December 9, 2025, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:30 a.m.

I attended the December 9, 2025, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:30 a.m.

All commissioners were present.

The first agenda item was “Emergency Management Agency – RFP Decision – Storm Sirens.”

The Commission unanimously approved the bid from Whelen based on the recommendation of the EMA Director who was not present at the meeting.

The final agenda item was “Discussion of a State Audit.”

Commissioner Dougan had contacted the State of Missouri and was informed it would cost between $200,000 and $250,000 to have the State Auditor audit Camden County. The audit would take six to thirteen months to complete and it could be scheduled for mid-2026. Dougan was in favor of having the audit.

Commissioner Gohagan noted that money had already been approved in the budget for an audit and the county has not had a Missouri state audit in ten years.

Presiding Commissioner Skelton said that there were other alternatives. He did not necessarily think the county needed a full scale audit. They could instead have a budget analysis conducted by an attorney with accounting experience.

The commissioners asked the elected officials who were present what they thought about having a state audit? The officials responded that they were fine with the idea. The Sheriff also agreed that he would be amenable to a state audit.

Commissioner Gohagan said that the 2016 state audit was very detailed and he thought it would be good to have a “clean bill of health” from the State of Missouri. He was also willing to have a budget analysis performed on the county’s finances.

The Commission voted unanimously to request that the Missouri State Auditor conduct an audit of Camden County.

And that was that.

This meeting was followed by the 2026 proposed budget presentation from the County Auditor, but more on that later.