OSAGE COUNTY — Citizen Joe Schmidt addressed commissioners with questions about several road-related topics, including the proposed changes to Hwy. 63, road rock, and Road & Bridge equipment. The conversation was entirely amicable.

Schmidt began with questions about the Hwy. 63 expansion, saying he’d driven through the area but still wasn’t clear on the exact route proposed by MoDOT. Western District Commissioner Dale Logan pulled a map up on the commission television (which Logan donated after winning it at a conference) and walked Schmidt through the proposed route. “Safety is one big issue for 63,” Schmidt said. “You know, I’ve known probably a dozen people that got killed between 50 and Freeburg. It’s terrible.”

Commissioners reiterated they were not against the expansion itself, but wished the route didn’t create so many problems for county residents. “Our argument is they’re killing our little town here if we don’t have a south entrance,” Logan said. “One of the things that I tried to get them to consider was adding a third lane through here.”

Logan pointed to the area where the highway goes through Westphalia. “Instead of bypassing or going through two century farms ... multiple producing farms through here they’re going through, so my thought was, why don’t you do a third lane, eliminate the problems that you have? Do a third lane, and then do the four-lane for the south part, which is the worst part of the highway, and that’s from here, from Freeburg to Westphalia,” Logan added. “They’re not interested in doing that. They want a four-lane the whole way.”

Schmidt also asked commissioners about the difference in cost for white rock versus creek rock. Presiding Commissioner Darryl Griffin said the cost difference is huge, but also that white rock crushes much more easily. “You put it down one week, the next day it’s gone,” he said.

“But creek gravel, you put it on the road, you drive, it’s so smooth it rolls off. That’s my that’s my concern,” Schmidt said.

Commissioners explained that the county doesn’t have the manpower or the budget to keep all the gravel roads covered with white rock, even if they wanted to. Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Peters said the county came in about $100,000 short of spending the full $500,000 rock budget last year, despite having independent contractors and Road & Bridge personnel hauling rock.

“We don’t have (the) manpower to get it done,” said Peters. “We got some money to do it, but the manpower — hours in a day, other problems at road and bridge — there’s just a million different things.”

“Another thing that came up in one of your reports was that, like right now, the roads are so hard, dry, and frozen, and he was told to put rock on the road right now,” Schmidt said. “Do you think that’s, you know, think that’s feasible, putting rock on when it’s dry, hard, compacted, frozen?”

Peters explained the county has almost 500 miles of gravel roads to maintain, so they need to put rock on the roads as often as possible so its there to be compacted when the moisture is available. “We’ve got three dump trucks,” Peters explained. “It would take six months to cover all the roads with one layer of rock. You gotta get ahead of the curve.”

Schmidt then asked how many trucks, road graders, and personnel the county has. He asked if the assistant foreman can drive a dump truck, and the commissioners said he could. (Both the foreman and assistant foreman are ‘working’ positions, not solely administrative.)

• Collector Denise Nolte brought commissioners a request to write off approximately $12,000 in personal property taxes from 2021 and 2022. “It becomes an issue on our software because back taxes stay on there, and the software guy has to program it to keep it out there,” she explained.

Logan expressed the most resistance, saying “My concern about writing it off is, isn’t that just telling people, you know, that are questionable anyway, that if they don’t want to pay, they don’t have to pay?”

Nolte said most of the unpaid taxes were considered noncollectable because the residents were either deceased or had moved out of the county.

Commissioners reluctantly approved the request, with Griffin and Peters voting yes and Logan voting no.

• Sheriff Michael Bonham stopped by in case the commissioners had questions for him. Most of their conversation centered around the jail. Bonham said they had 22 people in the jail at that time, but had been averaging about 20. Their capacity is currently 34, but another bed has been ordered to increase that to 36. When asked how many people were required for the jail to break even, Bonham said it was six last time he did the math, but costs had increased so it was probably seven or eight.

• Groundskeeper John Kennedy asked commissioners to approve a quote for $1,190 to run a dedicated circuit for the jail oven, which has been tripping the circuit breaker it shares with the courthouse’s hot water heater since being moved. “Get it fixed. We don’t want to burn the place down,” said Griffin. The other commissioners agreed, and the motion passed.

• Accrual of comp time versus payment of overtime was discussed again; however, nothing was resolved. Interim County Clerk Brooke Dudenhoeffer said she was still waiting for information but expected to have clarification by early the following week.

ROAD & BRIDGE

Osage County Road & Bridge Foreman Brad Sneller and the commissioners had a long conversation about which pieces of equipment should be sold and whether they should be replaced with the same type of equipment or another type. Commissioners held differing opinions about which pieces were more useful than others. Peters expressed hesitation at buying a new dump truck until the department had enough personnel to keep a driver in it every day.

• Peters also pointed out that the county will be replacing a lot more culvert pipes than usual this week.

• Sneller said Road & Bridge’s abusive caller has started calling again. He said the individual always calls after hours, sounds intoxicated, and uses a lot of curse words, but never leaves a name or number to receive a call back. The person threatened to call every day until something is done about CR 201, but did not specify what he thought needed to be done.

• Pothole work was done on CR 201; brush-mowers were working on CR 611; and a gate was put up on CR 610 to Pentecostal Bridge.

• Dump truck DT56 (2025 International HV507), backhoe B10 (2012 420E HT CAT), & wheel loader WL21(2000 928G CAT 2.9CY) were serviced in house.

