Local News – Tuesday, December 19th, 2023

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the courthouse. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson was not in attendance due to a family matter, but did call in his report. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley appointed 1st District Commissioner Wes Mobray as the acting Presiding Commissioner for the meeting. In the road report, Commissioner Mobray said rock would be added and grading done on Dent County Road 6460 while only grading would be done on county roads 6400 and 6220. He said brush would be cut on county road 2480 and a new grader blade was being installed on Dent County Grader #39. District 2 Commissioner Gary Polk reported rock would be added and grading done on county road 4030 while only grading would be done on county roads 4020 and 4380. He said brush would be cut on county roads 3020 and 3030. Presiding Commissioner Larson said at the Transportation Advisory Committee meeting last Thursday, the Route TT Bridge over Crooked Creek near Sligo was voted the top priority in the Meramec Region capturing 83 votes. Scoping for this project was in the latest 5-year STIP, and this vote reinforces the need for the bridge improvement to occur. Larson said the Huzzah Creek Bridge on Highway 32 at Boss came in 1st in the medium priority category with 31 votes. County Clerk Angie Curley said she balanced with the treasurer on all monthly accounts for November. She also said vendors need to submit their invoices to the county by noon December 28th to be paid this year. No bills can be paid by the county in January, except for payroll, until the budget is approved. The next meeting of the commission will be Thursday at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

The Salem R-80 Board of Education regular meeting was held last Thursday at the district administrative offices. The board recognized Alex Diehl for being All-SCA Conference in Cross Country and finishing 30th in the state competition which qualified him for the All-State status. Superintendent Lynne Reed said most of the Construction Trades building shell will be completed by Friday with the other minor improvements still to be made in January. Assistant Superintendent Nathan Wills said the Annual Progress Report was released to schools and shows Salem R-80 needs improvement in English Language Arts, Mathematics and attendance, but the full report will be discussed at a later date. Will said the water testing continues at the school for lead. Right now the school is in the middle of mitigation with the next testing to be done in mid January. After the reports from the building principals and Athletic Director Clay Moody, the board discussed the list of capital improvements the school needs and the list came to 27 items totaling 7.1 million dollars. Not all of the items on the list are critical, but a number of them will need to be addressed soon before further deterioration. The board discussed a bond to get there repairs made as well as the residual balance amount on the FEMA addition at the Upper Elementary. The board agreed a six million dollar bond issue would cover much of the needed work and passed a resolution calling for a bond election for the school district for the April election. If passed, the increase in the debt service levy would be an additional 34 cents on top of the current 45 cents for 79 cents total per $100 assessed valuation. It was also brought out in the discussion that the schools proposed purchase of the SBU building is contingent on the passing of the bond. The board also talked about how the district would be able to afford keeping the teachers salaries competitive at the $38,000 mark that this year is being subsidized by the state and that would only be by an operating tax levy increase. This also would help cover expenses at the school that continue to rise. The board discussed the amount of a permanent increase they thought would be needed and finally decided on asking the voters to pass an additional 90 cent operating tax levy. This would raise about an additional $700,000 for the schools General Revenue Fund. The board passed the resolution calling for the election in the April election of increasing the district’s operating tax levy from $2.75 per $100 assessed valuation by 90 cents to $3.65 per $100 assessed valuation. They also passed a resolution authorizing the appropriation of not more than $115,000 for the purpose of prepaying a portion of the districts outstanding general obligation bonds or other actions in connection with that payment. The board approved the job description of the Director of Operations position that would deal with mostly non-academic issues, approved the FFA out-of-state trip, and approved the revised FEMA building design at the Upper Elementary school. The board tabled the CEP for the high school and the January meeting date will be January 18th. The board accepted the resignation of Kristi Steelman as freshman and middle school volleyball coach before going into closed session where the board employed Rich Parks as the Director of Operations for the 2024-25 school year. The meeting was then adjourned.

An accident happened Thursday morning at 10:40 on Highway 68 about 12 miles south of St. James. According to the highway patrol report, a 2021 Chevrolet Trailblazer driven northbound by 62-year-old Catharina Pot of Salem, crossed the center line and struck a 2021 Ram 4500 driven southbound by 49-year-old Raymond Hamlich of St. Clair. Pot suffered moderate injuries and was taken to Phelps Health by the Phelps Health Ambulance. Both drivers were wearing their seat restraints. The Chevy sustained extensive damage and was removed from the scene by Spurgeon’s Towing of St. James. The Ram sustained moderate damage and was driven from the scene.