June 17, 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 June 10, 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 117209 through 117253. 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 the road department is out working best they can on dry and dusty roads and now that the office answering machine is working, he reports any issues direct to them as soon as he is informed; he also mentioned that there was a minor fender bender involving the lowboy trailer, which was being pulled by a dump truck, hitting another trailer on Crossroads Church road. Commissioner Holland agreed they are doing general maintenance work and he talked with them about some trees that need removing but will involve a utility company.

Commission did receive a job application for file and may consider reaching out since they do still have a vacancy in the brush cutter position. Also received for file was notice from River Cement Co. of their application to DNR for site expansion permit to reclaim land where clay was mined on five acres in Section 12, Township 40N, Range 5W.

After talking with the engineer from McClure Engineering, Commissioner Lairmore was interested in the option of counties trading BRO funds for soft match credit funds, so Clerk Lietzow had looked on MoDOT’s website for paperwork needed, and it is a very simple letter of agreement between the two counties, and submitted to MoDOT for their approval. He explained it is a dollar for dollar trade with no fee charged to either county; in this case, the other county is in need of the additional BRO funds and Gasconade County could use the soft match credit funds to help pay for in kind work on the BRO project on Valentine Ford road. All three Commissioners agreed to pursue the option, so Commissioner Lairmore will reach out to the McClure engineer to start the process. After the extension was signed for the project, that now changes the advertising for bids to Oct. 1, the bid opening to Nov. 1 and the bid award to Dec. 1, 2021.

Clerk Lietzow explained a problem she was presented yesterday from Purple Wave online auction; the buyer who purchased the 2008 dump truck from us, cannot title it because the lien release attached to the title was issued by Harco Leasing Co., but the actual title showed Navistar Leasing as the company who held the lien. It was explained by Purple Wave that there has to be a document issued that ties the two leasing companies together in handling this transaction; Clerk Lietzow started searching, with very limited information available, to find someone who could issue this, whether it was with Navistar or Harco and after an extensive search, found a representative at Navistar who was willing to issue the document, even though it wasn’t their job to work with government contracts. Lastly, Clerk Lietzow said the $45000 reimbursement came in from DNR to complete the federal government VW program the county entered into last year in disposing of one truck and buying another.

Regarding gas and diesel fuel bids opened last week, the road department recommended accepting MFA Oil, Owensville and Commission agreed; bids were as follows:

BID DETAIL FUEL

STRUTTMAN OIL MFA OIL OWENS
No. 1 diesel red
No. 2 diesel red $2.335 $ 2.2426
No. 1 diesel clear
No. 2 diesel clear $2.330 $2.2426
Reg. unleaded $2.158 $2.195

MOTION/VOTE AWARD BID FOR ALL FUEL TO MFA OIL CO. OWENSVILLE

Commissioner Jerry Lairmore made a motion to award bid for all fuel to MFA Oil Co. Owensville. Commissioner Jim Holland seconded the motion. The motion passed by vote:
Jerry Lairmore (Yes),
Jim Holland (Yes),
Larry Miskel (Yes).

ROAD CONCERNS AND COMPLAINTS

Based on the only bid received for all tires, tubes and service being from Jost Tire Co., road department recommended accepting and Commission agreed; bid detail is as follows:

BID DETAIL TRUCK TIRES AND TUBES

JOST TIRE CO.
225/70R19.5 Steer Firestone FS561 $224.02
225/70R19.5 Steer Hankook AH35 $221.79
225/70R19.5 Drive Firestone FS690 $214.55
225/70R19.5 Drive Hankook DH07 $235.80
315/80R22.5 Firestone T819 $395.00
315/80R22.5 Hankook AM09 $393.19
11R22.5 Steer Hankook AH37 $315.85
11R22.5 Drive Firestone FD663 14ply $317.23 16ply $327.31
11R22.5 Drive Hankook DH37 $335.22
235/85R16 Tractn FirestnTransf A/T II $114.62

BID DETAIL GRADER TIRES,TUBES,SRV

17.5R25 Bridgestone VUT $1,262.05
17.5R25 Titan MXL $995.00
17.5R25 Firestone Versabuilt All Purp $1,054.72
17.5R25 Recap Michelin CL3 $1,000
Casing if available $200
Serv Call $2.00 per mile/$85 minimum
Chngs LT $25/Comm $30/Grdr $60

MOTION/VOTE AWARD BID FOR ALL TIRES, TUBES, SERVICE TO JOST TIRE CO.

