OSAGE COUNTY — During their meetings last week, Osage County commissioners finalized ballot language for the property tax initiative commonly referred to as Senate Bill 3 (SB3), and the Osage County Senior Property Tax Exemption Initiative (petition). Both items are scheduled to be on the April ballot. More information on these initiatives will be provided in an article prior to the election.

• Paul Winkelman of Howe Company presented commissioners with an update on the new bridge on CR 522, including requirements related to the Niangua darter. “According to MoDOT, they received a draft biological opinion from Fish and Wildlife on Jan. 8,” he said. “So, they’re telling us we’re real close to having the threatened and endangered species requirements wrapped up.”

Winkelman said he hopes construction will start in fourth quarter of this year, “if everything goes good.” Public notice will be run in the Unterrified Democrat, and citizens will have 10 days to request a public hearing if they desire.

• Western District Commissioner Dale Logan asked the other commissioners if the county has any leverage to keep the new Hwy. 63 from cutting through CR 501, limiting access for property owners in that area. Constituent Services Representative Sarah Williams, from Congressman Bob Onder’s office, asked Logan to clarify the issue, saying she would take that to Congressman Onder to address with the Federal Transportation Committee, along with three other issues the commissioners raised regarding the project.

“We had concerns, and the highway transit people had concerns, and I realized they’re not engineers and we’re not engineers, but we’re the people that gotta deal with it every day, and it don’t make sense to us,” said Presiding Commissioner Darryl Griffin. “There should be somebody reevaluating something, and money shouldn’t play when you’re messing with people’s — the way their lives run, getting in and out and everything, and inconvenience them. We want to work with them to try to make their life better.

“They’re inconveniencing those citizens,” Griffin continued. “It’s on century farms and everything. That’s what’s sad. Sad because, you know, it ain’t like in Osage County you can go buy land somewhere else and move, because there’s no land to be had.”

• Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Peters was approached about a drainage issue over on CR 738 off of First Street in Belle. Peters said he spoke with Road & Bridge Foreman Brad Sneller, who met with the grader operator who has been working in that area for years. “The landowner in the corner of the city right there, keeps filling the ditch back in because he doesn’t like the ditch deep in front of his house,” Peters explained. “So, therefore, there’s a water trap, because the guy keeps filling back in. So, therefore, it’s out of our hands. I contacted the city yesterday again — I guess its mayor — and let her know that would be their problem as far as getting their citizen to quit messing with that ditch. We’re doing our part.”

• Commissioners voted to donate $100 to Linn Fire Protection District (LFPD), for use of a ladder truck and personnel for one hour to repair a gutter on the courthouse. Griffin explained renting a lift for the work would have cost the county approximately $1,000, so he felt it was appropriate to compensate LFPD for the time and fuel used to save the county that expense.

• Interim County Clerk Brooke Dudenhoeffer presented commissioners with several annual service contracts for review.

• Griffin asked Dudenhoeffer for an update on the proposed change to the county’s payroll and accounting software, then asked her for contact information for the QuickBooks rep so he could talk to the person himself.

ROAD & BRIDGE

Peters told Sneller that commissioners wanted to move his weekly update to Thursday mornings, and asked him to present goals for the next week in addition to what was accomplished the previous week. “That’s the only way we’re going to keep the progress report on your employees out there, as far as your raises and stuff go, is to actually have something set up in order to judge if they’re meeting their goals or not,” Peters explained. “They did a good job down there on 251. I was down here the other day when they were changing the blades on the grader.”

• Peters said he’d rather see personnel spreading rock on the roads when the roads are frozen and can’t be graded, instead of having multiple employees in the shop working on vehicles, which led to a discussion of whether to use clean rock or road rock. “I leave it up to them, up to the operator,” Sneller said.

“I thought you was the foreman,” Griffin responded.

“Well, I am, but they know the road better than I do,” Sneller said. “They’re out there every day, day in and day out. They know what it takes. That’s kind of getting nitpicking when you’re telling them what to put on the road, ain’t it?”

“That’s your job,” Peters and Griffin replied at the same time. “It’s our job, too,” Peters added.

“That guy that quit, remember that,” Griffin asked. “You told him to grade it, and he determined that you didn’t mean that, and he was just doing what he wanted. He decided to leave? Because I thought that was your job that day. So, now it isn’t.”

