MARIES COUNTY— The Maries County Commission is trying to bring together a group of local first responder entities that use the south repeater in order to pay for repairs to it. The south repeater is located a few miles south of Vienna and is on the tower on Highway 28 toward Dixon.

At last Thursday’s county commission meeting, IT Manager Shane Sweno mentioned the Wireless USA repeater invoice, which is $1,080. Maries County’s name is on it because that’s the way it was licensed. Maries County Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman has been gathering information about it. 

Stratman also is on the Maries-Osage Ambulance District (MOAD) Board and paying for the repeater repairs was discussed at the board’s September meeting.

He said he’d like for several entities that includes Maries County, Vienna Fire, Dixon Fire, and MOAD, to split the cost of it, saying it would be “easier to swallow if we split it.”

Vienna Fire Chief Mike Smith was contacted. He said the fire board met Monday night and they held off on making a payment on the $1,080 bill to see if they can work something out with the other entities that use the repeater. Smith said there also was an additional fee of $500 charged by the tower climber. Vienna Fire paid the $500. 

Smith said a lot of people use the repeater and have the frequencies in their radios. He talked to someone about Dixon Fire helping with the bill and was told Dixon Fire probably won’t help pay for it. 

Stratman mentioned what MOAD Board President Don Lanning said at the MOAD meeting. He said MOAD gave money to Vienna Fire to buy an air conditioner and this was not done. Smith said yes, MOAD did give them money to put air conditioning in the repeater shed at the tower. It was a project “that never took off,” Smith said but MOAD did put money toward it. Smith said Motorola said as long as air is moving through the building it is okay. They talked about moving the equipment to the well pump building but did not because of the chemicals in that particular space. He also called around about having insulation strayed inside the space, but no one wanted to mess with it because the space is so small. It’s a 10’ by 20’ space shared with the water district and the water district controls half of it. Stratman said Lanning mentioned the repeater equipment in the space could be boxed off for a smaller space. Smith said it is too small a space to put up a wall. He bought a box fan from Dollar General and it is used to circulate the air in the summer. In the winter there is not an issue. He said so far it is working. 

Stratman said it sounds like Dixon Fire won’t pay, and Vienna Fire has already paid $500 for the tower climber. He said he will talk to MOAD about paying $500 said Maries County can pick up the rest, which is $580. 

Smith said everybody that uses it should pitch in or stop using it. He added that Vienna Fire bought the repeater, but the frequencies and licensing are registered under Maries County. This happened and they aren’t quite sure why and how, but it was a bit of a mix up. 

MOAD had the same issue with its repeater in Freeburg. It was licensed under Maries County as well.

Smith said he thinks the deal is fair and the bill needs to be paid.

Stratman contacted MOAD Administrator Carla Butler, asking for it to be put on the board’s October meeting agenda about MOAD paying $500 of the repair bill for the south repeater. 

Last-mile fiber

At last Thursday’s meeting Stratman signed a letter in support of the efforts of Gascosage Electric Cooperative and its last-mile fiber project in a portion of Maries County.

It is called the “Hayden Project” as the project is to construct 86 miles of fiber northeast of Dixon. This project will serve 362 homes that currently have little to no existing services. 

The commissioners were asked to sign a letter of support as the electric cooperative seeks federal funding for the project.

The letter said, “Maries County contains areas that are underserved. The efforts of Gascosage Electric Cooperative will bring much needed broadband services to customers in Maries County.”

The commissioners have always been interested in expanding broadband services in the county, but it is so expensive, and it is a problem that something larger with a lot of money will have to do. Federal infrastructure money, connect funding grants, are being sought for the internet expansion project. 

The letter said, “As we look towards future needs of Maries County, we recognize that failing to act on this could cost the county jobs and potentially have a significant number of residents leave due to a lack of high-speed internet. High-speed internet, or broadband, is now no longer an option but an extremely vital piece of economic development for any community, county or state. We strongly urge you to approve the grant funding for this project to help Maries County, its residents, and industries.” 

Fuel tax 

At last Monday’s meeting, Treasurer Rhonda Slone gave the commissioners August fuel tax numbers for the road districts. She said the tax revenue has increased as it went from $45,000 to $52,000.

Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre said this increase is due to the 2.5 cent increase in the state’s gasoline tax, some of which makes its way to counties and cities. He said state’s tax will go up 2.5 cents a year for five years. At that time, the county could get up to $80,000. 

The money is divided 55 percent/45 percent between the two road districts. Road One has more miles so it receives 55 percent, which of the August fuel tax revenue is $28,956.15. Road Two receives 45 percent, which for the month of August is $23,691.40. 

Slone said the August revenue breakdown is $36,205.48 in motor fuel tax, $11,549.36 in motor vehicle sales tax, and $4,892.71 in motor vehicle fee increase. 

For sale

The county is selling the former truck used by Ken Ramsey, who was the county’s emergency management director, but also was in charge of the county’s trash patrol program. The truck was bought with a grant and Ramsey used it to do a lot of trash picking up. He was very dedicated.

After he retired, the sheriff’s office took over the trash patrol duties. But that program had changed within the region and picking up trash was not funded. The primary emphasis was placed on educating children and adults about recycling and not dumping trash along county roads.

The truck is a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado, V-6, 4WD, two door with a work bed. It has 48,000 miles on it. Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel said except for some rust on it, it is practically new. It is advertised for sale via bidding in this publication. 

Training

Treasurer Rhonda Slone was at training for the later part of last week. It was the treasurer’s association meeting in Springfield. She said this training will be here last one as she is retiring at the end of her term, which is Dec. 31, 2022. Angie Stricklan will be sworn in as the county’s new treasurer at the beginning of 2023. 

Building and grounds

There has been a lot of discussion about the concrete steps to the front door of the courthouse. The concrete on the bottom step is crumbling in places and the commissioners have been discussing the best way to repair it. 

Drewel said they need specs on what needs to be done so that if and when they bid the project, all of the contractors will be bidding on the same thing. They talked about a handicap ramp all the way up to the front door. Drewel said this will be challenging as it has to have a certain percentage slope. It may extend further out on the sidewalk. Stratman said if they increase the landing at the top, making it taller so there is no step up into the building, that will add more needed rise for the ramp. Also, they will need to add handicap parking spaces on the north side of the building for the front entryway. Drewel said it will be an expensive project. 

At Thursday’s meeting, Stratman said adding the handicap ramp at the front door may not be feasible because of all those steps. He said the courthouse already has a good handicap entrance and handicap parking spaces at the south entrance. They will see what Drewel thinks about it. 

County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers reported a problem with an air conditioning unit on Wednesday. It was a very hot day and the unit stopped working in the morning. It was driver’s license day and there were a lot of people in the building, especially in the assessor’s hallway where the drivers testing is done. It got hot and people were uncomfortable. 

Rehagen Heating & Cooling was contacted and a technician come to the courthouse. Rodgers said they were told it was a freon leak in the old unit. He charged it and fixed it. But, that night it was not working again, but that day it was. Fagre said the unit was “here when I got here over thirty years ago.”

Stratman called Rehagen to give the county a price for replacing that unit. 

Stratman said the courthouse uses 1,600 gallons of water a day. Sweno, who also worked as a dispatcher/jailer, said it’s probably from the jail and inmates talking long showers. 

Clerk’s Deputy Renee Kottwitz said they are trying to figure out how to turn off the ability to leave comments on the county’s Facebook page. She and Rodgers at their recent training learned it is recommended the county not have a Facebook page, but if the county does have one, to turn off the comments. Because it’s the county’s page, it is a public record and along with the Facebook posts, the comments made are part of that record, too.