Stoddard County Commissioners met on Tuesday, February 21, 2023 with Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis leading in the Pledge of Allegiance and prayed over the county officials, county employees and the county commissioners. Commissioner Greg Lentz stated that the Governor has recommended to appoint C.D. Stewart to replace Steve Jordan and himself as a Stoddard County Commissioner.
Lentz stated,"I will continue to do my due diligence and cooperate fully with the County and complete my duties as assigned until Mr. C.D. Stewart takes over."
Water District #4 Update
"Water loss is about 46% currently," stated Lea Long. "We are looking for an immediate infusion of $247,000 in ARPA funds."
In 2021 they asked for funding from the Commission and have not obtained that money yet.
Commissioner Jarrell stated that, "Here in the last month or so they have had some major water problems, County Road #468 has been affected. A boil water was ordered for the entire district as well. I am all for helping the District #4 employees."
"I apologize for taking so long and the commissioners not moving forward on the ARPA Funding," continued Jarrell. "Katelyn Lambert, Bootheel Regional Planning is doing a great job for us."
Duck Creek Township
Commissioner Lentz met with Doug Lowery, of Duck Creek Township and stated that he is in agreement with him. The main problem is the box culvert. It is too small for the 1200 acres and it crosses a major gravel road #420. The water backs up and has made a another trail and hits culverts. There are three Tyson facilities on that road and gets a tremendous amount of truck traffic. If they don't get things fixed, they will lose the road.
Duck Creek Township would like to apply for much needed ARPA Funds that are available for Water, Sewer, and Infrastructure in Stoddard County.
They has applied through the Commission for a CDGB Gran and Bootheel Regional Planning Commission was handling the administration for the grant; however the former Stoddard County Presiding Commissioner Danny Talkington failed to sign off timely therefore the grant deadline was not met.
Had they known they would not have received the grant they would have applied for ARPA funding sooner.
Currently Duck Creek is requesting funds to cover the structural and contracting expenses they have incurred in 2022 for road maintenance and to offset expenses in 2023. Structural improvements planned for there 2023 year include a 7x18x40 box culvert on County Road 420 to improve drainage at a cost of $65,000. Tyson Foods has 3 house complexes along this road and flooding is a common issue. Also, there are erosion problems along County Road 487 and 436 from heavy spring rains that need to be repaired. The cost of installing rip-rap along the banks will be approximately $25,000. Also they would like to implement a dust control product to reduce dust and road maintenance on their busiest 9 miles of a road will be $4,000.00.
There total request at this time is $213,974.00.
Duck Creek will have a meeting on Thursday and will be discussing putting out the bids. They have already spoken to a few contractors.
ARPA Update from Bootheel Regional Planning Commission - Katelyn Lambert
Water District #4 - Waiting on Waters Engineering, Inc., for final numbers from the August 25, 2021 request for ARPA funds as there has been an increase in expenses since 2021. Lambert will give John Chittenden a call today. He is the owner of Waters Engineering, Inc. The Commission will wait on voting until all the numbers are updated and correct due to the request being from 2021.
Water District #5 - Working with them on grant for engineering possibly a DNR grant. They are working on the request for ARPA funds from the Commission. They are getting the new meters, valve replacements, mapping of lines, etc.
City of Dexter Request - The Distribution agreement has been sent. Waiting on Alisha Trammel to get back to Lambert.
Motion that the Commission approve $480,000 in ARPA funds for the Bernie Water Basin Project was put to the floor. Commissioner Jarrell made the motion. Seconded by Commissioner Lentz. All three voted yes and passed without consent.
Motion that the Commission approve $200,661.28 in ARPA funds for Water District #5 was put to the floor. Commissioner Jarrell made the motion. Seconded by Lentz. All three voted yes and passed without consent.
Motion that the Commission approve $213,974.00 in ARPA funds for Duck Creek Township was put to the floor. Commissioner Lentz made the motion. Seconded by Jarrell. All three voted yes and passed without consent.
Industrial Development Association - Peter Coutavas
"I feel we should offer some type of incentive to rent these offices and buildings downtown Bloomfield such as free rent or reduced rent for a period of time,"
Sheriff Carl Hefner Attended the Meeting
"They forgot to enter the HIPPA business Agreement when they signed the contract for the new nurse from SoutheastHEALTH. Basically states we would not go out and tell the world what medical condition inmates have in the jail, etc. I just need the Commissioners to sign. It was an oversight when we went into the agreement."
Motion to sign the HIPPA Business Agreement that is going through SoutheastHEALTH of Stoddard County on the floor. Commissioner Jarrell made the motion. Lentze seconded the motion. All three voted yes and pass without consent.
