VIENNA — The county commissioners are waiting for confirmation that they will receive an estimated $38,000 from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), according to County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers.

Rodgers and Kristi Werdenhouse, County Aid Road Trust (CART) program technician, agreed that the 2025-26 contract wasn’t signed because of a miscommuncation in an email. As of June 15, the county is currently waiting for the MDC to sign and return the application.

“I think we’re good to go,” said Patrick Kleffner, western district commissioner.

The western district has five county roads that lead to conservation areas. Because these roads have more traffic, the MDC reimburses the cost of chat as part of its CART program.

The county has had this “long-standing agreement,” according to Vic Stratman, presiding commissioner.

When Rodgers was emailing Werdenhouse about a separate, one-time agreement, she asked about the regular agreement for 2025-26 because she couldn’t find it in the files. She could only find the request to participate.

Werdenhouse said that she mixed up the regular agreement with the one-time agreement but that the MDC could consider extra chat in the 2026-27 agreement. Rodgers said at the June 8 commission meeting that wouldn’t work because the chat has already been laid. The county had also included that reimbursement in the western road district’s budget.

“Missouri don’t like us,” Stratman said.

The commissioners compared this to the situation with the Maries County Emergency Services Board and the Department of Revenue regarding the recently implemented 1-percent sales tax.

The DOR representative told Rodgers that they had lost the paperwork to collect the sales tax by April 1 and that it would start July 1 instead. However, after state Rep. Bennie Cook contacted Trish Vincent, director of revenue, the department admitted fault and started collection in May.

However, Rodney Southard, eastern district commissioner, believes that the MDC will honor the agreement.

“MDC is a really good organization,” he said.

These are the amounts for the 2024-25 reimbursement:

• Belle Chute Access, County Road 512: $3,900

• Clifty Creek Conservation Area, County Road 511: $4,420

• Paydown Access, County Road 302: $20,020

• Rinquelin Trail Lake Conservation Area, County Road 630: $7,540

• Rinquelin Trail Lake Conservation Area, County Road 631: $2,600

• Total: $38,480