutions Professionals, LLC for additional services at 301 North Grand; hear and discuss Resolution 11-2022 authorizing the law firm of Cunningham, Vogel and Rost, PC to perform a review of the City of Salem Personnel Policy Manual under the current approved terms for professional services as adopted by Ordinance 3199 on June 21st, 2010; and hear and discuss Resolution 12-2022 authorizing the mayor to sign an agreement between the City of Salem and United Healthcare for medical insurance for employees for a total premium of $287,244.36 effective July 1, 2022. The board will also hear and discuss Resolution 13-2022 authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement between the City of Salem and SCI Engineering, Inc. for geotechnical services in doing soil bores for $5,950 at the certified site at the Masters Industrial Park, and Resolution 14-2022 authorizing the extension of an agreement between the City of Salem and Godi Excavating Services for work at the certified site in the Masters Industrial Park. The board will then hear reports from City Administrator Ray Walden, Mayor Greg Parker, Public Works Director Mark Nash, Economic Development Director Sally Burbridge, Park and Recreation Director Melissa Dubois and aldermen. In old business, the board will discuss a new truck for the Park and Recreation Department before getting the financial report from Financial Director Stacey Houston. The board will also discuss the selling of five surplus vehicles owned by the city. The board will then go into closed session to discuss contracts. The meeting of the City of Salem Board of Aldermen is open to the public.