Local News – Tuesday, May 4th, 2021

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. Randy League from the Midwest Blue Oval Club asked the commissioners for permission for the club to hold their Current River Rally and it will be held on Saturday, September 11th at the courthouse square. As always, all the proceeds raised from the event will go to local charities. The commissioners approved the request. Salem and Dent County Economic Development Director Sally Burbridge went over her report that showed the unemployment in Dent County going down while more people are looking for work. She updated the commission on new business prospects as well as six prospective warehousing and distribution prospects that have been abandoned due to a lack of response, found another site, or elected not to relocate from the current location. Burbridge did report another Dent County business was approved for funding through the CARES Revolving Loan Fund. She also said the website is coming along, but it will be another month or two before the business directory is fully updated. Gary Fiebelman from Dent County Road 4220 was in about the conditions of the road. First District Commissioner Wes Mobray reported that the road was worked on in late November when gravel was added and the road was graded, and in March when a new culvert pipe was installed with more gravel being added and spread around the installation area. Fielbelman requested since the road is closer to District 2 roads that their road crew take over and maintain the road. Mobray said he and Commissioner Larson would discuss it and may agree that whatever crew is closest check the road. There was a number of residents in attendance to discuss a gate that had been installed on Dent County Road 4128 about a year ago that prohibits residents from gaining access to get to the backside of the Bonebrake property for cattle feeding and also to a neighbor’s driveway. The county had maintained the road all the way to a gate that entered the Bonebrake property in the past and even chip and sealed a large portion of that road that is actually beyond the gate. The road had not been legally abandoned by the county and the commission will have Dent County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Curley review the issue to get his opinion on the matter. In the road report, Commissioner Mobray reported grading would be done on Dent County Roads 5615 and 6665, plus materials would be added and grading done on county road 6670. Mobray went on to say brush would be cut on county roads 5550 and 5560. He also reported the FLAP projects on replacing the Cooley Bridge and the paving of the Tan Vat hill are moving forward. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson stated grading was going to be done on Dent County Roads 2210 and 2370, while materials will be added and grading done on county roads 2200 and 3140. He went on to say brush would be cut on county road 2350 and a man may be going to Springfield to pick up oil for the chip and seal repair, weather permitting. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles said Anderson and Associates on working on the courthouse evaluation and that he would be in Jefferson City Wednesday to speak with the legislature on behalf of CCAM. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said the voter registration canvassing must be done every two years and the residents will be receiving a Blue post card size voter registration card as her office will be mailing the cards out today. If all of the information is correct, please keep the card as that is your legal voter registration ID. If there are errors, please correct them and mail the card back in. You can also correct the errors in her office in the courthouse. If you have any questions, call her office at 729-4144. At 10:00, bids for grader blades and culverts for the Road and Bridge Department were opened. The winning bid for grader blades went to Erb Equipment out of Cuba for $9,350.00 which is below the budgeted amount of $10,000. The winning bid for culverts went to Viebrock Sales and Service out of Sedalia for $31,204.00. The county had only budgeted $20,000 for culverts and may reduce the number they ordered to bring the price down, plus make a budget adjustment as the price of the culverts is not going to come down. They will review all the projects they have scheduled before purchasing the culverts. At the last meeting, Christa Harmon requested the use of the courthouse grounds and parking for the Substance Abuse Opiod Use Disorders Awareness Walk to be held on Saturday, August 7th at 10:00 in the morning which was approved. The next meeting of the Dent County Commissioners will be Monday morning at 9:00 and the meeting is open to the public.