I attended the February 15, 2024, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.
All commissioners were present.
The first agenda item was Discussion and Possible Adoption of County Homeschool Ordinance.
This ordinance was a result of a prior presentation to the Commission by Charlene Moore regarding the efforts by various government agencies to insert themselves into Missouri homeschooling efforts.
The ordinance rejected “any efforts by Legislators to initiate or expand any form of government funded Home Schooling…” and stressed the Commission’s support for privately funded home schools.
This ordinance was approved and signed.
The second agenda item was Review and Approval of 2023 Financial Statement for Publication.
This document is a yearly 12-month settlement report of the county’s cash and investment accounts showing the county’s savings and cash flow.
There was a discussion between the Commission and other elected officials concerning whether this report was required to be published and what form that publishing should take. Others asked if there was really a need to publish items in physical newspapers any more? Couldn’t posting it on a website suffice?
The County Treasurer stated that this report needs to be published by the first Monday of March according to Missouri Statute 50.815. County Attorney Green disagreed and opined that the section referenced referred to the auditor’s report.
Here is the section:
https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=50.815
Presiding Commissioner Skelton stated he was willing to entertain a motion to publish the statement in the newspaper for the sake of transparency.
The Commission voted unanimously to publish the 2023 financial statement and the auditor’s report.
Commissioner Gohagan mentioned that the county is coordinating with the Library District to use the outlying library properties as potential fuel points for Camden County Road and Bridge. It seems the 1,000 gallon fuel tanks don’t measure fuel usage as accurately once they’re only 50% full. Presiding Commissioner Skelton suggested fire stations as other possible locations. The main strategy was to consolidate the fueling sites while still having them dispersed enough to avoid driving the equipment so far to fuel up.
In Old Business, there was a discussion about a third bid that came in for the Sheriff’s Uniforms bid opening. County Clerk Rowland Todd felt that the bid had come in too late to be considered. The Commission decided to table the matter until they could figure out if they should accept the late bid or reject it.
In Public Comment, I was able to ask the Commission a few questions to provide an update about the county’s internal investigation into the fuel and time theft issues at Road and Bridge.
Presiding Commissioner Skelton said that Camden County has completed its administrative investigation into the matter.
The fuel tanks were installed at the houses of the Road and Bridge road grader operators. There was a mix of tanks installed. Some were 500 gallon tanks. Others were 1,000 gallon tanks. The Commission is trying to remove the tanks from the employees’ houses and put them in locations where it will be easier to monitor them. The employees did not have permission to use county fuel for their personally owned vehicles. Presiding Commissioner Skelton clarified that the fuel was all red diesel fuel.
He also confirmed that the one employee who was fired was terminated for “potential theft.” No other employees have been accused of theft. The investigation has been referred as a criminal case to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Commissioner Gohagan gave another Tunnel Dam update and said there was really no new information to report about the Tunnel Dam after talking to Sho-Me Power. Presiding Commissioner Skelton felt that the amount of silt that has built up behind the dam might help convince federal agencies that releasing all of that silt would be worse than keeping the dam in its current condition.
And that was that.
Among the Dogwoods 