The Stoddard County Commissioners opened their regularly scheduled Monday morning meeting with a prayer and Pledge of Allegiance.  Commissioner Mathis stated, "We have a full house today!"  There were more than 20 people in attendance for today's meeting.

Doug Lowery, Duck Creek Township

Lowery asked if there are any rules in Stoddard County about placing speed limit signs in the townships or if the Commissioners have anything to do with that directly.  Commissioner Mathis said he did not think the Commissioners had anything to do with that and that it was up to each individual township to post signs on rural roads within their township.

Katelyn Lambert - Weekly ARPA Update

Duck Creek Township - They have a bridge they are working on and there may be some addition cost.

New Lisbon - They are waiting on the specs to pay on bridge 249

Castor Township - They are still needing a Distribution Agreement and several documents including bid procurement.

City of Dexter - Lambert is going thru the paperwork and is getting procurement paperwork from Crystal Bishop.

New Lisbon Township - Lambert is waiting for the bridge specifications on County Road 249 in order to proceed further.  

Broadband/Internet -  Lambert suggested sending the broadband project agreement to the county attorney for review.  This agreement was brought in by Loyd Rice, GoSEMO Fiber and was for the Commissioners to look at as it and review.  

Mark Crisel - Business Owner in Puxico and President of the Puxico Improvement Corporation said that the city of Puxico had been dealing with the internet or lath of internet for six years.  He said the CDBG grant fell through and probably rightfully so due to the issues with the grant.  He also said that the $1 million in ARPA funds ear marked for the broadband should be given to still earmarked for broadband.

"People in Puxico area are unable to conduct business from their homes," stated Crisel.  "They must make drives into the city of Puxico to serve their customers or in the case of doctors they can't even make virtual calls from their homes."

"I would rather take this money and get everything out of it that we can vs waiting another three to five years in the future for any other grant/BEAD money and hope that someone bids on that project," continued Crisel.  "Just on my county road there is one doctor, two insurance agents and three businesses. No other internet service provider has stepped up, not Sparklight, BPS, Windstream or even AT&T to help with this area."

Logan Lowery - Owner of Lowery Farms - "We can't even use our current internet to conduct online business or even run credit/debit cards sometimes because the available internet is such poor quality.  Our kids will need internet and access to do their homework.  We just want to get the ball rolling on getting internet!"

Steve Crisel - Puxico School Board Member - He asked about the map of the proposed broadband coverage for rural Puxico that was having on the wall in the Commission chamber by Loyd Rice with GoSEMO Fiber.  Rice explained that the map was the 40 miles of which GoSEMO Fiber would provide coverts a s part of the 1 million dollar project.  Rice said originally it was let to believe that there was an additional 30 - 35 miles that would also need broadband.  This was from Conexon, the engineers for the CDBG grant; however he said he was hard pressed to find an additional 10 miles.  he said this would provide serve to nearly the entire rural area. and would be a 12 month project once shovels are in the ground.

Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis said this was the first time the Commission had seen the map and said details with this project are being updated weekly.  Which means what the commission can and cannot approve keeps changing.

Loy Rice, GoSEMO Fiber, informed the Commission that he was asked by his board of directors to start moving toward on an agreement with the County or they would need to pivot and move on to another project.  

Linda Roberts - Concerned Citizen - She asked if the $1 million was not spent on the broadband where would it be spent.  Mathis said they only considered that move due to another grant being available.  It is called the BEAD grant.  The $1 million could go towards other projects yet to be identified.  Commissioner C.D. Stewart said that the BEAD grant was considered because the Commission thought there would be monies available to cover the expense of the project.  They were not just going to pull the money for no reason; however the BEAD Grant may not be available for two or more years. "I work remotely from home and some days can't get internet and AT&T just doesn't help us.  We need good internet, stated Roberts"

Commissioner Mathis asked Rice to get a final agreement from his board detailing what they would do or not do.  Rice agreed and said it would be signed by him and his CEO.  There was not space on the agreement for 12 signatures of the board.  Mathis stated that was fine.

Peter Coutavas - Puxico City Alderman and Industrial Development Association (IDA) Director - "We have received a letter from GoSEMO Fiber with a commitment to wire up the city limits of Puxico."

