MARIES COUNTY — Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman, along with Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre and Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel, received praise during the July 13 commission meeting on the quality of the county’s EMS personnel.

EMS personnel responded to a multi-agency incident in June that involved a motor vehicle crash with serious injuries.

“Tuesday night they had a deal at the ambulance meeting. On June 13, I believe it was, there was an accident up by the airport. They were very pleased with the 911. They said the 911 worked good, the sheriff’s department worked good, the highway patrol — everybody involved,” said Stratman. “The family of the person involved wanted to come thank them personally. They had about 30 people there I think.”

Drewel said that it was nice to have a good report on the services provided by the county.

The particulars on Sheriff’s ‘Ride-a-longs’

Stratman said that he contacted the Jefferson City Police Department in regard to their ride-a-long policy.

“He said they do those but the officer has to approve that. The officer has to be agreeable to it,” began Stratman. “They don’t allow anybody to carry a weapon during a ride-a-long.”

Fagre said, “That’s probably a good idea.”

“Well now, if you pull up on someone and they started shooting holes in the windshield you’d want to shoot back wouldn’t you,” asked Drewel. “You’re setting yourself up as a target by being in that patrol car.”

“But that is with everyday life,” said Stratman. “You can walk out front here and anything can happen.”

“Yeah, but every day you don’t go running to the bank when it’s being robbed, or the grocery store,” Drewel said. “You are putting yourself in it. Kind of like when (Roy) Bassett got shot. That old boy pulled a gun out and started shooting everybody. Now, if you had been in the car with him you’d have probably gotten shot, too. But, if you had a handgun you might have got out and shot that guy before you got shot.”

“Yeah,” said Stratman.

“You just never know,” said Drewel. “But Jefferson City doesn’t let them do it?”

“Not the way he talked,” Stratman said.

There was no further discussion on the topic of firearms for ride-a-longs.

Stratman advised the board that AT&T was interested in putting more towers in the county and that they were actively looking for grants.

“They would like a letter of support from us and the ambulance district,” said Stratman. “I would sure like to do that if we can help to get better cell service.”

Stratman also said that Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was becoming a rare commodity in the county and would like to see more developed.

“If there’s anybody in the county that has housing or is interested in building housing, HUD is really short on available housing,” said Stratman. “They are a lot easier to deal with. They’ve changed some specs because of the shortage of housing available.”

In other news, the sheriff’s department is acquiring presentation material and a booth to raise awareness of and fight opioid addiction. This includes a tent, table, and literary material.

The commissioners looked at a problem area in the upstairs jail area. An exterior door raised security questions and after inspecting the trouble spot, the commissioners approved a pull-handle being installed to alleviate the issue.

Maries County License Office Manager Tiffany Kelley reported that her office scored 96.7 out of 100 on their state review.

“We also got our first compliments online,” added Kelley. “One was from a military member saying how we called different offices to address their needs and the other compliment was saying how great the customer service was.”

Stratman informed everyone that a solid waste award was going to be presented by the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District.

“They have an annual meeting and do rewards,” said Stratman. “We can nominate someone if we think someone has done something significant.”

No nominations were made.

During the July 10 commission meeting, Stratman reported that caulking was currently being replaced to prevent water from coming into the building.

“The old caulking around the courthouse is cracked and shrunk,” said Stratman. “When it rains sometimes water pools in different places. They are taking out the old silicone and putting in new.”

Stratman also informed the commission that they had two boxes of light bulbs that were the wrong kind and wanted to give them away to someone who could use them.

“I’d like to just get rid of them; put it in the paper if someone can use them. They looked to me like they were 12T 8L bulbs, about a case and a half of them, 48-inch bulbs and then there is also two boxes of some oddball fluorescent bulbs between 16 and 18 inches long,” said Stratman. “If a church or school can use them, or an individual, they can have them first come first serve.”

Stratman stated that the county has two bills for autopsy reports. One was for $2,500 and the second was for $2,325.

The commissioners were told that the tornado grant was for debris removal only and that they could not claim any of the rock bills.

“Wasn’t the plan, that when you got that equipment on there, it tears the roads up and that’s the reason we had to put the material on it?” asked Stratman.

Maries County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers said, “I’m going to have to go through Justin’s daily work log. Anything he has logged as ‘storm hauling rock,’ I’m going to have to take all that off (of the grant).”

Stratman reported that a work crew would be arriving later that morning and the generator would be repaired. Once the repairs were made, he stated that the generator would come on automatically on Mondays at 10 a.m. for testing purposes.

“It’s supposed to run for about 15 minutes and then shut itself off,” Stratman said.

Kelley spoke to the commissioners concerning how her office was still catching up from when she took over the position.

“I had one day of training on this bank work,” said Kelley. “I was shown one day before I was on my own. I’ve stayed over and worked on my lunches to get caught up.”

Kelley said that she was short-handed and would like to get some part-time help approved.

“Can I have someone come in, at least half a day, so I can get caught up on the bank work,” asked Kelley.

The commissioners approved having one of their temps cover four hours on Wednesdays for the license office.

In other license office news, Sabrina Plumb finished her probationary period and was given a $1 raise.s