June 20, 2023 Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

I attended the June 20, 2023 Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

All commissioners were present.

The first agenda item was Auctioneer Service Bid Acceptance.

This was a request for bids from an auctioneer service to auction off county property in Horseshoe Bend and the county parking lot near the Ozark Amphitheater. They received no bids. According to the commissioners, the properties have to be auctioned or sold by sealed bid. This item was rescheduled for June 27 while they attempt to find an auction service who will auction these lots.

The second agenda item was Auditing Service Bid Acceptance.

Once again, there were no bids. We were on a roll!

Daniel Jones has still not completed their 2021 audit of Camden County. The commissioners were unanimous that they wanted to use someone other than Daniel Jones. The County Auditor is required by statute to conduct annual audits of all county departments and these external audits have been used by Camden County to attempt to meet those requirements. It’s pretty clear they’re not in compliance at this point since the 2021 audit isn’t even complete.

This item was tabled by the Commission as they attempt to find an accounting service that will audit a 1^st Class County.

The third agenda item was Horseshoe Bend Special Road District ARPA Request.

Tony Baldridge, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Village of Four Seasons, was present to speak to the Commission. Horseshoe Bend Special Road District is removing the white plastic sticks that used to divide the shoulder from Bittersweet Road. The sticks gave pedestrians and bicyclists a false sense of security and didn’t do much to protect the shoulder from drivers. They are going to replace the sticks with a strip of small rock.

(It’s debatable how much of a safety impact the change will have when you consider that the rock strip (and the earlier white sticks) are protecting Bittersweet pedestrians walking on the sober side of the road instead of the drunk side of the road.

(Locals will know what I mean. Just consider that a few weeks ago, one happy sales tax payer driving on the drunk side of Bittersweet “forgot” about the stop sign at the T-intersection with HH and turned his car into an airplane for a few seconds as he crash-landed it off the drop and into the lower parking lot outside The Office.)

The Village of Four Seasons wanted to split the cost of the replacement with Camden County. The total cost is $9,760 and Baldridge was asking for $5,000 in ARPA funds from the Commission.

This was approved unanimously.

The fourth agenda item was Robert Harris – Airbnb Discussion.

Harris is an older gentleman who moved to the Lake Area in 2009 and retired. The house next to him was recently purchased by an owner who is renting it out as a short term rental. He has had quite a few bad experiences with the renters who have stayed next to him. Some incidents have required a response from the Sheriff’s Office and he was even charged by the deputies after a confrontation over parking. According to Harris, the charges were dismissed. He has been threatened by renters, his dock has been damaged by renters partying like it was their last day on Earth, and he has been unable to get any assistance from the owner of the rental.

Commissioner Williams said that he was aware that there are issues with some short term rentals and he was receiving 3-4 complaints per month last year. There is simply not enough hotel capacity at Lake of the Ozarks to house all of the visitors. Short term rentals provide most of the accommodations for the tourists. Williams admitted that even he is operating his own short term rental this year, but he’s made an effort to maintain good communications with the neighbors of the rental property.

Several people spoke on behalf of short term rentals in Camden County.

The gist of their position was that there was no need to further regulate short term rentals. Responsible short term rental owners vet their renters and hold them responsible for bad behavior. Legal avenues already exist that neighbors can pursue against rental owners who break the rules and disturb their neighbors. At least with renters, there is a contractual relationship that provides consequences for the renters’ actions.

Stacy Shore mentioned that there are current laws on the books that should be enforced when these issues arise. She felt that enforcing those laws would alleviate some of the problems Harris had described.

It was suggested to Harris that he purchase a camera system so he could better document the actions of bad renters and have hard evidence to pursue legal action. He seemed interested and several of the short term rental proponents gave him some advice regarding how he could address the problems he was experiencing with the neighboring home.

The one thing everyone at the meeting agreed upon was that bachelorette parties were the worst renters of them all. You learn something every day.

The final agenda item was MU Extension Presentation – Ashley Allen-Brown.

Allen-Brown was from MU Extension and she had prepared a written report for the commissioners. One of her roles is to help with economic development. She discussed a variety of programs that are available to Camden County through the MU Extension. It sounded like all of the programs were available at zero cost to the county. It was a little hard to follow because I did not have a copy of her report, but we’ll probably hear more from her at future meetings.

The commissioners told her they will read through her report and discuss it at a later meeting.

And that was that.