City of Essex - The city of Essex has now requested ARPA funds for street repair within their city.  They have been turned down the last two years for CDBG grants.  The lowest project was a match of $75,000.  They are requesting $50,000 in ARPA funds.  Commissioner Mathis stated your request is in the hopper, but there no guarantee at this point and he could make no promises.

Bell City Fire Dept - They asked for ARPA funds in January 2022 and were asked by the previous Commission to obtain other funding such as a CDBG grant from Bootheel Regional Planning Commission.  The representative, John Scherer said a new station would give them room house all of their equipment in one place rather than run around town to multiple buildings to gather equipment.  Their first attempt to get a grant failed and they are attempting agin; however they were wondering if the money would still be available as they would not know until 2024 if they received the grant or not.  Also was it worth it to go after that grant at prevailing rates and the project cost more or have to be scaled back.

There request was for $253,170.00 for the fire station and a safe room.

Lambert stated that on Friday, July 14th that the city of Dudley had provided a request for ARPA monies on October 7, 2021.  They are not on the current spreadsheet created by Bootheel Regional Planning Commission.  The County is ok on the money thus far for paying out ARPA funds; however going forward if they paid out all requests they would be negative $669,135.76.  They have received more requests than funds available.  Lambert provided the Commission with an updated lists of requests and those that had been approved and paid out.   The total amount of ARPA funds was $5,637,766.00  They have received /the Commission has earned $130,038.80 in interest from placing funds in money market accounts.  Funds requested are at $6,436,940.56.  They have paid out $799,856.17 thus far.

Beau Bishop - Stoddard County EMA Director

He passed out two funding proposals for ARPA Funds.  The first was for the outdoor warning siren upgrade.  He said this proposal intends to extend the life of the sirens.  Total cost of the proposal is $78,000.

The second was the MOSWIN Radio funding proposal.  This proposal intends to provide MOSWIN Radios to the county fire departments and emergency medical responders as they provide public safety duties to the citizens and travelers in Stoddard Count.

He said, "If everybody got on board with this project it would open additional channels for easier communication.  The project budget is $423,500.  However this amount may be lowered because Josh Speakman, county collector stated that these radios have already been purchased for the city of Advance.  This purchase was made independently from the proposal the EMA Director prepared.

Other Business

Peter Coutavas - IDA - "The Wildflower has opened and it is a beautiful boutique.  The store next to it will be a coffee shop."  Also on North Prairie Street I have been working with Amy Haas, President of the Bloomfield Chamber and there will be a new business as well."

The Commission will close the Board of Equalization on Monday, July 26, 2023.

BRO Bridge Update - Mathis stated there were 7 bridges picked and Stoddard County was not chosen to have a bridge replacement.

Motion to accept the regular minutes from July 10, 2023 made by Commissioner Jarrell, seconded by Commissioner Stewart. All three voted yes and motion passed.

Motion to accept the Closed Session minutes from July 10, 2023 made by Commissioner Stewart, seconded by Commissioner Jarrell.  All three voted yes and motion passed.

Motion to accept the Closed Session minutes from July 3, 2023 made by Commissioner Stewart, seconded by Commissioner Jarrell.  All three voted yes and motion passed.

Motion to enter into Closed Session at 12:17 p.m. made by Commissioner Jarrell, seconded by Commissioner Stewart.  All three voted yes and motion passed.

Route CC in Stoddard County Closed for Pavement Repairs

Route CC in Stoddard County will be closed as Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform pavement repairs. 

This section of roadway is located from Route HH to Route A near Baker, Missouri. 

Weather permitting, work will take place from Monday, July 17 and Tuesday, July 18 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.    

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 

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.

The Stoddard County Commission began their weekly meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer over the county employees and law enforcement.

New Assessor Sworn in to Office

Jacob Clary, was sworn in as the new Assessor, prior to the start of the Stoddard County Commission meeting.

Closing of County Offices

Judge Rob Mayor sent a text to Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis on Friday that he was closing the Judicial building today, Monday, July 3rd at noon.  "The question is do you want to close at noon or stay open until regular closing time," asking Commissioners Carol Jarrell and C.D. Stewart.

Motion to close the Government Building and County offices at noon made by Commissioner Carol Jarrell and seconded by C.D. Stewart.  All three voted yes and the motion passed.

"The employees will be paid for the 4 hours while the offices are closed," stated Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis.

Loyd Rice, GoSEMO Fiber attended along with Donnie Brown, Intern with an update on the Broadband/Internet

Rice distributed a paper update along with some changes from the original proposal submitted last month.  Each month there is an update on the grants so it is an ongoing process.

