Stoddard County Commissioners opened their meeting on Monday, January 23, 2023 with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer. They then read over the minutes from the past meetings.
Motion made by Commissioner Carol Jarrell to approve the Minutes for Monday, January 9, 2023. Seconded by Commissioner Greg Lintz. Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis asked that the minutes be corrected to reflect he was a member of the SoutheastHEALTH Regional Board. The name of the board was recorded incorrectly. All three voted yes.
Motion made by Jarrell to approve the minutes for Wednesday, January 11, 2023. Seconded by Lintz. All three voted yes.
Motion made by Jarrell to approve the Tuesday, January 17, 2023. Seconded by Lintz. All three voted yes.
Mr. Loyd Rice with GoSEMO Fiber and Electric
"Share with the commission on the annual update," stated Rice.
"We have paid $329,000 worth of taxes to Stoddard County. More than $125,000 is due to hanging fiber. We serve the bigger half of Stoddard County. We have a natural boundary with Crowley's Ridge. The need is high for fiber. We definitely want to work with IDA and the County with infrastructure. We are hoping to hear some announcements for help with the western half of Stoddard County."
He also stated he was a Bloomfield resident and that he hated to see some of our gravel roads falling in. he said the county needed to keep being progressive and moving forwards with repairs.
David Cooper, Water District #5
$31,000 + was initially approved for ARPA Funds. Turned in receipts. We are limited on funds so we had to wait until we had the monies to spend and then turn in receipts. Now it's my understanding that those rules have changed. We can ask for monies to make improvements.
Katelyn Lambert, Bootheel Regional Planning Commission, states that these expenditures are deemed good and the Commission can reimburse Waters District #5 for a total of $13,200.15. Water District #5 now has $15,015.15 left from their initial approved ARPA Fund amount.
"The first phase was to patch leaks using ARPA Funds. The leaks we know about have been taken care of for now," commented Cooper.
Requests by the board of Water District #5 for additional ARPA Funds. "We are currently purchasing water from the city of Bloomfield. We have done this for at least four years," per Cooper.
"Digital Mapping was approved by the Board as a recommendation from Missouri Rural Water. They hope to have it completed by February. We have located our valves," continued Cooper. "We are also trying to locate all the water meters. You will see a lot of blue markings around the area. The water valve replacement is a big chore. We have several valves that we feel are leaking. We could pay the city of Bloomfield to replace the valves."
County Road 510 is about five miles long and there are one or two sets of valves on that five mile stretch.
"The largest item is the meter replacement. Missouri Rural Water has also recommended that they replace the meter replacement with a wireless system. We would have to use an outside source to do that work. I have estimates as well." stated Cooper.
"Missouri Rural Water will come in and do a Rate Study so we can tell where we need to be as far as charing for water, etc. Our biggest problem over the years is that one meter has been connected to say five houses and we have some that are stealing water. We have roughly 300 customers," stated Cooper.
A voucher will need to be filled out and approved once the Budget Hearing has happened on Wednesday, January 25, 2023.
Water District #5 is requesting $224,000 today. They request has been sent to the attorney for approval.
There will be about $30,000 left from the ARPA Funds if all the requests that are in will be allocated and paid per Lambert.
Commissioner Greg Lintz contacted Bell City Fire - They initially requested $253,170.00. They were told to seek other funds by previous Presiding Commissioner Danny Talkington. They did not seek any other funds as they did not know what to do. They felt they were all matching funds and they didn't have the funds to match. They were told to contact Lambert at BRPC. Money was for a building for the fire department. Contact person is Kevin Julian at Bell City Fire..
June 28, 2021 city of Bloomfield requested $400,000 in ARPA Funds in order to pay down their loan with the USDA for the sewer and water project. This would lesson their monthly bill to the citizens of Bloomfield. He had called the Commission several times and no one returned his call. Lambert will contact the attorney and make sure it is a viable expenditure.
Mayor Tilmon came by Friday from the city of Bernie originally requested 183,000+ on July 26, 2021. Tilmon told the Commission that he had contacted previous Presiding Commissioner Danny Talkington several time, but never got returned phone calls. They wanted to refurbish a lift station and needed to put an alarm system in their lift station and get some spare lift pumps.
Waters Engineering has resigned from the city of Bernie and they have now hired Smith & Co. in Poplar Bluff for the water basin project and other projects.
The city of Bernie requested $480,000 for the water basin project. Mathis has contacted Smith & Co. and talked to them about the cost. The city of Bernie is having a Special Public Hearing on Monday, January 23, 2023 for the CDGB Grant information.
Water District #4 for $247,000 August 30, 2021. Commissioner Jarrell spoke to them and they are still very interested in the ARPA Funds.
In another conversation, "We are going to update all the County boards," stated Mathis. "Many of them have not been updated in years." The Commissioners will be looking at the appointments over the next couple of weeks.
Commissioner Greg Lintz made a motion to adjourn at 12:42 p.m. Seconded by Commissioner Mathis. Both voted yes as Commissioner Jarrell had to leave a few minutes early.