Trailer TRLR26 was serviced out of house.

All plow trucks were washed and treated to prevent more rust.

• Contact was received from citizens regarding plowing on CR 634.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT

Osage County Health Department Administrator Kim Sallin told commissioners Dr. Joe Rackstraw, medical director for 911, expressed interest and possible willingness to be the medical director for a possible quick care operated out of the Health Department. Sallin said Rackstraw first wanted to discuss requirements with Dr. Craig Luetkemeyer, who is the medical director for the Cole County Health Department.

Sallin said if Rakestraw agrees, her next priority will be to advertise for a nurse practitioner, as she would like to bring that person on early and have them help with startup paperwork. She also reminded the commissioners the county will have to fund the quick care for the first 12- 18 months, until it’s able to pay for itself. Commissioners expressed awareness.

“The benefit to the community would be astronomical,” Peters said. “In my opinion, I think it would be one of the greater things been done around here.”

Treasurer Valerie Prater asked commissioners how they planned to fund it, since they did not include the costs in the county’s budget.

“We need you to help us with that,” Logan said.

“We didn’t understand how fast this was going to progress, either,” Peters agreed.

“And we’re not there, yet,” Griffin added.

“There’s got to be a way to figure it out, got to be a way to start new programs in county government or wherever,” Logan said.

Peters pointed out the commissioners have no way of foreseeing in early January everything that could happen over the course of a year.

“I’m all on board, and I want her to do this stuff,” Prater said. “I just want to find where the funds are coming from.”

• Sallin said she had submitted a bid to State Tech for the Health Department to provide drug testing for staff and students.

• Other figures reported for September were as follows; Birth Certificates (35), Death Certificates (26), Vaccines (39), Animal Bites (2), Medication Injections (21), Blood Draws (18), Blood Pressure Checks (6), PPD Testing (4), EPHS Inspections (9), Oral Health Reviews (2), Flouride Varnishes (2), WIC Caseload (130), WIC Appointments Completed (50), Prenatal Classes Held (2), Car Seats Issued (1), CPR Certifications (2), Foot & Nail  Visits (35), Community Health Promotions (1), Nurse Visits (9), Drive Thru Customers (45), Diapers/Wipes provided (3), Water Test Kits (10), CD Investigations (4), Lead Cases (1), Influenza A/B Reported (28), and Covid Reported (10).

FINANCIAL

• Bills totaling $80,341.13 were approved by commissioners, with the following totals by department: 911/EMA ($1,857.52), Assessor ($5,544), Building & Grounds ($2,915.90), Circuit Clerk ($1,083.81), Collector ($7,930), Commission ($217.23), Coroner ($1,180.24), County Clerk ($204.64), Health Department ($2,848.10), Juvenile & Family Court ($0), Misc. ($1,658.64), Prosecuting Attorney ($891.55), Road & Bridge ($43,830.91), Sheriff-Jail ($8,886.79), Treasurer ($60.07), and Road and Bridge Misc ($1,200).

• An income report for the County Clerk for the month of January showed a monthly total of $584.83, including Liquor License ($520.33), Notary ($60), and Misc/CC ($4.50).

• January’s end-of-month bank balances showed a total of $16,352,803.65, including AS23 - Assessment ($429,343.35), AX08 - Annex Building ($330,857.94), BG89 - Building & Grounds ($243,901.97), CC55 - Conceal Carry ($6,326.08), CI88 - Capitol Infrastructure ($1,610,175.88), DS61 - DSSSF Fund ($70), ES48 - Election Service ($21,107.46), FC46 - Family Court ($33,627.53), GR01 - General Revenue ($2,178,520.60), HD23 - Health Department ($292,212.87), IS63 - Inmate Security Fund ($18,438.98), JR60 - Jail Renovation ($2,541,136.44), LACTF - Local Assistance ($114,893.99), LE25 - Law Enforcement ($448.76), LERF - Law Enforcement Restitution ($4,124.49), LF38 - Civil Fees Fund ($2,299.46), JR60 - Jail Renovation ($2,541,136.44), LACTF - Local Assistance ($114,893.99), LE25 - Law Enforcement ($448.76), LERF - Law Enforcement Restitution ($4,124.49), LF38 - Civil Fees Fund ($2,299.46), OE22 - Emerg. Management ($64,865.16), OPIO - Opioid Settlement ($107,385.97), PA18 - Bad Check ($15,712.41), PA26 Prosecutor Training ($5,410.16), PB21 - Pentecostal Bridge ($1,563,994.39), RB02 - Road & Bridge ($1,297,026.14), RF36 - Retirement ($78.09), RF42 - Recorder’s Fund ($42,746.39), RR30 - Rollback Reserve ($946,179.21), SE19 - Special Elections - ($5), SF49 Law Enforcement-911 ($441,826.78), SR25 Sheriff Retirement ($40), UT33 - Use Tax ($4,031,574.33), VD24 - Domestic Violence ($413.77), and HA56 - HAVA Elections ($8,060.05). Please note that not all of these funds are controlled by the county commissioners. Some are controlled by elected officials or committees.

The county also has $582,871.78 in CDs, including Road & Bridge ($111,145.86), Rollback Reserve ($444,946.19), and Law Enforcement-911 ($26,779.73).

• Checks were submitted for signatures.