News – July 23rd, 2024

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the courthouse without First District Commissioner Wes Mobray who had a prior commitment. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams presented the CART tax receipts for July and reported the county received $83,066.63 which is up $3,926.70 from the 2023 July amount,  and is up $22,316.44 year-to-date. Rick Emory was at the meeting from Dent County Road 5130 and wanted to make sure the new “no truck” signs are not going to affect local log trucks or other local truck traffic from using the county roads. The commission said the local truck traffic on the roads will be permitted. He also said he had a culvert problem he talked with Commissioner Mobray about where after rains, ponding occurs. He was checking on the progress and Road Supervisor Jason Akins, who was in attendance for Mobray, said they have not gotten to that yet. In the road report, Akins said grading would be done on Dent County Roads 4160, 5600 and 6460; while brush would be cut on county roads 5020, 5030 and 5105. Akins did say new cutting edges were being installed on Grader #39. District 2 Commissioner Gary Polk said grading was being done on Dent County Road 2050 while rock was being added on county roads 2070 and 2120. Polk also stated workers would be checking out county roads 3180 where a truck supposedly got stuck to check for damage. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson said the commission is still working on Senate Bill 190 as it was modified by Senate Bill 756 and will not go into effect until August 28th. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said today is the first day of “no excuse” absentee voting and this will continue until August 5th. She said Wednesday is the last day to mail out an absentee ballot, and sample ballots are available for free in her office. Curley said that her office and the treasurer balanced on all accounts for the month of June. The road and bridge department took phone fuel bids with Phil-Mart the lowest bidder at $2.85 a gallon. Albert Schneider attended the meeting and asked for the weeds to cut on Dent County Road 4020 where they are extremely high and drivers cannot see oncoming traffic around a curve. Commissioner Polk said he would get that on the list of work to be done. Sheriff Bob Wells and Dent County Emergency Management Director Derrick Marfitt attended the meeting to discuss the FEMA requirements for the county. Marfitt said both the county and city need to have an Emergency Management Director and he doesn’t believe the city has had one since Allen Kimrey. Marfitt is currently going through the old emergency management plan which was from 2012 and needed to know how the county was going to coordinate the needed changes with the city. Commissioner Larson said he would talk with City Administrator Sally Burbridge and/or Mayor Greg Parker to see how they want to handle this situation. The commission then heard from Susan Cunningham from SDR, Inc. about the 911 mapping and improved services and the new requirements from the state. Field work is currently going on and is expected to be completed by the end of July. The new requirements from the state. Field work is currently going on and is expected to be completed by the end of July. The new requirements will be used for addressing as well as 9-1-1 calls and extensive training by the assessor will be needed. Cunningham stated though it is unknown how the state will provide the training, she asked the commission to contact Scott Cason, NG911 coordinator, to set up a meeting with the state GIS, and if Dent County would need monthly or quarterly reports. Cunningham also said the state has not yet figured out where they will get the financial support for this project. Dent County Assessor Jamie Homeyer turned over the real estate and personal property totals for 2024 tax books to the collector and county clerk. For this year 2024, there were no appeals with the Board of Equalization on the assessed values. It was also announced the next commissioner meeting will be Monday, the 29th, at the courthouse.

The Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District is accepting grant applications for the 2025 grant round, beginning July 1st. Grant nonprofit organizations, citizens and other interested parties to reduce the amount of waste being landfilled through waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting. The district’s list of targeted materials is based on the state-targeted materials list. In addition, the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District has identified multiple priority project areas to address specific considered.  Potential projects can focus on district priorities for education, end-market development for recycled materials, waste reduction and reuse, hard to recycle items such as carpet and mattresses, food waste reduction or composting, construction and demolition waste, and special events/business/multi-family dwelling recycling. Some $125,000 is available for grants this round. A more detailed list of priorities and targeted materials is included in the grant application and available at www.ozarkrivers.org. Last year, Ozark Rivers awarded $160,244.26 to fund or partially fund nine projects throughout the seven-county district. A grant application workshop is scheduled from 10:00 in the morning to noon on July 24th at the Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) office at #4 Industrial Drive in St. James. This workshop will also be offered in-person and via Zoom, and those interested in participating must register with Jill Hollowell, MRPC environmental specialist by calling 573-265-2993. This workshop ensures that potential grantees know application requirements and understand the benefits and obligations, should they receive reimbursement funding for their projects. The grant dollars awarded by Ozark Rivers comes through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and represents a portion of the landfill tipping fees collected state-wide. The grant application is available online at www.ozarkrivers.org. For more information, contact Hollowell at 573-265-2993.