Stoddard County Commissioner set in a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, December 5, 2022 in Bloomfield, Missouri at the government building.

Doug Lowery, board member for the Duck Creek Township, had some concerns regarding grants through Bootheel Regional Planning Commission.  Commissioner Talkington stated that he needs to get with Katelyn Lambert at the BRPC and discuss the grant deadline.

William Dowdy stated that The Clock Guy will be back on Tuesday, December 6, 2022 to work on the clock in the old courthouse.  The clock is still not currently working.

Commissioner Carol Jarrell made a motion to accept the contract for services for IV 4-D Child Support with the Missouri Department of Social Services for the Stoddard County Prosecuting Attorney's office.  Seconded by Commissioner Talkington.  Both voted yes.

Matthew Dowdy, concerned citizen, attended the meeting and wanted to get his complaint into the minutes of the Stoddard County Commission that he wants to make a claim against the bonding company because he feels his rights were violated.

In an email to Liberty Mutual, a subsidiary of Ohio Casualty he stated, "The bond claim for violation of unalienable God given rights secured by the Constitution of the Republic of United States of America and the Missouri State Constitution, particularly my right to due process/freedom of speech, false arrest, unlawful detainment depriving me of my liberty and illegal search and seizure.  I, Matthew R. Dowdy, have exhausted all the administrative means for relief and seek equitable relief for these atrocities.  I was illegally detained on three occasions for a total of 155 days the last time for 120 days without knowing the cause or violation and/law, statued or condition of probation that I had violated."

He is seeking bond relief in the amount of $500,000.

Dowdy also spoke to Cecil Weeks, Stoddard County Clerk. "He (Weeks) holds all the bonding information and the commissioners can request it because it is public information," stated Dowdy. He doesn't feel he is getting anywhere with the insurance company so he wants the Commissioners to look into it and get it recorded in the minutes.

"I'm not sure how you can help me, but I wanted to get in the minutes that I have requested a claim against the insurance company," stated Dowdy.  "I am not getting much information from them."

Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to end the Open Session of the Commission Meeting at 10:28 a.m.  Commissioner Talkington seconded the motion.  Both voted yes and passed.

Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to go into the Closed Session of the Commission Meeting pursuant to RSMo Section 610.021 (17) at 10:29 a.m. and they moved their meeting to the office of Cecil Weeks, County Clerk.  Talkington seconded the motion and both voted yes.

Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to exit the Closed Session of the Commission Meeting at 11:42 a.m.  Seconded by Talkington.  Both voted yes.

Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to open the regular session of the Commission Meeting at 11:43 a.m..  Seconded by Talkington.  Both voted yes.

William Auten, Auten Land Services, LLC, Wilmington, North Carolina is working with the landfill to harness the methane.  He needed contacts for the County Road 570 from Richland.  Commissioner Talkington gave him numbers for Terry Miller with Essex Special Road District within Richland Township and Dale Moreland with Castor Township.   He needs to get right away to tie into the landfill.     

Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to enter into Closed Session at 11:47 a.m. pursuant to RSMo: Section 810.021 (1) and they moved their meeting to the office of Cecil Weeks, County Clerk.  Talkington seconded the motion.  Both voted yes and passed.  John McCarty,  Arch Brokerage, Inc., insurance representative, was also in the Closed Session Meeting.

Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to exit the Closed Session of the Commission Meeting at 1:00 p.m.  Seconded by Talkington.  Both voted yes 

Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to open the Regular Session of the Commission Meeting at 1:05 p.m.  Seconded by Talkington.  Both voted yes.

Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to approve November 2022 Adds/Abates from Josh Spearman, Stoddard County Collector.  Seconded by Talkington.  Both voted yes.

Kay Asbell, Retiring Stoddard County Recorder, was present and had questions regarding the employee health insurance which will take effect January 1, 2023.

She asked what her deductible would be and why we don't know yet all the details of the insurance plan.

The bid was for broker services and stop loss, not a fixed insurance cost.  It just included the stop loss," stated John McCarty, Arch Brokerage, Inc. "It will depend on the claims.  Depending on what the claims go, this is the funding bucket, this is all transparent.  The rest of it was to target a plan.  That  will be determined.  There were some things, some compliance changes that needed to be changed going forward."

"We are moving to CVS for pharmacy going forward," continued McCarty.

"We need to check what the retiree rate.  There is a fixed cost and a claims cost.  Will have to verify with Mr. Weeks what the retiree rate will be," per McCarty.

"Once everything is nailed down I will come down and make sure you understand your benefits.  We are still making changes.  It has not been voted on and it is not official, stated McCarty. 

