April 8, 2021

The Gasconade County Commission met with Presiding Commissioner Larry Miskel at the Courthouse beginning with Pledge of Allegiance. Attendance: Commissioner Jerry Lairmore, Present; Commissioner Jim Holland, Present; Presiding Commissioner Larry Miskel, Present.

PRIOR MINUTES
Commissioner Jerry Lairmore made a motion to approve prior commission minutes dated 4/1/2021 8:30 AM. Commissioner Jim Holland seconded the motion. The motion passed by vote: Jerry Lairmore (Yes), Jim Holland (Yes), Larry Miskel (Yes).

WARRANTS FOR PAYMENT ‑ 116884 through 116942
Commissioner Jerry Lairmore made a motion to approve the following items:
WARRANTS FOR PAYMENT 116884 through 116942
Commissioner Jim Holland seconded the motion. The motion passed by vote: Jerry Lairmore (Yes), Jim Holland (Yes), Larry Miskel (Yes).

ROAD CONCERNS AND COMPLAINTS
Commissioner Lairmore reported that newly hired ISM, Rhonda Stoker, spent a few hours this week with Debbie Thomas before her official start date of April 12, and it was going very well; the dept. was out working on roads after last nights' rain. He reported that they are also ready to sell a couple items on Purple Wave online auction; Clerk Lietzow said the repr. stopped in yesterday after Ms. Thomas had called to say the same, and he picked up the title to the 2008 Int'l. dump truck and they are also selling the dump bed from the dismantled truck. The auction opened yesterday and will last through May 11. Commissioner Holland has been going out with Supervisor Wayne Kottwitz to look at some issues and they have been doing some clearing along Catholic Church road.

Commission received 2 notices of mining permit expansion applications to MoDNR for River Cement Co.; one site is located in Sec. 31, Twp. 43N, R4W and the other is in Sec. 31, T41N, R4W.

Steve Horstman, Fabick CAT and Dan Jones, Erb Eqpt. Co. were both present for the opening of bids for the purchase of a new road grader; their companies were given the option of bidding with the guaranteed minimum repurchase in 5 years or the lease option. Fabick only bid the lease option, but Erb bid both ways; bids will be copied for road dept. review and recommendation for acceptance at next week's session.

Road dept. had prepared specifications for Commission approval for purchase of p‑gravel, liquid asphalt, white rock and culvert pipe; Clerk Lietzow will prepare ad and send specs to vendors.

After reviewing the 3 bids received last week for cutting edges, the road dept. recommendation was to accept Fabick CAT and Commission agreed:
BID DETAIL ‑ CUTTING EDGES
COMPANYSIZEPRICE
Erb Eqpt. Co.3/4"x8"x7'$105.22
5/8"x8"x7'$87.42
Fabick CAT3/4"x8"x7'$84.62
5/8"x8"x7'$72.26
Wear Parts & Equipment Co.3/4"x8"x7'$104.19
5/8"x8"x7'$85.69

MOTION/VOTE ‑ AWARD CUTTING EDGE BID TO FABICK CAT
Commissioner Jerry Lairmore made a motion to award cutting edge bid to Fabick CAT. Commissioner Jim Holland seconded the motion. The motion passed by vote: Jerry Lairmore (Yes), Jim Holland (Yes), Larry Miskel (Yes).

ROAD CONCERNS AND COMPLAINTS
After reviewing bids received last week for cold mix, road dept. recommended accepting all 3 bids and they will use the company with product available at time of need with cheapest price and closest to project needed and Commission agreed:

BID DETAIL ‑ COLD MIX
COMPANYTYPEPRICE
Christensen Bros. Asph.EZ Street$125.00 per ton
Capital MaterialsMC250$70.00 per ton
Fred Weber Inc.EZ Street High Perform$109.50 per ton


MOTION/VOTE ‑ AWARD COLD MIX BID TO ALL 3 COMPANIES AS SPECIFIED
Commissioner Jerry Lairmore made a motion to award cold mix bid to all 3 companies as specified. Commissioner Jim Holland seconded the motion. The motion passed by vote: Jerry Lairmore (Yes), Jim Holland (Yes), Larry Miskel (Yes).

