Local News – Tuesday, December 7th, 2021

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the courthouse for their regular meeting. Healthy Dent County Director Sherry Lea was in attendance to discuss the rural addressing contract with the commission. They have been providing this service since 2008 and the cost has remained at $12,000 per year. They are in charge of providing rural addresses for any new structures in the county and are constantly updating their data bases. At a webinar attended by Lea and Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles Friday about NG911, it was found that Dent County’s addressing is 86% accurate which is better than most counties and is even better than the state of Missouri. Lea also said that if people have a home off the road where the house numbers can’t be seen, please get an address sign indicating your home is down that driveway or at that location. This is a necessity for emergency vehicles looking for your home. Those signs with posts can be purchased from the Dent County Scenic Rivers Industries (Sheltered Workshop) at a very reasonable cost and they are reflective signs that can be seen for some distance. The Sheltered Workshop is located at Franklin and Grand and their phone number is 729-6264. The commission approved renewing the contract. Salem and Dent County Economic Development Director Sally Burbridge provided the commissioners with her report for the month of November. She said she has one new active prospect for a business in Salem that does not already exist here. She continues to work with current businesses on expansions and retentions. Burbridge said she has added a new addition to the City of Salem part of the website called “How Do I?” which will let people know how to call for about a wild animal, start a business and more. She reported Salem is still in the running for the FHLB Affordable Housing Grant for $600,000 to rehab up to 25 occupied homes. That winner will be announced later this month. She also said the Salem Housing Authority’s 3rd house that was flipped is now under contract. The unemployment in Dent County rose slightly in October from 2.7% to 3.0%. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Wes Mobray indicated grading would be done on Dent County Roads 5400, 5420 and 6460 while brush would be cut on county roads 5150 and 5160. Mobray said ditch work would be done on county road 4170 at the Adams Subdivision and a crew will be cleaning up a trash dump on Dent County Road 5440. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson said materials would be added and grading done on Dent County Roads 4437 and 5340 while only grading would be done on county roads 3220 and 6160. Larson stated brush would be cut on county roads 3330 and 4060 and maintenance was going to be performed on county truck #122. Larson did say the stop sign on county road 3210, better known as the Hospital Road, was going to be straightened up and a crew would be repairing a pothole on that road. Presiding Commissioner Skiles said he attended the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District Annual Awards Banquet last Tuesday where nine groups were saluted for their waste reduction efforts. One of those recipients was Lori Cody from Montauk State Park who was funded about three years ago to start a recycling program in the campsite that has now caught on and is used in a lot of the state park campgrounds in Missouri. Skiles reiterated he attended the NG911 meeting on Friday at the Salem Community Center@The Armory with Sheriff Wells and deputies Pabin and Roderman. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said she will continue to work on the county 2022 budget. At the last meeting, the commissioners set the 2022 budget hearing for January 27th at 10:00 at the courthouse and the tentative budget would be available to the public on January 18th in the Dent County Clerk’s office. The next meeting of the Dent County Commissioners will be Monday, December 13th at 9:00 and the meeting is open to the public.

The City of Salem and the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce will be holding another Business Christmas Window Decorating Contest with the winner being announced on the afternoon of Monday, December 13th. This is your chance to put your window decorating skills on display to capture the grand prize of $250.00! The theme this year is “A Storybook Christmas.” To be a part of the contest you MUST call or e-mail the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce to be included on the judging form by the end of the day Wednesday, December 8th. You should also indicate if your window will just going be painted, will be lit and feature decorations, or will be a combination of both. All window decorations MUST be completed by the late afternoon of December 10th as the judging will take place from December 10th through the morning of December 13th with the winner awarded the $250 check at 4:00 in the afternoon on December 13th. The contest is open to all Salem businesses. For more information, call Tabitha at the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce at 729-6900 or e-mail her chamber@salemmo.com.