I attended the April 15, 2025, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.
All commissioners were present.
The first agenda item was “Disbursement of Road Impact Fees to HSBSRD.”
There was a brief discussion regarding whether the Horseshoe Bend Special Road District (HBSRD) should receive some of the road impact fees that had been collected over the past years. Commissioner Gohagan stated that after doing research, he had learned that the HBSRD was not collecting road impact fees. $100,000 in fees had previously been dispersed to the road district and he thought the Commission made that an annual dispersement, but after reviewing the record (most likely this blog), it appeared it was only a one-time dispersement.
He didn’t think that the use of the road impact fees for the Willow Creek Bridge was appropriate and for the same reasons, he could not justify sending more road impact fees to the HBSRD.
The second agenda item was “LOCLG Annual Membership Dues.”
Presiding Commissioner Skelton explained that Camden County pays annual dues to the Lake of the Ozarks Council of Local Governments (LOCLG). The dues for this year are $13,608.
Commissioner Gohagan questioned what benefits Camden County had received from belonging to LOCLG? He wanted to know what the other counties paid to the organization and observed that Camden County often seems to shoulder a lot of the responsibility for these organizations while other counties “mooch” off of Camden County. He also pointed out that the LOCLG has had a lot of turnover in their executive leadership. (I think they’re on their fourth Executive Director in 5 years.)
Presiding Commissioner Skelton attends the LOCLG meetings and he observed that the organization doesn’t currently have a grant manager. Usually, the LOCLG helped the county get grant money. He wondered if Camden County could be part of the Transportation Advisory Committee without belonging to the LOCLG?
Commissioner Gohagan wondered if the Lake of the Ozarks Regional Economic Development Council (LOREDC) could handle the financial development while LOCLG focussed on infrastructure?
Gail Griswold attended the meeting and she shared her experiences with these types of organizations while she was on the Camdenton School Board. She questioned the methods used by them and their motivations.
In the end, the Commission voted to table the decision until next Tuesday.
The final agenda item was “First Public Hearing for Reducing Speed Limit on County Roads: Thong Tree Road and Pershing Drive.”
This was the first of the three meetings that are required for the Commission to reduce the speed limit on a county road. One resident was present and she was asking for the speed limit to be lowered from 30 MPH to 25 MPH after the road splits toward the residences. She explained that many people walk along the road and several families with children live nearby. Nobody was present to oppose the proposed speed limit reduction.
And that was that.
Among the Dogwoods 