OSAGE COUNTY — Osage County commissioners discussed the possibility of a tri-county justice center, the division of human-resources duties, and preparations for the Nov. 3 election during a department-head meeting Sept. 8.

Sheriff Michael Bonham said the new Maries County presiding commissioner has expressed interest in exploring a tri-county justice center with Osage and Gasconade counties, but the process would have to be initiated by the county commissions rather than the sheriffs. Under state statute, he said, the sheriffs would serve on a board governing the facility over the long term.

Bonham said questions remain about how the participating counties would divide the cost and whether the facility could become self-sufficient by housing inmates for other agencies, particularly federal prisoners, which generate more revenue but also carry additional requirements. Among the major operating costs would be medical care, food service, and staffing.

The project would likely require a bond issue to pay the counties’ share of construction costs, Bonham said. A grant is available, which he believed could cover 75% of the project. He forwarded information about the grant to Western District Commissioner Dale Logan for review.

Location would also be a factor. Bonham said Maries County would not participate if the center were built in Chamois and prefers the Vichy airport area, which he did not consider feasible for the other counties. He said the Belle area could make more sense because all three counties meet there, making travel distances and shared costs more equitable.

Bonham also questioned whether Chamois could supply enough workers to staff the facility and noted that parts of the area are in a floodplain. Logan said his interest in Chamois was based on the possibility of bringing jobs and population back to that portion of the county and potentially encouraging construction of a Missouri River bridge, but agreed that commissioners would have to consider the larger picture.

“I personally think it could be a real good thing for our county, but golly, is it a massive undertaking,” Logan said.

Later in the meeting, when Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Peters returned to the county’s potential share of the project cost, Boessen cautioned that even a 75% grant could leave the county with a substantial expense.

“I’ve added stuff up for grants before, and you’d be surprised how quick that portion adds up,” Boessen said. “It seems like a good deal until they start putting it down on paper.”

Bonham also reported on several recent events. Deputies made three arrests for minor in possession at State Technical College of Missouri during the preceding week, he said. Those arrested were booked and released rather than jailed.

Bonham estimated the Bull Bash drew between 3,000 and 4,000 people and described it as a very successful event.

The Freeburg picnic also attracted a large crowd. Deputies dealt with underage drinking and one skirmish there, but Bonham said neither became a major problem.

Bonham also discussed Amendment 8, which is scheduled to appear on the November ballot. He said the measure would move the office and duties of sheriff from state statute into the Missouri Constitution, preventing future legislators from eliminating or fundamentally changing the position. It would also formalize a procedure allowing the attorney general to seek a sheriff’s removal through due process.

“It doesn’t give us any special new powers,” Bonham said. “It doesn’t change, really, the job. It just protects the position.”

Bonham said Kansas recently made sheriff a constitutional position. When asked if he supported the measure, Bonham emphasized that he was addressing the commission in his official capacity and was providing information.

• Interim County Clerk Brooke Dudenhoeffer reported on the Missouri Association of County Clerks and Election Authorities conference, where she received additional training on election billing.

She said her office was waiting for the outcome of pending litigation before ballots could be printed for the Nov. 3 election.

During a discussion of the possibility of hiring someone to handle human-resources work, Dudenhoeffer told commissioners that human-resources responsibilities belong to the county clerk’s office and that hiring someone else to perform them would encroach on her office’s authority. She asked commissioners to speak to her if they believed her office was not handling something correctly.

When asked about the county’s employee handbook, Dudenhoeffer said she planned to work with the county’s insurance representative, Higginbotham, to update the employee manual. She said she has the manual in Microsoft Word and PDF formats and could update it before circulating it among County Attorney Amanda Grellner, Higginbotham, and commissioners for review.

When Presiding Commissioner Darryl Griffin asked whether she was current on labor laws, Dudenhoeffer said labor-law training is part of the clerks’ spring training.

After the department-head meeting ended, Peters returned to the HR discussion. “It’s great news that we don’t have to hire any HR. She can take care of it herself,” he said. “That’s great. I thought it was our responsibility.”

“I think when we were doing the employee manual last time, they were saying that you guys needed to do the updates and get it to them,” interjected Commission Clerk Brandy Boessen. “It’s just a lot of back and forth, that’s all.”

Dudenhoeffer also asked commissioners to move the annual compensatory-time payout process forward because of the November election. Under the schedule unanimously approved by commissioners, payout requests are due to the clerk Oct. 26, commissioners will consider approval Oct. 27, and payment will be made Nov. 6.

