Stoddard County Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer for the county Tuesday, February 14, 2023.  Monday, the Stoddard County offices were closed for Lincoln's birthday.

Update on City of Bernie Water

Bill Robison with Smith & Company along with Greg Bell, Project Manager and a water and waste water expert gave an update on the city of Bernie water basin update.  The city of Bernie had requested $480,000 of ARPA funding from the commission.

"We are in a contract with the city of Bernie and Mayor Tilmon.  Spent the last few weeks gathering information and reviewing plans," commented Robison.  "This basin project is extremely important and needs to be done."    

 "The backwash basin basically when the backwash they can't backwash at the capacity they need.  It was built in 1993 and just can't handle the capacity," stated Bell.  "The new basin will be tied into the old one.  Also the filters they have in place are clogged up so with a new basin they can blow that back out and media can get out and clean it out.  The material will be concrete and can last more than 30 years.  With this basin they can alternate the backwashing.  We did find that the water plant is in pretty good shape.  It could use some cosmetic changes, but the structure is good."

"When you get this new basin built and the population increases, just how long can this basin last? asked Mathis.  Bell stated at least into the 20-30 year range. The filter media has about a 15 year cycle and it hasn't been changed since 1994 so we have sent out quotes for those items first.

Water line replacements and piping at the plant is an ongoing project as well.

"What is the cost of this?" asked Commissioner Greg Lintz.  Bell stated that he has seen around $570,000, but could possible see it around $490,000.  Just have get the complete plans done and the quotes in.     

Commissioner Carol Jarrell had no questions at this time, but stated that she was glad Smith and Company were on track to getting something done in Bernie as the people of Bernie needed clean drinking water.

Bell stated that if we could get started today it would take 3-4 months to get the backwash basin completed.  It's a 40'x40' basin with a 14' deep containment of 60,000 gallon capacity.  The walls are 15" thick.

"We are moving quickly as possible and getting quotes.  They are due in on February 22, 2023 at Smith & Co," stated Robison.  "It will be gravity feed.  The pumps will be downsized and won't require a larger motor and it will allow the basin to be filled and send to the sewer system at a slower rate which will be better for the city of Bernie.  I have met with Mr. Tilmon weekly and got some of the older plans and looked at those and discuss the project.  I feel pretty good that a we have a pretty good start."

It was noted by Cecil Week, County Collector who lives in Bernie that the city had posted on Monday, for people to conserve water on Saturday, February 18th so they can repair a water leak in the tower.  Mayor Tilmon was not present for the meeting.

Stars & Stripes Museum Request for Land

Sue Tippen attended the meeting on behalf of the Strars and Stripes Museum requesting ground be donated by the County Commission for a new building.

"We consider the Stars and Stripes Museum as the major tourist attraction for Stoddard County," stated Tippen.  "We are looking to build a new building.  We have about 1,000 visitors per year and we would like to have room for new exhibits and storage for donations.

"We decided the only answer to our problem is to build a new building.  We have an architect already in place and we want to build on the south side of the barn," continued Tippen.  "We wanted a little more space/land behind the museum and requesting the County donate that land to us."

She said that the Veterans Commission at the cemetery said they may be willing to donate a strip of land to the museum as well.  Building size is undetermined at this time, it's about 7 acres of land we need..  We will have a meeting with the architect in March.  

David Cooper, Water District #5

Everything is going well at the water district.  "I signed the Distribution Agreement for the ARPA Funds and waiting on the Commissioners to sign," commented Cooper, President of Water District #5.

Motion to sign the County Distribution ARPA Funds Agreement with Water District #5 made by Lintz, seconded by Jarrell.  All three voted yes and duly passed.

"Our board is real solid and we have managed to get most of our leaks repaired.  We are waiting for our ground to dry out and see if we have any more leaks.  We are paying our bills to the city and hopefully within the next couple of months have the city of Bloomfield paid off for back water billing," continued Cooper.