"The BEAD Grant is yet to have all the rules published," stated Rice.

Davis-Bacon Program has stipulations of prevailing wages and affirmative action along with some Human Resources layers that GoSEMO is not set-up to handle at this time.

A question from Mathis was what are the number of households in that 40 miles of broadband outside the city limits of Puxico and how many in the last 33 miles that will be delayed somewhat due to grant application on the BEAD Grant.  Rice said he would get that information to the Commissioners.

In a letter to the Commissioners, "GoSEMO Fiber would like to continue to offer to build 40 miles of fiber broadband infrastructure in the northwest Stoddard County as outlined to be the Puxico rural area in the failed CDBG application.  Pending final details and a signed memorandum of understanding should the Commission decide to honor the former Commissioner's decision to allocate 1 million in ARPA funds to broadband.   The project timeline is anticipated to last 12 months, once the project is started.  It is the intent of GoSEMO Fiber t complete the remaining unserved portions of the county when an appropriate funding opportunity is made available, including the 33 miles that remain in this immediate area of the filed CDBG."  

"GoSEMO is currently working on (3) MO Broadband Grant applications territories, awarded funding of $17 million this past December 2022.  Two of these projects are in Stoddard County, with approximately 22 miles of infrastructure being built to serve approximately 701 of the county's unserved citizens.  This same MO Broadband Office will also run th next anticipated round of broadband funding which will come through the NTIA, known as the BEAD program."

Josh Speakman, Stoddard County Collector/Treasurer

Speakman announced the Land Sale on the 4th Monday of August.  He will have a press release available to the newspapers explaining the process.  It will be held in person at the courthouse on August 22, 2023.

Carl Hefner, Stoddard County Sheriff

Hefner wanted to know how his employees were going to be compensated for the four hours that the County offices are closed due to the holiday.  Sheriff's department are considered essential personnel and they just can't close the sheriff's department.

"They knew that when they went to work at the sheriff's department and the knew they would work when other county employees are off," stated Commission Jarrell.  "There job is to keep the county safe at ALL times."

"We are a different beast," stated Hefner.  "We get the same raises as everyone else gets so we are the same beast in that scenario, but not when it comes to getting paid time off."

"I think they should get the 4 hours of straight time, not overtime, but they are a different animal and should be compensated for these hours." stated Commissioner Stewart.

"During the snow days back in the winter, the sheriff's department worked and others could not come to work and the offices were closed.  They were not compensated additional monies," commented Commissioner Mathis.

Mathis asked Hefner if he would get a list together of all employees that had to work during the hours of the County offices being closed and present that on Monday.  This included any employee that worked between noon and 4:30 p.m.

Sawyer Smith, Stoddard County Prosecuting Attorney

Sawyer Smith presented a Memorandum of Agreement utilizing the Stoddard County Law Enforcement Restitution Fund (LERF) monies which will be used to pay Lance Butler, attorney at law, to serve in the Prosecuting Attorney's office on a part-time basis.  He will be paid $6,000 per month for the next six months for the services as a self-employed person and not as a direct employee.  

Other Business

There was no update on the ARPA funds this week.  The Commission is waiting on an updated spreadsheet of the requests. Katelyn Lambert, Bootheel Regional Planning Commission, returned from her Leave of Absence today and will hopefully get a spreadsheet and all the updates next week.

Board of Equalization will be held on Wednesday, July 5th at 10 a.m.

Motion to accept the regular meeting minutes from June 27, 2023 made by Commissioner Jarrell, seconded by Commissioner Stewart.  Mathis abstained due to absence that particular day.  Motion passed with two votes by Jarrell and Stewart.

Minutes for the closed meeting from June 27, 2023 were not available.

Motion to enter in Closed Session made by Commissioner Stewart, seconded by Commissioner Jarrell at 11:05 a.m.  All three voted yes and passed.

Governor of Missouri, Mr.  Micheal L. Parson appointed Jacob Clary, Republican, as the new Stoddard County Assessor, for a term ending when his successor is duly elected or appointed and qualified, as Daniel W. Greg, resigned/retired.

Jacob Clary was duly sworn into office by Stoddard County Clerk Cecil Weeks on Monday, July 3, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. in the Commissioners Chambers.

There were several people on hand to watch the swearing in ceremony.