News – Friday, January 16th 2026

The Dent County Commission met Thursday morning at the courthouse. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Keith Green said a pipe would be installed on Dent County Road 4122, while other crews are stockpiling rock and getting the chips for the chip and seal road work this year. Green went on to say other pipes on various county roads were going to be checked to see if they need to be unclogged or replaced. District 2 Commissioner Jimmy Williams reported rock would be added and grading done on Dent County Road 3330 while only grading would be done on county road 4410. Williams stated brush would be cut on county road 2590 and maintenance work is being done on a hydraulic pump on a county dump truck. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson stated he attended Industrial Development Authority meeting Wednesday where they went over financials, discussed payments from the IDA to the city for economic development, and also heard from Economic Development Director Carrie Sutterfield who discussed the new Spring Creek Ridge housing development project. The project will begin being constructed in November at a cost of over 13 million dollars. Larson also reported the courthouse would be closed Monday for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday observation. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley stated the tentative preliminary budget is available to the public at the clerk’s office, or anyone interested can call them at 573-729-4144 and have the budget e-mailed to you. She again reiterated that all political subdivisions need to get their election or non-election certification submitted to her office by 5:00 on January 27th. Curley went on to say that she would be attending a Missouri Association of Counties board meeting on Thursday, January 22nd. Dent County Collector Shannon VanKirk said the county collected over $7,034,000 in taxes in December. She said $6,732,251.73 of the personal property and real estate taxes collected will be distributed to the political subdivisions while surtax that was collected in December will be held back for distribution in February. VanKirk also reported a total of $204,336.03 was collected for the railroad and utility taxes that will be distributed while the surtax amount of $28,732.76 will be held for distribution until February. At the last meeting, the county Road and Bridge Department sold a 2006 Ford 450 truck on Purple Wave for $18,500, and those funds were deposited in the Road and Bridge Fund. The county received a quote from Thomas Excavating on relocating furniture, building a stub wall and creating two workspace for $11,500 in the county assessor’s office due her office losing space for the building of a handicapped accessible bathroom on the east side of the courthouse first floor. The commission also approved to seek bids for chip and seal work. Those bids must be turned in to the county clerk’s office by 10:00 in the morning on February 19th at 400 North Main Street in Salem. If anyone has questions about the bid, they should call the commissioner’s office at 573-729-3044 between 9:00 in the morning and noon on Mondays and Thursdays. The commission will have the right to accept or reject all bids. The next meeting of the Dent County Commissioners will be Thursday morning at the courthouse at 9:00 and the meeting is open to the public.