I attended the May 5, 2022 Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.
Commissioners Gohagan and Hasty were present.
Besides myself, the Mayor and Police Chief of Linn Creek were in the audience.
The first agenda item was the Sheriff Amphitheater Contract.
This was the agreement for the Sheriff’s Office to provide deputies for security at the Ozark Amphitheater. The base rate for the deputies was $54 per hour with $40 per hour going to the deputies. The difference between the two rates would pay for the deputies’ benefits, worker’s compensation and pension contributions. There was no explanation for why Shady Gators’ contract was for $60 per hour and the Ozark Amphitheater was contracted for $54 per hour.
This item was approved unanimously by the Commission.
The second agenda item was the Sheriff Contract for Horseshoe Bend.
This was the yearly contract for deputy services for the Horseshoe Bend area.
This contract was approved unanimously by the Commission.
The third agenda item was for Linn Creek radios.
Linn Creek Police Chief Jeff Christiansen addressed the Commission and told them he needed approximately $55,000 to upgrade the base station and portable radios for the Linn Creek Police Department. This would cover reprogramming the radios to ensure they are compatible with the Camden County Dispatch Center when they switch over to their new digital radio system in a few weeks. Christiansen has tried to apply for grants to fund the upgrade, but he hasn’t had any luck so far.
Commissioner Hasty talked to the Auditor about this. The Auditor stated that they currently have $19 million in requests for Camden County’s $8.9 million in ARPA funds.
Commissioner Hasty was concerned about the future cost of repairing the roof of the Camden County Courthouse and committing some of the ARPA money to upgrading the water and sewer district in Horseshoe Band.
Commissioner Gohagan made a motion to earmark $27,000 of the ARPA funds to Linn Creek to upgrade their police radios. This was approved unanimously.
The final agenda item was for April tax abatements. These were approved unanimously.
And there was no news about my Visitors Pass. The saga continues.
And that was that.
Among the Dogwoods 
Gohagan’s motion to pledge $27k from ARPA seems to have come from left field. They said they had requests for twice as much as the ARPA total, and just gave a little more. Can you tell what that’s about?
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After talking to Commissioner Gohagan about it, his intent was to provide funding for the radios that LCPD needed for their current officers and let them fund radios for projected expansions of their department.
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The private contracts with various business’s events or Horseshoe Bend for example never includes the overhead costs to the taxpayers I.e. the vehicle, the gas, the maintenance, and the insurance. It’s no wonder they want these generous contracts with the county.
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Having talked to some of the deputies involved in these details, I think it’s probably a good thing. The deputies working the Shady Gator detail do serve as a deterrent against bad behavior at that location and they can handle calls for service that would have otherwise dragged the other Horseshoe Bend deputies from their normal patrol responsibilities in Four Seasons.
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