News – Tuesday, November 17th 2025

The Dent County Commission met Monday morning at the courthouse. A.J. Seay was in attendance to announce that he would be filing to run for the Dent County Presiding Commissioner Position on February 24th, the first day to file for a county office. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Keith Green said grading would be done on Dent County Roads 5610 and 5615, while brush would be cut on county road 6255. He indicated crews would be doing odds and ends around the maintenance shop and will also be putting in a pipe on Iron Mountain Road. District 2 Commissioner Jimmy Williams reported brush will be cut on county road 6150 while other crew members will be stockpiling rock at the maintenance shed. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson said he attended the MRPC Housing Authority Board meeting last Thursday and he stated in the Meramec Region itself, there are 308 people waiting for housing assistance and 25 of those people are from Dent County. Larson reported at the External Relations Committee meeting the results of the survey from attendees at this year’s banquet at the Salem Community Center@The Armory all came back either with a good or excellent rating. He wanted to thank Healthy Dent County Executive Director Sherry Lea for applying for the event to be held in Salem this year and send congratulations from the External Relations Committee to her and her staff for putting on this great event. He stated at the MRPC meeting, the group heard about the Small Business Development Center on the campus of Missouri S&T and how they can help small or new businesses grow. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley reiterated the first day that candidates can file for the April 7th Municipal Election will begin December 9th and the last day to file this year will be December 30th. All people interested in running in the April election will need to sign up at the entity you are choosing to run for such as a school district, hospital board, alderman, etc. Curley said if you need more information about the position you want to run for, you need to contact the entity directly for their unique requirements to hold that particular office. At the last meeting, the commissioners talked with Emergency Management Director Derek Marfitt about the agreement for emergency management services through the sheriff’s department. The commissioners have a prepared a contract that has been sent to Attorney Travis Elliott for his review before acting on the agreement. Also, the commissioners will be at a Missouri Association of County Board meeting Monday and there will be no commissioner meeting on Monday, November 24th or Thanksgiving Day, November 27th. 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.

City of Salem Police Chief Joe Chase reports the emergency storm siren project is now complete. This marked the end of a two-year effort to upgrade and improve the emergency warning sirens for the city. The installation was completed by Table Rock Alerting Systems. They provided the lowest bid for the equipment requested. The new system has an indefinite lifespan on the sirens themselves, as they are able to be repaired for years to come. There were momentary tests conducted last week to make sure the system was functioning properly. The new system has state of the art controlling systems and can be activated remotely via a phone app by an authorized user. The system can also be integrated with the National Weather Service to sound automatically when they announce a tornado warning for the city of Salem. The City of Salem is glad to have this project completed and look forward to the added safety the sirens will provide. 

The City of St. James has announced that Amazon plans to expand its operational investments in Missouri with the construction of an 80,000 square-foot delivery station at 925 North Jefferson Street in St. James. This will increase delivery speeds for customers in Phelps County and surrounding areas, and is part of the company’s $4 billion investment to expand its delivery network in rural communities across the country. Delivery stations power the last mile of Amazon’s order process and help speed up deliveries. Packages are shipped to a delivery station from neighboring Amazon Fulfillment and Sortation Centers, loaded into delivery vehicles, and delivered to customers. This facility in St. James is expected to create approximately 100 jobs once open, in addition to more driving opportunities through the Delivery Service Partner (DSP) and Amazon Flex programs. These will join the more than 9,500 Amazon employees throughout the state of Missouri. Construction is scheduled to begin in the coming weeks with launch plans for this delivery station in the very early stages with an expected opening later in 2026. Employees at Amazon’s U.S. customer fulfilment and transportation employees earn an average across the country of $23 per hour and starting wages for the St. James facility will be determined closer to launch. 

A Self Defense Workshop will be held at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory tomorrow evening, from 5:30 until 7:00 and Saturday morning, November 22nd from 10:00 until 11:30. The Saturday class is a repeat of the Wednesday one. The instructor is Kris Bieker and the cost is $5.00 and participants pay at the door. The class is open to men, women, and seniors and no fitness level is required. No experience is required to learn simple techniques that anyone can do. Participants will learn to build awareness to avoid danger before it starts, plus safety tips for home, shopping, and daily activities. Self-defense isn’t about fighting, it’s about feeling safe and walking with confidence. Call for more information at 573-729-8163.