Local News – Tuesday, May 14th, 2019

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. At the meeting, Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams presented the commission with the sales tax amounts received in Mayto the proper funds. She reported the General Revenue Fund Salem Tax showed receipts of $64,433.28 for the month of May and that is up $14,482.24 over the May of 2018 figure of $49,850.54. Year-to-date the General Revenue Funds is up $15,673.29 and that is an increase of about 4.03%. She said the Law Enforcement Sales Tax numbers are virtually identical to the General Revenue Fund. Williams went on to say the Road and Bridge Sales Tax Fund received $28,523.33 and that is up $4,761.18 over the 2018 May figure of $23,762.15. Year-to-date, the Road and Bridge Sales Tax Fund is up $10,760.20 and that is an increase of near 6.21%. The new Dent County Jail sales tax funds each received $59,665.86 this May compared to $47,171.49 in May of 2018. The increase this year is $12,494.37 per fund. Year- to-date for each fund shows an increase of $29,943.12. That increase comes in at around 8.81%. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell said workers would be patching chip and seal roads 4110, 4150 and 4180. He went on to report that a new road sign would be put back on county road 4180 and materials were going to be added to county road 5525. He said patch grading would occur on Dent County Roads 5525, 6240 and 6255. Purcell stated a man would be heading to Springfield to pick up a batch of the Ultimate Patching Material for chip and seal road repair. He said workers would still keep an eye out for washouts. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson said pipes were going to be installed on Dent County Road 2570 and materials would also be added to that road. Larson stated his crew would be out checking for washouts, especially on county road 4405. He reported workers would be replacing the tires on Dent County Truck 115 and working on brush cutter #6 as some of the bearings are getting bad. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles said he attended the PHA Board meeting in St. James Thursday and they approved their budget for the next fiscal year. Skiles said the next MRPC annual meeting and awards banquet will be held Thursday, October 26th in Waynesville at the Stone Brook Center. He went on to report the MRPC re-elected their officers for the upcoming year. Skiles also stated that Matt Hesser, a demographer for the state of Missouri, talked about the importance of the upcoming 2020 census and what it can mean for Missouri if not all the citizens are accounted for. The next meeting of the Dent County Commissioners will be Thursday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

Don’t forget that this is the last week of the Spring Clean-Up in the city of Salem. Your regular pickup day will also be the day you can put out unlimited trash.

The Dent County Extension Council met Monday, April 29th at the Community Center @ The Armory. After approval of the agenda John Langdon, candidate for the Extension Regional Livestock Specialist position, made a presentation that included information on his background, education and areas of livestock emphasis. Landon’s presentation was followed by a question and answer session. Following the presentation and Langdon’s departure the Council voted to agree with offering the position to Langdon. The Council then reviewed and approved the minutes of the March 19th meeting, the treasurer’s report and staff reports. In old business the council voted to nominate the Dustin and Dru Howard as the Farm Family for the Missouri State Fair and the Ted and Ashley Cunningham family as the alternate. Motion was made and passed to combine the May Council meeting with the annual picnic to be held at Wurdack on June 10th. It was noted that orientation held primarily for new Council Members, but open to all, will be May 16th from 6:00 until 8:00 in the evening at MRPC in St. James. In new business the Council voted to pay for one of the three picnic tables that are being placed on the Courthouse Square. The meeting was then adjourned.