OSAGE COUNTY — Commissioners accepted a bid from Boessen Crane for $4,885 to load, transport, and set the pipe for repair of the bridge on CR 416, with the stipulation that the bid be corrected to list transport of the pipe, and to list the correct diameter of the pipe. The county’s other bid, from Budrovich, was for $7,950.

Osage County Road and Bridge Foreman Justin Bridges said he’d contacted both floodplain management and the Army Corps of Engineers regarding the bridge repair on CR 416. Both entities indicated the county could complete the necessary repairs.

“We need to get that fixed sooner than later,” said Presiding Commissioner Darryl Griffin. “Because (if they get) flooded down there, that’s only way them people could get out (of) the floodway. (If they) can’t get out, we can’t get an ambulance in there, can’t get a fire truck in there, then whose ass is going to be?”

• Kenny Frankin addressed the commissioners with concerns about trenching across CR 300 for a water line, regarding how long the work would take and whether the trench would be properly maintained when it settled.

Griffin called Scott Strope, with the water district, who assured him the work would likely take less than an hour and that he would speak with the citizens in that area prior to any work being done.

“They’re gonna do it right,” Griffin said. “And I’ll guarantee you. I’m on the water board.”

Frankin said he was aware of that, but he still had ruts in his farm from previous work that had not been properly addressed.

“Well, we’ll address that at the water meeting; I’ll promise you,” Griffin said. “I didn’t know that happened to you, but that should be taken care of because we promised that we’d put it back.”

“While they’re doing it all, it might be good time to clean up that north end of CR 300 and widen it back out a little bit again,” Frankin said. “The ditch keeps filling in and keeps getting a little narrower. There’s barely enough room for one car to go up and down anymore.”

Bridges said he would look at it and address that as necessary.

• Healing Horses owner Amy DeCramer asked commissioners to sign a form stating that her organization’s work does not conflict with county activities, which must be submitted with the Neighborhood Assistance Program grant application.

“It’s usually around $200,000, spread out over three years,” DeCramer explained. “It helps cover some of the program supplies. It helps cover the Veterans Program, the foster program, and all of our youth wages when we hire local youth.

“And the whole point of getting those funds in is because we try to keep the cost low for all of our therapeutic students,” she continued. “We’re charging about half what other therapeutic programs charge for services just to make it to where everybody can still participate, because with inflation and everything, everything’s so expensive now that a lot of families can’t afford for their kids to ride in the program.”

The commissioners approved her request and signed the form.

• Groundskeeper John Kennedy asked the commissioners to approve $1,063 for repair of the annex building generator, which has been leaking antifreeze for several years, but now has worsened. Kennedy estimated the bill for the repair and service would be around $1,500, as he plans to time the repairs with routine service of the county’s generators. A courthouse generator with a fuel gauge issue will also be addressed at that time.

The commissioners approved the repair of both generators.

• Commissioners voted to pay their $500 membership fee for the Gasconade Valley Enterprise Zone.

• There will be no meeting on May 22, as the commissioners will be touring the Ameren nuclear power plant.

ROAD & BRIDGE

Bridges reported that all graders were operational on Tuesday, and that they are training another employee to operate the machine. They also hired two new employees, bringing the total to 11.

“I got called out Saturday for a sinkhole that developed on 715,” Bridges continued. “Between that sinkhole and a collapsed wall in Bonnots Mill, we spent Thursday, Friday and yesterday, working on those two things separately and together. I don’t know of any other major catastrophes going on, other than just healing up from the storm.”

• Bridges also noted they had smoothed out the culvert on CR 521. “We’ve had lots of rain, and so there could be stuff settling, but, yes, it was much better,” he said.

• Bridges then mentioned an issue on CR 202. “It’s the slab right down the hill from where 201 cuts across,” he explained. “It’s been in shambles basically since I’ve been here. I have personally been on it twice, I think, repairing it. There’s a couple of holes that developed. It’s been re-poured across the top, I guess, once or twice, and that’s breaking off and washing out. So, there’s two big holes in the slab, not through the slab, but pothole type areas, and we can probably put patch in it, but the slab probably just needs to be replaced.”

• Quarry rock was hauled on CR 401 (32.65T) and 512 (11.9T); potholes were repaired on CR 512; trees were removed on CRs 206, 236, 551 bridge, and 734; slab work was done on CR 521 (Sestak); a retaining wall was replaced on Old Mill Road in Bonnots Mill;, debris was removed from bridge on CR 621; ditch work was done in Bonnots Mill; and grader operators were active as follows: GR01 (512, 516), GR02 (701, 702, 706, 713, 714, 725A, 727, 729, 735A, 736, 740, 741), GR03 (803, 804, 805, 806, 807, 809, 811), G04 (525, 531, 610, 611, 612, 613, 613A, 613B, 621, 622, 623, 624, 625, 632, 634, 635, 636, 637, 638), G05 (401), and G05 (233, 235, 241, 242, 243, 244, 263, 271, 274A, 274B, 303, 310, 311, 312).

• Contact with citizens included addressing complaints regarding a tree blocking CR 206, a collapsed retaining wall and a culvert, both in Bonnots Mill, multiple concerns regarding CR 412, a complaint about CR 602, and discussing bridge work on CR 625.

• Dump truck 27 (2000 Sterling single axle), plow truck 29 (2014 Dodge Ram two-ton), dump truck 32 (blue 2004 Peterbilt), plow truck 47 (2008 Ford F450), & truck 49 (2015 Kenworth T800) were in the shop.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT

Osage County Health Department Administrator Kim Sallin told commissioners she had requested a usage report from the company that administers their Employee Assistance Program to determine whether it was being utilized, prior to renewing it.

“The health department pays for that, for county employees,” Sallin explained. “It’s through MU. So, we pay $2,835 a year for all county employees to participate in this employee wellness program. What that means is you get six counseling sessions a year at no cost, and those sessions can be transferred to any one that lives inside your home. But it resets each calendar year.

“I did ask them this week to run a report for me, because they you can request, like, how many people had utilized the service, because I’m coming up on having to pay for it again,” she continued. “So, I’m going to see how much it’s been utilized. With the funding cuts (for) us, I want to make sure I’m being a good steward of the county’s money.”

• Sallin said her office has seen a significant increase in blood draws and blood pressure checks.

“It has been fantastic,” Sallin said. “I will say, because we’re short-staffed and there’s only Kandiss (Hoffman) and me for nurses, we’re just running like crazy people a lot of the time at the clinic. We want to make sure that every person in front of us (gets) the time and the services they need. So, sometimes we’ve had a couple people in the waiting room for more than what they would normally wait, but everyone has been great and patient, and no complaints there.”

• Sallin also clarified that the quarantine period for measles does not apply to those who have been effectively vaccinated or are otherwise immune.

911/Emergency
Management

Osage County 911/EMA Director Ron Hoffman gave an update on their nuclear training exercise.

“Yesterday, they had the airplane from the National Nuclear Security Agency,” Hoffman said. “That flies through that area, and it takes samples to see what direction that plume is going to, or where it’s settling at. And they got the airplane, and then the helicopters, they’re based out of Colorado, but they flew down for the exercise.”

Hoffman added that he felt his department was prepared to show off their skills at the exercise in June.

• Hoffman said the NG911 group approved his $13,000 grant to upgrade the county’s mapping software.

• He said he had also applied for four other grants the day before. “We’re working with one for Osage right now,” Hoffman said. “We (have) Pro QA for priority dispatch for medical, and to get fire and law (included), we can put in a grant where they’ll pay for (that), but we gotta pay 20%. Well, that 20% is $36,000. But I don’t think we can come up with $36,000, so we might have to let that one go.”

FINANCIAL

• Bills totaling $106,993.68 were approved by commissioners, with the following totals by department: 911/EMA ($2,453.75), Assessor ($34.60), Building & Grounds ($529.59), Commission ($1,377.28), Coroner ($47.87), County Clerk ($236.58), Election ($0.00), Health Department ($7,208.73), Misc. ($8,280.53), Prosecuting Attorney ($556.15), Recorder ($327.60), Road & Bridge ($54,035.95), Sheriff-Jail ($3,805.28), Surveyor ($7,000), and Road and Bridge Misc ($21,099.77).

• Checks were submitted for signatures.