HMN Architectural Firm Update
The initial meeting was on January 9, 2023 with the new commission. Nothing has been done. Generator is not here yet. "This has been going on since August of 2022," stated Mathis.
Motion to allow Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis to write a letter to HMN Architectural firm setting a 10 deadline to respond to the County concerning the generator. Commissioner Jarrell made the motion, seconded by Lentz. All three voted in agreement.
Cecil Weeks, Stoddard County Clerk's Office
Letter has been received from the Governor's office making the official appointment to the Commission per Weeks.
"To the Senate of the 102nd General Assembly of the State of Missouri:
I have the honor to transmit to you herewith for your advice and consent the following appointment:
"C.D. Stewart, Republican, 25788 County Road 307, Bloomfield, Stoddard County, Missouri 63825, as district One Commissioner of the Stoddard County commission, for a term ending when his successor is duly elected or appointed and qualified; vice, Steve Jordan, vacated."
Respectfully submitted,
Michael L. Parson
Governor
Audit Update
Per Weeks, Daniel Jones has agreed to honor their bid from last year of $25,040.00.
"We need to motion release Devereux & Company from their bid contract and hire Daniel Jones and Associates CPA," stated Weeks.
Motion was made to release Devereux & Company from their bid contract due to lack of employees at their company to perform the audit and to hire Daniel Jones and Associates CPA to perform the audit. Cost will be $25,000. Motion made by Jarrell. Seconded by Lentz. All three voted yes and passed.
Earthquake Insurance for the County Buildings.
Tish Gentry with County Wide Insurance quoted Earthquake Insurance for the county buildings at $175,000 with a 5% deductible per building. Coverage would roughly be $18,630.00 total.
Commissioner Lentz stated that he is against having earthquake insurance on his own properties. Commissioner Jarrell said she felt it's better to have the insurance and not need it then to not have it and need it. It would take a lot of monies to rebuild or repair.
Motion to accept the Earthquake Insurance additional monies at roughly $175,000 cost for $18,630,000.00 coverage made by Jarrell. Mathis seconded the motion. Jarrell voted yes, Lentz voted no, Mathis voted yes. Passed.
Motion to approve the minutes of February 14, 2023 made by Commissioner Lentz. Commissioner Jarrell seconded the motion. All three voted yes and passed without consent.
Motion to adjourn at 12:00 p.m. by Commissioner Jarrell. Seconded by Commissioner Lentz. All three voted yes.
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.
Motion to approve the minutes from January 30, 2023 meeting made by Jarrell, seconded by Lintz. All three voted yes and duly passed.
Motion to approve the minutes from February 6, 2023 meeting made by Jarrell, seconded by Lintz. All three voted yes and duly passed.
Update: He was found.
If anyone near Clarkton or Holcomb or even the Dexter area sees Casey Williams' father, Kevin McKay, Please contact her immediately. Her phone number is (573) 963-2670. Thank you!
He walked away from the Freedom House on foot and his daughter is trying to find him. She appreciates everyone's help looking for her dad.
Route 25 in Stoddard County will be reduced as Missouri Department of Transportation crews replace roadway lighting.
This section of roadway is located from Lighthouse Road to the commuter parking lot in Dexter, Missouri.
Weather permitting, work will take place Tuesday, Feb. 14 from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The work zone will be marked with signs. Motorists are urged to use extreme caution while traveling near the area.
For additional information, contact MoDOT’s Customer Service Center toll-free at 1-888-ASK-MODOT
Saint Francis Healthcare System is pleased to recognize Stephanie Mirly, FNP-C, ENP-C, in her new role as Emergency Nurse Practitioner in the Emergency Department.
Mirly earned her Master of Science in Nursing at University of South Alabama in Mobile, Ala., and is board certified by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.
Mirly began her career at Saint Francis in 2016 as a Registered Nurse in the Emergency Department.
Saint Francis Healthcare System is guided by our Mission to provide a ministry of healing, wellness, quality and love inspired by our faith in Jesus Christ. Founded by Franciscan Sisters in 1875, our priority remains the same: serve all who enter with dignity, compassion and joy. Serving nearly 713,000 people across Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas, our focus is on patients' outcomes, experience and value.
Anchored by Saint Francis Medical Center, a 306-bed tertiary hospital, and supported by nearly 3,000 employees and more than 250 providers in ten communities, the Healthcare System is a driving economic force in the region. Major services include the Cancer Institute, Emergency and Level III Trauma Center, Family BirthPlace and Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Heart Hospital, Neurosciences and Orthopedics.
