OSAGE COUNTY — Osage County commissioners elected to stay with Mid-America Bank after opening bank bids at 10 a.m. on June 1.

Mid-America Bank presented an 11 page proposal, listing services and an interest rate of 15 basis points over the 91-day Treasury bill rate (4.35% the day of the proposal), for the county’s bank accounts. Legends Bank provided the one page bid form, with an interest rate of 85% of the 91-day bill rate.

Osage County citizen Lenny Haslag attended the June 1 commission meeting to offer both compliments and concerns regarding county roads, especially CR 602.

“Paul graded the road the other day, did a wonderful job on it,” Haslag said. “I’m not complaining about it. But then here, in the last recent years — you guys probably seen it, too — we got all these big rocks, and that’s not only our county road. (I’m) kind of concerned about, you know, the future of our roads, and what we’re going to do. It’s probably the road base bedrock coming out there, and it just keeps getting worse every time.”

Haslag presented the commissioners with printed pictures of large rocks in the road and shoulder.

“I jokingly told my neighbor, I said I’d go out here and tell you guys that I collected enough rocks off the road to create my wife’s flowerbed.” Haslag continued. “He said not to do that. He said, ‘They might bill you for the rock.’”

“There you go,” joked Western District Commissioner Dale Logan. “We’ve got more revenue coming in.”

Haslag went on to comment on the amount of traffic on both CR 602 and CR 412, and asked if the commissioners could have a counter put on CR 602 to track how many cars traverse that road each day.

“We can get one out there for you,” said Presiding Commissioner Darryl Griffin. “We get that from MRPC (Meramec Regional Planning Commission). They’ll bring it up and set it up. It’ll tell us the speed, time of day, and everything.”

“I basically lived on that road my whole life,” Haslag said. “And I know that road’s probably — I mean, over the years, just so much traffic and blading and stuff — I think it’s probably down a good six inches, over six, maybe more. Not only ours, but a lot of them are that way.”

“A lot bigger trucks go down the road,” Griffin said. “Feed trucks and stuff. I mean, I’m not defending, I mean, I just, like you say, when I was growing up, a person had one car. Now you look when you go by and a house will have four cars in the driveway. And then, if people would just slow down.”

“Well, that’s the key thing there is slowing down,” Haslag agreed. “I’m like, if they ever really sit down and calculate and think about how much time they’re saving going 40 and 50 versus 25 to 30 miles an hour, it’s just a few seconds, you know, and the wear and tear they do on the road and their vehicles and stuff like that. But I guess they have a lot of money or something to take care of their vehicles.”

“One thing I think you’re gonna notice as well, that Sheriff Bonham has talked about — they are spending more time on county roads,” Logan said.

Haslag said most local people drive sensibly, “But one day I was out there and there’s a DHL driver went by, and I don’t know, I mean, my God, I’ll bet he was doing, 50 (or) 60 miles an hour going by my place.”

Other attendees chimed in saying UPS and Fed Ex drivers also speed past their houses.

“A friend of mine, Earl Miller, he lives down County Road 231, but he had to be on a job today, and he’s concerned about, you know, the damage that Woody Bogler is doing to the county road out there on 231, where they’re hauling all that clay out all the time,” Haslag continued.

“They they’ve been hauling rocking in there nonstop, Woody Bogler’s trucks,” said Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Peters. “They’ve been hauling their own rock on that. But, you know, there might be 50 trucks, semis, come out of there in a day’s time.”

“When it’s wet, they’re squishing that down, and it’s making a mess,” said Road & Bridge Foreman Justin Bridges. “So, we’ll be forever repairing it until they’re done hauling out of there.”

“I’ve been in contact with Bogler, and they’ve been maintaining the road, but it’s pretty hard to maintain with, like, say, 50 or 60 (trucks per day),” Peters said. “It could be much worse, right? They’re getting ready to finish up, and I’ll make sure that they put it back the way it was, with plenty of rock on it, before they leave.”

“We put a grader out there at Mr. Miller’s request,” Bridges said. “It’s probably a month ago by now, three weeks ago, anyway. But look, we’re aware of the circumstances, just that’s throwing good money after bad fixing the spot where trucks are coming in and out all the time. We fixed up the rest of the road pretty decent.”

“I think we got plenty of gravel on there,” Haslag said, returning to the subject of CR 602. “I mean, it’s just, you know, these big rocks are popping up more frequently and, I mean, a lot of us stop and we get them, get out and throw them off the road.”

“This is my opinion,” Bridges said. “A couple years ago we bought that planer for the skid steer. So, we got places where great big shelf rock’s poking through, and we grind that off. And the reason I’m bringing that up is to try to put in perspective. But we’ll be going along knocking some of them off the road and people will start chucking those rocks up, which is cobble. It’s the main it’s the bedrock of the road, is my opinion.”