GENERAL DISCUSSION
Commissioner Holland reported that the Coroner's cooler at the Swiss location was not working this week when it was to be used; it will be fixed and the lights that need to be installed both inside and outside will also be done this week. He spoke to the road dept. about pouring the concrete along the side of the building where it is now rock, and they will get that done within a couple weeks.

Clerk Lietzow had given Presiding Commissioner Miskel a copy of the first timesheet submitted by the Deputy Coroner with her notes of changes she felt needed to be made; he was in agreement and instructed her to make notification to Coroner Jeff Arnold for those corrections to be made.

Commissioners' all were attending meetings, but Presiding Commissioner Miskel would be attending the MRPC meeting actually in person for the first time since COVID‑19 restrictions were implemented; he said some would be attending via ZOOM, which is the method Commissioner Holland will use attending MRDC and Commissioner Lairmore will use for attending TAC. Regarding next week's meeting with E911 board, Presiding Commissioner Miskel will not be able to attend, but both Associates' will be attending as will Clerk Lietzow and Treasurer Mike Feagan; the featured speaker will be someone from MO Dept. of Revenue focusing on the usetax. Director Lisa Schlottach has also invited members of the City Councils if they wanted to attend.

Treasurer Feagan presented and reviewed for Commission his monthly account balances and updated them with the most recent sales tax received; while it was down from years' past, the county is still ahead by over $11000 at this point of the year. Presiding Commissioner Miskel ask what his policy was for outstanding checks and how long they were allowed to remain; Treasurer Feagan said for the checks he writes to the tax supported agencies, it can be lengthy, but for the bills paid by the county, he works with Clerk's office in monitoring after 90 days. He wanted to mention for the Commission consideration, that before the next round of CARES funding arrives, it would be nice if we could have the remaining balance from last year spent. The contractor will be called again for the estimate on the doors for the Courthouse, and then they will know how much funding will remain to be disbursed to other entities or businesses.

Presiding Commissioner Miskel reported on the numbers released regarding COVID‑19 vaccinations and Gasconade County has 28% of the county population vaccinated and he wanted to credit the County Health Dept. and Hermann Hospital for their efforts to make that happen; Greg Lara, health dept. director, said they are reaching out to residents of other counties, and fear they may have to return some vaccine unused.

John McCarty, Arch Corp., wanted to offer an RFQ for his firm when it was time for the county to bid insurance benefits for employees; Commission deferred to Clerk Lietzow, who serves as a member of the Health Care Team, to explain their processes and timeframe. She said today the Chair of the team will be making the request for Commission consideration for the new plan year that begins July 1. He mentioned that his brokerage firm specializes in counties and cities, but offers a more in depth perspective by getting to the dollars and cents of a level funded versus fully funded plans and not just accepting renewals as presented. Commissioner Lairmore said the appointment of the team years' ago has proven to be a wise decision by the Commission because it gives each dept. of the county a say in the type of benefits they receive each year and has worked out well for both the county and the employees. Joann Bickmeyer, Health Care Team chairperson arrived about that time to make her presentation to the Commission so Mr. McCarty said he will reach out to Clerk Lietzow next year.

