HERMANN – Friday was a fitting day, perhaps, for state and federal emergency management staffers to meet about a program that helps local governments pay for roads damaged by storms. Friday was the latest day in the past several weeks in which the forecast called for potentially heavy rains in the Meramec Region.

Fortunately, a downpour didn’t hit the county. Still, representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) got an idea of what the county’s Road Department crews have been dealing with this spring and early summer.

Gasconade County administrators are hoping to tap into a supply of funds that have been allocated to FEMA to support local government efforts to repair storm-damaged roads. The money is passed down to the state agency, which administers the funds and works directly with counties.

Southern District Associate Commissioner Ron Hardecke, R-Owensville, noted during last week’s County Commission session that Missouri counties statewide have met the $12-million threshold to qualify for federal assistance. Gasconade County has met its $71,000 threshold, as well. All that is lacking is a presidential disaster declaration that would cut loose the funds for distribution.

Hardecke and Gasconade County Emergency Management Director Clyde Zelch met with the FEMA and SEMA representatives at the Road Department in Drake. Zelch took part in the meeting because it is his office through which the formal application for assistance will be made.

In other matters during last week’s Commission session, Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, publicly expressed appreciation to all legal, law enforcement and judicial personnel involved in the February capital murder trial and recent sentencing in Franklin County of Kenneth Lee Simpson. The Warren County man was given the death sentence in mid-June by 20th Circuit Presiding Judge Craig E. Hellmann for the March 2023 shooting death of Hermann Det, Sgt. Mason Griffith. For severely wounding Hermann Patrolman Adam Sullentrup, Simpson was handed a life term.

Returning to the county road situation, Schulte said road crews should set aside brush-cutting work until the gravel roads are back in pre-storm condition. “I’ve been on he gravel roads a lot. We’ve got some catching up to do,” he said.

He said clearing the rights-of-way of brush is “not high priority” until road repairs have been made and that includes cleaning the ditches and culverts that are filling with gravel washed off the roads by heavy rain.

But Road Department co-supervisors Dennis Godi and Todd Troyer told the Commission that brush-cutting work was only done when there was a lapse in road-repair efforts. That was supported by Hardecke, who said, “I don’t think anything they’re doing is taking away” from the road-repair efforts.

Also on the county road front, County Treasurer Mike Feagan reported the June check for the Missouri Motor Fuel Tax was in the amount of $81,504. That’s less than last month’s check but slightly more than the June 2025 check.

Thus far this year, the Motor Fuel Tax has generated $477,578 for Gasconade County; that’s more than $33,000 above the amount received during the first six months of last year.

“We’re about a half- month ahead,” Feagan said.

Last year, the tax, which is allocated entirely to the Road Department, generated $937,801.