HERMANN — It appears Gasconade County Sheriff Scott Eiler is using the you-won’t-know-until-you-ask strategy regarding CARES Act money — seeking the coronavirus-relief money for a variety of expenses. And while he was able to connect such things as new car radios and computers to the coronavirus pandemic and worthy of funding, he fell short on others.

New carpeting for the Sheriff’s Department substation at Swiss doesn’t pass muster with the County Commission regarding CARES Act money.

Eiler did win the Commission’s approval for using $3,857 for a new metal detector at the main entrance of the courthouse. This detector can be equipped to scan a person’s temperature as they pass through, county officials said. The detector now in use is several years old.

The new detector was one of several suggestions from the various county government departments on how to use part of the final $67,000 remaining from the county’s $1.725-million CARES Act allocation from 2020 aimed at coronavirus-related expenses. Much of that money went to businesses and non-profit organizations that lost revenue from shutdowns and canceled events during 2020 because of the pandemic. The Commission has yet to decide how to disperse the final dollars. A dozen or more applications for a share of the money were pending when the initial use-it-or-lose-it deadline of Dec. 30 arrived.

However, Gov. Mike Parson has granted counties with remaining CARES Act funds until June 1 to distribute the money or return it to the federal treasury.

County administrators have settled on two courthouse projects to be funded with CARES Act dollars: New drinking fountains — operated by a knee rather than a hand — and new doors.

Other ideas generated by a survey of the departments will be funded through difference sources. For instance, painting on both the interior and exterior of the courthouse will be financed out of the Courthouse Restoration Fund, which was established a couple years ago primarily to help pay for a new roof on the building. A new security system could be paid for through the Buildings & Grounds Fund.

The Commission still is awaiting guidance on how to use the latest stimulus money received from the federal government. This round of federal money includes even more than the batch received last year — $2.85 million. Also, this round of funding to local governments includes money going specifically to municipalities, such as more than $400,000 each to Hermann and Owensville and lesser amounts to the other municipalities in the county.

In other matters at last week’s session of the County Commission, Emergency Management Director (EMD) Clyde Zelch was authorized to develop a campaign to inform the public about the rebooted Severe Weather Alert system. The information will advise residents who don’t want to receive the automated telephone alerts on how to opt out of the program.

Zelch said the information campaign will cost a little money, but it needs to be done to ensure the public is fully aware of how to discontinue receiving the alerts.

“That’s the problem we had several years ago — people weren’t informed,” said Southern District Associate Commissioner Jerry Lairmore, R-Owensville. That lack of awareness prompted several complaints to the then-EMD, who, in turn, pulled the plug on the alert system.

“I don’t want that to happen again,” Lairmore said.

The county’s governing board returns to session at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in Hermann.