September 29, 2026, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

I attended the September 29, 2026, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

All commissioners were present.

As I entered the courthouse, I observed that the magnetometer was gone from the side entrance. The front doors of the courthouse were roped off and the steps were being repaired. I carefully tiptoed up the stairs to the Commission meeting room, slicing the pie around every corner, and I peeked in through the door windows. I felt I was being reasonably cautious, but then a small child inside caught me looking through, laughed, and pointed me out to his mom. I dropped below the windows, straightened my hat and strode into the room with nonchalance. Just another meeting, Gadfly.

The first agenda item was “Public Comment Request – Sue Dyle.”

Sue Dyle asked to speak to the Commission on the agenda. She lives in Buffalo, MO, but her family owns property on the Little Niangua. She had attended and planned to speak at the previous Commission meeting, but probably didn’t want to follow the donnybrook that ended that meeting. The Commission let her go first so she could say what she travelled to say before any excitement broke out.

She wanted to thank the Commission and the Camden County Road and Bridge Department for all of the road improvements she’s noticed around their property. New culverts have been installed and the roads have been well-mowed. She also thanked the Camden County Sheriff’s Office for providing firm and effective law enforcement for the recent Gathering of the Juggalos event in Mack’s Creek.

The second agenda item was “Sewer District – Financial Agreement.”

The Sewer Board had been using MTS Accounting for their financial books, but MTS will no longer be doing their accounting. Fitzgerald and Kern Utility have submitted proposals to replace MTS. The Sewer Board representative recommended that the Commission approve Kern Utility.

The Commission unanimously approved Kern Utility for the Sewer Board accounting work.

The final agenda item was “County Tax Levy.”

County Clerk Rowland Todd presented the tax levy worksheet to the Commission. Based on the data presented by the Clerk, the Commission voted unanimously to keep the property tax levy at the same 22 cent rate. Half of that property tax will go to County General Revenue and the other half will go to the roads.

In Public Comment, Joe McDevitt and Wes Grant addressed the Commission about courthouse surveillance camera footage they recently Sunshine Requested. The video had no audio and there were gaps in what was recorded. The cameras themselves seemed to be good quality, but Grant didn’t think the camera system had been set up correctly. McDevitt explained that he has audio and video cameras installed in all of his business offices and he felt it was a good practice to reduce liability.

Following up from last week’s meeting, Commissioner Gohagan read a post from Recorder of Deeds Donnie Snellings’ Facebook page wherein Snelling claimed people wanted to use the Recorder’s discretionary fund to pave Camden County’s roads. Gohagan asked his fellow commissioners if any of them had made this request of Snelling? Both Dougan and Skelton denied they had made such a request.

As a follow-up to his earlier comments, McDevitt clarified with the Commission that the deadline for the bids for the county’s 4^th Sale properties was imminent. The bids will be held by the County Clerk and opened at a future Commission meeting.

As the final Public Comment, Nathan Rinne explained that he had made a comment on Facebook because he was told by a Road and Bridge employee that Donnie Snelling had a dust control product called “Base1” sprayed on his gravel road. Rinne later learned that a load of “base rock” had been dumped on the road instead of the supposed Base1 dust treatment. Rinne also alleged that Snelling had drawn the county’s Planning and Zoning District map and Snelling had said that he had deliberately excluded his property and property belonging to others outside of the district’s boundaries.

Presiding Commissioner Skelton expressed some irritation that the Commission was hearing so many comments and complaints about things that had been posted on Facebook.

Rinne went on to propose a [assumedly satirical] resolution for the Commission that would declare that the county would stop maintaining roads since almost every road had some connection to either an elected official or someone who supported an elected official. Rinne also non-satirically complained that too many of the Camden County employees had familial connections and he recommended that the Commission explore automation as a more efficient and affordable method to conduct county business.

The Commission did not address Rinne’s comments in any official capacity.

And that was that.