The Commissioners initially had open bids for brokers.  Out of those bids they decided to get insurance quotes from 4 brokers and one insurance company.  They opened those bids on October 12, 2022. Of those five bids, Arch Brokerage was chosen as the broker not just because of the stop loss and services, but because of the insurance bid he proposed.  The fixed cost was $337,857.36 and their maximum cost is $696,322.44 which was based on 77 employees and one spouse.  The contract was for one year and the cost per month is $349.45 per employee (paid by the county) and for the employee/spouse/family cost of $1,247.90 with a $1,500 deductible per employee.  You will be able to go to St. Francis, but your deductible will be higher at $2,500.  The Commissioners did not take the lowest bid, but chose them based on overall plan.  

Josh Speakman, Stoddard County Collector had numerous questions for the Commissioners after they opened the regular session back up.  

"According to Healthlink, St. Francis Healthcare is in-network; however our insurance policy states it is not in-network.  My question is why is the County requiring a higher deductible for St. Francis Healthcare vs going to SoutheastHEALTH if the cost to the County is the same?"   

We need to go back and verify the cost from each facility to the County through the Healthlink network. The out of network deductible has had a shift. There will a change for the better," continued McCarty.

"We shouldn't be in the business of determining where employees should get their medical treatment," continued Spearman. "The employees deserve a choice at the same cost and I feel that the employees should have a choice."

"We need to wait until McCarty to finish writing up any changes," stated Talkington.  "We still may tweak it some."

Originally when we got this packet, the out of pocket cost for a -  if you will quote unquote"out of network" even thought St. Francis is in network, but the County has excluded them, the out of pocket expense for my family is I think $11,400. That's a hefty price for me to pay, when the County receives a discount for me to go to St Francis since my wife works there.

Whenever you talk about the cost difference between say all your in network facilities Poplar Bluff Regional, Missouri Delta, SoutheastHealth, and St. Francis, if they all come out differently I guess we are going to determine what the difference is depending if we are going to exclude the hospitals or not," continued Spearman.

"We are working on it," stated Talkington.

Will we be privy to that information or not?  What the health costs are for Healthlink? per Speakman.

"I will need to verify what is legal and what is not legal," commented McCarty.

If Poplar Bluff Regional Medical's price and St. Francis' price mimic each other, are we going to then exclude both if they are higher than SoutheastHEALTH and MO Delta?  If it is in-network then it is in-network and we should have a wide network.  Only 2% of facilities/employers have a narrowed network and by excluding this hospital and care providers is narrowing the network.  We are not in the business to determine where the employee should go.  If you look at St. Francis in Dexter there are tax paying employees down there as well that we should support their business just like we support Southeast.  I am not trying to be biased, but I do want to go where my wife works.  I am lobbying and advocating for employees to have a choice and not have to pay $9,000 difference out of pocket because one hospital is over another and set by the people who are excluding that hospital," expressed Speakman.

"You are asking for an answer that we are not in a position to give at this moment," stated Presiding Commissioner Talkington. "We are still working on your answers."

Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to approve the minutes from Monday, November 28, 2022.  Seconded by Talkington.  Both voted yes and passed.            

Minutes from the November 21, 2022 meeting were made available today; however this reporter found an error in the printed and approved minutes.  The minutes stated that the bids on the County Audit for 2022 to be submitted by December 12, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. and it should read that they should be submitted by 4:00 p.m. December 9, 2022.  Commissioner Talkington stated that they would amend those minutes on Monday, December 12, 2022 and not today.

Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to adjourn at 1:25 p.m.  Commissioner Talkington seconded the motion.  Both voted yes and passed.

Stoddard County Commission to hold a second Closed Session on Monday, December 5th at 11:45 a.m.

This closed session will be a conference call between the County Commission and the attorney Travis Elliott.  This is confidential and privileged communication with an attorney.

Closed sessions are not open to the public or the media.

Stoddard County Commission will hold a Closed Session on Monday, December 5, 2022 at 10:30 a.m. via Conference Call to discuss the audit work with State Auditors Staff.

Closes sessions are closed to the public and meda.

Stoddard County Commission Agenda for Monday, December 5, 2022

Please note they will adjourn into Closed Session at 10:30 a.m. then resume Regular Session and then adjourn again into Closed Session at 11:45 a.m. if you plan to attend the meeting.  Closed sessions are not open to the public or meda.

The Stoddard County Commissioners met in a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, November 28, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. in the Government Building.

Commissioner Carol Jarrell made a motion to approve the minutes from November 21, 2022.  Commissioner Talkington seconded the motion.  Both voted yes and passed.

