The Henry County Commission met pursuant to adjournment at the courthouse in Clinton, Missouri.
Those members present were: Rick Fosnow – North District Commissioner
Dale Lawler – South District Commissioner
Kelly Marriott- Deputy County Clerk
Absent: Jim Stone – Presiding Commissioner
At 9:04 a.m. Commissioner Lawler brought the meeting to order.
The agenda was approved as presented.
The minutes from the Tuesday, July 9th, 2024 meeting were read; Commissioner Fosnow made a motion to approve the minutes. Commissioner Lawler seconded the motion, motion carried.
Ann Julian, Collector/Treasurer, visited with the commission regarding the back tax sale and SB 190.
Expenditures from the following were approved to be paid:
Employee Benefits Assessor Road and Bridge
Buildings and Grounds County Clerk August Elections
Commission Jury Pay Law Enforcement Department
General County Government Circuit Clerk Law Enforcement Fund
Inmate Security ARPA Fund Coroner
At 9:30 a.m. Sheriff Kent Oberkrom and Jacque Watson, Jail Administrator, met with the commission to discuss inmate healthcare. ACH the current healthcare company used by the detention center has raised their rates exponentially for the year. The County had been paying $90,000.00 with inmate medicine being $40,000.00 of that. ACH’s new contract is for $274,473.00. Due to the extreme jump in prices Sheriff Oberkrom and Jacque put out an RFQ and received 3 quotes for services. One from ACH for a total of $234,473.00, one from Turnkey Health for a total of $218,367.00 and one from Southern Health for a total of $207,000.00. Each quote had a contracted LPN or RN included. Currently the Sheriff’s Office has their own on staff LPN who not only administers medicine to inmates but also gets hands on with various other duties at the detention center. Under all the new contracts the LPN position would have to be absorbed by the company and she could only be an employee of the company. There was discussion on how to pay for the new inmate medical contract, Jacque stated she had spoke with Clerk Watson regarding using some of the Opioid settlement monies for this. Due to the budget being done in December of last year and the increase not happening until this fall, Sheriff Oberkrom stated they would have to amend their budget at some point. A decision does not have to be made today, it was asked of commissioners to review the RFQ’s and be ready for more discussion next week on the subject.
Commissioner Lawler reminded Sheriff Oberkrom that tow bids would be coming up soon and he needed to be getting bid specs ready to send out to companies interested.
At 9:54 a.m. Commissioner Fosnow made a motion to go into closed session via RSMo. 610.021 (3) to discuss personnel matters. Commissioner Lawler seconded the motion, motion carried with a roll call vote: Stone-Absent, Lawler-Yes, Fosnow-Yes
At 10:31 a.m. Commissioner Fosnow made a motion to end closed session. Commissioner Lawler seconded the motion, motion carried with a roll call vote: Stone-Absent, Lawler-Yes, Fosnow-Yes
Commissioner Fosnow made a motion to approve a sick pay donation request, Commissioner Lawler seconded the motion, motion carried.
Scott Largent, Assessor, visited with the commissioners regarding the upcoming Board of Equalization, Scott stated that they did not have any appointments set yet, as everything had been settled in office thus far.
Dennis Bowers, Road and Bridge Supervisor, updated the commission on the state of NW 1061, NW 1000, and NW 1050 Rd in Bogard Township as he had been asked to go and look at culverts and the current state of the roads after being bladed by the Township. Dennis addressed an issue that a culvert had been taken out by the Road Board and a citizen was unhappy about it. Dennis stated that the issue would be between the Road Board and the citizen and not the County. However, Dennis was majorly concerned about how the roads were being graded leaving clogged culverts, covered culverts, and big piles of rock in ditches. His major concern was the prediction of storms this weekend and if they receive a lot of rain fall it could potentially damage the roads due to the water not being able to flow properly. Dennis said that the Road and Bridge department could go out and clean out the culverts but it would be at a cost to the Township.
Dennis shard that they have started the Augusta St Bridge project.
Commissioner Lawler asked Dennis about the conservation road in Bethlehem Township that has not been maintained. Dennis stated that he had went and looked at the road, that the brush is badly grown up and the portion of the road owned by conservation was not maintained. He shared that it is the Conservation Departments responsibility to cut the brush and get the road back up in shape.
Commissioner Fosnow shared that he had received a phone call from Wilbur Caldwell, Road Board Member of Clinton County Club Special, regarding NE 100 and NE 200 Rd. Wilbur was concerned it not having been mowed. Dennis shared that the Special Road District only wanted arm mowers last year and not the bush hog, therefore it did not get mowed with the bush hog, and it is not scheduled to be mowed again until next year.
Dennis informed Commissioners that the Emergency Management Joint Operations trailer was now being housed at the Road and Bridge Department. The City of Clinton is housing a new firetruck so it had to be moved.
Brad Wright attended the commission meeting to discuss a check cut by Casey’s for a drone donation. Commissioner Lawler stated that the check had been voided and a letter was going out to the Casey’s Corporation.
Commissioner Fosnow called Paul Salmon, Bogard Township Road Board Member, to inform them of the road grading issues in the Township. He shared that a major concern was with the water not being able to run through the culverts and that had the potential to cause damage to the roads. Paul stated that he was aware of the situation and intended on going out to fix the roads and culverts. Commissioner Fosnow shared that Dennis Bowers was going to come up with the crew and clean out the culverts but it would be at a cost to the Township. Paul stated that he would get it done.
Commissioners adjourned at 12:00 p.m.
