OSAGE COUNTY — In their meeting last Thursday, the Osage County Commissioners expressed concerns about how much the Road & Bridge Department can get done with the current number of personnel, and whether the county can afford to hire more people.

“They just got their red dump truck back from Jeff City,” said Presiding Commissioner Darryl Griffin. “It blew a hose (for the) second time. It’s all covered under warranty. I told him we need to get to hauling rock, and he realized that.”

Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Peters said he’d like to see them start spreading gravel from one end of the road to the other before moving on to the next, so the crader had more to work with when they got there. 

“They go and spot a couple of those on each county road, then move the next one, which - they’re trying,” Peters said.

The commissioners have discussed multiple times in previous meetings how the weather this year has caused Road & Bridge personnel to spend much more time than usual repairing damage, instead of doing routine road maintenance. The weather also limited how much creek gravel was available to put on the roads.

Griffin said putting gravel on one full road at a time was Road & Bridge Foreman Justin Bridges’ original plan.

“I talked to him about that this morning,” Griffin said. “I said ‘I thought that’s what y’all were gonna do.’ He said, ‘We was, but then we had the flood, wash out, bridges, trees falling down, and we got off the path.’ He said, ‘We need to get back on.’”

“We gotta get those whippers running,” said Western District Commissioner Dale Logan. “We gotta get some whipping done.”

“We need to hire some people,” Griffin said.

“We have got to get some whippers running,” Logan reiterated. “We got County Road 502, and I went out there and looked at it yesterday. I had a phone call yesterday. We got parts down through there, in truck that’s got mirrors on it, it’ll hit your truck. I mean, we got brush slapping vehicles on both sides, that’s how bad it is. That’s just one. That just happens to be the worst one.”

“Yeah, they’re all like that,” Peters agreed.

“Are we advertising for any help?” Logan asked.

“Well, that’s the thing; I think we both agree,” Peters said. “That’s where I was at before the meeting started. I talked to the clerk’s office here trying to figure out where we’re standing on our salary budget on Road & Bridge. They should have a report for us next Tuesday.”

“We just spent money getting (the whippers) fixed,” Peters said. “They need to be moving.”
“They gotta be working,” Logan agreed. “Them things oughta be running the whole time.”

Peters said, in his experience, the worst thing for equipment is when it sits without being used.

“They both have over 20,000 hours,” Logan said of the whippers.

“We’re going to have to do something with that,” Peters said. “But I’ll be damned if I’m going to do anything with it until we get somebody in the seat.”

“You can’t spend $200,000 on one and let it sit there,” Logan agreed.

“(We) can’t get anybody to run them,” Peters said. “You think we’re gonna go buy some new ones nobody’s gonna run? I mean, that’s the (gist) of it.”

“I agree,” Logan said.

“I think it’s lack of help,” Logan added. “We got, what, 10 people? Eleven?”

“Ten, I think,” Peters said.

“I think we need 14,” Peters continued. “Well, we probably really need about 17, but we were at 13 or 14, right?”

Peters expressed frustration with CR 274A, between Chamois and Morrison.

“I had a taxpayer complaint about it down there, so I addressed it with Bradley Sneller when Justin was out,” Peters said. “I told him what they needed to do is take a couple loads of base rock on the flat spots, and build a crown back in the road so the water gets off the road. So, they did that in a couple of spots, and helped it tremendously. But the rest of the road, there’s no gravel, and it’s like this desk, and it’s just — it’s worn. It’s solid.

“There’s no material there,” Peters continued. “So, that’s what I’m saying about starting. Get a couple trucks hauling. One spreads, the next one (starts where he stops). Put it right down the middle, a couple 3-4 inches deep. Let them work it in. The next time the road grader comes through there, they got something to work with.”

Griffin said he asked Osage County Treasurer Valerie Prater about wages and was told they should be able to hire one more person. The commissioners agreed to reach out to interested parties to see if they were serious about coming to work for Road & Bridge, but to wait for more detailed information on the budget and year-to-date expenditures before making any decisions. 

• Commissioners received pricing from Norman Hanor for rock. The prices were $150 per load if his people haul and spread it, or $135 per load if Road & Bridge personnel pick it up.

“In my opinion, it sounds like an absolute no-brainer to have him spread it,” Peters said.

“We’ve got to be able to track that somehow, too,” Logan said.

Peters agreed.

• Groundskeeper John Kennedy and Jake Dorge from Rehagen Heating and Cooling addressed commissioners about the mini-split unit requested to isolate heating and cooling for the jail’s control room due to the amount of heat generated by the equipment in the small control room.

