News – Tuesday, May 6th 2025

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the courthouse. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Keith Green said grading would be done on Dent County Roads 2430, 4220 and 5630, while brush will be cut on county road 5380. He also said culvert work was going to be done in various locations. District 2 Commissioner Jimmy Williams said his crew would be adding rock and grading Dent County Roads 3190, 3200 and 4390; while only grading would be done on county road 4380. Williams said crew members would be picking up county truck #126 from Knapheide in Jefferson City. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson said MODOT has announced 16.5 million dollars are available for TAP grants for hiking and biking trails, sidewalks, or other alternative methods. Contact Kelly Sink at the MRPC if interested at 573-265-2993. Larson also said MRPC will be holding an informational meeting to discuss disaster relief grants from the tornado damage on May 7th, but he wasn’t sure if that was for those counties that were listed for state and federal assistance. Dent County Collector Angie Curley said her office balanced with the collector and assessor for the month of April on all collections, add-ons and abatements. She also said her office balanced with the treasurer on all monthly accounts for April. Curley also said people should start receiving their voter registration cards in the mail, and if they don’t receive one by May 15th, call the county clerk’s office at 573-729-4144. Dent County Emergency Management Director Derrick Marfitt came in to give the commission an update on the FEMA reimbursements and claims. He said May 15th will be the last day the county can submit a loss or damages that needs to be included in the county FEMA road and bridge claims. Marfitt said he and FEMA officials inspected every road in Dent County as part of the FEMA quality control program. Marfitt said he has everything ready to go and will submit it provided there are no more damage claims, but when the commissioners asked about reimbursement, that will not happen until FEMA considers each claim as a “finished project.” City of Salem City Administrator Sally Burbridge was in attendance and the commissioners were asking about the light poles and fixtures that city was using for their TAP grant to improve the sidewalks. Burbridge said she didn’t have the exact costs with her but said it ran about $25,000 per half block for the poles and fixtures which did NOT include installation. She also said the city had two sizes of poles: 20-foot poles at the 4th Street and Highway 19 intersections, and 14-foot poles on the streets that also featured flag and banner holders. The commissioners said they wanted to match what the city was doing on their TAP grant for new sidewalks around the courthouse and that included the light poles but wanted to know who was responsible for the new poles: the city or the county. The old specs by Great Rivers Engineering had the old poles being removed and reinstalled for $1,000 each for the eight poles, but they later said that couldn’t be done because of the construction of the poles. Burbridge suggested a possible cost share between the city and county, but told the commission to have Great Rivers Engineering get with her and she could also provide them with actual pricing of the poles. Dent County Collector Shannon VanKirk told the commission she mailed out 102 parcels for delinquent tax payments and that those parcels will be going to the tax sale. VanKirk said people will have until no later than June 30th to have those tax parcels paid up. The next meeting of the commissioners will be Monday, May 12th at 9:00 as the courthouse will be closed Thursday for Truman’s Birthday.

The Planning and Zoning Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing and meeting tonight at 6:00 at 202 Washington Street in the Old City Hall Auditorium. The hearing will be to recognize anyone that wishes to speak on the following rezoning requests. A request by Jacqueline Flaherty for conditional use for vacation rental located at 304 E. Center St. A request by Southwest Baptist University to rezone property located at 501 S. Grand St. from R1 to Commercial. A request from Southwest Baptist University for conditional use for Compass Health to provide counseling service in Residential Zone located at 501 S. Grand. Following the close of the hearing the Commissioners will hold a meeting to consider the acceptance or rejection of each request listed followed by adjournment. The public hearing and meeting are open to the public.