I attended the June 18, 2024, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.
All commissioners were present.
The Commission’s mural on the wall behind the Commission table had been completed and was on display.
The first agenda item was Bid opening – 240618 Grocery Supply Jail.
The bid request was for the grocery supply to the county jail. There was one bid. The jail receives a bulk food delivery once each week. Captain Vinson from the Sheriff’s Office recommended the Commission accept the bid.
Commissioner Gohagan asked about the bidding process for this bid and mentioned that there was a lot of discussion about the bidding process at the recent Commissioner’s debate.
Four companies were contacted for this bid.
Presiding Commissioner Skelton observed that the county can’t force vendors to bid on contracts.
Daniel Dugan, a candidate for the 2nd District Commissioner seat in the upcoming primary election was in the audience. Commissioner Gohagan asked Dugan what he thought about the bid?
Dugan jumped in and asked Captain Vinson what the contract period was for the bid?
Vinson responded that it was for one year, but it wasn’t really a contract. According to Vinson, there are a lot of variables that factor into the ordering needs for the jail. Vinson would prefer to get more bids because he would like to have vendors competing with each other.
Dugan asked Vinson if there was a scope of work included when they put out the bid?
Vinson confirmed that there was a scope and Presiding Commissioner Skelton then read the bid language aloud. Always nice to see candidates at the meetings.
The Commission voted unanimously to accept the bid.
The second agenda item was Surplus funds request.
There were two requests for return of surplus funds.
They were both for Mark Morgan. They had been reviewed by the County Attorney and the Treasurer.
Both were approved unanimously.
The third agenda item was presentment of proceeds from 4/26/24 county auction by Rick Bryant and Angie Schejbal.
Bryant told the Commission he had been impressed by the enthusiastic participation of the various county departments who assisted with the auction. He observed that auctioning surplus county equipment was a big improvement over the old way the county used to get rid of surplus equipment: it would simply disappear.
Bryant received a $3,600 commission from the auction which he plans to give away to several good causes. Two thirds of it has already been earmarked for Kids Harbor and a search and rescue dog.
The county received a check for $32,709.15 for the auctioned items.
Commissioner Skelton confirmed that the auction services for this auction had been put out to bid.
The fourth agenda item was Request for extension for ARPA fund allocation and contracts by the Magic Dragon Trails committee.
(The Commission had sent out letters to several agencies that were allocated Camden County ARPA funds, notifying them that if they did not confirm that their assigned ARPA funds were under contract by the end of June 2024, the Commission would “claw back” those funds and use them on something else. Probably roads. This was made necessary by Treasury rules that required that all federal ARPA funds be committed in contract by December 31, 2024 and spent by 2026.)
The Magic Dragon Trails committee was given $150,000 in ARPA funds. They explained that they have every intention to get the funds under contract, but they have faced delays with scheduling surveys for the easements they will need for their trail system. They intend to build parking lots at two trailheads and described the bicycle skills course park they built next to the YMCA. The Commission and the representatives from the Magic Dragon Trail agreed that they would have all of their contracts completed by November 1, 2024.
I asked the Commission if all of the water districts had provided their ARPA commitment receipts to the county yet? The commissioners suggested I check in with the County Auditors Office. Probably a good call. Frankly, I think only a handful of people in the county can even remember where all of the water districts are.
After the meeting, I visited the County Auditors Office. I was informed that Camden County PWSD #2 has not turned any proof of contracts to the Auditor, but I think that’s probably incoming because I remember seeing PWSD #2 present their ARPA plans to the Commission at Commission meetings.
According to the Auditor’s Office, PWSD #3 (Camelot Estates) and PWSD #4 (Horseshoe Bend/Shawnee Bend) have both turned in receipts for ARPA funding, but since those expenditures were never put out to bid, they aren’t eligible for ARPA funding.
And that was that.
A CAVE BY ANY OTHER NAME
As a side note, I’ve come to realize that not everyone might be savvy to all of the Camden County political vernacular. When I went to my first Commission meeting (197 meetings ago), as I was walking up the stairs, I struck up a conversation with a uniformed deputy. I asked him how the meetings usually went and he told me, “It’s not too bad as long as you can deal with the cave people.”
Cave people? What strange county had I moved to? Did people who live in caves venture out into the unforgiving light of the sun to watch their local government in action? I mean, I had been to the Bridal Cave and seen plenty of billboards for caves, but I just couldn’t imagine living in one.
I later learned that “cave people” was actually “C.A.V.E. people” (Citizens Against Virtually Everything). It was coined by two muckety-mucks in the Camden County regime whose use of the term to refer to politically active citizens was uncovered in a Sunshine request. It has since entered common usage by various groups in the county. It is worn as a badge of honor by some and still used as a disparaging insult by others.
The latest political word that I’ve been hearing is “Hooterville”. Fair or not, Camden County politics does have a bit of a reputation for being raucous, iconoclastic and energetic. Apparently, certain important people in Jeff City have been complaining about the political tone in the county, mocking us by calling us “Hooterville.” Just like with the CAVE nickname, locals haven’t been afraid to embrace the Hooterville reference.
You might hear “Oh geez, wait until Hooterville hears about this.”
Or “This isn’t going to play very well in Hooterville.”
Or “What did he expect from the crowd? He’s smack dab in the middle of Hooterville.”
Personally, I think that Camden County’s enthusiastic approach to political involvement is a good thing and it should be encouraged. Better to be engaged than asleep. If the price to pay for that is to be labelled as a “Hootervillian”, so be it.
“Hooterite”?
“Hooteroan”?
I’m going to bed.
Among the Dogwoods 