VIENNA — Maries County Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman updated his fellow commissioners on the progress of geographic information system (GIS) Operations System for County Assessor Dana Simmons’s office.

Simmons was successful with one of the first of the county’s CARES Act revenue requests. In late June she submitted a request for GIS mapping system for her office for $168,554 and was successful receiving pre-approval through MRPC for the reimbursement. The GIS will bring a much improved mapping system to the assessor’s work.

Last Thursday Stratman said Matt Sorensen, Director of GIS Operations for Surveying and Mapping, LLC, sent an update to Assessor Simmons on the progress the company is making on this big mapping project.

The report said research acquisition is complete. This involved scanning all the tax maps and 911 maps. The company also acquired copies of the General Land Office plats, recorded subdivision plats, and section corner documents.

Base mapping is in progress and the plan is to have this mostly finished in November. The base mapping involves creating quarter section, section, township and range data layers. The company references the GLO plats, section corner documents, scanned tax maps, and digital aerial photography to create these layers in the GIS.

Also in progress is road centerline mapping, which is anticipated to be completed this month. A GIS technician has been working on mapping all the road centerlines in the GIS database. The company will then begin adding the 911 data fields from the Intrado MSAG database.

Sorenson said once the base mapping is completed, the company will start mapping all of the other data layers by township. This includes road rights-of-way, parcels, parcel dimensions, lots, original blocks, subdivisions, city limits, water boundaries, creek, and rivers.

Sorensen said he will send progress reports on a quarterly basis during the project. The total timeline on the project is 18 months from the date the contract was signed. The plan is for the entire project to be completed by the end of 2021.

CARES Act requests

The commissioners reviewed some of the CARES Act revenue requests and approved the most recent ones.

Maries County on Oct. 30 applied for $11,410.42 for reimbursement for sanitizing supplies and other expenses for cleaning and social distancing for onsite protection in the courthouse. This also included gloves, sneeze guards, and a new decontamination shower in the sheriff’s office.

Other requests included Maries R-1 on Oct 16 for $34,091, Maries R-2 $59,024.10 on Oct 16, and Vichy Volunteer Fire Department $132,500 for protective gear for firemen on Oct. 20.

A new request was from Dixon R-1 School District for $7,414.89 on Oct. 30.

Another new request is from the Belle Fire Protection District, which is requesting pre-approval of $23,935.74. The Belle firemen are asking CARES Act assistance to purchase a Turnout Gear Extractor and Dryer. Both items will be used to clean and sanitize the fire gear after possible exposure to Covid-19 and other contaminates. At this time the firemen do not have a way to clean and sanitize after possible contact. They included cleaning products in the request. Also the firemen are asking to purchase 10 adapters and 400 cartridges for their self contained breathing apparatus to add respirator cartridges. This will give them the ability to don SCBA mask and to have complete face coverage and respirator coverage with an already existing piece of equipment.

Stratman said they need to add the plumber’s shower bill work to the county’s CARES Act request.

If the additional requests are approved, Maries County will have $222,576.63 left of the $1,020,000 it received in CARES Act money to distribute for requested un-budgeted and unexpected expenses due to the Covid-19 coronavirus.

Almost in 1978

Tina Vogt, who works in the University Extension Office, was at the Monday meeting briefly and part of the discussion was about the  success of the VHS Softball team winning the Class 1 State Softball Championship a few days before.

Vogt, in 1978 was on the VHS Softball team that made it to the state championship game. She was Tina Backues then and said they played Lafayette from St. Louis. This was before there were classes. At that time the teams played competitors of all sizes until they were beaten. Vienna went all the way to the championship game that year and it was a thrill for Vogt and her teammates. The game was in Jefferson City and the team members stayed the night at a hotel and had dinner at a restaurant. Family sent flowers to their hotel rooms and it was a memorable experience for all of them. Jim Volmert was the coach and Becky Duffin was the great pitcher. The team lost 1-0 but still came home proud.

Charging Station

Stratman said he thinks it might be an idea for restaurants in Maries County to apply for a grant through the Volkswagen Trust to place a charging station on their property. The money is available because the company was not truthful about emission standards and fined by the government. It’s a big pot of money.

Electric vehicles are becoming more mainstream and electric vehicles need charging stations to stay on the road. Stratman said people could use the charging station at a restaurant while they are having their meal. It’s a good combination. Stratman said he is happy to share the information to someone who is interested in pursuing this.

Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre said he saw video of a non-gasoline/diesel fuel 45-ton truck that never needs charging. It was shown hauling a 65-ton load. Fagre said it uses friction on the brakes as a charger.

Trash program extension

Sheriff’s Deputy Lt. Scott John was briefly at last Thursday’s meeting. He said they are asking for an extension on the trash patrol grant of about $6,000 they received but were unable to implement because of the Covid-19 coronavirus. They wanted to do a plastic recycling program at a county school, do a river clean-up, and do an electronics and appliances recycling event.

For the school program, a pilot program, Lt. John said they planned to partner with a civic organization to take the lead in the community for plastic recycling. The plan was to begin with the Belle-Bland school and move the program forward to include the other two schools in the county.

He would like to use the money next year that they were unable to use this year.

Buildings and Grounds

Stratman said Cody Wieberg has a man lift and he will replace the light on the front porch. Fagre said the light is on a timer. Stratman said it should be on all night. Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel said the light on at night draws bugs and a mess. Fagre said it’s the same with birds. They had a ball with eyes on the roof to get rid of the birds on the antenna wires but it didn’t work.

Stratman was showing new custodian Dave Juergens around the building and noticed a lot of leaves on the courthouse sidewalks. He suggested getting a battery powered leaf blower. He thinks this is better than chasing around a place to plug in one with an electric. He asked Juergens to see if he can get one that uses the same batteries as some equipment he already has. Also, a shop vac is going to be needed to clear the window wells of leaves and debris. Drewel suggested the custodian check the roof once a week as the flat roof has drains the leaves will stop up and water backs up and causes leaks.

Norton Power System was at the courthouse looking at the generator and brought an updated maintenance agreement for $23,670. Stratman said he thinks they should stay with the current agreement. Fagre said the generator is not used often and it starts every Monday as it should for its weekly test.

Miscellaneous

Stratman reported the Ozark River Solid Waste Management District (ORSWMD) has postponed its annual awards program until spring because of the coronavirus.

The new outdoor dropbox has arrived and will be placed near the sidewalk at the front door of the courthouse.

County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers reported on Monday that two road workers were assisting with the voting process by delivery voting/election supplies and vote counting machines to all of the county’s precincts. She said she had 72 absentee ballots voted on the Friday before the election and 15 absentee ballots voted on Saturday.

Stratman reported information he received that Three Rivers Electric Cooperative has purchased the Fabick Cat building on Militia Drive, on this side of Jefferson City. It’s a good sized building that will be used to house equipment and inventory.

Rodgers said she has received the audit specifications for the county’s CARES Act money but needs to know when to have the bid opening as it has to be advertised. Stratman said publish it in the newspaper and also send it out to the audit firms recommended by MRPC. He wants to do this soon as Veterans Day is coming and Thanksgiving, too. MRPC recommended six audit firms. The county plans to advertise to open bids on Dec. 3.

Elkins-Swyers charged $11,000 for the county’s ballots and programing and other work for the Nov. 3 General Election. The commissioners noted elections are expensive.