November 6, 2025, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

I attended the November 6, 2025, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

All commissioners were present.

The first agenda item was “2026 Medical Examiner Contract for Camden County.”

Representatives from Southwest Missouri Forensics were present to discuss the upcoming contract with the county. Camden County contracts with Southwest to provide medical examiner and coroner services (autopsies). The two options they offered the Commission were a single year contract with a 7% increase or a three year contract with annual increases of 7% for the first year and 5% each for the following two years.

According to them, Camden County’s annual deaths and autopsies are on the rise. Operational and insurance costs have also gone up. (The current contract is approximately $400,000 per year.)

Commissioner Gohagan mentioned that Commissioner Dougan works for Southwest Forensics so he wanted his opinion. Dougan explained that he thought it was best to lock in the costs for the long term.

(I later confirmed with Commissioner Dougan that he does not currently work for Southwest Missouri Forensics. He was employed by them prior to his primary election for county commissioner. Dougan stated that he would have recused himself from discussing and voting on this agenda item if he was a current employee of the company.)

County Attorney Charlie Dickman mentioned that there was a constitutional concern when governments agree to contracts that extend over multiple years.

The Commission discussed this and Presiding Commissioner Skelton proposed that they choose the three year contract contingent on the Commission approving it each year. This appeared to cause some consternation among the Southwest Missouri Forensics employees. I’m pretty sure they assumed that they were offering the lower rate increases in the last two years in trade for the longer commitment. Regardless, the Commission plowed on and approved a three year contract as long as they can vote to approve it annually. Southwest Forensics stumbled out of the meeting unsure if they had succeeded or not.

The second agenda item was “Wastewater Variance Board Reappointment – Lee Schuman.”

Schuman was re-appointed unanimously and, in the finest tradition of Camden County board appointments, was offered a 20% raise to his $0 salary for his service on the board.

The final agenda item was “Share the Harvest Food Drive.”

A representative from Share the Harvest addressed the Commission. The organization is the only USDA-certified food drive in the county. They get food from a regional food bank and can provide a list of suggested items to donors.

Since SNAP benefits have been halted, Share the Harvest has seen a lot of new families coming in. They currently have the following groups receiving food from them:

• 1,294 children
• 390 disabled people
• 1,004 adults
• 532 seniors

She was asking if Share the Harvest could place a donation barrel on the county government campus. This request was approved and the Sheriff said they could also put a barrel in his lobby.

Presiding Commissioner Skelton opined that the current SNAP situation is the problem with allowing ourselves to become accustomed to federal aid. Once the government fails to come through, you’re left hanging with no support. He preferred to handle this type of food assistance at the local level.

The representative also complained that the Woods grocery store in Sunrise Beach won’t allow Share the Harvest to use their parking lot to host a “Pack the Truck” event. (Ironically, that Woods also enjoys a tax abatement TIF from Camden County. So it would seem they can receive charity when it comes to their tax bill, but aren’t very charitable in return.) Commissioner Skelton said he would give Woods a call on their behalf.

In Old Business, Commissioner Gohagan reminded the Commission that there are still several past issues that still need to be addressed:

The first was UTV’s on county roads. There had been a request for a meeting from the public, but it had been intercepted by the county’s enthusiastic email filter.

The Commission noted that there are Missouri statutes that regulate the use of UTV’s. They usually require special permitting. Skelton also clarified that there is a legal distinction between UTV’s and ATV’s. The commissioners agreed that they should schedule a meeting regarding this matter on a Thursday night so more people than just myself could attend.

The other two outstanding issues were the State Audit and Sheriff Edgar’s contribution retirement into the Sheriff’s Pension Fund. They weren’t discussed at this time.

And that was that.