August 17, 2023 Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

I attended the August 17, 2023 Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

All commissioners were present.

The first agenda item was Bid Opening Acceptance – Sheriff – Inmate Activity Logging.

A representative from the Sheriff’s Office briefed the Commission on this bid.

The bid request was put in the local newspaper. There was only one bid from a vendor they met at a conference. Another company inquired about the bid request. That company was sent information regarding the bid request, but they never responded back.

From the description, this is a system that is used to track inmates, handle body counts, and verify that deputies are doing their suicide watch checks. It can also be used for various other administrative purposes within the jail facility. It sounded like it was going to cost $16,000, but I wasn’t sure if this was a one time cost or an annual fee. The money had already been budgeted, but since a contract is involved, it required the approval of the Commission.

This item was tabled by the Commission.

The second agenda item was Bid Award – Assessor – Assessment List Printing and Mailing.

The Assessor reviewed the bid from Edward J Rice Company out of Springfield and recommended that the Commission accept the bid.

This bid was accepted unanimously.

The next agenda item was Planning and Zoning PZ23-0068 Papa Chubby’s R-1 to B-2.

Papa Chubby’s wanted to change 75 acres from R-1 to B-2

Matt Marschke, the engineer for the project, showed the plans to the commissioners and explained that they will have enough wastewater and water capacity for the expansion on site.

One of the new owners stated that they hope to add 450-500 new RV sites to their property. They currently have room for 54 RVs. The re-zone to B-2 will allow them to vastly increase the acreage they can use for the expansion. They plan to add 20-30 new cabins and their second phase includes adding a 55+ seniors RV park to the location. He also hopes to have the restaurant open year-round. The road to Papa Chubby’s was paved by the previous owner and he was aware that neighbors have complained about an increase in traffic on that road. They’ve already paved the parking lots with concrete.

Commissioner Williams asked if the property surrounding Papa Chubby’s was zoned R-1? The Planning and Zoning Administrator confirmed that it was R-1.

There was nobody else present to speak in favor of the re-zone.

There was a good-sized group present in opposition of the re-zone and a few of them came forward to speak against it. I’ll summarize their concerns.

The roads into the area are narrow with no guard rails, and they were worried about an increase in RV traffic. The locals who live in Cozy Cove have a private boat ramp and swim dock, and there have been issues with Papa Chubby’s patrons using their dock and ramp. In the past, the boat ramp accepted cash placed in a box for others to use, but they are now restricting it to their private use only.

They also complained that the Planning Commission meeting for this matter had been noticed incorrectly with an incorrect address listed for the meeting. The only person present at the Planning Commission meeting was the engineer for the project.

The main topics were issues that the neighboring residents currently have with Papa Chubby’s and they were obviously concerned that a large expansion of the resort was only going to exacerbate those existing problems.

Bob Hemen from the Planning Commission came forward and stated while he had voted for the re-zone while it was before the Planning Commission, he realized he had voted incorrectly. He was opposed to the re-zone. He had concerns that RV resorts in his township area are zoned and taxed as residential properties. They absorb a disproportionately larger percentage of ambulance and fire services compared to the property taxes those properties contribute.

Marschke and the Papa Chubby’s owner reassured the commissioners that there were no plans to expand the dock slips at the resort. In fact, they may have a struggle with Ameren on their hands to keep the quantity they currently have. The owner apologized for the misunderstanding about the Cozy Cove boat ramp.

The Commission voted unanimously to re-zone the expanded property from R-1 to B-2.

We then had a brief recess and returned with the fourth agenda item, ULUC Code Revision R-1 to R-2.

Apparently, this was on this agenda, but it is actually going to be discussed in more detail at an August 31 meeting.

A few people attended the meeting for this topic, so Presiding Commissioner Skelton allowed them to say their piece about it.

They recommended that the Commission re-write the Unified Land-Use Code (ULUC) and then adopt it in its entirety rather than adopt individual sections of the ULUC as they are modified. Concerns were expressed regarding large changes proposed to the definitions of the R-1 zoning classification. Questions were also raised about the potential environmental impact that construction, erosion, and development could have on the lake and the watershed. They felt that people familiar with some of those issues should also be involved in the ULUC development process.

The final agenda item was Enterprise Vehicle Leasing.

Two gentlemen from Enterprise gave a presentation on fleet management to the Commission. They were introduced by the mayor and city administrator of Camdenton. Camdenton already uses Enterprise to manage their vehicle fleet and they’ve been very happy with the results.

Enterprise can provide a wide range of city and county vehicles, including police vehicles. They represent quite a few government entities and police departments so Camden County would gain access to their larger buying power when it came to getting the right vehicles when and where they need them. It sounded like a pretty good deal for the county because they might benefit from an increase in their economy of scale, and gain the expertise that Enterprise would possess in logistics, maintenance, and available vehicle supply. Enterprise would rotate vehicles through the county on a steady basis, ensuring that older vehicles were sold off at top dollar and the county would purchase new vehicles at cheaper fleet-rate pricing.

It definitely sounded appealing, but I guess we’ll have to see what the price tag looks like. It is nice to know that we have had some local agencies use them and act as a proof of concept for the county before they jump onboard.

And that was that.