The Stoddard County Commission meeting opened with Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis praising the media for their efforts including Dee Loflin, ShowMe Times and Josh Ayers, Dexter Statesman along with city of Dexter administrator, Dave Wyman during prayer. He also praised the efforts of Katelyn Lambert, Bootheel Regional Planning Commission and welcomed her back. He also thanked Mr. Dave Cooper and his efforts with Water District #5. Those in attendance stood for the Pledge of Allegiance as well.
Katelyn Lambert, Bootheel Regional Planning Commission
According to Mrs. Lambert, $74,158.00 should be dispensed to Consolidated Pipe and Supply Co. on behalf of Water District #5 for Project #2 for meter replacement and water valve replacement. A check in the amount of $7,439.59 should also be dispensed to Water District 5 Project directory for reimbursement plant/tower maintenance and for Project #1 for supplies and excavating for the district. All documents have been submitted and are in order so the only thing needed is a vote from the Commission and two checks written.
Motion made to authorize payment from the ARPA funds in the amount of $74,158.00 to Consolidated Pipe and Supply Co. on behalf of Water District #5 made by Commissioner Carol Jarrell, seconded by Commissioner C.D. Stewart. All three voted yes and the motion was passed.
Motion to authorize payment of $7,439.59 from the ARPA funds directly to Water District #5 for reimbursement of plant/tower maintenance and supplies and excavating was made by Commissioner Jarrell, seconded by Commissioner Stewart. All three voted yes and the motion passed.
"We have made great progress in fixing leaks and getting our meters replaced," stated Dave Cooper, President of the Water District Board #5. "We are making great strides and have had rate studies done by Missouri Rural. We also have a budget now."
Dave Wyman, City of Dexter Administrator, Update on Hotel Development
"We have spent about $401,000 and are now asking for reimbursement for $400,000," commented Wyman. "The previous Commissioners allocated $800,000 out of the ARPA funds for the hotel development."
Mathis stated that we need copies of invoices and then we can make a motion and make a payment to the city of Dexter. Wyman will get those to Mrs. Lambert at BRPC as soon as possible.
Terry Bates, New Lisbon Township
New Lisbon Township had requested ARPA monies for bridge work on County Road 271.
Payne Contracting LLC is owed $58,000 for its work on the project and another $1,459.60 is owed to New Lisbon.
Mrs. Lambert stated that all paperwork was in order.
Motion to pay Payne Contracting, LLC for $58,000 for bridge work on County Road #271 in New Lisbon Township from the ARPA funds made by Commissioner Stewart, seconded by Commissioner Jarrell. All three voted yes and motion passed.
Motion to pay New Lisbon Township a total of $1,459.60 out of the ARPA funds for the bridge project made by Commissioner Stewart, seconded by Commissioner Jarrell. All three voted yes and motion passed.
Duck Creek Township Update
Doug Lowery has turned in several invoices to BRCP and Mrs. Lambert is working with him to get additional invoices and documentation to get Duck Creek Township paid out of the ARPA funds.
City of Essex sent a letter to the Commission
City of Essex has an applied for a CDBG with Bootheel Regional Planning Commission for street repair and was turned down during the last cycle. The city of Essex has asked to be on the agenda for next week to request ARPA funds. Though currently all ARPA funds have been allocated, Mathis will have them come in and request monies. He will call the city of Essex and has placed them on the agenda for next week. The city of Essex can re-apply for CDBG grant in the fall of 2023 as well.
Castor Township Update
Castor Township put out for bid and only received one bid according to Commissioner Mathis. 'I have asked Dale Moreland to bring in the bid amount to get reimbursement,"
Commission and Broadband
There was much discussion on the broadband, mostly bringing Mrs. Lambert up to speed on what the Commission is doing. "I'm still not ready to make that decision yet, but it needs to be done soon," stated Mathis. "We have asked a lot of questions over the past few weeks and it seems like things change weekly."
"Basically Loyd Rice, GoSEMO Fiber asked for ARPA funds in the amount of $1 million dollars to install broadband in the rural Puxico School District in 2021 when the ARPA Funds were made available. Commissioners Talkington, Jarrell and Jordan agreed to this in a vote. Bootheel Regional Planning Commission suggested at that time for the Commission to apply for a CDB Grant to the tune of about a million dollars. Finally two years later, the grant has been approved, but there are some stipulations that the current Commissioners were not aware of and that was prevailing wages and ownership of the broadband for five years. Prevailing wages are more than twice what regular wages are due to federal funding and ownership would be by the Stoddard County Commission. The Commission would have to do a lease/purchase agreement to internet service provider for five years then sell it at the end of the five year mark. The previous Commission accepted a bid for an engineering firm, Conexon, to oversee the project if they accepted the grant. Then the current Commission including Mathis, Jarrell, and Stewart put out for bid to actually install the fiber optic broadband and received only one bid by Ozark Medical Company of which was over $900,000 more than what the grant plus the ARPA funds together was available to pay for the project. They would not install, but sub contract to someone that would install the fiber. The Commission would be responsible for any repair/maintenance, unless they leased it to an internet service provider during the five years. The bid was not accepted by the Commission because there is simply not enough money available. Now the option is to rebid and scale the project back from 73+ miles to less than half or de-obligate from the grant and just use the 1 million in ARPA funds for broadband without any grant attached and complete at least 40 miles in the rural Puxico School District. Those 40 miles would serve about 500 homes potentially. Now the other grant that is in the works is called a BEAD Grant which at time of publication, the rules are not set and an internet service provider like GoSEMO Fiber can not even apply yet. It too will have prevailing wages attached in the language of the grant. This grant may not be even available until 2025. They are still developing the rules for the application."
That's it in a nutshell per this reporter who has attended all but three Commission meetings in the last two years.
William Dowdy, Stoddard County Maintenance
Mr. Dowdy has received a couple emails on the Republic Services trash contract. One stated that the contract changed last year and the second email said everything was ok. He wasn't sure if something changed or not.
According to previous minutes the following occurred in 2022. Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to accept the Republic Services Trash quote for the Sheriff's Department for 2023 in the amount of $315.00 with a fuel recovery fee $31.50 for a total estimated amount of $346.50 per month. Seconded by Commissioner Talkington. Both voted yes and passed.
Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to accept the Republic Services Trash quote for the Juvenile Justice Center for 2023 in the amount of $243.00 with a fuel recovery fee of $24.30 for a total estimated amount of $267.30 per month. Seconded by Commissioner Talkington. Both voted yes and passed.
Clock Update:
Dowdy received a text from S&N Clock said they are still working on the courthouse clock. The gears on the dials may blocked up so he needs to figure out how to repair them. This project that was supposed to be done in about 6 months has taken over two years to complete.
Motion to accept the we sign the Memorandum of Agreement between the Prosecuting Attorney, Sawyer Smith, utilizing the Stoddard County Law Enforcement Restitution Fund (LERF) and Rance Butler, attorney at law made by Commissioner Jarrell, seconded by Commissioner Stewart. All three voted yes and motion passed.
Motion to accept the Ads and Abates from Collector/Treasurer Josh Speakman for June 2023 made by Commissioner Stewart, seconded by Commissioner Jarrell. All three voted yes and motion passed.
Motion to accept the Minutes from the regular meeting from the July 3, 2023 made by Commissioner Stewart, seconded by Commissioner Jarrell. All three voted yes and motion passed.
Minutes from the Closed Session of the July 3, 2023 were not available to approve today.
Motion to adjourn into Closed Session made by Commissioner Jarrell, seconded by Commissioner Stewart at 11:05 a.m.
