The chief executive of Gasconade County government would like to see more miles put on Sheriff’s Department vehicles before they are replaced with newer models.

That was the message Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, had for the county’s law enforcement agency at Thursday’s County Commission session held in Owensville City Hall. County administrators were meeting with Chief Deputy Roger Armstrong as part of the annual budget process.

Schulte also stressed his desire to no longer lease vehicles, preferring the agency to purchase outright its vehicles.

“I’m done with the leasing of vehicles,” Schulte said, adding that dealing “with these vehicles wears me down.”

Armstrong explained that the department’s vehicles — there are 16 in the agency’s fleet — typically are rotated out of service when they reach about 120,000 miles. Schulte said he would like to see more miles logged before newer models are obtained.

“My trucks are just getting broken in” at that mileage, he said.

Attending the meeting in place of Sheriff Scott Eiler, Armstrong reminded the Commission that department vehicles are driven hard, often having to respond to calls from one end of the county to the other. He also mentioned that the Missouri State Highway Patrol routinely replaces vehicles when they reach 60,000 miles.

“They’ve got more money than we do,” Schulte replied.

Southern District Associate Commissioner Ron Hardecke agreed that owning the vehicles would be preferable to having a lease arrangement.

“I think we need to go to purchasing them instead of leasing them,” he said.

The Sheriff’s Department, bolstered by most  of the revenue generated by the county’s half-cent sales tax for law enforcement, receives a significant amount of General Revenue dollars. Last year, the agency was appropriated $782,000 and this year is tentatively slated to receive $846,000 in General Revenue money. That increase includes a 5-percent pay raise for department employees.

In other matters during last week’s session, Emergency Management Director Clyde Zelch told the Commission that a gathering of all four counties in the radiation zone of the Callaway Energy Center power plant, along with nuclear plant personnel, is set for Monday, March 9, at the Gasconade County courthouse. This will not be a drill, he explained; rather, it is a regular gathering of all counties and power plant personnel called for by federal nuclear regulators to discuss any items of concern.

“It’s hard to say what each county might be talking about,” Zelch said. There will be an exercise later that involves  a simulated attack on the nuclear facility and each county’s response to it, he said. That exercise has yet to be scheduled.

County Assessor Julia Baker reported that she had emailed State Sen. Ben Brown regarding possible legislation related to the state helping cover the cost of unfunded mandates sent down to counties — such as the costs expected associated with putting in place the provisions of Senate Bill 3, the property tax-relief law adopted in last year’s session of the Missouri General Assembly. That is, if Senate Bill 3 is approved by voters in April and survives the legal challenge now before the courts.

The issue of unfunded mandates was raised recently when Brown met with the County Commission and other county officials to discuss the controversial law. Brown, who questioned the legality of the legislation when it was presented, voted against the proposal. At that meeting he agreed state government should help pay at least a portion of the cost to counties of putting in place programs approved by state government. He said he would be willing to consider potential legislative language that would do that.

Baker has taken the lead for Gasconade County government in monitoring the effects of Senate Bill 3 on local governments.