April 22, 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 April 15, 2021. Commissioner Jim Holland seconded the motion. The motion passed by vote:
Jerry Lairmore (Yes),
Jim Holland (Yes),
Larry Miskel (Yes).

WARRANTS FOR PAYMENT

Commissioner Jerry Lairmore made a motion to approve the following items: warrants for payment 117042 through 117059. 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 said road department has been taking care of any issues he has reported; he also mentioned  that the going away event for two department employees has been set for next Friday, April 30, with time yet to be  determined. He said new ISM Rhonda Stoker seems to be fitting in fine learning more every day. With the  vacancy for truck driver, he will find out yet today if any current department employees are interested in switching positions and then Commission will be able to advertise publicly to fill that new vacancy.

Commissioner Holland reported the couple road issues he had have been taken care of; he also explained the county's policy regarding chip and seal to some who ask about it. Presiding Commissioner Miskel announced that MoDOT is asking for an extension in timeline for the BRO project; after he talked with Rob Conaway, Archer Elgin, it was explained that the document extending time will be for the bidding process only and will be prepared by MoDOT for their signature, noting it will not extend the project com pletion date. Commission also received an invoice from Archer Elgin for the BRO project.

DELINQUENCY IN PAYMENT OF LOCAL SALES TAX

Commission received from the Missouri Department of Revenue notification of sales tax license revocation due to non-payment of sales tax for KT's Last Call Bar LLC, 100 S. Lyford Rd., Bland, MO, and The Tin Rabbit LTD, 1500 Old Iron road, Hermann, MO.

GENERAL DISCUSSION

Commissioner Holland said he talked with the GIS company that Assessor Paul Schulte has contracted with for the online mapping service and told them how useless it is and for the $1,500 paid quarterly to them, it should be working and the company admitted he was correct.

Correspondence received included an invitation to retirement event for Mark Wallace, Hermann City Administrator, Friday, April 30; also notice from Community Foundation of Ozarks of balance in the fund; notice from U.S. Senator Roy Blunt of Congress' efforts to encourage U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to utilize the resources provided to reduce the flood risk along the lower Missouri river. Commission was also notified by EMD Clyde Zelch of the Route Alerting Procedure he has updated as it relates to the City of Morrison  when all other electronic means have failed, particularly regarding the Callaway Nuclear Power Plant.

Commissioner Holland said he had a meeting at 10 this morning with a contractor to look at the floor of the front porch here at the Courthouse where the marble is crumbling; Presiding Commissioner Miskel also had an estimate in front of him from Glen Englert and one subcontractor, regarding the cost of the new exterior Courthouse doors to be made, one with automatic opener feature. While he wasn't surprised with the estimate, it will obviously trigger bids to be solicited, so they asked Clerk Lietzow to get more details on the actual work to be done so an ad can be prepared. Clerk Lietzow had made a rough draft of specs for the interior painting to be done in the main floor hallway and stairways and asked Commission for details, i.e.: when the work could be done, when to advertise and when to open bids; they want to move forward starting now with both of these projects, hopefully opening bids May 20.

Commission will use CARES Act funds to pay for the doors project and Commissioner Lairmore said he asked Maciejewski's when the new water fountains would be in and ready for install and they are on backorder.  Everyone acknowledged it will likely be late May or early June before the final expenses from that fund are known and June 30 is the date for return of any unused funds. At the MAC Legislative conference on Monday, Clerk Lietzow said the details on the future funds arriving, referred to as ARPA, the American Rescue Plan, are very vague at this time, except the deposit into Treasurer's fund will be the week of May 10, directly from the federal government, not passed through the state of Missouri. Half will arrive this May and the other half next May with the end of 2024 when all expenses paid. Clerk Lietzow ask Presiding Commissioner Miskel if MRPC has discussed handling these funds for the county in the same manner they did the CARES Act funds and he said they are interested in doing so, and have hired another helper for Kelly Sink who carried most
of the load with CARES, and this timeframe will be much longer.

Presiding Commissioner Miskel reported on his attendance also on Monday, when Governor Mike Parson spoke about the good news regarding COVID 19 in Missouri being the lowest positivity rate; other statistics he gave were Missouri is second for apprentice programs and 11th for site selection for companies coming to the state to start business. He also touched on legislation making it's way through both the House and Senate likely to make it to his desk for signing; the fuel tax increase will follow the South Carolina model allowing for reimbursement request; assessment fund reimbursement to counties will raise to $3.15 per parcel. Presiding Commissioner Miskel went to the Capitol and visited with Sen. Mike Bernskoetter's aide about supporting the Wayfair legislation and returning the Missouri River Runner to two trips daily between Kansas City and St. Louis, because currently making a day trip via train to Hermann isn't an option. He left the same message in Representative Aaron Griesheimer's office and actually spoke to Representative Bruce Sassmann. Other legislative issues making their way through both houses regard moving April elections to November ballot; Clerk Lietzow said their organization was not in favor because there can be up to 20 ballot types throughout the county in April and then to mix that with the political ballot of November does not make sense. The intent by the legislature was to get more people to vote on taxing issues for schools, cities, etc. There are also more than one broadband grant funding bills being discussed. He talked with Webster County officials who said their usetax was $20,000 higher in the first quarter of 2021 than Presiding Commissioner Miskel said he has a MOCA meeting this evening via ZOOM, and Commissioner Lairmore said he had GVEZ meeting this afternoon, but it is in person. Commissioner Holland said he has accepted reappointment to MRDC board. He also said that the Coroner's cooler at Swiss location has been fixed and the inside and outside lights installed and the road department completed the asphalt work around the building where they had fixed the drainage issue.
Sheriff Scott Eiler had been in the meeting awaiting closed session with legal counsel Ivan Schraeder
via telephone discussing legal action.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

Commissioner Jerry Lairmore made a motion to go into Executive Session to discuss with legal counsel Ivan Schraeder via telephone regarding Newton vs Gasconade County. Commissioner Jim Holland seconded the motion. The motion passed by vote:
Jerry Lairmore (Yes),
Jim Holland (Yes),
Larry Miskel (Yes).

RECONVENE

Commissioner Jim Holland made a motion to close Executive Session and reconvene as the Gasconade
County Commission. Commissioner Jerry Lairmore seconded the motion. The motion passed by vote:
Jerry Lairmore (Yes),
Jim Holland (Yes),
Larry Miskel (Yes).
No motions were made or votes taken on any matter.

ADJOURN

Commissioner Jim Holland made a motion to adjourn commission until April 29, 2021. Commissioner
Jerry Lairmore seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned.