May 14, 2026, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

I attended the May 14, 2026, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

All commissioners were present.

The first agenda item was “Contract for legal services with Paul Gordon of Fisher, Sayler, & Patterson.”

County Attorney Charlie Dickman explained that Gordon was an insurance defense attorney from the Kansas City area. According to Dickman, Gordon did a great job over the past year getting frivolous lawsuits against the Camden County Sheriff’s Office thrown out.

The Commission approved this contract unanimously.

The second agenda item was “Contract for legal services with Saab & Associates.”

This contract would provide the Sheriff’s Office with 24/7 legal advice and Saab would handle their Sunshine Law requests. Sheriff Edgar explained that the contract would begin June 1 and would replace Lynn Brand, the Sheriff Office’s current attorney.

The third agenda item was “SB-190 Senior Tax Freeze Ordinance Amendment.”

Byron Willis from the County Assessor’s Office said that this amendment will affect property owners who have commercial businesses co-located with their residences, conduct business on the property, and have signage for the business displayed. If they want to take advantage of the SB-190 assessment freeze, these property owners would have to have their property surveyed and split the residential lot from the commercial lot.

The commissioners approved this amendment unanimously.

The fourth agenda item was “Bid Award 260507 Tax Sale Publication Bid.”

The County Collector recommended that the Commission accept the bid from Lake Sun that was submitted at a previous meeting.

The Commission unanimously accepted that bid.

The fifth agenda item was “Release of Closed Session Minutes.”

The County Attorney intervened to make sure he had a chance to review the minutes. Once he finished reviewing them, the Commission released them.

The sixth agenda item was “Resolution 5142026 Seeking Blue Shield Designation.”

The resolution was signed and finalized. Camden County officially became a Blue Shield county which qualifies the Sheriff’s Office for specific grant funding.

In Old Business, the Commission signed the Kellerman settlement agreement which officially extricated Camden County from that lawsuit.

There was also another request from the Missouri Department of Revenue for Camden County to return $63,108.51 in county marijuana tax revenue. The Commission approved this transfer. This sales tax money has to be returned because the Missouri courts ruled that counties can only collect the marijuana tax if the dispensary is in the unincorporated county area.

Commissioner Gohagan discussed the Bass Pro Shop TIF in Osage Beach. He stated that the Bass Pro Shop would be a full size retail store. The project would involve $400 million in private investment. It would create 1,600 permanent jobs and 4,000 construction jobs.

And that was that.