A few items of interest that the Commission has been working on are below.
• The Commission recently received a Court Judgement from the Eastern District of Missouri in the case of Argonaut Great Central Insurance Company v. Lincoln County, Missouri, et al. The Court found that Argonaut has a duty to defend the County Defendants for the claims raised in the Russell Scott Faria v. Sergeant Ryan J. McCarrick, et al case.
• As we talked about last week, the budgeting process has begun, and the early focus, as it is every year, is the 911 Dispatch Center budget. Based on the recommendation of the 911 Advisory Board, letters will be sent to all agencies that use the Dispatch Center’s services outlining their respective costs for the services in 2019. All agencies will be invited to attend the September 911 Advisory Board meeting to discuss the proposed charges. It is important to note that the services are provided to each agency at cost minus a credit for a proportional share of the land line revenues. Other than the land line revenues to fund the 911 Emergency call taking, no entity, including the County, has a source of revenue specifically dedicated to the cost of dispatch and warrant processing. Offering competitive wages and keeping qualified employees remains a challenge as the greener pastures in other areas often draw away employees that we have paid to train. This has been, and will continue to be, a challenge, but the bottom line is to make the funding as equitable as possible and to not lose sight of the focus of our efforts, which is the safety of the residents.
• We have broken through the last remaining obstacles on a few bridge projects, and will soon open bids to construct a replacement bridge on Snyder Rd. and build a new bridge on Taylor School Rd. in place of an old creek crossing. The bridge on Snyder Rd. is sitting on an unstable pile of sand, and the crossing on Taylor School, as we have discussed before, is a dangerous situation that has worsened as the population in that area has increased. Both are worthwhile projects, and Snyder Rd. construction will be funded at no additional cost to the County through the Federal Bridge Program (BRO) while the Taylor School project will be 80% funded by a FEMA Hazard Mitigation grant. The end result will be two worthwhile enhancements to our system at minimal cost to the County.
That’s all we have time for now. As always, call, e-mail or stop by the Courthouse if you have questions. Until next week…
The Commissioners