“What’s happened over the years,” Bridges continued. “Grading and blading and grading and blading, the road’s working its way down. There are people who are saying we’re 25 years behind in getting rock on the road. Not because we haven’t been putting rock on road, because we do it all year long, but there isn’t enough budget to go around to build the road up six, eight inches, 12 inches, (to) where it used to be. Not to mention the time involved, expense involved. So we are good at maintenance, but we haven’t been gaining much, and that’s happened since I’ve worked here. So, in my opinion, that’s not the fault of the foreman or even the commission, because it’s a daunting task.”

“We were horse and buggy for a lot of the roads that are in this county,” Bridges went on. “We were model A’s and Model T’s for the rest of the roads in this county. And now we’re 80,000 pound semi trucks. So, the amount of traffic, the weight of the traffic, the speed of the traffic, and the makeup of the traffic…anything pulling a tandem axle trailer, or that is tandem axle, is tearing road when it runs, especially when it turns, which is what’s happening on Highway J and 231.”

“We’re under budget on rock right now,” Peters said. “We just, it seems like every time we get one problem (fixed), like the bridge taken care of on 416, then another problem arises. There’s (only) so much manpower to get it.”

Peters went on to say that, once the weather evens out, they hope to be able to get a lot more rock on the roads.

“When I first got into office, six years ago, we only had $100,000 in our rock budget,” Griffin said. “This year we budgeted $500,000.”

During last Thursday’s meeting, Griffin arranged with MRPC to have the counter placed on CR 602.

Commissioners also signed an agreement for services with Dodsen & Waters, for legal services for the Public Administrator’s office.

ROAD & BRIDGE

Osage County Road and Bridge Foreman Justin Bridges asked for direction regarding installing a second driveway culvert for property owners who want a second entrance to their property. After some discussion, the commissioners voted that the county would install one owner supplied culvert pipe for one entrance to a property, using rock supplied by the county, but the property owner would need to supply the pipe and pay for the rock for any additional access points.

Griffin said Joanie Prenger from MoDOT had the BEAP study on CR 243, and would try to get that bridge added to the list of state-inspected bridges. The current bridge, with a span of right around 20 feet, is not listed as a state-inspected bridge, meaning the county would be responsible for the entire replacement cost. The BEAP study indicated the replacement bridge would require a span of 75 feet, with an estimated cost of roughly $980,000 for construction and $150,000 for engineering.

• Griffin mentioned an area where a property owner wants to widen a slab and is willing to do the work, but requested two loads of rock from the county. The commissioners agreed to provide that rock.

• Peters reported the new bridge on CR 625 is proceeding well, despite the weather. He anticipates it will be complete by June 30, and possibly sooner.

• Peters asked Bridges to look at a culvert on CR 751.

• Logan asked Bridges to chip and seal potholes on CR 611, and to look at a culvert issue at CR 522 and 524, where a barn is being built.

• Quarry rock was hauled on CR 804 (67.62 tons) and 638 (51.08 tons); bridge and road work was done on CR 416; a tree was removed from CR 275; and grader operators have been active as follows: G01 506, 507, 508, 517, 525, 532, 533, G02 (701, 703, 704), G03 (300, 301, 302, 605, 622, 624, 803, 804, 805, 808, 811), G04 (637, 638, 802, 804, 806), G05 (602), G06 (303, 310, 314).

• The following equipment was serviced: dump truck 27 (2000 Sterling Single Axle), plow truck 47 (2009 Ford F450), service truck 48 (2009 Ford F550), and truck 51 (2018 International LT625)

• Citizen contact was made regarding CR 432 & 435, CR 804, CR 611, driveway culvert on CR 721, complaint about CR 706, and a complaint about CR 602.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT

Osage County Health Department Nurse Kandiss Hoffman reported the Health Department’s annual pool party will be June 28 at 4 p.m., at the Linn City Park. The pool party will coincide with the grand opening of the park’s new all-access playground.

• K. Hoffman reported the department still has about $4,000 left of their Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) grant, and would be working on determining how best to spend it. Osage County EMA Director Ron Hoffman said the Health Department previously purchased safety cones with that grant, and had made them available to other offices as well, and that the cones were a great shared resource,

• Griffin asked if participation had increased for Blood Pressure & Bingo. K. Hoffman said they only had two participants last time.

