The Stoddard County Commission opened their meeting with a prayer and the pledge of Allegiance.

Presiding Commissioner opened with a letter from Daniel W. Craig with regards to his resignation as the Stoddard County Assessor effective 11:59 p.m. on June 30, 2023.

"I am proud of the many accomplishments made by the dedicated staff of the Stoddard County Assessor's Office and I am confident that these successes will ontinue after my departure.  It has been the highest honor to serve the people of Stoddard County.

"We will have to wait word from the Governor's office as to the procedure to fill the vacancy," commented Mathis.  His term is through 2024.

Closing Stoddard County Road 570

The property adjoins the property of Rick Shipman.  "I think that we need to contact Shipman out of courtesy and have his approval to close that road,"  stated Commission Mathis.

Sally Cato, representing the Blackshire family, stated that the road has not been maintained.  The only thing that happens on that road was dumping illegally of trash.

Loyd Rice, GoSEMO Fiber Broadband Project

Rice stated that there were not any bids for the city of Puxico from he CDGB grant.  The grant is very layered in specifications on the the project.

"The Puxico town portion of the CDGB came in real layered.  It makes the bid follow the Davis - Bacon rules which includes some bonding, prevailing wages and affirmative action rules," stated Rice.

The only two options are to scale the project back or to go back to CDGB and change the scope of the project.  Due to prevailing wages the project is going to almost double in cost for the 76 miles of laying fiber. 

GoSEMO Fiber has told the city of Puxico they are moving forward within the city limits to get fiber there.  It's good business sense for the Coop and we are tired of waiting on funding from grants etc.

There is bid opening slated for this Thursday for the County at Bootheel Regional Planning.  There may not be any bids on Thursday, but GoSEMO will not be bidding.  There may be other option down the road.

Jim Grebing, Director Bootheel Regional Planning Commission

He was unable to attend this week.  Via text to Commissioner Mathis he stated that he had not received approval on the payment for the Duck Creek project from the attorney.  We are working on speeding up this process.

ARPA Funds

Motion to approve the project by Castor Township to asphalt County Road 413 up to $200,000 of ARPA Funds made by Commissioner C.D. Stewart.  Seconded by Commissioner Carol Jarrell.  All three voted yes, motion passed.

County Road 249.  Motion made by Commissioner C.D. Stewart to approve ARPA Funds for New Lisbon Township for box culvert for County Road 249.  Seconded by Commissioner Jarrell.  All three voted yes, motion passed.  Bids will be need to be obtained.

Terry Bates, board member of New Lisbon Township, brought in a bill for the Bridge repair on County Road 271 from Payne Contracting LLC.  

Other Business

Wayne Jean, Board Member of the Stoddard County Sb-40 Board sent a letter to the Commission to be re-appointed to the SB-40 Board since his term expires on June 30, 2023.  The letter stated, "I have enjoyed serving on this board for the last 3 years.  We have worked very closely with the Stoddard County Sheltered Workshop.  they appear now to be getting better financially.  We have also financed many improvements in their building.  The work on the building will go on for a few more months before being completely finished.

Motion to approve Wayne Jean, Board Member for the Stoddard County SB-40 Board will be placed on next week's Agenda.

The minutes for the May 15, 2023 meeting were not available to approve, nor the closed session meeting that was held after the regular meeting.

Motion to Approve Ads and Abates for April 2023 made by Commissioner Jarrell.  Seconded by Commissioner Stewart. All three voted yes and motion passed.

Motion to accept the Promulgation Statement from Beau Bishop, EMA made by Commissioner Stewart.  Seconded by Commissioner Jarrell.  All three voted yes and motion passed.

Motion to go into closed session made by Commissioner Stewart.  Seconded by Jarrell.  All three voted yes and motion passed 11:13 a.m.

Note: I attend this meeting everyone Monday from 9 a.m. - Noon.  Normally 3 hours unless they go into closed session.