Discussion about the County Audit

An email was received by County Clerk, Cecil Weeks from Devereux & Company that they have experienced an unforeseen severe staffing shortage that required them to realign and reallocate their hours for the rest of 2023.  They will not have the hours to perform the audit that they earned the bid on for the 2022 accounting year.

On December 12, 2022 the previous Commission accepted the bid from Devereux and Company, CPA for $17,500.  Daniel Jones and Associates CPA had the only other bid for $25,000.

Motion was made to call Daniel Jones and Associates to see if they can do the audit.  Cecil Weeks is to call them and ask since they had the second bid submitted in November of 2022.  Commissioner Lintz made the motion and seconded by Jarrell.  All three voted yes and duly passed.

Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis opened the meeting the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer on Monday, February 6, 2023 at 9 a.m. in the Commissioners' Chambers in Bloomfield.

Garry Brady - Stoddard County employee with the Sheriff's Department.

He had many concerns about the new insurance the County has acquired. First they have not been able to get my name corrected on the insurance. They have my first name spelled incorrectly and my last name as Atkinson.  "We have asked several questions to Mr. McCarty with the new insurance and he answers each time he doesn't know, but he will find out.  We haven't received those answers.  Also my prescription went up 42% and we were told there would not be any changes or if so very little.  That's not a little change."

I want to know if the county saved money by changing insurance as multiple people have issues at the moment?"

Commissioner Maths stated he has spoken to Mr. McCarty on more than one occasion.  He also stated that on October 27, 2022 the formers commissioners accepted the policy.  There have been multiple changes to the insurance since then.

Mathis then turned the floor over to Commissioner Carol Jarrell due to her being the only commissioner involved in the insurance decision in 2022. 

"I apologize that you did not get any answers from Mr. McCarty at Arch Brokerage.  I have heard that the premiums have gone up," stated Commissioner Carol Jarrell. "On December 19, 2022 we signed and accepted the new plan. I am not sure why Mr. McCarty does not know the answers." 

Jarrell stated that they went with this company believing it would save the county some money.  Now she is unsure as she has heard the premiums have gone up.  She also said that Week and former Presiding Commissioner Danny Talkington had discussed the insurance on numerous occasions with Mr. McCarty.  

She asked Weeks who was standing in the doorway if the premiums had gone up.  his response was that he had not sat in on any of the insurance business meetings and did not know anything.

Jarrell alleged that Talkington poke to Weeks about the insurance and that McCarty himself had stated that he had seen a lot of time in Weeks' office talking to him about the insurance and gathering information.

According to Cecil Weeks, County Clerk the premium is $776.21 per employee per month paid for by the County and not the employee.  About half of that is administrative fees per person per month paid to the insurance company for things like answering questions and fixing issues.

Both Mathis and Jarrell apologized to Mr. Brady. Mathis said if McCarty did not call him back the County would look at options to pursue something else. Mathis said he would personally keep Brady in the loop.

Loyd Rice

SEMO Electric Cooperative has been awarded a $16.6 million grant as part of the Missouri Department of Economic Development's (DED) $261 million Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program.  It is a reimbursable grant and will cover approximately 80% of the total cost of the cooperative's future projects.

Mathis asked if this money would finish the project for the western part of Stoddard County?  Rice stated along with the $1 million ARPA matching funds that would finished the project.

Doug Lowery - Duck Creek Township

Mathis stated that he and the rest of the Commission has spoken to all folks that requested ARPA funds that people requested almost a year and a half ago.  No one from the previous Commissioner returned their phone calls.  Mathis stated that Mrs. Lambert was also here and would give an update on the ARPA funds.

Dave Cooper - Water District #5 

Wondering where we were on ARPA funds specific to the requests made by Water District #5.  Mathis stated that Katelyn Lambert was here to give us an update.

