February 20, 2025, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

I attended the February 20, 2025, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

All commissioners were present. The Sheriff and some of his command staff were also at the meeting.

The meeting started off with the Planning and Zoning portion.

The first item was a re-zone from A-1 to AR.

The owner, John Webb, was stuck in Chicago, but the Planning and Zoning representative explained that he wanted to re-zone the property at 1483 Old Morgan Road, Camdenton so he could divide it into smaller lots for his family. A-1 zoning has a minimum lot size of 5 acres, and he wanted the lots to be smaller than that.

This re-zone was approved unanimously by the Commission.

The second agenda item was Willow Creek Bridge Construction.

Presiding Commissioner Skelton said they had two potential Notices of Award prepared for Brenecke Construction and Gene Haile.

Bids were received last week and Howe Engineering recommended the Commission select Brenecke Construction. They were the lowest bidder and the Camden County Road and Bridge Administrator stated they had done a great job on another bridge just down the road. Commissioner Gohagan observed that Brenecke was a local company and the low mobilization fee was probably why their bid was $50,000 cheaper.

Commissioner Dougan mentioned that the Commission needed to do a better job getting “their ducks in a row” on the bidding process and enforcing the bid requirements for the bridge bids. Skelton explained that Brenecke did not provide five copies of the bid and neglected to include information on their history, manpower, and equipment capabilities in their bid.

The Commission unanimously awarded the bridge project to Brenecke Construction.

In Public Comment, Sheriff Edgar commended the Camden County Road and Bridge Department on their work during the snowstorm. The general consensus in the room was that those gentlemen had done a great job clearing the roads. Apparently, even heavy equipment can slide off the roadway if it gets icy enough.

Before the meeting could adjourn, Commissioner Dougan said that he was interested in discussing the idea of placing the Camden County EMA (Emergency Management Agency) under the authority of the Sheriff. He felt the new EMA Director would work well within the Sheriff’s command structure. Presiding Commissioner Skelton suggested that they place that matter on the meeting agenda where it could be formally addressed.

Skelton’s efforts to move the discussion to a formal meeting on a later date were doomed to fail because we were Missourians and we were all sitting in the same room. You might not remember this from the history books, but it’s estimated that Missouri tied down over 400,000 Union soldiers during the Civil War just by “visiting” with them. In fact, some people claim that World War Two finally ended when the USS Missouri talked its way into Tokyo Bay.

An inevitable conversation followed regarding how the EMA budget could be reduced and whether the assignment of the EMA to the Sheriff’s Office might be more efficient since it could allow the Sheriff’s Office and the Commission to consolidate some offices and property. It was then finally placed on a future agenda.

And that was that.