She provided information to the Commission and detailed for them; Kaitlyn Brehe, MMA broker repr., worked hard for the team and the county to be sure to get the most benefit out of county funds. The paper health applications everyone completed a few weeks ago, yielded an unacceptable premium quote from UHC and Anthem ranging from 28% to 30% higher than the renewal offered by MPR for Cigna. The renewal was 2% increase for the copay plan and 1% increase for the HSA plans, mainly because of there not being much usage during the previous year due to COVID‑19 preventing many procedures and testing from being done. She said it's obvious being in the pool with other like groups has proven to be very financially beneficial for our group. The team recommendation is to keep the 3 plans currently offered through MPR, ie: HSA plan with $2500 deductible, HSA plan with $5000 deductible and open access copay plan with $2500 deductible. Also recommended by the team was to stay with MPR for the VSP vision coverage, which originally renewed for $8.00 per employee but after receiving a lesser quote from Delta vision, the renewal was lowered to $7.00 and the team agreed to stay, thanks to Ms. Brehe working on the county behalf. The recommendation by the team for dental insurance was to leave Guardian, who gave a 15% increase, and move to Delta dental for a premium of $25.82 which was even less than paid in 2020. Chair Bickmeyer thanked all the team members for getting together when needed and participating in good discussion about all the options that were presented. She went on to say that the team was not asking for an increase from the $600 county contribution at this time, but did ask them to consider in January, at budget time to raise the county contribution to $650, because it is expected that the July 2022 renewal will be higher than the 1 or 2% this year. Commission ask if the $600 will cover the premiums if all 3 benefits are chosen and while it will for one of the plans, it will fall short for the other; the copay plan being so much higher premium, will always cost the employee; Commissioner Lairmore ask what it would take to cover the cost of at least 2 of the plans and Chair Bickmeyer said it was $610. Presiding Commissioner Miskel ask if the budget could handle this minor increase, particularly General Revenue fund, for the last 6 months of the year, and after Deputy Clerk Lynn Kurrelmeyer made some calculations, it was determined to be manageable, so Commissioner Lairmore made that motion with Commissioner Holland not able to support an increase until new budget year.

MOTION/VOTE ‑ ACCEPT HEALTH CARE TEAM RECOMMENDATION TO STAY WITH MPR FOR HEALTH/VISION BUT CHANGE TO DELTA FOR DENTAL AND RAISE COUNTY CONTRIBUTION TO $610 PER MONTH PER EMPLOYEE AS OF JULY 1 PREMIUM
Commissioner Jerry Lairmore made a motion to accept Health Care Team recommendation to stay with MPR for health/vision but change to Delta for dental and raise county contribution to $610 per month per employee as of July 1 premium. Presiding Commissioner Larry Miskel seconded the motion. The motion passed by vote: Jerry Lairmore (Yes), Jim Holland (No), Larry Miskel (Yes).

ABATEMENTS AND ADDITIONS
Commission received for file additions #8962 through #8990 and abatements #2178 through #2180.

REPORT OF FEES
Commission reviews report of fees for March 2021, from Pamela R. Greunke, Circuit Clerk and Recorder of Deeds for Divisions 1, 2 and 4 in the following amounts:
Recording‑$7747.40 Dom Viol‑$30.00 CERF‑$2436.00 Rec Records Reten‑$1880.36 Record Techn‑$427.50 Clerk fees‑$570.69 County fees‑$719.86 Incarc/medcl costs‑$1915.00 LETF‑$72.00 PATF‑$88.80 Fines‑$4275.00 Sheriff's fees/mileage‑$455.60 Overpayment‑$0 Misc county fees‑$57.50 Dep. Sher. Sal. Suppl.‑$0 Inmate Security Fund‑$136.50 LETMunicipal‑$64.00 Municipal Fines‑$3243.50

REPORT OF FEES
Commission received for file the annual settlement from Shawn Schlottach, Collector for the year of March 1, 2020 through February 28, 2021 in the amount of $16,480,749.27.

Commission reviewed monthly report of fees collected from Shawn Schlottach, Collector for the month of March 2021 in the amount of $234999.77.

GENERAL DISCUSSION
Before adjourning, Presiding Commissioner Miskel said he had received the annual report from Turning Point shelter as required from any agency receiving funding through the Victims of Domestic Violence Fund; he also had looked at the information Clerk Lietzow had provided for 2 different style picnic tables for the Courthouse front yard and thought the molded polyethylene model was better than the all‑wood version.

The last comment he wanted to make today was not something he normally comments on but felt necessary regarding derogatory posts on Facebook made by a City of Hermann alderman in reference to the George Floyd trial He considers the comments egregious and is very disappointed that city officials have not yet commented and urges them to do so. While the post was removed, the issue is not going away, and has since been made worse by letters sent to some women in the City of Hermann. He said this is not who we are in the City of Hermann or in Gasconade County and considers both to be supportive of diversity and the cost could be tremendous.

ADJOURN
Commissioner Jerry Lairmore made a motion to adjourn commission until 4/15/2021. Commissioner Jim Holland seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned.