LINN — At their meeting on Dec. 3, Osage County commissioners passed ordinance #12032024, adopting International Building Code (IBC) 2012 “for entities funded all or in part by the taxpayers of Osage County.”

The vote comes in response to a request from Linn R-2, an effort to avoid the expense of building a new storm shelter using IBC 2018 standards. Commissioners limited the requirement to entities funded by county taxpayer dollars to avoid the requirement for every “house, shed, and barn in the county,” as Western District Commissioner Larry Kliethermes put it, to be built to IBC 2012 standards. 

• Resident Neil Loethen and Shelley Klebba from the Linn Community Betterment Association (LCBA) addressed commissioners regarding a proposed landscaping plan for the Osage County Courthouse — at a cost of $2,866 — for plants, irrigation, lighting, and mulch, with an additional $1,000 for color-changing lights instead of plain white.

“My passion in life is making the community better, and trying to figure out ways to do that, whether that be spraying weeds or helping with the parks or just (doing) whatever I can, and with kind of a focus on beautification,” Loethen explained.

Klebba added that LCBA was willing to provide up to $1,300 for the plants if the county would cover the rest.

Commissioners were enthusiastic about the project, with Western District Commissioner-elect Dale Logan adding that he felt they should pay the extra $1,000 for the color-changing lights.

“We beautified the inside of the courthouse,” Griffin said, indicating that he felt they should do something to improve the outside as well.

“When you come into Osage County, if you see a cracker-looking courthouse, that doesn’t give you a very high opinion of our county,” Kliethermes said. “So, to me, how that building looks is important.”

“It’s the front door to our community,” Presiding Commissioner Darryl Griffin agreed, expressing his preference for rock instead of mulch, as he felt mulch would get blown all over and require too much maintenance.

Griffin added that he would like to see the same type of rock that was used at the Health Department.

“In the long run, in a 10-year period, the mulch is way more expensive than the rock,” said Eastern District Commissioner John Trenshaw, also concerned that salt from the roads would kill plants between the road and sidewalk.

Griffin asked Loethen if he had contacted the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) about putting plants that close to the highway.

Trenshaw said he would be willing to allocate funds from the county’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) for the project but agreed to table his motion pending an updated price from Loethen, including rock instead of mulch. Loethen agreed to get pricing for rock and address commissioners again the following week, as the ARPA money must be allocated by the end of the year.

• Commissioners have a little over $10,000 in ARPA money left to allocate, less whatever is allocated for courthouse landscaping.

• Pursuant to RSMo 50.530, commissioners appointed Interim Osage County Clerk Brooke Dudenhoeffer as the county’s budget officer.

ROAD & BRIDGE

Osage County Road and Bridge Foreman Mike Gorrell asked commissioners for permission to split the county’s fuel contracts into separate bids for the north half of the county and the Belle area. Many fuel providers who deliver to Linn don’t want to go to Belle. Commissioners agreed that Gorrell should split the bids next time so companies can bid on the locations they’re willing to deliver.

Gorrell also expressed frustration at not being able to get fuel delivered as often as he needs. “I can’t operate if I don’t have fuel,” he said. “And the more people I have, I’m going through it more. I’ve talked to the delivery driver of the fuel, that if we’re going through it every two and a half weeks, I need to be on every two and a half weeks instead of three weeks.”

Additionally, Gorrell said the department’s current supplier has not been able to provide winter mix fuel, even though the Road & Bridge Policy requires the use of winter mix while not on daylight saving time. Trenshaw advised Gorrell to check the contract to see if it specified when winter mix was to be provided, then notify the supplier that they’re in breach of contract if they are. Griffin added that Gorrell should check first to see if winter mix was available from any other suppliers.

• Gorrell said he has seen an influx of new culvert pipes to be installed. In response to questions from commissioners, he explained that the homeowner pays for the pipe at the Linn MFA, then Road & Bridge picks it up and installs it. “We don’t want to take it out and leave it lay because somebody might steal it,” Gorrell explained. “So, we pick it up here at MFA, and then we get a copy of that bill, and we put that in their file. That shows that it’s been paid for. We don’t do anything until it’s 100% paid for.”

