MARIES COUNTY — During its meeting last week, the Maries County Commission had a brief conversation with Maries County Prosecuting Attorney Anthony “Tony” Skouby about legal matters pertaining to the county. 

They talked about the letter the commissioners received from an attorney of the owner of the property along MCR 306 which meets the Gasconade River at a historic access called Fish Hollow. The Fish Hollow site has been a local river access as long as anyone alive can remember and some of the locals in the Summerfield and Belle area are not happy about the property owner wanting to close the river access. 

Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel said the road has been open to the river for a long time. Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman said the 99-year lease with a fishing club, which just expired, is testimony to that. 

The county maintains 1.38 miles along that private property to the Gasconade River and is paid Missouri County Aid Road Trust (CART) money from gasoline tax funds on that road. 

Skouby said he will be writing a letter to the property owners, Eugene and Jacqueline Appel,  telling them the county does not want the road closed as it has nothing to gain from it. Drewel said if the Appels want it closed it will have to be done through legal means “because they can’t put a gate there before that.”

Skouby said the matter will be handled legally with a posting and by holding a public hearing. He said the commissioners can determine the road is useless and close it because it has the authority over the road. There are people who don’t want the road closed and this gives the county a reason not to close it. It was reported over 200 people signed a paper asking to keep the road open to the Fish Hollow river access. “You have a reason and the authority,” Skouby told the commissioners. 

They also discussed the closing of never-developed roads on a 1942 plat map brought to them by an attorney for the owners of 43.49 acres of land in Vichy, located on the west side of Highway 63. This property is where the once-famous and what the town is named after, Vichy Springs is located. 

Drewel said he does not have a problem closing county roads that don’t exist, but he is concerned about MCR 444, which Road Two under his leadership “has never touched.” The supposed county road is not noted on the plat the attorney brought them. Drewel said the road runs beside storage sheds in Vichy and it has not been maintained by the road district recently.

Skouby suggested talking to the neighbors who live there to “make sure we don’t have a dog in the fight” before moving forward. Skouby said the attorney wants the commissioners to sign the paperwork or the county commissioners will be served. 

Drewel said they need to figure out about the road before they do anything. 

Skouby said the Calzone lawsuit against the commissioners is finished. They learned something from it as they need to advertise when they will be closing a meeting to the public. It cost the county money and a lot of time was invested as well.

Dump trucks

Stratman said he heard of two counties which will be using the VW Trust to purchase dump trucks and wondered if this is something that might work for Maries County. Washington County is reported to be buying four dump trucks and Osage County is supposed to be buying one dump truck. 

The VW Trust is a large amount of fine money the company paid because it was not truthful about its vehicle emissions. Stratman said he heard a grant of $73,125 may be obtained for a new dump truck. Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre said he doubted a dump truck could be replaced for that. Stratman said there is competition as they work toward getting more fuel efficient vehicles. The VW Trust expires in 2026. The information about it came from MRPC through DNR. 

Fagre did an online search and said a 2020 top of the line dump truck is priced at $189,000. Drewel wondered what kind of price they could get for an old one. Stratman said if they could get 75 percent of the cost in a grant, it “would go a long way toward buying one.” 

Drewel said the Road Two dump trucks “are just about shot.” They talked about truck beds and Drewel said they were replaced in 1995 and are getting worn out. 

Fagre said its worth trying to find out what the county can get through the VW Trust. Also there is the recently passed federal infrastructure bill that may play a role in road and bridge improvements for the county. Drewel wondered whether or not that money would “trickle down to Maries County.” County Treasurer Rhonda Slone said it’s probably too soon to know. 

Fagre said some county’s lease dump trucks. 

Transportation

MRPC’s Bonnie Prigge and MoDOT Meramec Area Engineer Preston Kramer will be at the county commission’s Nov. 22 meeting to assist the commissioners in selecting the county’s transportation priorities. 

Turkey Hill

Road One will pay Osage County $2,720 this year for that county to maintain a portion of Maries County road #301 in the Turkey Hill area. Fagre said Osage County sends the bill each year for this routine maintenance. It’s a small section of road but Road One would have to go all the way to Freeburg to get to it. Osage County already is there working on its own roads.

Hired a lawyer

Stratman said the Counties Commissioners Association of Missouri (CCAM) Board of Directors has authorized Lowell Pearson with the Husch Blackwell law firm in Jefferson City to file suit against the state of Missouri in the Cole County Circuit Court challenging the constitutionality of SB53, specifically amendments pertaining to sheriff salaries. 

The State Legislature passed SB53 this year and the governor signed it. SB53 incrementally, beginning with the next new term, raises the sheriff’s salary by $30,000 annually in third class counties. One thing about the bill is that the legislature did not provide any funding for it, pushing that down onto the counties. 

In the letter to commissioners from 2021 CCAM President and Dent County Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles, it was noted the CCAM supports law enforcement officers and is not opposed to sheriffs receiving a pay raise. However, the CCAM does oppose the preemption of local authority and questions the process by which this legislation was rushed through the General Assembly with no opportunity for the public’s input. 

Fraud Policy

The auditors want Maries County to have a fraud policy. County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers checked with other small-sized counties and found one of them to have a fraud policy she thinks will work for Maries County. It will not require many changes and the commissioners agreed to adopting it. 

MFA building

The historic MFA building in Belle has been saved. It was moved on Wednesday by Howard House moving, Dora, MO from its location near the railroad tracks to a lot owned by Jimmy Zumwalt along Highway 28. Zumwalt plans to make the old building his new office. Rodgers said she is interested in watching it be moved. 

RR&U

Rodgers said she sent out the tax bills for the county’s railroad & utilities taxes. The total taxes assessed to the companies with assets in the county is $985,349.80. The school districts get the largest share of the money. But, Maries County, if all of the taxes are paid, will receive $69,794. Road One will receive $31,158.40 and Road Two $14,372.28. The assessed valuation in Road One is twice of what it is in Road Two. 

The RR&U taxes are local and state assessed. Assessor Simmons puts the value figures on and Rodgers uses the levies to figure the tax bills and sends them out, and Collector Williams collects the money. 

Utilities that owe taxes in Maries County include Missouri Central Railroad Company, Ameren, MCI Communications Services, Sho-Me Technologies, Windstream KDL, Century Link Communications, Southwestern Belle, Century Tel of Missouri, Embarq MO, Windstream MO, Phillips 66 Pipeline, Explorer Pipeline, MPLX Ozark Pipeline, and Cohen Aviation.