• University of Missouri Extension Office Engagement Specialist in Community Economic Development Elizabeth Anderson said the office is continuing to seek an agricultural business specialist and is scheduling interviews, with the goal of completing them within the next month or two. The county’s 4-H position is also open.

Anderson said a community walk was planned for noon Monday, Sept. 14. “Sometimes the only time that people really have to interact with elected officials or be civically engaged is when they’re mad about something, and this is just a chance to have it be neutral and a positive experience,” she said.

Taste of Osage County would be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, at Linn City Park.

Private pesticide-applicator training is offered locally at least once each year, usually in January, Anderson said. Applicators may also renew their licenses by attending training in an adjoining county. The training lasts two to three hours and costs $75. Online sessions are also available during the year, but are conducted live through Zoom rather than through a prerecorded video. Additional training is required for certain pesticides.

• Assessor Tina Kammerich and the Collector’s office had no departmental reports.

• Treasurer Valerie Prater said she would be on vacation the following week.

• During continued discussion of possibly moving the county to self-funded health insurance, Health Department Administrator Kim Sallin said Quick Care could provide a substantial benefit under that arrangement. She said she would like commissioners to hear from a county with direct experience operating under a self-funded plan.

Prater said she wanted to know what the plan would cost each year. “I think that’s the scary part of it,” Peters said. “You don’t know what you’re going to use.”

Insurance representatives Alan Fay and Higginbotham are expected to attend the commission meeting the following week.

• Commissioners also discussed a renter’s inquiry about county requirements for the number of bathrooms and sinks in a residence. They said Osage County does not have a general residential-rental ordinance establishing those requirements. Griffin returned the renter’s call.

ROAD & BRIDGE

Osage County Road & Bridge Foreman Neil Mantle said both of the county’s “whipper” mowing tractors were back in operation after parts arrived for one tractor’s motor. He hoped to operate all three tractors after the county’s new mower arrives.

• Mantle said he would investigate leasing a John Deere tractor through the state of Missouri and Missouri Department of Transportation cooperative procurement contract. He had heard the tractor could be leased for approximately $38 per hour without committing the county to a minimum number of hours.

Peters said the option he previously investigated was an annual lease based on either 1,000 or 1,500 total hours rather than an hourly, as-needed arrangement. Although the effective hourly rate was lower, the county would only benefit if it used all of the contracted hours. Logan suggested Mantle contact the John Deere dealership and ask for Caleb Weber, who helped the county purchase its new mower through the cooperative procurement contract. Mantle agreed to call for clarification.

• Griffin asked Mantle about placing decals on the county’s new equipment so residents can identify it as county property. Mantle said the department had not determined whether to use the county’s round logo or wording similar to the decals previously used on Road & Bridge equipment. He said the equipment would need to be taken to a professional decal installer.

• Peters said he had received several compliments about work on CR 251, where the crew graded the road and pulled the ditches. Mantle said an experienced grader operator had worked with newly hired operator Marvin Charlton for one day to show him how to operate the grader.

“They’re doing it the right way for once,” Mantle said. “I’m sure it’s going to turn heads just because they’ve never seen it done before.”

Peters added that pulling the ditches would reduce the amount of brush cutting required along the road.

• Griffin said George Leubbering had complained that the county was flattening his road without pulling the ditches. Mantle said crews had since placed shot rock at two locations and planned to install a culvert near Leubbering’s driveway.

Leubbering also complained that CR 508 was restricted to one lane and said residents had been told it could remain that way for two years. Griffin told him that was not correct and that the county was already working on the project.

• Peters said a large crushed culvert on CR 315 needed prompt attention because approximately four feet of the road had already washed away. Mantle said the crew would be sent there after finishing its current hauling work.

• Crews also needed to return to CR 731 to remove brush left by a large tree that had broken approximately 20 feet above the ground and fallen across the road the previous day.

• The road report for Sep. 1 - Sep. 7 showed quarry rock hauled on CR 303 (17.13T placed at culvert site), 433 (34.21T), 521 (130.72T), 522 (153.06T), 735 (93.31T), 735A (52.95T), 741 (850.73T), 742 (53.24T), 804 (30.41T); culvert were replaced on CR 303, 402, 706; road work was done on CR 303, 433, 604, 701, 706, 722, 804; dirt was hauled from CR 303; a tree was removed on CR 731 on the holiday; brush was sprayed on CR 623; brush mowers were working on CR 202; and grader operators were active as follows: G01 (CR 423, 424), G02 (CR 251, 275), G03 (CR 205), G04 (CR 521, 522, 523), G05 (CR 735, 735A, 741, 742), and G06 (CR 236, 314, 317, 319).

