February 20, 2024, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

I attended the February 20, 2024, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

All commissioners were present.

The first agenda item was Bid Opening – 24220 Human Trafficking Training.

One bid was received from the Human Trafficking Training Center. The instructor is a retired Missouri highway patrolman who has previously provided training for Camden County. The cost is $5,000 per day for two instructors, travel expenses, and materials.

This bid was unanimously approved by the Commission.

The second agenda item was CDBG Closeout – Barbara Bohley.

CBDG is an acronym for Community Development Block Grant. This particular block grant used federal money to help fund the Macks Creek Water Improvement Project. According to Bohley, the project did not meet all of its goals because of high prices during the pandemic. They did put in new lines, new meters, and flush and fire hydrants. They were unable to work on the towers or the well. She suggested that the district should apply for another CDBG to complete the needed improvements.

According to Bohley, the grant provided $750,000. DNR provided another $600,000 grant. The water district made a bond issue through DNR for an additional amount of approximately $550,000.

Commissioner Gohagan asked Bohley how much she thought it would cost to complete the water system improvements? She couldn’t provide an estimate.

The Commission signed the documents required to close out the paperwork for the grant.

The third agenda item was Public Admin – Requesting Additional Space for Operations.

Tom Gorsline, the Camden County Public Administrator, discussed his department’s need for more office space. They hired an additional full-time employee this year and require additional space for more privacy in their daily work operations. They regularly meet with attorneys and have meetings where they discuss the private medical and treatment needs of their wards. These conversations are sensitive and shouldn’t be overheard by uninvolved parties.

Gorsline was interested in purchasing the Lighthouse Clinic building for his office. It is close to the courthouse and the single story building is more accessible to the handicapped. The building also contains an X-ray machine and a dialysis machine that could potentially be used by the Health Department.

Gorsline explained that when he first took office, the Public Administrator’s Office had 79 wards and they were two years behind on their cases. They now have 115 wards with 237 letters (guardianship, personal representative, and conservatorship) and are only 30 days behind.

Commissioners Skelton and Williams expressed reluctance about expanding government and buying more buildings for the county. The commissioners reassured Gorsline that they would keep an eye out for any potential locations that might suit his needs. There was some discussion of using the old Post Office building, but Commissioner Gohagan pointed out that the estimate to renovate that building just five years ago was $500,000.

The fourth agenda item was Sheriff 240125 – A Uniform Bid – Discuss Acceptance of Third Bid.

This “late” third bid was discussed at the previous meeting. It appeared that the bid was received from UPS before 10:00 a.m. Presiding Commissioner Skelton felt that since the bid made it into the building before the bid opening, it was fine to open the bid and consider whether to accept it. County Attorney Green opined that since Camden County had accepted all of the uniform bids so far, it shouldn’t be an issue to accept this third bid. Camden County Chief Deputy Jimmy Breshears told the Commission that the Sheriff’s Office normally used this bidder from Carthage, MO for their Class A uniforms.

The Commission voted unanimously to accept this bid.

The fifth agenda item was Verizon Funding Authorization Form – Allows County to Purchase Under GSA Schedule.

This form will allow Camden County to purchase services and products from Verizon at a GSA rate that has already been negotiated for state and local governments. The county renews this authorization every two years.

The Commission approved this authorization form unanimously.

The final agenda item was NovaTime Contract – Upgrades.

This contract would upgrade the county’s time clocks and purchase a new time clock for the county’s Montreal facility. It sounded like this is part of the Commission’s current push to improve employee accountability in concert with their efforts to better manage fuel usage. Commissioner Skelton commented that Road and Bridge employees had previously been calling in to the office and having other people clock them in.

Commissioner Gohagan was reviewing the NovaTime paperwork and mentioned that they can use facial recognition capability (As you can imagine, this triggered a double take from Commission Skelton). The County Auditor explained that this system would allow employees to clock in with their cell phones and it would record their location when they clocked in. According to the Auditor, elected officials are currently using a variety of different methods to record their employees’ hours.

Commissioner Gohagan questioned why so many chief deputies in the county’s departments needed to log into the system and edit their employees’ time cards? He complained that there were valid reasons why a time record would need to be edited, but it was happening almost every day.

This item was tabled so the Commission could review the contract.

And that was that.

Oh.

And I watched the Public Comment table intently all meeting. It’s still standing.