OSAGE COUNTY — Discussion of how to generate more revenue to repair county roads damaged by reckless side-by-side drivers dominated the July 21 meeting, after Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Peters said he witnessed a young driver “doing fishtails” on a road that had been graded that morning. “Now residents are going to have to drive over those ruts for two or three months until the grader gets back out there,” Peters said.

His initial suggestion was to raise the county’s side-by-side permit fee from $15 per year to $100 per year, with the sheriff’s office keeping $15 and the other $85 going to Road & Bridge.

Interim County Clerk Brooke Dudenhoeffer said she was unlikely to pay $100 to permit a side-by-side, and felt some other county residents might choose to take their chances driving without a county permit. “I’m just saying, there’s gonna be a lot of people that’ll be like ‘Nope, I ain’t doing that.’ Now $50, that might be worth it,” she said.

“I’m trying to pick your brain here,” Peters said. “So you can buy a $30,000 or $40,000 side-by-side, fill it up with gas two times a weekend to drive the county roads, but you can’t afford $100 a year to take care of that road that you get to drive on every day and every weekend?”

“I don’t make that kind of money to buy that expensive of a side-by-side,” Dudenhoeffer responded.

“Okay, so a $5,000 side-by-side,” Peters said. “So, $100 to maintain the road that you’re going to ride that on? Because we’re getting zero out of that right now. For Road and Bridge to maintain your side trails - zero.”

Dudenhoeffer said that was a good perspective.

“You get where I’m coming from,” he asked. “I don’t like the idea, but the fact of the matter is, you have to maintain the roads.”

Discussion then turned to how the ordinance would be enforced, with Peters and Western District Commissioner Dale Logan agreeing they didn’t want the sheriff’s office spending resources pulling over people who are driving responsibly.

Peters then asked why the Sheriff’s Office receives the permit fee. Presiding Commissioner Darryl Griffin said Road & Bridge lacked the manpower and had no desire to administer the program when it was established, so the Sheriff’s Office agreed to handle it.

Commission Clerk Brandy Boessen, who splits her time between the commission and the Sheriff’s Office, said the county had probably issued around 230 permits so far this year. Dudenhoeffer said she thought tax information for the assessor’s office showed about 615 ATVs, UTVs, and motorcycles. (Actual data she looked up after the meeting showed 507.) Peters questioned the difference, and Boessen said many side-by-sides don’t leave the farms they’re used on so don’t require a permit.

When Sheriff Michael Bonham stopped in toward the end of the meeting, Griffin asked if he thought the commission could raise the fee. Bonham said they couldn’t because the fee is set by statute. He said the city of Belle had raised theirs to $25, which got flagged during an audit, and they were forced to refund the additional money. Bonham said his office would be willing to turn administration of the program over to Road & Bridge if the commissioners would like.

“The price doesn’t offset the damage to the county roads,” Peters said.

Bonham also explained that electric bikes and golf carts are covered under separate statutes from UTVs. He said reckless driving, including “doing donuts,” is covered under the state’s careless and imprudent driving law and carries stiffer penalties.

“I’m going on record saying anybody doing that never bought their own tires,” Peters said.

Bonham also said his office can ticket drivers if video submitted to his office allows the license plate and driver to be identified.

• Peters asked if State Sen. Ben Brown ever called Logan back, and Logan said he had not. Peters said he had an idea for raising non-resident property taxes as a way to supplement resident property taxes, stating people can’t afford to buy property to farm anymore because city money is coming in and buying everything up. He’d hoped to discuss with Brown whether that could be possible.

• Logan showed the other commissioners quotes for three options he’d received from BFW Engineering to replace a damaged slab on CR 508: a two-span bridge for approximately $322,000, a three-box culvert for approximately $305,000, and a slab similar to what was existing for approximately $150,000.

Logan said the two-span bridge was the least preferable option because it would cause problems similar to those at Sestak Slab.

At the commissioners’ request, Boessen scheduled a meeting between them and Jason Vanderfeltz of BFW for 10 a.m. on July 28 to discuss the options.

• Patrick Kliethermes of Kliethermes Research said the property owner does not yet have all the signatures necessary to close CR 736. Kliethermes said the proposed closure point had been moved slightly from what was originally discussed. Peters objected, saying he wanted the closure point to be at the first low-water slab, where there is no room to turn around, to discourage unnecessary traffic. Kliethermes said changing it back should not be a big deal.

Kliethermes said he plans to post a notice of when the commission will vote on the closure at two locations in Belle and at the church at Cooper Hill. That vote is scheduled for Oct. 13 at 9 a.m.

• Griffin made Peters aware of a card received in the mail regarding solid waste grants.

• Logan made a motion for himself and Mantle to attend the Missouri Association of County & City Transportation Officials (MACCTO) conference in Springfield on Oct. 6-7,which was unanimously approved.

