HERMANN — Faced with an operating budget offering little wiggle room for new equipment, Gasconade County Interim Sheriff Scott Eiler is hoping to use CARES Act money to replace aging laptop computers in patrol cars.

Estimated to cost about $103,000, the dozen laptops would be comprised of anti-microbial material aimed at preventing against the spread of germs and ostensibly the coronavirus. Whether such use of CARES Act money will be deemed legitimate is unclear. County government officials will forward Eiler’s request to the Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC), which is administering the county’s $1.725-million share of the CARES Act money approved earlier this year by Congress. MRPC staff researches request for CARES Act money to determine whether a proposed use is legitimate.

The money was provided to counties to allocate to local government agencies as reimbursement of costs incurred in combating the coronavirus. It appears this is a request for an up-front amount to purchase equipment that might be linked, because of its material, to fighting the virus.

County Clerk Lesa Lietzow noted during last week’s session of the County Commission that there is no question the laptops now in the patrol cars are outdated. “Several of these are trash now and due for replacement,” she said, adding that Eiler recognizes the county’s General Revenue Fund is not healthy enough to support such a large expenditure.

Presiding Commissioner Larry Miskel, R-Hermann, agreed that the proposal should be referred to MRPC for review. “Have them look at it, see what it entails and we’ll go from there,” he said. “This will probably be our only opportunity” to replace the inventory of the in-car computers.

Other pieces of equipment would come with the laptops, including units that would be housed in the Sheriff’s Department.

Regarding the law enforcement arm of the county and the CARES Act funding, county administrators are casting a skeptical glance at presumptive Coroner-elect Jeff Arnold's proposal to seek CARES Act money for a new vehicle and construction of a stand-alone cooling unit on the grounds of the Sherif’s Department at Swiss.

Miskel expressed doubt that such a request for the money would be deemed legitimate by MRPC and Southern District Associate Commissioner Jerry Lairmore, R-Owensville, questioned the potential cost of building a cooling unit separate from the Sheriff’s Department building. “It will be pretty expensive to build a free-standing” cooler, Lairmore said.

The Commission wants the coroner’s office and a cooling unit to house bodies made a part of the main building at the site. Interim Sheriff Scott Eiler is somewhat hesitant about having the cooler as part of the main building, officials said, pointing out his concern about ventilation.

But administrators remained committed to having the cooling unit as part of the main structure. “It need to go in the building,” Miskel said.

Lairmore agreed.

“I think we need to look at that building,” he said.

Lietzow reminded the Commission that time is short on any remodeling that might be needed to get the building ready for the incoming coroner. “Don’t forget,” she said, “the year is racing by.”

Arnold’s term begins Jan. 1. At midnight Dec. 31, the term of retiring Coroner Ben Grosse ends.