Katelyn Lambert - Bootheel Regional Planning Commission

Bloomfield City - The attorney for the county, Travis Elliot, did not recommend using ARPA funds to pay any debt services like a loan.  This would be in reference to the city of Bloomfield's request for $400,000 to pay on a USDA Loan.   There was no one present at the meeting representing the city of Bloomfield.

Water District #5 - According to Elliot, the reimbursements for meter replacements, water value replacements, and utility location marking would be eligible.  He sent an email to Lambert stating the Commission looked good and the sent an email to Lambert to recommend to pay those funds to Water District #5 if the Commission elected to do so in a meeting.

Bell City Fire Department's request for ARPA funds was for the building of a new fire station. "Funds available under the revenue loss eligible use category generally may be used to meet the non-federal cost-share or matching requirements of other federal programs; however, they would need to be aware that by doing so, the requirements of ARPA swell as the CDBG program would both apply."

City of Bernie - Elliot stated in an email that renovating the lift station, purchasing an alarm, and acquiring backup lift pumps would all be eligible uses, subject to the Commission agreeing to those taking into consideration the existing request of $480,000 for the backwash basin.

PWDS #4 - Elliot stated in an email that the new piping is an eligible use, but they should be very careful with understanding the numerous requirements where USDA loan and other grants are involved.  

Stoddard County Ambulance District - Under the standard allowance, the County could fund the purchase of new computers in the amount of $8,809.15

Duck Creek Township - Everything looked good for their requests.  They would need to do the basic 3 bids for each project etc going forward like any other grant funding.

She also provided a new and up-to-date Distribution Agreement that was done by the County attorney.  This reporter had not seen such an agreement in any other meeting.  Apparently all entities requesting ARPA funds were supposed to sign a Distribution Agreement with previous Commission.

Stoddard County Sheriff Carl Hefner

Sheriff  said his biggest issue is manpower.  "We have an ad running on our Facebook page." There are 87 people in jail currently.  He reminded the Commission about the pay-out on PTO time from the previous meeting.  He has an employees with a lot of PTO, but will lose it if he doesn't use the time off.

Mathis suggested to the other commissioners of approving a vacation pay-out for one year with option of changing it back.  The option would be paying out vacation time rather than taking vacation hours.  

Carol Jarrell mades the motion to authorizes County employee purchase their vacation time for the 2023 year with the stipulation that the county commission will revisit the 2024 budget.  Seconded by Greg Lintz.  All three voted yes.  Employees will now be able to purchase their unused vacation time. 

Motion made by Commissioner Greg Lintz for $13,200.15 for Water District #5 for ARPA Reimbursement Funds.

Stoddard County Hazard Mitigation Plan Kick-Off

About 25 people attended the Stoddard County Hazard Mitigation Plan Kick-off at 11 a.m. at the Stoddard County Commissioner's chamber in Bloomfield.

Christy LeGrand, Community Development Specialist from the Bootheel Regional Planning Commission made the presentation.

What is this plan? It reduces long-term risk to people and property. "We will be proactive," stated LeGrand.

What's new this year? Climate Change is new this year and we will address what impact this has on our County.

One reason we do this is because if each town or school district can apply for FEMA funding and other grants for non-disaster funding.  FEMA makes funding available through the Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant programs including Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program (BRIC), Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) Program.

"Timeline begins with the Kick-Off Meeting today then have a second meeting in March.  We will send out a questionnaire to each and have you complete.  You must complete in order to be a part of this plan. We will have meetings in April as well.  Then we will meet with the commission for public comments and initiate resolution.  In June we will finalize resolutions and submit first draft to SEMO/FEMA by July 14, 2023," according to LeGrand.

What is required of each organization?  Each organization must pass the Resolution for their school district and/or city. 

The last Mitigation Plan was created in 2018 and finalized in 2019. 

The Stoddard County Commissioners have two Mondays in a row that are holidays for the County.  Monday, February 13th is Abe Lincoln's Birthday therefore the weekly meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 9:00 a.m.