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.

Collector Josh Speakman reached out to the Attorney General with regards to MO State Statute 40.070 and signing the voucher for Mr. Alvin Shrader, attorney representing County Clerk Cecil Weeks and Commissioner Danny Talkington, who were subpoenaed by the County Prosecuting Attorney in the Commissioner Steve Jordan's removal from office.   "I hopefully will get an answer from the Attorney General this week and I will let Mr. Shrader know why we haven't paid yet."

"I have been using my personal card for postage and hotel stays etc then getting reimbursed from the County," commented Speakman.  "I wanted to get your thoughts on getting a card with the County logo etc to use a card connected to the County and not my personal debit card."  Commissioner Talkington asked for more information on the card in writing. 

Speakmen went into some details as to what he learned at the recent Missouri Association of Counties (MAC) Convention.  He attended last week prior to the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

John McCarty - Health Insurance 

McCarty brought a form that the Commissioners needed to fill out.  He also spoke of different programs available thru the new insurance.  He also provided plan details.  McCarty will be here on Wednesday, November 30, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. to meet with the employees in groups and not individually to go over the plans.  This plan is for the 2023 year only.  The Commissioners chose to sign a one year contract with the insurance benefits.

Mr. Greg Mathis, elected Presiding Commissioner, who will begin on January 1, 2023, attended the meeting.  He had a few questions about the new County health insurance.

He also asked about the audits in 2022.  "The County has had several audits in 2022," stated Mathis. "How many have we had and of those audits how many final reports have we received?"  

"We just received audit report from Devereux and Company, year ending December 2021."  stated Talkington.  "The one from the State Auditor's office we are waiting to go over the final draft. They will want to do that sometime next week."

"The one on the Cares Act I have never seen anything on that one," commented Jarrell. 

"The feds required that audit (referring to the Cares Act) and one auditor was from Texas and the other from Springfield, MO." commented Talkington. "But I haven't seen anything on it."

Beau Bishop, new Emergency Management Director, attended today's meeting.  He had a report to give as well as updates.

1.  Received approval of FY22 EMPG grant.  All funding approved as submitted, expect fuel travel expenses.  It was reduced from $4,500 annually to $1,000 with a $500 match.  This was due to budget restrictions.

2.  Claims have been filed for the FY21 ARPA EMPG and the FY Regular EMPG 1st Qtr Grants for the July 1st - September 30, 2022 reporting period.  Currently working on revisions/additions per SEMA.

3.  Met with Paducah National Weather Service Representatives November 15th.  Updated contact information with them and currently working on two small projects that they requested assistance on.

4.  Attended the NWS Winter Weather Workshop in Jackson, Missouri on November 16th.  Discussed current projection for the Winter Weather Season in our area.  Met with several local EMD's as well.

5.  HMPG Siren and Generator Grants are in a "holding pattern".  They both have been reviewed by SEMA and sent to FEMA with a recommendation for approval.  It will probably be well into the new year before any approval or rejection decision is made.

6.  AFG MOSWIN Radio Grant for Stoddard County Departments is also in a "holding pattern".

7.  Meeting today and tomorrow with Radar Omega for camera repair and maintenance on weather cameras installed throughout the County.

8. Meeting with Ben Godwin, Stoddard County Health Department Director, to bring us up to speed on the PPE supplies, Shelter Trailer, and CERT Trailer that are all housed at the Health Department.

9.  Bishop and Deputy Director David Whitaker will be out of town the evening of December 5th thru December 7th for training in West plains, Missouri.  Class is a "Disaster Management for Public Services"

10.  On December 8th, Bishop will be attending a MO SEMA Elevation Certificate Virtual Workshop Webinar for Floodplain training.

Ditch #17

"I just noticed it doesn't look any different," stated Dan Schlosser, Drainage Ditch #17 board member.  "I am not sure they have dredged the ditch or not. I just haven't paid attention I guess."

Dredging bids were taken opened on August 15, 2022. Kinder Excavating won the lowest bid of $30,000 to dredge 2,000 feet of Ditch #17.  They were to perform the quick in Aug/Sept.

"It does need some mowing, but not sure we will have the funds to mow," continued Schlosser. "I know each drainage ditch stands alone, but the funds are all in one account together."

"We will have to address that in December when we go over the 2023 budget and see where we are in various accounts and funds." commented Talkington.  

There were no further discussions or visitors.

Commissioner Jarrell motioned to adjourn at 12:02 p.m.  Talkington seconded the motion.  All in favor and meeting was adjourned.

The next scheduled meeting is Monday, December 5, 2022 at 9:00 a.m.