Commissioner Jerry Lairmore made a motion to award bid for all tires, tubes, service to Jost Tire Co.. Commissioner Jim Holland seconded the motion. The motion passed by vote:
Jerry Lairmore (Yes),
Jim Holland (Yes),
Larry Miskel (Yes).

GENERAL DISCUSSION

When Commission was approving bills for payment, they asked Clerk Lietzow about the multiple invoices this week for IT services from various vendors and whether there couldn’t be a more uniform system in place; Commissioner Holland knew she had looked into how much all offices were spending on those services and also knew some improvements had been made. Clerk Lietzow explained that most offices within the building have contracted with AQM Computer Help in Union for their IT needs, while each office still maintains specialized programming as needed within their own offices. Presiding Commissioner Miskel asked if there would be a benefit to all of those offices being combined into one contract with AQM rather than each individually and Clerk Lietzow couldn’t really answer that; she said currently each office pays based on the number of computers within their office. She also reminded them when Callabyte became the internet provider for the building, many offices lost their email addresses with CenturyLink and changed to Microsoft Outlook; again, AQM set those up for each office. She agreed to look into it and talk with AQM to see if there are any savings available by combining.

Commission was aware that Assessor Paul Schulte had sent reassessment notices throughout the county and asked when Board of Equalization was scheduled; Clerk Lietzow said Monday, July 19 and there is already one appointment scheduled. As the notices explain, if anyone has an issue with the increase, or needs it explained to them, the first telephone call is to the Assessor’s office and then if they do not feel satisfied with the answer received, then they are to call the County Clerk’s office to schedule that appointment; an ad will be in the newspapers explaining this process.

Presiding Commissioner Miskel had seen the order issued by the Missouri Supreme Court and followed through by Circuit Judge Ike Lamke, indicating as of June 15, the phases that were in place during the COVID-19 pandemic are all lifted and normal procedures are back in place for judicial offices; the county offices will follow as agreed by the County Commission.

Commission signed Resolution No. 474 adopting the Gasconade County Flexible Benefits Cafeteria Plan for the year July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022.

Commission received an invoice from Clerk Lietzow for the cost of the Aug. 3 Special election totaling $18,356.11 and due to be paid by July 13; she had also prepared a letter addressed to the E-911 board and Director Lisa Schlottach, asking if they were still considering helping fund the election, now would be the time to write the check. The balance due will then be paid by Commission before the deadline. Clerk Lietzow also mentioned that absentee voting starts next week and she has sample ballots Commission can have to use in their presentations to various groups; both Owensville and Hermann Chambers of Commerce are meeting and ask Commission to be there. Commissioner Lairmore wondered if E-911 board member or director might also want to be there to talk about how they plan to enhance their services. Presiding Commissioner Miskel plans to talk about how much this will support local businesses.

Commission had received a request from a new business in the county hoping to get CARES Act funds; while those remaining funds are considered closed to new applicants, it might be possible that the new ARPA funds could be available. With that, the Commission held the first budget amendment hearing; Clerk Lietzow read from the notice in the newspaper that two new funds are being established. The American Rescue Plan Act, a.k.a. ARPA, is being established after the receipt of $1,428,234 to bolster the response to the COVID-19 emergency and its economic impact; the Gasconade County Cemetery Fund is being established after the initial installment of $5,000 as a gift in trust as per Missouri statutes for maintaining the private Richardson cemetery. Public comments will be taken until the budget adoption hearing is held on July 1, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. Clerk Lietzow’s office and Treasurer Mike Feagan prepared the revenue and expense line items for both budgets and reviewed for Commission. Presiding Commissioner Miskel had a copy of the Technical Assistance contract prepared by MRPC and offered to Gasconade County to help handle the ARPA distribution; Treasurer Feagan had started reviewing and said the main difference with this contract is since the time frame is much longer, through 2026, there is no flat fee upfront for their services, just their hourly rate for the various level of expertise. Everyone is in agreement that is the definite route to go, but will review further; they did a phenomenal job on administering the CARES Act funds and they have also expanded their small staff to better accommodate this service.