• Other figures reported for May were as follows: Birth Certificates (41), Death Certificates (22), Vaccines (37), Animal Bites (2), Dressing Changes (0), Lice Checks (0), Medication Injections (9), Blood Draws (34), Blood Pressure Checks (11), PPD Testing (10), EPHS Inspections (16), WIC Caseload (124), WIC Appointments Completed (63), Drug Testing (1), Prenatal Classes Held (2), Lactation Visits (0), Car Seat Checks (0), Car Seats Issued (0), Lead Testing (1), CPR Certifications (21), Mental Health Visits (0), Foot & Nail  Visits (17), Health Screenings (0), STD Screenings (0), STD Treatment (0), Daycare Providers (Clock Hours) (8), Daycare Health Promotions (0), Daycare Inspections (3), Nurse Visits (9), Drive Thru Customers (54), Diapers/Wipes provided (14), Water Test Kits (8), Notary (0), CD Investigations (12), Lead Cases (1), and Influenza A/B Reported (6).

911/Emergency Management

Osage County 911/EMA Director Ron Hoffman told the commissioners his department is prepared for the upcoming nuclear exercise, and personnel look forward to showing their skill. Hoffman also said the county was regranted a 16-foot box trailer from Kirksville Emergency Management. He also reminded the commissioners Central Square personnel would be there June 10 from 1 p.m. until 7 p.m. to provide a demonstration of their CAD system and answer any questions.

FINANCIAL

• An income report for the County Clerk for the month of May showed a monthly total of $2,866.50, including Liquor License ($2,606.00), Auction ($0.00), Notary ($45.00), Plat Books ($35.00), Election ($0.00), and Misc/CC ($180.50).

• The May Statement of Monthly Collections from the collector showed county tax distributions of $3,231.52 to General Revenue, $4,517.05 to the County Retirement Fund (CERF), $671.72 to the County Assessment Fund, and $12.34 to the County Collector’s Office.

Taxes collected for the school districts were: $2,882.25 to R-1 (Chamois), $19,412.94 to R-2 (Linn), $8,996.30 to R-3 (Fatima), $3,851.09 to Maries County R-2, and $0.00 to Gasconade County R-2.

A total of $2,152.97 went to special road districts, including Osage County ($1,519.71), Belle Special Road District ($95.08), Chamois Special Road District ($407.16), West Special Road District ($15.26), and Linn Special Road District ($115.76).

Ambulance districts received the following: Osage ($968.34), Ozark ($365.17), and Maries ($176.61), for a total of $1,510.12.

Fire Districts received a total of $1,961.87, including Belle ($278.80), Bland ($83.44), Chamois ($162.27), Cole ($0.00), Linn ($1,275.15), Meta ($162.21), and Osage ($0.00).

Cities received a total of $1,576.81, including Argyle ($49.01), Belle ($316.17), Chamois ($296.69), Linn ($842.34), and Meta ($72.60).

• The end-of-month bank balances for May showed a total of $13,567,325.99, including ARPA Funds ($120,472.70, which has all been allocated), AS23 - Assessment ($285,905.38), AX08 - Annex Building ($342,378.02), BG89 - Building & Grounds ($206,780.89), CC55 - Conceal Carry ($4,809.85), CI88 - Capitol Infrastructure ($1,424,441.39), DS61 - DSSSF Fund ($270.00), ES48 - Election Service ($16,087.58), FC46 - Family Court ($32,595.73), GR01 - General Revenue ($1,496,091.82), HD23 - Health Department ($248,248.25), IS63 - Inmate Security Fund ($26,683.16), JR60 - Jail Renovation ($2,165,214.35), LACTF - Local Assistance ($111,776.28), LE25 - Law Enforcement ($1,821.47), LERF - Law Enforcement Restitution ($4,862.00), LF38 - Civil Fees Fund ($3,799.73), JR60 - Jail Renovation ($2,165,214.35), LACTF - Local Assistance ($111,776.28), LE25 - Law Enforcement ($1,821.47), LERF - Law Enforcement Restitution ($4,862.00), LF38 - Civil Fees Fund ($3,799.73), OE22 - Emerg. Management ($57,227.38), OPIO - Opioid Settlement ($79,210.66), PA18 - Bad Check ($14,357.62), PA26 Prosecutor Training ($4,942.42), PB21 - Pentecostal Bridge ($1,562,661.75), RB02 - Road & Bridge ($843,165.10), RF36 - Retirement ($94.37), RF42 - Recorder’s Fund ($37,188.98), RR30 - Rollback Reserve ($0.00), SE19 - Special Elections - ($6,059.58), SF49 Law Enforcement-911 ($427,812.26), UT33 - Use Tax ($3,241,545.28), VD24 - Domestic Violence ($1,303.02), 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).

• Time sheets were also approved by commissioners.