• Grader G04 (2025 140 15AWD) was serviced out-of-house. Grader G06 (2016 12M3 AWD) and whipper tractor W41 (2006 John Deere 6615 w/Alamo Machete Mower) were serviced in house.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT

Osage County Health Department Administrator Kim Sallin said Quick Care saw 87 patients in August after the service opened around Aug. 10. That included 10 patients the previous Friday. The nurse practitioner, Samantha, said patients arrived in groups of two or three, but the workload was manageable with assistance from a medical assistant, and she could easily have seen more.

Samantha said she had expected primarily upper-respiratory and sinus complaints but had treated a wide variety of conditions, including ear infections, strep throat and lacerations. She said patients have responded positively to the clinic’s cost, location and accessibility.

The Health Department is still awaiting approval to accept Medicaid. Sallin said electronic medical-records provider CureMD processed the application, and the department submitted all requested documentation on time. CureMD had previously indicated approval was expected by the beginning of September, but told Sallin the preceding week that it had not yet been granted. Sallin followed up again the morning of the meeting and was told CureMD had sent another message to the entity processing the application.

Several patients left without receiving care after learning Quick Care could not yet accept Medicaid, Sallin said. The clinic’s sign states that Medicaid is accepted because approval had been expected by that point.

Sallin said she expects Quick Care’s patient count to be significantly higher in September.

She reminded county employees that forms required for employees, dependents, and household members to receive the Quick Care discount were due to the clerk’s office Sept. 15. Dudenhoeffer said numerous forms were still outstanding, including forms from three of the county’s largest departments: the assessor’s office, 911, and Road & Bridge. She said employees must submit the form even if they have no family or household members to receive the discount themselves.

• Sallin said Health Department staff had also been extremely busy conducting school screenings, with staff working in schools nearly every day. A tuberculosis clinic at State Tech was successful, she said, and gave nursing students an opportunity to practice placing TB skin tests on healthcare students.

• The Health Department is again advertising its front-desk office-support position after a new employee left without notice. Sallin said the employee went home sick Monday, called in sick Tuesday and informed Sallin Tuesday evening that Monday had been her last day. Sallin had received several applications and planned to begin contacting applicants that day.

Sallin said she informed the former employee that leaving without notice would make her ineligible for rehire by the Health Department. Dudenhoeffer said that restriction could be recorded on the county personnel transaction form as applying specifically to the Health Department. Griffin said he would not rehire someone in another county department after that person left one department without notice.

911/Emergency Management

Osage County 911 employee Cody Hoelscher, reading 911/EMA Director Ron Hoffman’s report, said next-generation 911 is scheduled to go live Sept. 22.

• Approximately 38 new addresses and two roads serving small subdivisions had been approved during the preceding two months to be added to the county’s geographic information system map, which was expected to be pushed out that week and then submitted for an update to the computer-aided dispatch map.

• Information from the DR-4829 disaster was still being entered into the county website.

• A Bagnell Dam tabletop exercise concerning a potential dam failure was scheduled for Thursday at the Lake of the Ozarks.

• Ameren planned to replace its guyed tower across the Missouri River with a freestanding tower. A county operations repeater is located on the tower, and Rayfield Communications was preparing a list showing the placement of components to help engineers design the replacement. Hoffman was working to prevent an interruption in radio service during the changeover. The report recommended replacing the antenna and cable while tower climbers were already on site.

FINANCIAL

• An income report for the County Clerk for the month of August showed a monthly total of $980.29, including Liquor License ($168), Auction ($0), Notary ($15), Plat Books ($770), Election ($0), and Misc/CC ($27.29).

• Sales tax distribution received from the state of Missouri showed an additional $2,291.62 collected for January 2026 - June 2026, including $299.34 to General Revenue, $341.81 to Jail Renovation (JR60), $170.91 to Capitol Improvements (CI88, $153.82) and Building & Grounds (BG89 $17.09), $341.84 to Prop P, $228.66 to Prop R, $341.81 to 911/Law Enforcement, and $567.25 to Use Tax.

• Time sheets were approved by commissioners.

• Checks were submitted for signatures.