BY Buck Collier

special correspondent

HERMANN — With a major petroleum pipeline planned to be buried across Gasconade County, the County Commission will be updating its roadway agreement that calls for utilities to repair any damage done to county highways during the work of burying lines.

County administrators hope to have the updated document ready in time for their Jan. 19 meeting with Gus Wagner of Phillips 66, which will be going through Gasconade County with a pipeline. The roadway agreement is expected to include a specific minimum depth of 30 inches for utility lines. That would mirror the Missouri Department of Transportation’s depth requirement for lines placed within state highway right-of-way.

Northern District Associate Commissioner Jim Holland, R-Hermann, has been in contact with Phillips 66 about the project.

“They’re ready to go, so we need to go ahead and do that,” he said, referring to a review of the roadway agreement and making necessary changes, such as the minimum-depth provision.

Also likely to be included in a revised document is specificity regarding responsibility for making repairs to a roadway — the utility company that owns the line, its general contractor or any subcontractors who do the work. Southern District Associate Commissioner Jerry Lairmore, R-Owensville, said while he would like to see all parties involved sign the agreement, it’s most important that the utility company be the primary signer.

“I think it should be with the one who owns that line,” he said.

The importance of having roadway agreements was illustrated earlier in Thursday’s County Commission session when it was announced that the county had received a reimbursement check for $1,429 from a contractor who did work for Ameren Missouri on Woollam Road several months ago. The check was for the value of the work done by county Road Department workers to repair damage to Woollam Road.

With Lairmore acting as presiding commissioner during the panel’s final session of 2022 (then-Presiding Commissioner Larry Miskel, R-Hermann, started his winter relocation to Florida the day after Christmas), noted that he and Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, would be meeting with Road Department personnel tomorrow for their monthly session and to discuss the department’s budget request for this year. Shortly after the meeting with Road Department personnel, Schulte will be attending his first session in Owensville as the new top county government administrator, along with Lairmore.

Holland will not attend those meetings; he is scheduled to be out of town.

All the commissioners are scheduled to attend a budget session Monday morning at the courthouse to begin reviewing funding requests from the various county government departments. All departments are to have their budget requests submitted to the County Clerk’s Office by the end of this week.

County Clerk Lesa Lietzow is the county’s chief budget officer. Her office will be presenting a proposed budget to the Commission for consideration. The Commission will fine-tune the spending blueprint throughout this month with final approval expected at the end of the month.

Regarding the budget, the final request for county funds from an outside agency was received Thursday. The Gasconade County Soil and Water Conservation District is asking for $6,000 this year, twice as much as requested in 2022.