Since today will be the last session Commission holds in June, they were prepared to take final action to settle the CARES Act fund and agreed to the disbursements as follows: The payment of $3,300 to Maciejewski Plumbing and Heating Inc. for two new water fountains with bottle filling station (filtered) including installation has already been voted approved; the payment will now be issued and held until project is completed which should be soon. The new air conditioning unit with the extra filtration system built in, installed at the Swiss Satellite office of the Sheriff, will be paid from these funds in the amount of $3,200 to Forrest Oelschlaeger and was voted approved today.

MOTION/VOTE APPROVE CARES ACT FUNDS OF $3200 TO FORREST OELSCHLAEGER FOR AIR CONDITNG UNIT WITH FILTRATION SYSTEM AT SWISS LOCATION

Commissioner Jim Holland made a motion to approve CARES Act funds of $3,200 to Forrest Oelschlaeger for air conditioning unit with filtration system at Swiss location. Commissioner Jerry Lairmore seconded the motion. The motion passed by vote:
Jerry Lairmore (Yes),
Jim Holland (Yes),
Larry Miskel (Yes).

GENERAL DISCUSSION

Presiding Commissioner Miskel reviewed the estimates submitted by Glen Englert Construction for the Courthouse doors project and agreed with Mr. Englert’s recommendation and the two Associate Commissioners, to accept the Big Springs Millwork bid of $41,383.00 for the north, south and east doors; the check will be written and held until the project is complete.

MOTION/VOTE APPROVE CARES ACT FUNDS FOR ENGLERT CONSTRUCTION FOR COURTHOUSE DOORS PROJECT IN THE AMOUNT OF $41,383.00

Commissioner Jerry Lairmore made a motion to approve CARES Act funds for Englert Construction for Courthouse doors project in the amount of $41,383.00. Commissioner Jim Holland seconded the motion. The motion passed by vote:
Jerry Lairmore (Yes),
Jim Holland (Yes),
Larry Miskel (Yes).

GENERAL DISCUSSION

Commission then moved onto the CARES applications that had been submitted to MRPC before the deadline, but had not yet been approved by them. Treasurer Feagan had estimated the final interest earnings so he could give the Commission the exact balance in the fund as of today and it is $63,680.04; after reviewing the list, Commission was in agreement to pay the request of St. Paul United Church of Christ in the amount of $55.99, Bland Fire Protection District in the amount of $6,024.00 and Morrison Volunteer Fire Department in the amount of $5,400. One additional item Commission decided to fund from these CARES Act funds for the Courthouse is due to an urgency in safety precautions; while Commission was aware of the crumbling marble flooring of the front portico, it is significantly getting worse and they want an estimate of repair costs. Commissioner Holland will contact a local firm to look at it and provide an estimate to repair and the remaining CARES Act funds will be used as a down payment for that work to be completed; contact information will be given to Treasurer Feagan for issuing payment on hold.

MOTION/VOTE APPROVE APPLICATIONS FOR CARES ACT FUNDS AS DETAILED ABOVE AND ADD COURTHOUSE FRONT PORTICO

Commissioner Jerry Lairmore made a motion to approve applications for CARES Act funds as detailed above and add Courthouse front portico. Commissioner Jim Holland seconded the motion. The motion passed by vote:
Jerry Lairmore (Yes),
Jim Holland (Yes),
Larry Miskel (Yes).

ADJOURN

Commissioner Jim Holland made a motion to adjourn commission until July 1, 2021. Commissioner Jerry Lairmore seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned.