November 12, 2024, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

I attended the November 12, 2024, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

Commissioners Gohagan and Skelton were present. Commissioner-Elect Dougan sat up at the Commission table and observed.

The first agenda item was “Lance Dunbar – Flippin Road.”

Dunbar told the Commission he purchased his property on Flippin Road in 2021 and was told by his realtor that the low water crossing at Phillips Branch would be fixed. When a year passed and there were no efforts to repair it, he called Camden County Road and Bridge to find out why it had not been fixed. In 2023, he called again and was told it could not be repaired that year because it was the spawning season for the Niangua Darter.

The Niangua Darter is currently threatened and endangered.

Dunbar commented that he was not surprised Commissioner Don Williams was absent from the Commission meeting since Commissioner Williams had cancelled multiple meetings with him.

Dunbar informed the Commission that the federal government won’t deliver mail to his house because of the current condition of the crossing. Ambulance response to his neighborhood has also been delayed by at least an hour because the ambulances won’t cross at the low water crossing and as a result, they have to take the long way around.

Pat Wolf, the Camden County Road and Bridge Administrator, explained that the crossing was originally destroyed by a FEMA event. FEMA required that the bridge be repaired rather than replaced. Flood water had washed out the rock from under the concrete and caused the slab to buckle. In its attempt to repair it, the county had to include culverts so the Niangua Darters could move through the crossing. In Wolf’s opinion, the new crossing had been over-engineered with too many culverts. Witnesses to the demise of the crossing described that the water had washed out the areas around the slab and used the culverts to propel the entire crossing downstream.

Wolf estimated that repairing the crossing again would exhaust the county’s concrete budget.

Faced with the unsuccessful attempts to repair or replace it, it sounded like the county has grown tired of pouring good money after bad when it comes to this particular crossing. Especially since there is another alternate route to reach the affected homes. I’m sure this is small comfort to residents who might need emergency response that is only able to get there after a long detour.

I suggested that perhaps the county could invest in ambulances that are more suited to the rugged conditions that exist in the more remote areas of Camden County?

It seemed to me that that ambulance response time has been a common complaint from those who have been impacted by the numerous low water crossings that have been washed out or damaged by weather in the past few years. Surely we are not the only community that has struggled with emergency response in rugged terrain.

Presiding Commissioner Skelton noted that the Commission had no authority over how the Ambulance Districts spent their budgets.

The second agenda item was “Discuss process for appointments to all Camden County boards.”

There was a discussion over when board members for county boards should be sworn into their positions. Commissioner Gohagan asked which boards required that the members be sworn in to serve?

County Attorney Green is researching this matter and noted that some boards do require their members to be sworn in by the County Clerk. He will prepare a resolution that will provide guidelines for the requirements and procedures for those boards.

And that was that.