HERMANN — With long-awaited cost estimate numbers in hand, the Gasconade County Commission last week moved a step closer to decisions regarding an elevator at the courthouse and allocating American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars requested by nearly two dozen applicants.

The county’s consulting engineering firm, Archer-Elgin of Rolla, submitted preliminary plans and options for construction projects proposed by the Commission, including an elevator at the courthouse and three storage facilities on county property. Cameron Schweiss of Archer-Elgin met with the Commission Thursday morning and presented his work on the projects. Each project came with options and those options carried their own cost estimates. The actual cost of the project won’t be known until bids are received, but some of the preliminary engineering work had a cost estimate of upwards of $1 million.

How much the Commission will need for the proposed elevator and storage buildings — two at the Road Department in Drake and one at the Sheriff’s Department Substation in Swiss — will determine how much of the $2.3-million ARPA funds remaining in the bank will be available to allocate to about 16 or 18 applicants whose requests have been awaiting consideration for about a year. Depending on the price tags that come in with the bids, based on which options are chosen, for the construction projects, there could be relatively little of the $2.3 million left to divide among the government agencies, non-profit organizations and businesses seeking a portion of the ARPA money.

The Commission will have the final say on which applicants receive how much of the funds they are requesting.

“They are not going to drag their feet on that now,” said County Clerk Lesa Lietzow, regarding the commissioners’ action on the ARPA requests.

Meanwhile, the Commission is taking part with county administrators in Osage and Maries counties in discussions regarding a possible regional jail. Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, and Sheriff Scott Eiler joined officials from the other two counties in a meeting last week with Meramec Regional Planning Commission staffers. Schulte said the talks are only in the preliminary stage.

“They were just kicking the tires on a regional jail, probably down in Maries County,” he said during Thursday morning’s weekly session. “It was a good rountable” discussion, he said, adding, “we told them we needed a lot more information” before committing Gasconade County to such a project.

Lietzow reported that she continues to seek information regarding a proposal by the Lake Area Narcotics Enforcement Group (LANEG) to move the administering of its funding from Camden County to the Gasconade County Clerk’s Office. The reason for the move is that Gasconade County is the only county within LANEG’s service area that has both retirement programs for county employees — Local Government Employees Retirement System (LAGERS) and County Employees Retirement Fund (CERF).

Lietzow explained there is concern among LANEG officials that Camden County, a first-class county, might opt not to continue providing administration services for the employees of the regional drug task force, who want to keep receiving the same level of services they have received thus far through Camden County. Lietzow explained that she understands why LANEG would want to move financial operations to Gasconade County, but told the Commission such a shift would be “monumental” for her small staff.

On another financial front, County Treasurer Mike Feagan reported the county has received $64,000 in the first three months of the year in motor fuel tax revenue — $17,000-plus more than received in the same period last year.

Also regarding sales taxes, county and municipal officials now know why the half-cent sales tax for law enforcement produces less revenue than the half-cent sales tax for the General Fund account. The law enforcement sales tax, which is shared with five of the six municipalities in the county, does not apply to domestic utility sales, as does the county’s General Fund sales tax. Because of that, the law enforcement sales tax will produce slightly less revenue each month than does the regular half-cent sales tax.

The cities share 25 percent of the money raised by the law enforcement sales tax.