• Griffin asked Bonham if the sheriff’s office was getting rid of any old vehicles. “We’re down to lint in our pockets on vehicles for Road & Bridge,” Peters said.

Bonham said his office had one Dodge Durango V6 listed for sale, but after hearing how much it was worth, the commissioners decided to let it go.

“We don’t need that for a drive around vehicle,” Peters said. “I don’t have any problem spending that much, but I’d rather have something we can push snow with.”

ROAD & BRIDGE

Road & Bridge Foreman Neil Mantle spent much of his report discussing aging equipment that commissioners ultimately voted to sell.

He said dump trucks DT31 (white 2004 Peterbilt) and DT32 (blue 2004 Peterbilt) were overheating and shutting down, making them unsafe to operate. He also said the tailgates were so worn they were losing rock while hauling. Commissioners expressed concern for the safety of other drivers on the road, and voted to sell both with the intention of replacing them with a quality used dump truck.

Mantle said a man who had purchased a dump truck Mantle personally owned and rebuilt was willing to sell it to the county. The commissioners expressed concerns about the age of that truck and decided to wait until the blue and white trucks sold to look at replacing them.

Griffin suggested selling one of the aging road tractors, prompting discussion over which to keep. Mantle said employees preferred driving the Kenworth, despite its higher mileage and poorer condition, because the International’s 10-speed transmission was harder to shift. He also said the International was “eating batteries,” though the cause had not been determined. Despite that, the commissioners favored keeping the International because they considered it the more reliable truck.

Logan asked if they were using the belly dumps, and Mantle said they were not used very often.

Mantle said they should sell the Case backhoe, as well, since it was “so rusted out you can’t check the oil.” Mantle said the hood was too rusted out for one guy to lift, and attributed the rust to the backhoe not being washed often enough after use.

Peters pointed out the county still hadn’t bought a power washer and needed to, but moved on to discussion of how many pickup trucks they needed to sell. Mantle said four needed to go, citing one with no motor and three falling apart. He said one that was falling apart also had no brakes because a former employee had disassembled them before resigning, and no one remaining knew how to reassemble them. The commissioners decided on four, which Peters noted meant they were down three plow trucks.

Mantle said the truck with no motor could be repaired using a motor from a junkyard, but Peters said he didn’t want to spend $10,000 - $15,000 on a motor and still have an old pickup with a lot of rust. The other commissioners agreed. Mantle asked that they list that truck without the bed, because the bed was brand new and he would like to keep it.

A final motion was made and approved to sell both older dump trucks, one belly dump, four trucks, one trailer, and the Case backhoe.

Mantle then asked what to do with the “conveyors and stuff,” and was told to sell them as well.

• Mantle told the commissioners the loader arms on the CAT backhoe had been bent from day one, but that wasn’t usually an issue because they weren’t used often. He also mentioned it was having problems and needed the cylinders replaced.

• Mantle also said the new skid steer is in the shop because a cylinder is leaking. He said the repair would hopefully be covered under warranty, and that “They said they’d never seen one leak like that.”

• Logan asked if Mantle was working on purchasing salt and cinders for winter, and Mantle said he hadn’t yet but would soon.

• Peters said a new hire recently dropped something on his toes and hadn’t been wearing steel-toed boots because he couldn’t afford them and the county doesn’t provide them until after six months of employment. After some discussion of cost, the commissioners voted unanimously to spend up to $200 to buy steel-toed work boots for new employees on their first day, but to have a form drawn up saying the cost would be deducted from their last check if they quit or were terminated before their six month anniversary. If the employee wishes to buy more expensive boots, the county will reimburse $200 after the receipt is provided.

• Mantle asked commissioners to approve a repair bill of $1,673.35 from when a whipper “caught the side of that guy’s truck with a piece of barbed wire.”

He also said a whipper had broken out a back window in a car the day before, and requested the commissioners include a separate line item in his budget next year for those types of repairs.

“We need to have a talk with the operators to chill out around the houses,” Peters said.

“Well, where this must have happened, they wouldn’t have brush hogged anything because they’ve got anything and everything just sitting right up along the county road,” Mantle replied.

“That’s when you drive right by,” Peters directed. “Don’t even touch it. If we can’t maintain it, we can’t maintain it.”

• Mantle also said several people had reached out in the past week to say Road & Bridge was not grading or whipping to end of certain county roads. Mantle said the maps citizens showed him differed from the ones Road & Bridge had. “One is a half mile different from old map to new map,” he said. Griffin told him to speak to Corey Dudenhoeffer in the Assessor’s office to determine the exact places where county roads become private drives. 

• The July 14 - July 20 road report showed quarry rock was hauled on CR 508 (192.27T), 522 (16.01T), & 603 (221.98T); a culvert was replaced on CR 403 (34.73T placed at culvert site); trees were removed on CR 241, 303, 412, 432, 712, & 810; brush mowers were working on CR 236, 263, & 271; continued brush and tree cleanup from recent storms; and grader operators were active as follows: G01 (CR 508, 602, 603), G03 (CR 303, 805, 806, 807), G05 (CR 701, 702, 703, 741), & G06 (CR 231, 313, 314).

