HERMANN — Gasconade County administrators Thursday morning heaped praise on Road Department crews for their quick response in clearing county roads after the recent snow dumped by Winter Storm Fern. That praise was also sounded by residents throughout the county, who saw gravel roads that were cleaner than they had been in years after a significant snowfall.

“I want to commend you guys,” said Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, to Dennis Godi and Todd Troyer, co-supervisors of the Road Department who were attending last week’s session of the County Commission. “You did a wonderful job,” Schulte added.

The co-directors gave all the credit to the personnel of the Road Department.

“It helps when you have good help,” said Troyer. “We’ve got a really good group of guys who take pride in what they do.”

Schulte asked the status of the count’s winter road materials, such as salt and cinders. “Did we make a dent in it?” he asked

“On the salt,” Godi replied, noting that crews didn’t place cinders on the roads, a decision that “saved a lot of time and money.”

Because of the bitter cold, there was essentially no melting which means no ice to deal with. Grader operators were able to scrape the snow down to the gravel surface, which provided motorists with traction without the need for cinders.

In other matters Consulting Engineer Paul Winkelmann of Howe Company presented the Commission with the necessary documents to be signed clearing the way for the upgrade of three roads on the southern end of the county. The work will be financed with a Community Development Bloc Grant of about $500,000 and will include an upgrade to Old Highway 19, City Cemetery Road and Tappmeyer Road.

The project had been stalled briefly while county officials awaited a response from the grant program administrators regarding the two bids received to do the work. The program prefers at least three bids to be considered, but only two of the six contractors contacted by Howe Company offered a bid. Considering the difficulty with obtaining bids for such projects, grant program officials gave the go-ahead with only two bids in hand.

“We got approval to awards the project,” said Winkelmann.

Capital Paving out of Jefferson City was the winning bidder. The work is projected to be completed by July 15.

A split County Commission approved an updated handbook for county government employees. Northern District Associate Commissioner Jim Holland, R-Hermann, dissented after disagreeing that county offices would follow suit with state offices regarding bad-weather closings. Until this point, closings of county offices were up to the Commission and the officeholders while state offices, such as the Circuit Clerk’s Office and Circuit Court Division 4 Office are subject to decisions made in Jefferson City or by 20th Circuit Presiding Judge Craig E. Hellmann.

Schulte said he prefers to align the county’s bad-weather closing policy with that of the state offices to avoid confusion by the public on whether the courthouse is open or closed during bad weather.

Holland disagreed. “I prefer to take care of our own employees and let the state take care of theirs,” he said.

Southern District Associate Commissioner Ron Hardecke, R-Owensville, agreed with Schulte and the revised handbook was adopted on a 2-1 vote. Schulte pointed out that the policy change only applies to bad-weather closings, not to the state’s schedule of holiday closings, which is slightly different from that of county government.