Local News – Tuesday, May 5th, 2020

The Dent County Commissioners met for their regular meeting Monday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. Dent County Health Center Administrator Kendra Mobray attended the meeting to let the commission know that many businesses were opening or expanded their services Monday with suggested guidelines by Governor Mike Parson. Mobray said Dent County still has had no positive coronavirus tests as of Monday morning. Salem and Dent County Economic Development Director Sally Burbridge was in attendance to let the commission know she has been working with over 50 companies in town to keep them updated through the ‘Stay at Home” order and will be available for any questions that may come up. She said a couple of new business leads occurred but nothing solid as of Monday morning. She said she has been working on the city and county branding and brought in a sample for the commissions to review which they liked. The website is still under construction, but moving forward. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell indicated materials would be added and grading done on Dent County Roads 4122, 4124 and 5600 while only grading would be done on county road 5550; and only materials would be added to county road 5900. Purcell said brush would be cut on county road 6210 and that the tourism tax income for March took a hit due to the “Stay at Home” order and was down $4,068.82 from March of 2019. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson stated grading would be done on Dent County Roads 3220, 3225 and 5260 while materials would added and grading done on county road 2540. He also reported brush would be cut on county road 2110. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles talked with the commissioners about the Coronavirus Relief Fund in which $521 million federal dollars were sent to the State of Missouri in which they in turn distributed to the individual counties. The counties are to properly allocate the funds for direct coronavirus expenses incurred as well as to be distributed as grants to small businesses to reimburse them for the cost of their business interruption caused by required closures. Dent County will be receiving $1,827,024. Skiles said there are very restrictive guidelines to many parts of the fund and other guidelines that have yet to be established or interpreted on other parts. He also said the monies distributed would be subject to intense scrutiny and if not done properly, the county would be responsible to pay the funds given out back. He said the logistics on how to distribute the money would be a local nightmare and suggested that an organization like the MRPC would be better staffed to be able to provide a better service for those who need the help. He said he would like to get everything organized where the application process and distribution methods were in place before asking for any business to apply. The funds can be used to reimburse direct expenses from March 1st through December 30th, 2020. Any monies distributed from this fund would have to be done before March 21st, 2021. The board then set a meeting for Tuesday, May 26th at 9:00 with a budget hearing set for 9:30 that morning. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley reported the new tentative budget would be available in her office on May 12th. She said absentee voting continues and the testing of the voting equipment will be done on Friday, May 22nd at 9:00. She said her office would be open for absentee voting on Saturday, May 30th from 8:00 in the morning until 12:00 noon. She also stated that she and the county treasurer balanced on all accounts for the month of April. The next meeting of the Dent County Commission will be Monday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

A free University of Missouri Extension webinar series on home gardening begins 6:30 this evening. MU Extension specialists developed the eight-part series to help people who want to grow healthy foods, according to Juan Cabrera-Garcia, MU Extension horticulturist. The eight-part evening series includes an hour of instruction and 30 minutes for questions and answers. Registrants may attend individual sessions or the entire series. Classes cover the basics of cool- and warm-season gardening, including container gardening, from fertility to food preservation. Topics and specialists teaching the webinar include Planning Your Garden on May 5th with Donna Aufdenberg. Crop Fertility on May 12th with Justin Keay, Insects in Your Garden on May 19, Tamra Reall, Disease Prevention and Management on May 26th with Debi Kelly, Cool Season Crops on June 2nd, David Trinklein, Warm Season Crops on June 9th, with Katie Kammler, Container Gardening on June 16th, with David Trinklein. The sessions will conclude with Preserving the Harvest on June 23rd with Leslie Bertsch. You can register for each Wednesday night class at extension2.missouri.edu/events/home-gardening-webinar-series or email jcabrera-garcia@missouri.edu to learn more.

An accident happened in Dent County on Highway 19 about ten miles north of Salem Sunday afternoon at 12:54. According to the highway patrol report, 25-year old John Mogab of Sullivan was driving a 2008 Ford Ranger when he swerved to miss a dog and traveled off the left side of the road where he struck an embankment and overturned. Mogab suffered minor injuries and was taken by a private conveyance to Phelps Health in Rolla. The Ford Ranger was totaled and removed from the scene by American Muffler and Tire of Salem. Mogab was not wearing a seat restraint at the time of the accident.