Meeting minutes from Monday, January 30, 2023 were not available to approve.  

Next week Smith & Company will be on the agenda to discuss the Water Project at Bernie.

Motion to adjourn at 12:07 p.m. made by Commissioner Jarrell.  Seconded by Commissioner Lintz.  All voted yes.

Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis opened the weekly Commissioners' meeting stating he had spoken to Katelyn Lambert at Bootheel Regional Planning Commission about the ARPA Funds.

He stated, "Lambert had no update in relation to the ARPA funds; however she had reached out to a few people who wanted to still consider their application for the funding."

Commissioner Carol Jarrell said Lambert had also reached out to Water District #4 and they still wished to proceed with their application.

Lambert said she had a meeting with Bell City Fire. She said Bell City Fire was informed of a possible grant was available later in the year. Lambert said Bell City was interested in this. She then recommended retaining the ARPA request Bell City Fire submitted until it is determined what type of match this grant will require. Lambert also said she was waiting to hear from her legal team as to whether a new building would be covered under the ARPA funding. Bell City Fire is requesting funding to build a new fire station.

IDA Director Peter Coutavas said part of the building his office is in has been condemned. Coutavas said he would like to see this part of Bloomfield restored as part of his effort to bring more businesses to the county.

Coutavas said he also had a woman wanting to move in and open a boutique. Coutavas said he believed she preferred the old pharmacy building. Mathis asked Coutavas to submit a list of what she needs and what the building needed.

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. 

The Stoddard County Commissioners held a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, December 19, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. at the Government Building.

Doug Lowery attended the meeting on behalf of the Duck Creek Township on the grant funding with Bootheel Regional Planning Commission.  Presiding Commissioner Danny Talkington will get with Katelyn Lambert, BRPC, to see if there are any updates.

Colter Gabler, Smith & Company Engineering  had a change order for a culvert on County Road 760 as it needs to be replaced.  Both Commissioners signed the order.

Russ Oliver, Prosecuting Attorney for Stoddard County, dropped off a request to purchase a table, some storage items, and his computer.

"There will be two additional meetings following Christmas before the end of the year," commented Talkington.  One regular meeting on Tuesday, December 27th at 9:00 a.m. the other meeting will be a meeting on Friday for any additional budget changes, time will be announced later.

Commissioner Carol Jarrell made a motion to take the interest income on the ARPA funds to be added to the ARPA funds as a line item from the General Revenue.  Commissioner Talkington seconded the motion.  Both voted yes.

Greg Mathis, new Presiding Commissioner, dropped in.  He had been to see Cecil Weeks, County Clerk, and asked if he could use one of his employees to take the minutes for the Commissioners in 2023.  He said that Weeks would provide someone.  He also invited him to attend meetings, it is up to Weeks as to whether he attends or not.

Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to approve the minutes from the December 12, 2022.  Commissioner Talkington seconded the motion.  Both voted yes.

Here are the minutes from that meeting:

Visitors: Kay Asbell - Recorder, Dee Loflin - ShowMe Times, Josh Ayers - Dexter Statesman, Josh Speakman - Collector, Matthew Dowdy - Citizen, Katelyn Lambert - BRPC, and Tiffany Belcher - BRPC.

Associate Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to award the 2022 single audit to Devereux & Company CPAs & Business Advisors for $17,500. Passed

Associate Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to approve the revised minutes for November 21, 2022 to state the audit bids to be submitted by Friday 12/9/22 at 4:00 p.m.  Passed

Associate Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to approve the minutes for December 5, 2022. Passed

Associate Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to adjourn.  Passed

Gary Snider, citizen, entered the meeting to discuss his concerns about the clean-out of Ditch #14.  He says if we get heavy rain it floods the area.  Commissioner Talkington gave him a list of board members to contact. 

Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to adjourn at 11:37 a.m. Commissioner Talkington seconded the motion.  Both voted yes.