Local News – Tuesday, December 15th, 2020

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the courthouse for their regular meeting. District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell was not in attendance due to a previous commitment. Sherry Lea, the executive Director of Healthy Dent County, was in to discuss the renewal of the rural addressing services they have been performing since 2008. The contract is for $12,000 annually to be paid in two semi-annual payments. The commission would also be responsible for the $995 maintenance fee. The commissioners voted to approve renewing the contract for another year. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams presented the sales tax received by the county from the state in December and it was down from last December in all funds. In the General Revenue Fund and LEST Fund, they each received $84,644.84 this month and that is down $13,020.07 from last December, but year-to-date, the funds finished the 2020 year up $55,886.21 which is about a 5.7% increase. The Road and Bridge Fund received $39,771.38 and that was down from last year by $5,877.78, but year to date, the fund finished up $34,121.26 which is about 7.5%. The two jail funds, the Operating Fund and the Trust Fund, each received $79,550.59 and that is down $11,745.39 for December, but year to date, those funds are each up $67,796.97 which is about a 7.45% increase. Matt Presti was in to report on the Patriotic Rally held Saturday on the courthouse lawn and said 100 plus people attended with no altercations of any kind. He wanted to thank the commission for allowing them to use the lawn for the rally. In the road report, District 1 Road Supervisor Rodney Atkinson stated grading would be done on Dent County Roads 4210, 4215, 5610 and 5615, while materials would be added and grading done on county roads 6630 and 6633. He also said brush would be cut on county road 5620. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson reported grading would be done on Dent County Road 3350 while materials would be added and grading done on county road 3330. He went on to say brush would be cut on county roads 4030 and 4330 while grader #31 would receive its 500 hour service. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles said he attended the Ozark Rivers Solid waste Management District Full Council meeting last week where they received updates on grants and approved extensions on some awards. He said he attended by Zoom a Transportation Advisory Committee meeting at the Salem Community Center @ The Armory on Thursday with Ray Walden and Gary Brown attending. This meeting sets the region’s priorities they would like MoDOT to address in the coming year. Skiles said the first priority was putting in a bridge at the low water crossing on Route TT at Sligo over Crooked Creek, and the third priority was the replacement of the Highway 19 South Bridge over Gladden Creek, better known as the Standing Rock Bridge. Skiles said at the MRPC meeting later that night, the commission heard from Jason Jeffries from the Missouri Department of Conservation about feral hogs and other items of interest to the department. Skiles said he would be attending a CCAM meeting Wednesday in Jefferson City to get the latest information about the upcoming commissioner training and the legislative priorities of the counties. Skiles also reported at the FCC auction last week to provide broadband services to rural Missouri, Aptitude Internet out of Farmington received a large portion of the 7.4 million dollars that went to Dent County. Rural Electric Consortium will receive funds as well as CenturyLink to provide broadband in Dent County. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said she is still working on the 2021 county budget, and Tuesday is the first day for candidates for the Municipal Election in April to file at the location of the entity they are running for except for those running for the Dent County Health Center Board of Directors and they need to file at the Dent County Clerks office. She also said she balanced with the collector and assessor on all collections, abatements and add-ons for the month of November. The commissioners approved a contract with the MRPC to continue to represent Dent County on the CARES Act distributions and the issuing of the upcoming tax form requirements as well as answering any auditing questions that may arise. Kurt Faigle of the 100 Wood Acre Rally was on a conference call with the commissioners and the rally will be held on March 19th and 20th, but there will be no Park Expose in downtown Salem that Saturday and no spectators will be allowed as of now at the normal spectator locations due to the pandemic. He still feels there will be a large contingent of vehicles that will register in 2021 as this has been one of the most popular races over the last two years with over 80 entries each year. The next meeting of the Dent County Commissioners will be Monday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

The University Extension of Missouri will be holding a Goat and Sheep Production Workshop this evening at 6:00 via Zoom. This is an online only workshop. Please call 1-816-324-3147 to receive a Zoom link.