“What he was doing wasn’t working,” Sneller responded. “That’s why I told him to quit.”

“Well, it ain’t working now, because we ain’t getting nothing done,” Griffin said. “They should be hauling rock out there at the corner of 303 and 301, where that culvert - you turn right there, it’s just a damn culvert right there. I asked three weeks ago to get rock out there at that culvert and I ain’t seen any yet.”

Sneller said he thought that culvert was going to be replaced, and conversation turned to how many culverts will need to be replaced prior to chip and seal.

• Peters told Sneller that Road & Bridge employees need to make sure to fill their time, chipping away at small tasks when they can’t complete bigger ones. “The reason why this has to happen, Bradley, is because the pay has come up tremendously in the last year,” Peters said. “It’s not just a donation from the taxpayers. They want results with the pay raise — the big pay raise that’s been happening out there. So, with that being said, we have to show results.”

• Logan asked Sneller if he had a plan for clearing CR 610 prior to work beginning on the Pentecostal Bridge. Sneller said he plans to brush-hog it, but does not plan to grade it until the bridge is complete. Logan reiterated the work needs to be completed before early February so the contractor can begin clearing trees.

• Creek rock was hauled on CR 608 (320T); quarry rock on CR 241 (86.27T), 251 (112.71T), and 612 (18.15T); road work was done on CR 612; brush mowers were working on CR 303, 311, 312, 412, 415, and 416; and grader operators were active as follows: G01 (CR 513, 601, 608), G02 (CR 716, 718, 721, 723, 739, 751, 753, 754), G04 (512, 636, 637, 638), G05 (427, 431, 435, 436), G06 (241, 251, 319). G03 operator screened and loaded 320 tons of creek rock for road use.

• Grader G04 (2016 12M3 AWD was serviced in house. Dump truck DT32 (blue 2004 Peterbilt) was serviced out-of-house.

• Contact was received from citizens regarding concerns with CR 271 and tree removal on CR 317.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT

Commissioners gave Osage County Health Department Administrator Kim Sallin permission to change her department’s credit card to one that earns cash back, provided the cash back is only used to pay down the balance of the card. Other offices have the option of changing; however, Treasurer Valerie Prater said she thinks that should be left to each office’s discretion, as some offices may have recurring payments coming out that are hard to change to a new card.

• Sallin presented commissioners with a comparison for lab services, comparing the cost to have the blood tests done at the Health Department versus uninsured costs from three area hospitals. The total cost for CMP, CBC w/Diff, Lipid Panel, PSA, Hgb A1C, TSH, and a draw fee was $57 at the health department. The same services totaled $3,313,52, $382.33, and $237 from the three unnamed hospitals.

• Sallin said she interviewed a nutritionist who seemed like a great fit, and they are discussing employment details now.

• Discussions regarding the possible addition of an urgent care at the Health Department are ongoing.

FINANCIAL

• Bills totaling $361,182.19 were approved by commissioners, with the following totals by department: 911/EMA ($3,020.24), Assessor ($4,690), Building & Grounds ($2,236.12), Circuit Clerk ($1,296.89), Commission ($4,734.38), Coroner ($2,719.50), County Clerk ($335.99), Health Department ($3,736.68), Juvenile & Family Court ($2,826.08), Misc. ($277,214.59), Prosecuting Attorney ($496.20), Public Administration ($1,096.02), Recorder Technology Fund ($500), Road & Bridge ($26,601.30), Sheriff-Jail ($13,516.10), Treasurer ($219.47), and Road and Bridge Misc ($15,942.63).

• Sales tax distribution received from the state of Missouri showed an additional $10,658.01 collected for a period spanning July 2023 - June 2025, including $1,586.38 to General Revenue, $1,787.77 to Jail Renovation (JR60), $893.47 to Capital Improvements (CI88, $804.12) and Building & Grounds (BG89, $89.35), $1,792.44 to Prop P, $340.86 to Prop R, $1,787.83 to 911/Law Enforcement, and $2,469.26 to Use Tax.

• County Aid Road Trust (CART) distribution received from the state of Missouri for the month of January was $85,581.05, including Motor Fuel Tax ($67,567.48), Motor Vehicle Sales Tax ($11,444.39), and Motor Vehicle Fee Increases ($6,569.18).

• Checks were submitted for signatures.