MARIES COUNTY — At a October 24 commission meeting last week, the Maries County Commissioners made the decision about how to spend the non-obligated second half of the county’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money from the federal government.

Maries County, in two different bank deposits, received a total of $1.6 million in ARPA funds, intended for COVID-19 recovery. The first portion of the money primarily was used to fund the large improvements and upgrades to the county’s 911 dispatch center. The county has $218,208.21 remaining from that money, but last week Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman said that money already is obligated. Treasurer Rhonda Slone agreed, saying it is already spoken for.

The money they made the decision about last week is the second deposit, which is $844,645. Stratman said he thinks they should take the standard deduction. This was advised to county commissioners by a Missouri Association of Counties (MAC) attorney when they first looked at how to properly spend the money as there were rules with it from the government.

Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre said he, too, thinks they should keep at least some of the ARPA funds for the county. He added he needs $120,000 for the county’s financial match for the bridge on Maries County Road 213 over Fly Creek that will be replaced next year. The cost of replacing the Fly Creek bridge is estimated at about $700,000 for the high-traffic bridge. He said they need to figure up how much they need for the road districts. 

Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel said the cost of fuel has doubled. He budgeted $50,000 for fuel and has spent $80,000 “and we aren’t done yet. What’s it going to be next year?”

Stratman said the county will have to fill up that loss and Drewel agreed it will have to be taken from somewhere — they may even have to lay someone off. 

In this county it has been very dry with drought conditions, so dry the road districts have not been grading roads as much. Drewel said he just now started hauling rock for Road Two. Fagre said Road One has been hauling it. Drewel said they’ve been cutting ditches but not doing much grading because it is too dry. He added he has to watch what is running because fuel is so high. Fagre said it takes 40 gallons a day to run three graders. He budgeted $75,000 for fuel and is over budget now by $17,000 as Road One has spent $92,000 so far. He anticipates he will be $36,000 over budget at the end of the year.

Stratman said they’d talked about replacing the generator in the courthouse, upgrading to one that will power the entire building when the electricity goes out. The current generator is backup electrical power for the 911 dispatch center, the sheriff’s office and the license office only. 

But, the county has applied for a matching grant to help pay for that. It’s a $200,000 SEMA grant with a 50 percent match from the county, which is $100,000. He said if Maries County doesn’t get that grant, he thinks they should put the generator in at the same level it is now, but maybe boost the amps.

Currently the generator has to be manually started. The preferred way is for electronics to run the start so when the power goes out it automatically kicks on the generator. Stratman said they’ve “been lucky a tornado didn’t come through and tear up infrastructure.” 

Other courthouse needs are a repair to the front steps, which they estimated at $40,000. They want the landing at the top to be the same level as the door. Now there is a step up to go inside and the trouble comes in when having to step down to the landing outside the door when leaving the building. There also is an over $10,000 project of using a mini-split to replace an old air conditioner unit in the courthouse. 

Drewel asked about the roof of the courthouse and if it is okay. Stratman said there are two places he saw when he was on the roof where there is a wrinkle near the drain. County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers looked up when the new roof was done and it was in 2012 by RSS Roofing at a cost of $77,900. It has a 20-year warranty. She also noted there was a masonry project in 2016 costing $100,000 and a grant was used to repair and paint the exterior surface of the courthouse.

Meramec Regional Planning Commission helped then Presiding Commissioner Ray Schwartze obtain the grant to do the project.

Drewel said the bridge on MCR 409 needs to be replaced and he is hoping to get a grant through Fish and Wildlife to do it, but is not sure it will happen. He said the county also has to come up with the money for the big salary increase for the prosecuting attorney and will need to use the ARPA funds for this for awhile.

Drewel said he thinks they should use the remainder of the ARPA money for the courthouse and both road districts. Fagre agreed and said it needs to be spent in a way that will satisfy the auditors who will come in and audit it. Stratman said they can’t save it as it needs to be obligated by 2024 and spent by 2026. 

“There won’t be a problem spending it,” Drewel said. Fagre said Pulaski County received $10 million and had $16 million in requests for it. 

Maries County gave away all of its $1,020,000 CARES act money to the county’s schools, fire departments, ambulance districts and more. With this last portion of the federal ARPA money, Stratman said they will take the standard deduction. They decided this will be $300,000 for each road district and the remaining $244,645 for the county to spend in areas where it is needed. 

Health Insurance

The commissioners also made a decision about the employee health insurance.

They’ve heard nothing from the references supplied by Trusted Insurance Solutions, whom Stratman contacted via telephone. The company representatives said they can save the county money on health insurance premiums, but it is a new vendor to the county and the commissioners don’t want to do the wrong thing for county employees who use the health insurance. 

Fagre said they need to hear what Brad Roark of the Wallstreet Group will bring them on the costs for health insurance in 2023. They also mentioned Darrell Decker’s health insurance consortium. Drewel commented the Trusted Insurance Solutions only had a few clients and he thinks it is best to wait a year or two to see how they do.

“Our insurance is expensive, but it pays good,” he said. 

Stratman said he spoke with Dent County Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles who has been in the consortium with Darrell Decker and they pay $630 a month per employee. There is a $3,500 deductible and the county pays $2,000 of it for the employees. They’ve had some claims. 

Maries County pays $530 per employee per month. He said he’s been talking to people about health insurance and he thinks they probably should stay with what the county has now.

Fires

There was discussion at last Monday’s meeting (Oct. 24) about the Oct. 22 fire in Woodridge where roughly half of the small Missouri town burned after a wildfire spread quickly and destroyed or heavily damaged 23 buildings. Woolridge is a town of less than 100 people and is located about 20 miles west of Columbia along the Missouri River. 

There was a big fire in Jasper County. Closer to home, hundreds of acres of land and timber burned in the Doolittle area. 

With the good rain on Oct. 25 the fire risk has been reduced for now.

A spoon

Stratman said he looked inside a persimmon seed, looking for a fork, knife or a spoon, and he saw a spoon. The fork is said to stand for a mild winter, while the knife shape means that there will be frigid winds. The spoon shape is supposed to represent a shovel and, therefore, means to expect plenty of snow to shovel. 

Five corners

Stratman reported Tyler “TC” James of Show-Me Land Surveying, LLC, Vienna, has documented five corners in Maries County. The Missouri Department of Agriculture has a program that reimburses counties $350 a corner for x-number of re-monumented corners. James turned in five and the county will pay him and get reimbursed by the state. Stratman said getting these corners monumented may help some people in the future when they are surveying. James told him he could do a lot more of them, saying there are at least 50 he could do. The state won’t reimburse the county for that many in a year’s time.

Stratman said there are 530 square miles in Maries County. Fagre googled it and there are 527 square miles of land and 2.9 square miles of water. 

Webinar

Stratman said he recently watched a webinaron active shooter training. He said a lot of it is common sense. When confronted with this terrible situation, a person has to access it and decide if it is best to hide, run or to fight. 

Stratman said in the courthouse, the first floor is the best place to be because it is where all the exits are. 

Leaves

Stratman said he went up and checked the roof of the courthouse. There is no water standing but there are a lot of leaves that need to be removed.

He said with the recent wind, a lot of limbs came down. He wondered if it is time to get the courthouse trees trimmed. The commissioners all agreed it needed to be done.