March 25, 2025, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

I attended the March 25, 2025, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

All commissioners were present.

The first agenda item was “Road & Bridge spring bid openings.”

This is going to be long, but just remember, I had to actually sit through it.

For lane striping, there was only one bid from KW Luetkemeyer.

This bid was accepted unanimously.

For concrete repairs, there was a single bid from Girard Concrete.

This bid was accepted unanimously.

For hot mix asphalt overlay, there were 4 bids: Mainstreet Asphalt Maintenance, Willow Ridge Asphalt, Capital Paving and Construction, and Higgins Asphalt.

These bids were tabled for review by Road and Bridge.

For heavy truck parts, there was a single bid from Mid-Mo Equipment Repair.

This bid was accepted unanimously and the vendor was recommended by the Road and Bridge Administrator.

For road paint, there were bids from Swarco Industries and Potters Industries.

The bid from Potters was accepted unanimously based on the Road and Bridge recommendation.

For grader and snow plow blades, there were 4 bids: Foley Equipment, Valk Manufacturing, Wellborn Sales, and Martin Equipment.

Wellborn’s bid was interesting because it didn’t list any prices and just stated to call them for prices because of tariffs. That didn’t seem like much of a bid.

These bids were tabled for review by the Road and Bridge Administrator.

For tires, there were also 4 bids: Pomp’s Tire Service, McKnight Tire and Auto Center, Purcell Tire and Service Centers, and T&W Tire.

These bids were tabled for review by the Road and Bridge Administrator.

For roadway signs, cones , and barricades, there were 3 bids: Welborn Sales, Custom Products, and Vulcan Aluminum. Welborn’s bid again just talked about tariffs instead of prices.

These bids were tabled for review by the Road and Bridge Administrator.

For rental equipment, there was a single bid from A-B Rental.

This bid was accepted unanimously.

For ready mix concrete, there was a single bid from Scotts Concrete.

This bid was accepted unanimously.

For quarry rock, sand, and gravel, there were 4 bids: Nemo Quarry, Magruder, Capital Materials, and Scotts Concrete. These bids were initially tabled, but after some discussion, the commissioners voted to accept all of the bids due to the fact that some quarries would be cheaper to haul from if they were closer to a job-site location.

For oil and fluids, Frisco Fuel was the only bid.

This bid was accepted unanimously.

For liquid asphalt, there were bids from Vance Brothers and Coastal Energy.

The commissioners unanimously accepted the bid from Coastal Energy based on the recommendation of the Road and Bridge Administrator.

For diesel fuel and gasoline, there was a single bid from Frisco Fuel, but the bidder offered the county two pricing options. The first option would fix and lock the fuel prices for the term of the bid. The second option would allow the prices to float based on market pricing.

This bid was tabled for review by the Road and Bridge Administrator.

For corrugated polyethylene pipes, there were two bids: Viebrock Sales & Service and Welborn Sales’ usual tariff bid.

The commissioners voted unanimously to accept Viebrock’s bid.

For corrugated metal pipes, there were 3 bids: Viebrock Sales & Service, Welborn Sales, and Metal Culverts, Inc.

The bids from both Metal Culverts and Viebrock were accepted based on the recommendation of the Road and Bridge Administrator.

For vehicle and equipment filters, there was a single bid from O’Reilly Auto Parts.

This bid was accepted unanimously.

For batteries, there were bids from O’Reilly Auto Parts and Battery Outfitters.

These bids were tabled for review by the Road and Bridge Administrator.

For independent trucking services, there were bids from Willow Ridge and Walters Construction. Both bidders bid $100/hr.

The commissioners unanimously accepted the bids based on the recommendation of the Road and Bridge Administrator.

(I found it a bit interesting that they both bid the exact same amount. Maybe if one of them bid $99, they could have won the bid. Makes you wonder a bit, doesn’t it?)

For asphaltic concrete, there was only a single bid from Capital Materials.

This bid was accepted unanimously.

For hot-in-place recycling, there was a single bid from Gallagher.

The Road and Bridge Administrator stated that this year’s price was the same as last year’s price. I guess some things are inflation-proof.

This bid was accepted unanimously.

Phew.

The second agenda item was “Discuss gravel road rehab program.”

This involved a brief discussion of the efforts to repair the ditches of the county’s gravel roads. Don’t think I can say much more about that.

The third agenda item was “Potential rescinding of burn ban order.”

John Scheper, the Director of the Camden County EMA, spoke to the Commission and recommended that the county’s burning ban order be rescinded. He felt the weather conditions had improved and the ban could be safely lifted in the next 24 to 48 hours. He also mentioned that SEMA had surveyed the county’s damage from the fires and the local departments are calculating their expenses from the fire fighting to seek potential reimbursement from SEMA.

The Commission voted unanimously to rescind the burn ban effective 11:59 p.m. on March 25, 2025.

The fourth agenda item was Discuss “State of Emergency Declaration.”

The Commission also voted unanimously to end the state of emergency effective at noon on March 25, 2025.

The fifth agenda item was “ClearGov Decision.”

Presiding Commissioner Skelton noted that the Sheriff had stated that he was willing to use the ClearGov software to help with his budget planning, but Skelton was concerned about the $30,000 annual cost and whose budget that money would come from.

The Commission tabled this item for further discussion.

The sixth agenda item was “Accounting Policy read/review/edit.”

After an already long marathon meeting, nobody wanted to do this (including me) so this item was tabled.

In Public Comment, Justin Farrell and Brendan West, who represented Lake of the Ozark Soccer Association (LOSA), spoke to the Commission.

According to them, Marty Ostronic, the owner of One Source Services, owns property near LOSA’s soccer fields and building on North Locust Street in Linn Creek. Ostronic has recently been attempting to restrict LOSA members and families from accessing North Locust Street. Ostronic told LOSA that he didn’t want people to use the roadway because he operated heavy machinery there and didn’t want anyone to get hurt.

LOSA has been using their building on North Locust since 2012. They have always made an effort to keep their families from parking in areas that would impact Ostronic’s property. Attempts to discuss the matter have been unsuccessful and both parties have trespassed each other. LOSA had their property surveyed and discovered that Ostronic has material piled on their property.

Presiding Commissioner Skelton confirmed that the property is in the city of Linn Creek and that North Locust Street is on the CART map. This means that the State of Missouri uses tax revenue to maintain that roadway.

Linn Creek and its police department are both aware of the dispute and it remains to be seen how this matter will resolve itself.

And that was that.