I attended the July 6, 2026, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.
All commissioners were present.
The first agenda items were road petitions. Road petitions are filed for approval with the county when a property owner wants the county to vacate a county road on their property. If the county agrees, it essentially abandons the road and the road becomes part of the petitioner’s property. In most cases, the county road was never built and the right of way is only notional.
The first road petition was “Happiness Is Lane in Cable Point Cove Subdivision.”
The property owners wanted to remove an easement between their house and a garage. The County Attorney opined that the easement could be removed with a single meeting because the property was in a subdivision.
There was nobody in opposition to the petition and the Commission approved it unanimously.
The second road petition was “Avalon Park.”
The property owners had a notional county road on their property that went through their existing house. They had their survey complete and had gathered all of the necessary signatures from their neighbors. They owned all of the land around the proposed vacated road, but they needed a survey seal on the survey. The commissioners agreed this road petition could be granted at the next meeting as long as they added the survey seal.
The third road petition was “Deans Creek Road.”
The County Attorney pointed out that the road petition did not have the required 12 signatures, but it could still be vacated if the petitioner would state that the road has been abandoned by the county for five years. Unfortunately, the petitioner was not present at this meeting so the road petition was tabled.
The next agenda item was “Thunder Mountain Road Foot Race.”
John Shelby notified the Commission that the Thunder Mountain Road Foot Race would be conducted on October 3 at 7:00 a.m. The route would be on Bridal Cave Road down the hill and then back up the hill again. There are three races planned for the event. The first is three times up and down the hill. The two other races are a 3 hour and a 6 hour endurance event. They have already coordinated the event with the Sheriff’s Office.
The Commission had no objection to the event, but the commissioners also expressed no interest in participating in the run.
The third agenda item was “Joe Walters – Cove Circle.”
Walters explained that County Road and Bridge roadwork has gradually been raising the height of their gravel road. This has increased the quantity and path of the rainwater that had been draining down from the higher elevations to the lake. This has created water damage and flooding for many of the homeowners who live on the lakefront. Walters requested that the county hire an engineer and develop a drainage plan to mitigate the issue.
Lee Schuman was present at the meeting and he informed the Commission that the road had previously been on a paving plan, and that a drainage plan was included with it. Unfortunately, the community could not come to an agreement on the paving plan, so the drainage portion was never implemented.
Presiding Commissioner Skelton explained that the county would need drainage easements from the homeowners to ensure the water travelled to the lake. Commissioner Gohagan told the residents that there was a form they could complete to provide the county with such an easement. Commissioner Dougan was amenable to having an engineer look at the problem.
Presiding Commissioner Skelton said that the county is currently faced with a large unexpected expense with the washout at Ozark Isle. It might take up to a $1 million to repair and replace the road.
The Commission was sympathetic, but it will require a lot more investigation to determine what the cost might be.
(This seemed like a good project for a NID (Neighborhood Improvement District). A NID would allow the community to fund a drainage project with a bond that would then be paid back over a period of years by the residents with annual supplemental property taxes.)
The fourth agenda item was ““Just Us Place” Road Discussion.”
This road issue involved a road that is only 10 feet wide, but has a 60 foot road easement! The developer, Ryan Dauber, was interested in widening the road for better access to two properties he wanted to develop at the end of the road. Unfortunately, the road is bounded on both sides by fences, curbs, and landscaping. Looking at the GIS, it appeared that a small townhome association had pushed their exterior landscaping and even placed a well past their property boundaries in the south easement of the road.
An interesting twist is that the president of the townhome association seemed to be involved with the development of the two properties at the end of the road. That must have led to some exciting townhome association meetings.
Aaron “Peacemaker” Ellsworth was the attorney for the association president and he brought a map board that illustrated a proposed compromise for the dispute. The road would be widened to 20 feet. A 10 foot easement would be designated on either side of the road. The remaining 20 feet south of the road could be vacated and the townhome association could then start paying taxes on it.
The property owner to the north of the road and members of the townhome association spoke to the Commission. The curbing and landscaping had been in place for at least 20 years. They were not willing to contribute any money to widening the road.
The Commission recommended everyone review the attorney’s proposed solution and see if they could work it out among themselves. It sounded like the developer wants to widen the road, but nobody (including the county) seemed eager to help with that project.
It did leave me wondering if it was possible for a private party to widen a county road? Perhaps he could make an arrangement with Camden County Road & Bridge to pay for all of their materials in a manner similar to the county’s road-paving policy.? A widened road would give better access to fire protection services which might benefit everyone who lived down there.
The final agenda item was “June 2026 Budget/Revenue Discussion.”
County Treasurer Kendra Hicks presented the revenue numbers so far for 2026.
The Half-Cent Sales Tax through June is up 3.8% compared to 2025.
The 2007 Half Cent Sales Tax through June is also up 3.8%.
LEST2 (Law Enforcement Sales Tax 2) is up 3.8%.
Only one revenue transfer occurred last month to E-911 from the Sheriff’s Office.
Presiding Commissioner Skelton read aloud from the Treasurer’s cash balance report for the county. The county’s cash balance from January 1, 2026 to June 30, 2026 went from $22,817,000 to $23,120,000.
Revenue year-to-date is $56.9 million while spending year-to-date is $56.6 million.
When asked her opinion, Hicks pointed out that annual revenue is currently more than expenses. While it is a tight margin, she credited the good news to county departments watching their spending.
County Auditor Jimmy Laughlin then came forward to give his perspective on the budget numbers. Laughlin stated that comparing current revenue numbers to the 2026 budget, the county is still $782,000 below revenue expectations. A large portion of that is due to the volatility of the Use Tax from month to month.
Laughlin said he would expect the county’s departments to be at 50% of yearly spending. Most of them are below that mark, but a few of them are over it.
Commissioner Gohagan pointed out that the recent storms and Ozark Isle repairs had pushed the expenditures for Road and Bridge, and he thanked God that the Commission hadn’t passed the [lower] $7 million budget for Road and Bridge.
Skelton asked Laughlin if he felt the county should reopen the budget?
Laughlin stated that there were two avenues they could take. They could call together the elected officials and let them know that they needed to be careful about their spending or they could reopen the budget and that would require a 30 day disclosure and other statutory requirements.
Laughlin agreed with the Treasurer that the elected offices deserved some credit for keeping spending down. The personnel costs were inflexible, but he thought there was some room to ask other county departments to shave a percentage point or two off of their planned expenditures. Laughlin stated that he would have a better idea about the budget once he saw the actual July 2026 revenue and expenditure numbers.
The Road and Bridge Superintendent estimated that the FEMA storm expenses for this year were around $450,000, but that didn’t include the Ozark Isle repair cost
Presiding Commissioner Skelton mentioned that there was approximately $800,000 in county pension contributions that were credited back to Camden County because those employees left county service before they were vested in the pension plan. This money could serve as a credit for future county pension contributions. Skelton pointed out that this amounted to an extra $800,000 that was available to the county. The County Attorney stated that he would do some legal research into how the county might be able to put those funds to use.
The other county officials seemed to be unaware of this pension credit money.
In Old Business, the Commission needed to amend an EMA land license agreement with DNR so that the Camp Clover Point location of one of the EMA storm sirens in Lake of the Ozarks State Park could be changed.
This amendment was approved.
Then the Commission voted to recess and go into closed session for personnel matters.
And that was that.
Among the Dogwoods 