Dorge told the commissioners the mini-split was likely the most cost-effective option because the drawings for the building were not accurate.

“We don’t know what the heck’s above the ceiling and where anything goes,” Dorge said. “And only way to find out is cut holes and start looking.”

He went on to say that even if they cut holes in the ceiling, they couldn’t guarantee they’d be able to offer a better option.

“Friday, I was in that cell that they’re going to use again, and the AC was running,” Kennedy said. “And if I was housed in there, I would be cold right now with AC blowing in there.”

Kennedy said there have been times, in the winter time, when people could see their breath in that room, because the air conditioning is on to keep the control room cool.

Commissioners approved a cost of $6,786 to Rehagen Heating & Cooling and $1,150 to Schafer Electric to install the unit. The vote was not unanimous, with Griffin and Logan voting for and Peters voting against.

• During his department update, Osage County 911/EMA Director Ron Hoffman said NG911 is coming together.

Peters asked him about a culvert pipe leading to a fire hydrant, saying the pipe appears not to be large enough to handle the water coming through. Hoffman said that was part of Owensville Fire, and that he would let their chief know.

Recorder of Deeds Cindy Hoffman said the four books being restored are still awaiting binders. Logan expressed the need to try to find room in the budget to get more books done.

C. Hoffman said the Warren County Recorder may give her several survey cabinets after their new ones come in. C. Hoffman said that would save her office a lot of money, but she would have to figure out how to pick them up. R. Hoffman offered to help her, using the box trailer that was recently re-granted to Osage County.

Osage County Collector Denise Nolte said her office only had eight parcels on the list for tax sale.

Interim Osage County Clerk Brooke Dudenhoeffer said the new employee manual had been out for some time, but her office had not received any acknowledgments of receipt from other offices. Griffin reminded everyone to do that, and to fill out the driver’s license forms for any county employees who drive county vehicles.

Osage County Assessor Tina Kammerich reminded commissioners that the Board of Equalization Hearing would take place on July 21, and told them no one had signed up to contest their bill.

Osage County University of Missouri Extension Office Engagement Specialist Elizabeth Anderson told commissioners about Extension’s new reporting software, showing how their programs are utilized. This will be covered in a separate article next week.

“SNAP ED funding got eliminated nationwide during the Big, Beautiful Bill process,” Anderson continued. “SNAP ED just in Missouri was an $11 million program that is done after Sept. 30, and so folks on campus are scrambling to try and figure out how many people can we keep on and how many people we can’t, and what programming we keep doing. We will still be offering nutrition education, because that’s one of our core areas in Extension, but the SNAP ED program will no longer exist.”

Osage County Health Department Administrator Kim Sallin gave the commissioners a synopsis of the dog bite incident at the fairgrounds. That incident was covered in a separate article last week.

• Commissioners met with Casey Chastain and Alan Fay from Higgenbotham Insurance on Thursday, then Osage County Sheriff Michael Bonham and Jail Administrator Lt. Jonathan Powell took the commissioners, Commission Clerk Brandy Boessen, and Chastain on a tour of the jail.

Chastain praised the jail overall, commenting several times how impressed he was to find jail’s emergency evacuation plan posted.

ROAD & BRIDGE

No Road & Bridge report was provided last week; however, Bridges attended the July 15 meeting.

Logan requested an inspection of CR 512 due to drainage concerns.

• Peters expressed concern about the erosion of CR 243.

“It’s probably down to 15-foot-wide (in one area),” Peters said. “I addressed that earlier this year and it still hasn’t been done. It’s major — like the road’s going to be shut down.” 

• Logan asked Bridges to confirm he hadn’t found the large rock that was reported on CR 501, and Bridges said he hadn’t.

“They probably took a picture of it, moved it, and complained because it had been there,” Bridge said. “And if it was there, that way, I’d have complained, too.”

• Griffin said commissioners are looking into whether the county ever accepted responsibility for Progress Lane before addressing it. The issue, he said, is finding the date it was supposedly deeded over to the county, to be able to find the records.

When asked, Recorder of Deeds Hoffman offered to look in to it.

FINANCIAL

• Sales tax distribution received from the state of Missouri showed $419,691.02 collected in June, including $55,548.28 to General Revenue, $60,818.11 to Jail Renovation (JR60), $30,409.06 to Capitol Improvements (CI88, $27,368.15) and Building & Grounds (BG89 $24,631.34), $60,812.44 to Prop P, $60,829.81 to Prop R, $60,817.55 to 911/Law Enforcement, and $90,455.77 to Use Tax.

• Commissioners approved time sheets.