Gorrell added that he had been getting pipe from a company in Columbia, but the same pipe was roughly half the cost from the MFA, and picking it up there saves his department the expense of stocking and handling pipe.

Gorrell said he has one full-time employee going to part-time after the first of the year and another who might retire at the end of the month, so his department will have at least one full-time position open after Jan. 1.

• Trenshaw said he’d received a call about CR 435 and asked Gorrell to check it out. Kliethermes said he’d received several calls about the end of CR 610, where it meets the blacktop. He said the gravel and the blacktop were wearing away at the juncture and asked Gorrell to address that. Griffin asked Gorrell to look at CR 302, where someone reported a hole by the little bridge.

• Rock has been hauled on CRs 413 and 422; a culvert has been replaced on CR 413; a box culvert wing wall was repaired on CR 612; the ditch line was cleaned on CR; trees were removed on CR 306; Rock hammer was used on CR 402A; and grader operators have been active on CRs 202, 205, 275, 301, 313, 413, 414, 422, 503, 504, 505, 734, and 742.

911/EMERGENCY   MANAGEMENT

Commissioners approved Osage County 911/EMA Director Ron Hoffman’s request for $10,821.44 from the county’s ARPA money to set the new emergency siren at Rich Fountain. The price includes the pole, setting it, and an additional speaker.

FINANCIAL

• Expenditures through Nov. 30 were presented as follows by department: 911 ($773,199.31, 98.5%), Assessor ($227,826.80, 81.96%), EMA ($71,240.15, 145.80%••), Road & Bridge ($1,423,137.44, 85.77%), Health Department ($485,928.62, 86.33%), Building & Grounds ($81,811.44, 104.39%), Circuit Clerk ($10,080.11, 54.99%), Collector ($121,015.93, 88.64%), Coroner ($24,404.23, 96.46%), County Clerk ($111,347.44, 90.93%), Commission ($97,450.01, 93.51%), Elections ($40.290.92, 92.74%), Employee Fringe Benefits ($283,746.63, 103.86%), Jail ($330,431.85, 84.17%), Juvenile Officer ($41,345.67, 89.40%), Prosecuting Attorney ($131,050.25, 81.11%), Public Administrator ($41,471.40, 93.03%),  Recorder of Deeds ($47,365.96, 87.96%), Sheriff ($931,772.10, 98.12%), Other Government ($59,488.50, 101.77%), Professional Organizational Fees ($57,403.70, 98.99%), Surveyor ($8,563.62, 99.58%), Treasurer ($45,019.39, 89.77%), and Transfers Out ($46,600, 100%) for a grand total of $5,491,951.47 (91.44%). The county had no expenditures from the emergency fund, leaving a balance of $80,162.22.

•• EMA expenditures include $27,767.57 that have not yet been reimbursed. EMA would be at 88.97% without those expenses.

• A November income report from the county clerk showed a total of $326, including notary ($75), plat books ($245), election ($1), and miscellaneous ($5).

• County bank accounts totaled $11,654,155.20 at the end of November, with CDs totaling $573,590.97. Those with balances over $1 million are C188 Capital Infrastructure ($1,328,787.55), GR02 General Revenue ($1,054,178.27), JR60 Jail Renovation ($1,985,251.18), PB21 Pentecostal Bridge ($1,554,027.73), and UT33 Use Tax ($2,495,821.30).

Osage County Treasurer Valerie Prater informed commissioners that, although she does not have official word yet, everything should be in place before the end of the year so that the additional half-cent sales tax for Prop R can be collected beginning on Jan. 1.

Commissioners submitted bills from the Meramec Regional Planning Commission for administering the county’s ARPA funds. The amount will be provided the next time they approve bills for payment.

• Commissioners approved time sheets.