VIENNA — The Maries County Commission met with Coroner David Martin and Deputy Coroner Amanda Sandbothe at the commission’s July 27 meeting to discuss buying emergency lights and a siren for the coroner’s vehicle.

In May, the commission met with Sandbothe after exchanging correspondence with the coroner’s office about emergency lights. The commissioners said the quoted prices of $4,254.79 and $4,085.08 were excessive. They advised Sandbothe to ask the sheriff’s office if it had any available emergency lights. All three commissioners agreed that they would like to talk with Martin before making a purchase.

The commission expected to meet with Martin and Sandbothe on July 20, but after a call the previous night, they were unable to make the meeting. Deputy Coroner Cole Higbie delivered paperwork to the meeting that included a letter from Martin stating that the sheriff’s office did not have lights available for the coroner’s vehicle. It also included two new quotes: one for $3,116.16 and another for $2,851.60. The packet also had copies of the Missouri State Statute citing the coroner’s vehicle as an emergency vehicle permitted to have emergency lights and a siren.

“The need for the emergency lights and siren on the coroner vehicle is to provide safety to the coroner and deputy coroners while en route and on scene of a call,” Martin wrote in the letter.

The commissioners agreed again that they would like to talk with Martin before agreeing to buy the equipment. They asked him to attend a meeting as soon as he could.

When Martin and Sandbothe came to the meeting, Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman began the conversation by saying the commission thought the first quotes were unreasonable. The second quotes were better, but they still seemed high.

Stratman showed Martin a flyer for an 18-inch light bar like what state maintenance vehicles use.

Martin said that as a law enforcement officer, the coroner is entitled to the same equipment as the sheriff and his deputies.

“If they can have all of that equipment, I don’t understand why I can’t have it,” Martin said. “If there’s some kind of grant or something that’s being done and I haven’t been included, I need to be because they keep coming up with all this new equipment.”

Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel said the sheriff’s office has a budget paid for by the taxpayers. Martin said the coroner’s office does, too.

Martin said in the past he has used his lights to stop vehicles, such as one that did not secure building materials. He also stops if he comes across someone in distress on the highway.

Drewel asked what lights Martin needs if he already has lights.

Martin said the lights he has are from the 1980s and would likely not be worth the cost of repairing instead of replacing. He said he also needs a radio, a siren and identifiers on the sides and back of the vehicle.

Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre said a difference between the coroner’s vehicle and a sheriff’s office vehicle is that the coroner’s vehicle would be for personal use but the sheriff’s office vehicle would be county-owned.

“It’s not for personal use,” Martin said. “It’s not just David Martin wanting this, and it’s certainly not for personal use.”

Martin said in his time as coroner he has not asked the county to pay for anything other than what he absolutely needs it to pay. He said he realizes the quotes still seem high, but considering how long the county will use the equipment on the vehicle, the cost over time would be more reasonable. The equipment would transfer to the next coroner if Martin were to no longer hold the position.

Martin said during his time as coroner, the office has completed two inquests and an official with the Missouri State Highway Patrol complimented the detail put into them. He said he has always followed proper procedure and even lost business at his funeral home for honestly recording causes of death.

“My office has always been on the up-and-up,” Martin said.

Drewel asked how many roadside calls the coroner’s office answers each year.

Martin said in total, the office handles about 60 calls per year. He did not have data about how many of those calls were auto wrecks, but he estimated it might average out to as many as 12 per year. So far in 2023, there have been no traffic deaths in Maries County.

Drewel asked if highway deaths were the reason Martin needed the lights and siren.

Martin said the coroner’s office responds to every death in the county. If there is traffic, he would use the lights and siren to get around it and arrive at a death scene.

“There’ve been times when Quaker (Windows) has let out and I’ve waited 15 minutes just to pull out (on Highway 63),” Sandbothe said.

“That’s another reason to have lights and a siren on the coroner’s vehicle,” Martin said. “When you’re needing to turn out on the highway and you can’t.”

He mentioned a wreck scene he responded to once on Highway 28. Traffic had backed up and prevented him from reaching the scene for about an hour.

“I think you need to have something on top so it’s visible all the way around,” Stratman said.

He added that the statute also mentioned a siren.

Fagre recommended another electronics store to check with for a quote. Sandbothe called it during the meeting, but the store did not sell the equipment. The worker suggested another business, and after calling them, she got a contact to request a quote.

The commission invited Martin and Sandbothe to come back as soon as they got another quote. Sandbothe returned to the July 31 meeting with another bid, but the commission did not make a decision because Sandbothe expected to receive one more quote later that day.

Solar Panels

Stratman said he had received an email from Deondre Wright, a jurisdiction validation specialist with the Arizona-based company Titan Solar Power. In the email, Wright asked for clarification about things such as the county’s planning and zoning restrictions, residential and fire codes, wind speed requirements and more.

The commission received similar communication last December from solar company Azimuth Renewables. After a phone conversation with the company’s president where the commission requested a more detailed explanation of the company and its goals, the commissioners and representatives from the company met in May.

“I felt better after we talked to them,” Stratman said. “They went to the trouble to at least come to talk to us.”

Stratman read through the email and the commissioners doubted that the county had any of the codes in question because they would fall under planning and zoning, which the county does not have.

“Can we set anything without having planning and zoning?” he asked.

Fagre recommended asking Prosecuting Attorney Tony Skouby for advice.

“It’s something we’re going to have to address,” Stratman said.

“I’d say in another year or so you’ll have to do something about it,” Drewel said.

“By then it’s going to be too late,” County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers said.

“It’ll be grandfathered in,” Stratman said.

Later, Stratman took the email to Skouby.

“We can’t do anything,” Stratman said when he returned. “The only thing we can do is acknowledge it. To establish any kind of guidelines, we would have to have planning and zoning.”

The commissioners were not interested in drafting planning and zoning regulations for Maries County. Stratman said he had heard “horror stories” about trying to build in areas with planning and zoning restrictions and he expected trying to implement them would be very unpopular. Fagre questioned if the county would make enough money from planning and zoning permits to justify adding the salary of someone to oversee the permits.

Stratman asked Rodgers to respond to the email with a request to talk with someone from the company like the commission did with Azimuth Renewables. Titan Solar Power has an office in Kansas City.

Roadwork

Drewel said the seal coating work by Precision Sealcoating Services LLC looked good. The company completed work on Maries Road 325, Maries Road 339 and Maries Road 340.