I attended the May 21, 2026, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.
Commissioners Skelton and Dougan were present.
The first agenda item was moved to the top of the agenda. It was “Camden County’s State Audit Introduction with Tina Harris.”
Tina Harris from the State Auditor’s Office explained to the Commission that her briefing was an introduction and explanation of their audit procedure. $250,000 was set aside by the Commission for this state audit, but the county would only be billed for the actual cost of the audit, so they would pay less if the cost was less than $250,000. The audit fieldwork would begin on June 8. The audit itself would be approximately 4 to 5 months long. Once the audit is complete, they will prepare a draft report and have an exit conference in a closed session meeting with the Commission and any elected officials who received comments in the audit (I assume that “comments” are not good.).
The audit will focus on 2025, but it will look at older issues if they are still ongoing. The audit process is entirely confidential until the audit report is released (Good luck with that. They’ve apparently never tried to keep a secret in Camden County before. “Now before I tell you this, you’ve got to swear you won’t tell anybody because the person who told me this swore me to secrecy.”).
The audit will not give an opinion on the county’s financial status. The Auditor’s Office will have a hotline available where concerned citizens can email or call in anonymously if they have concerns or issues that might be related to the county’s audit.
At the end of the briefing, they did send around a sign-in sheet and told the room that anybody who attended this briefing had to sign the sheet! Sheesh. I thought that was a little bit much, but when the form was handed to me, I dutifully filled in my name and just wrote “Gadfly” for my occupation. I’m sure I thus inadvertently committed some type of Class Z misdemeanor. I’m such a rebel. I’ll take my chances with a Camden County jury.
The second agenda item was “LOZ Convention Visitor Bureau – Request for $357,000 “TCLA” funds.”
Presiding Commissioner Skelton stated that this money was already approved and allocated in the budget. The County Auditor confirmed this.
The third agenda item was four separate budget amendments.
The first amendment was “MIS $3,057.58.”
This was a refund for some IT equipment that was returned and not used.
The second amendment was “Legal Department $1,732.54.”
According to the County Attorney, this was from the sale of some unclaimed Camden County property that was sold.
The third amendment was Public Safety Law Enforcement / E-911 Mapping & Addressing $3,038.80.”
This amendment was to cover the adjustments for the new progressive pay scale for some of the E-911 personnel.
The fourth amendment was “Purchasing $55.30.”
The County Auditor explained that this was a reimbursement from MU Extension for paper they had used.
All of the budget amendments were approved unanimously.
The next agenda item was the Planning and Zoning portion of the meeting.
The first PZ item was “PZ26-0043 Marathon LLC – Rezone R-1 to B-2.”
The developer had previously re-zoned the surrounding lots for a marina, but this was a smaller interior lot that had been missed in the process. He wanted to re-zone it to match the other lots. The Planning and Zoning Commission had approved the re-zone 7-0.
Nobody else was present for or against this re-zone and the Commission approved it.
The next PZ item was “PZ26-0045 Broker – Rezone B-2 to R-1.”
The owner was present and explained to the Commission that he built two A-frame homes on the lot and had used them as rentals, but he now planned to sell one of them to a neighbor. To be able to split the lot into two separate residential lots, he needed to re-zone it to R-1.
The Planning and Zoning representative tattled to the Commission that the petitioner currently had a permit violation. He had begun rebuilding and framing another building on a nearby lot without a permit.
The petitioner explained that he had halted construction, but the permit process was delayed because he was waiting on a surveyor.
The Planning and Zoning Commission approved the re-zone 7-0. The Commission approved the re-zone contingent on the petitioner resolving the permit violation.
The final PZ item was “Discussion by Kim Hunt.”
Kim Hunt is the owner of Lake Ozarks RV Resort on Highway KK in Osage Beach.
He is concerned about the need for affordable housing for the workforce at the Lake of the Ozarks. He is exploring ways to build “tiny homes” on certain select lots on his property. The homes would be owned by the purchasers, but he was having difficulty negotiating a zoning solution that would comply with the county’s Uniform Land Use Code (ULUC).
The issue is that Hunt’s property is currently zoned as commercial and this plan would mix it with residential zoning. The two potential solutions would be to form a PUD or utilize a Mixed Use zoning category that might be approved in the near future as an amendment to the ULUC.
A PUD is a Planned Unit Development. It is described in Section 917 of Camden County’s ULUC. One of the requirements for a PUD is that the property generally has to be a minimum of 20 acres. According to Planning and Zoning, the PUD can allow for variances, but the one variance a PUD does not allow is a variance on lot sizes. Once the PUD plan is prepared, it must be approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission and then the County Commission.
Hunt has already showed his plans to Osage Beach for sewer service and the local Fire Department for emergency response access and water capacity. The water for the property is provided by a community well.
Ultimately, the plan might allow for as many as 33 lots for tiny home owners.
Hunt’s conversation with the Commission seemed to be an effort to see if what he was proposing might have a chance of being approved. The Commission seemed receptive to the idea of having affordably priced homes, but Hunt was assured that any final plan would have to be approved formally by the Planning and Zoning Commission and the County Commission.
Presiding Commissioner Skelton did wonder aloud why more developers didn’t build affordable home projects outside of the restrictions of Camden County’s Planning and Zoning area?
After they walked outside, I spoke to Hunt and his supporters in the hallway. They were hoping to be able to offer these homes at affordable prices in the neighborhood of $200,000. They viewed this project as an opportunity for working families to build equity and avoid the investment disadvantage of mobile homes, a depreciating asset.
After the conclusion of the agenda, a gentleman from the Sons of the American Revolution asked to speak to the Commission. They are starting a Lake chapter in September. The SAR plan to read the Declaration of Independence on July 8 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its first public reading. All of the SAR chapters plan to read it simultaneously across the world. He asked if they could read it on the courthouse steps.
Presiding Commissioner Skelton was obviously very supportive of this and the Commission approved the request before the gentleman was even done talking. He still managed to finish what he came to say because, well, he’s a Missourian.
And that was that.
There was a lady trying to sell insurance to the county employees at the end also, but I was outside talking to Kim Hunt, so I have no idea how that went. I’m only one man.
Among the Dogwoods 