HERMANN – Gasconade County government’s top official Thursday morning voiced concern about allocating tax dollars to help fund security at next year’s Gasconade County Fair.

The position taken by Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, runs counter to the support voiced by Associate Commissioners Jim Holland of Hermann and Ron Hardecke of Owensville. Hardecke said the proposal from Owensville City Marshal Scott Griffith that estimates the cost of security at $22,324, is “a little bit more than this year.”

The three-way split for funding security at this year’s Gasconade County Fair amounted to about $6,800 each from the county, the Owensville Police Department and the Gasconade County Fair itself. The three-way split of next year’s estimated cost would be about $7,400 each.

Hardecke reported that he met with the Fair Board the previous week and “everybody seemed to be pleased” with the security provided at this year’s fair.

Schulte told the Gasconade County Republican after the Oct. 8 session that his overriding concern is that county tax money is being allocated to what he called “a private entity,” referring to the Fair Board. During the County Commission’s discussion of the proposal, the presiding commissioner said he would like to see the sheriff’s office more involved in providing security, especially considering that county tax dollars would be used.

County tax dollars should be used to benefit all county residents, he said.

“Not everybody in the county goes to the Fair,” he said. “Why are we giving to a private entity instead of our taxpayers?”

Schulte noted that he agreed last year to a one-year deal for using county funds. He said he wasn’t ready yet to commit county tax dollars for another year.

Hardecke called the slight increase in projected cost “small help” that the county could give.

Still, Schulte renewed his concern that Sheriff Scott Eiler’s department should play a larger role in providing security.

“Instead of just cutting a blank check, can he (Eiler) contribute his help to them,” he asked.

After several years of the sheriff’s office being in charge of fair security – which meant recruiting enough outside law enforcement personnel to bolster his roster of deputies – it was decided that the Owensville Police Department be in charge of fair security. Traditionally, the city police agency had been responsible for security outside the gates of the fairgrounds while the sheriff’s office maintained security inside the fences.

After the commission’s session, Eiler noted that when the decision was made to have the Owensville Police Department manage security, he and his deputies became just like any other law enforcement personnel recruited to work during the four-day event.

As for his personal involvement in the security detail, Eiler said, “There can be only one boss.”

The sheriff was referring to the city marshal as being the top cop of the security detail.

In other matters, County Clerk Lesa Lietzow advised the commission that a new version of priority transportation projects will be crafted during the Oct. 22 session. Staffers of Meramec Regional Planning Commission, Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Regional Engineer Preston Kramer and representatives of Owensville, Hermann and possibly other municipalities in the county are scheduled to meet after the Oct. 22 session to craft the 2026 version of the county’s list of top transportation-related improvements.

The current list has a dual project as the number one item - the raising of Highway 100 at the eastern edge of town and at the intersection of 100 and Highway 19 to take it out of the floodplain and avoid closures during periods of high water.

The local priority list – along with the lists cobbled in the other seven Meramec Region counties – is considered by the planning agency’s Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) later this fall. Members of the TAC recommend a regional list to the MRPC Board of Directors, which, in turn, forwards a list of projects to MoDOT for consideration when putting together the statewide 5-Year State Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP).

A final list of priority projects is approved and announced after the first of the year by the Missouri Highways & Transportation Commission.