• The following equipment was serviced in house: grader G03 (2018 12M3 AWD) and whipper tractors W41 (2006 John Deere 6615 w/Alamo Machete Mower) & W43 (2007 John Deere 6615 w/Alamo Machete Mower).

HEALTH DEPARTMENT

Health Department Administrator Kim Sallin said her office is now advertising for sports physicals beginning Aug. 7, and said they still have a lot of availability for those.

She said her office’s hours will officially change on Aug. 10 to accommodate the Quick Care, so their last Saturday open would be Aug. 1. Logan asked why they were still going to be open that day, and Sallin said they had appointments scheduled.

Sallin added that her office was seeing an increase in blood draws because of delays at JCMG’s lab. She said she was unaware of the exact cause, but the delays had stretched to two or three weeks, longer than some tests allow. As a result, the Linn JCMG office had been sending patients to the Health Department for blood draws. Sallin said that if the issue was not resolved by the end of the month, they expected another increase on Aug. 1.

• Sallin asked the commissioners if Friday, Sept. 25 was acceptable for the Quick Care’s grand opening (although the soft opening will be Aug. 10). She said she was considering asking food trucks to come, to help attract people, asked the commissioners if they had any preferences or expectations for the event.

Peters said he thought the county should provide some sort of food and drinks. Sallin said they’d had a popcorn bar for the grand opening of the building. Griffin said he did not think the county should provide food because it was too hard to plan for. Sallin added that her office had no available freezer space because they were waiting for a part for the vaccine freezer, and using their office freezer for vaccines instead of food. Logan said he liked the idea of food trucks, because they didn’t cost the county any money. Peters told Sallin to do “whatever you guys think the best route is to get people in the door.” Sallin said she thought  food trucks would draw people in, leaving her staff free to engage with attendees.

• Sallin said her office thermostat had been set to 71 the day before but it was 76 in the office. Griffin said Groundskeeper John Kennedy had checked the AC and said everything was good, and that Kennedy reported some employees had sweaters and hoodies on. Sallin said they were also still having a humidity problem. Peters said his understanding was that Kennedy had checked the AC but not the dehumidifier. Griffin told her she could call an outside vendor to look at the humidity issue, and she said she would.

Sallin also noted none of the building’s exterior doors have good seals, which may contribute to the humidity issue, and that they stick sometimes. She said she had expressed concerns about the quality of some of the construction from day one, but that the builder, Curtiss-Manes-Schulte out of Eldon, had not been responsive about fixing the issues. Peters expressed concern about the visible daylight around the doors and told the other commissioners that needed to be addressed quickly.

Kennedy later reported he had looked at the Health Department doors and determined the concrete on one door was too high and was expanding up and catching the bottom of the door, causing it to be hard to operate. “It’s been a booger since it’s been put in,” he said. “You can see where it’s eating that threshold.” Kennedy said the proper way to fix it would be to remove the threshold and grind down the concrete beneath it.

Kennedy said another door has daylight showing around it, and Peters directed him to caulk the gaps.

• Sallin said her office’s annual pool party the previous Saturday had been a success, drawing a record crowd of more than 250 people and the participation of multiple local organizations. Among those who participated were MU Extension, 4-H, Boy Scouts of America, Missouri River Regional Library, Meramec Regional Planning Commission, OC AADCAT, and Compass Health. Linn Fire, Osage Ambulance District, and Linn PD also brought first responder vehicles for kids to see.

“We ran out of our Sweet Bee’s free shaved ice tickets, which I think that’s the first time we’ve ever ran out of those,” Sallin said. “So, we kept her busy all that whole time for sure.”

Sallin said Mid-America Bank, Osage Ambulances, Legends Bank, and Three Rivers contributed financial donations to help keep the event free for participants.

• Sallin said her new office support staff submitted her resignation that morning, due to changes in her personal life. Sallin said that was a “huge hit” because it meant pulling another employee away from other duties to staff the front desk during office hours. Sallin said she would begin advertising for a replacement immediately.

FINANCIAL

• Bills totaling $150,727.63 were approved by commissioners, with the following totals by department: 911/EMA ($455.40), Assessor ($3,900.00), Building & Grounds ($3,096.61), Circuit Clerk ($547.21), Collector ($12,238.00), Commission ($216.05), County Clerk ($1,200.00), Election ($11,158.49), Health Department ($5,576.32), Juvenile & Family Court ($2,634.07), Misc. ($10,364.37),  Prosecuting Attorney ($1,217.00), Public Administration ($160.55), Road & Bridge ($86,829.31), Sheriff-Jail ($10,064.77), & Treasurer ($1,069.48)

• Checks were submitted for signatures.