News – Friday, January 17th 2025

The Dent County Commissioners met for their regular meeting Thursday morning at the courthouse. Bob Gravely Jr. was in and had questions about how the budget is prepared by the commission. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson and County Clerk Angie Curley explained the process starts about two months before the end of the year, then officer holders will receive income and expense reports in December for the current year before submitting their budget requests to the commission for the next year. The commissioners review all the requests and then may ask the office holders to come into a regular meeting to discuss their needs before a tentative budget is prepared. The public hearing to approve the budget will be held on Thursday morning at 10:00, January 23rd at the commissioner’s office in the courthouse at which time the commission will go over key points of the budget before it is approved. Grant Wilson from Congressman Jason Smith’s Rolla office was in and congratulated Commissioners Keith Green and Jimmy Williams on taking office. He said the 119th Congress has been busy passing FEMA bills with bi-partisan support to help expedite claims and hold them accountable for getting to the stricken areas to assess the damage and provide help to those citizens. He also said they have passed bills on not allowing men to participate in female sports, and for the United States to enter into a tax treaty with Taiwan that should help decrease the reliance on China. Wilson said they are working on a bill that would extend the Trump tax cuts, reduce spending and work on the energy situation, but that is still being discussed in Congress. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Keith Green said workers will be picking up a truck that broke down on the way to Knapheide in Jefferson City to have the salt spreader installed and are bringing it back to the shop for repairs. He also said crews would be out checking roads for slick spots. District 2 Commissioner Jimmy Williams said workers are spreading salt and sand on remaining slick spots, doing some minor grading, and cutting brush and low limbs on county road 4330. Commissioner Williams said the county is waiting on bids to extend the warranty on the Caterpillar graders from Fabick as the warranty has already expired. Gary Parker also came in and said there is ice on a hill as well as on a bridge on Dent County Road 5225, and Commissioner Williams said he will have someone check that out. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson said he and Commissioner Green attended the FEMA meeting Tuesday. He said Dent County sustained between six and seven million dollars in road damages, and after meeting with the FEMA officials, the county will address the damaged roads and bridges in projects. According to Commissioner Green, crews will be doing repairs one project at a time, then submitting the paperwork necessary to be reimbursed before moving on to the next project. He said a project may be six or seven roads, or could just be one bridge, depending on the severity and the costs associated with making the repairs. He said this is the only way the county can afford to make the needed repairs without having to borrow money. Clerk Angie Curley said the preliminary county budget is available in her office and can be picked up, or you can contact them and they can e-mail you the budget. Call 729-4144 for more information. She also said tax entity certifications are due by January 28th in her office. Curley went on to say the courthouse would be closed on Monday, January 20th for Martin Luther King’s birthday. She also said she would be attending a Missouri Association of Counties Board meeting on Thursday, January 23rd. The next meeting of the commission will be Thursday morning, January 23rd at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting will be open to the public.