Commissioners during the Sept. 25 meeting discussed a public information hearing that will be held by MoDOT this week to discuss logistics of the planned Standing Rock Bridge replacement on Highway 19 south of Salem.
“This is a bad subject, but I’ve got to bring it up here,” said commissioner Gary Larson. “Preston Kramer [MoDOT Area Engineer] sent us all an email about the Standing Rock Bridge replacement. They’re going to have a public information session [this] Thursday night in Salem. They’re going to close Route 19 at Gladden Creek Bridge for 45 days, and they’re going to detour traffic on Route K and KK. I’m already hearing a lot of negative talk about it, so everybody needs to go to that meeting. I don’t know if they’re going to change it from the input; I don’t know the whole scope of it.”
“The talk that I’ve been getting is the safety of the ambulances,” replied commissioner Wes Mobray. “You’re another 30 minutes probably out.”
Mobray said he was concerned about damage to county roads from increased or rerouted traffic. The commissioners discussed possible methods that could allow traffic to still pass through the area without a detour. MoDOT’s plans to reroute traffic are not final, as another possibility discussed in prior meetings involved MoDOT building a half-bridge over the creek during construction.
The public information hearing will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday at the Salem Community Center @ The Armory.
• During road reports, Mobray said that District One crews would be grading on 6420 and 5600, hauling rock to 6633, and installing 100’ of driveway pipe. He also reported that the county had received $127,548.98 in reimbursement from MoDOT for FLAP project 57 (Cooley Bridge Replacement), along with the final acceptance report.
For District Two, Gary Polk reported that the whole crew would be working on patching chip-and-seal with asphalt on 4300.
During his presiding commissioner’s report, Larson gave a reminder of the MRPC annual dinner and awards ceremony which will be held in Hermann at the Hermannhof Festhalle on at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 26. He said tickets are $40 per person and RSVPs were due by Sept. 29. He said two Dent County residents had been nominated for awards, Delores Gray Wood and Easton May.
Grant Wilson, Field Representative with the office of U.S. Congressman Jason Smith, came by the Sept. 21 meeting of the Dent County Commission to give some updates.
Wilson told the commissioners that Congress had gone back into session. Wilson reported that the congressman participated in a “healthcare roundtable”, starting in Crystal City on Sept. 11, before the event made its way into the state’s Bootheel. Wilson said they spoke about recruiting and retaining healthcare staff, burdensome regulations that make it harder to provide care for patients, and more.
“Another thing that was pretty interesting to learn as well, was that Medicare reimbursements that a lot of these hospitals rely on to be able to get their funding and have their operations go in. There are urban hospitals that are getting way more Medicare reimbursements, and then the rural ones aren't getting as much reimbursement from Medicare.”
Wilson also said that a formal impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden would begin the following week. He said Smith would be involved.
“Next week, they will be opening up the first impeachment inquiry, not a formal impeachment, but an impeachment inquiry, and Chairman Smith is going to be leading that,” said Wilson.
During road reports, Wes Mobray reported that crews would be grading on county roads 6580 and 5680, hauling rock to 5530, and cutting brush on 6410.
Mobray also gave the District Two road report, as District Two Commissioner Gary Polk was absent from the meeting. He reported that crews would be grading on 4270 and 4310, hauling rock to 4270, 4310, and 4300; cutting brush on 6160, and patching chip-and-seal on 2300, 2250, 2315, 2630, 2640, 2620, and 2070.
During Larson’s Presiding Commissioner Report, he said that he had attended a meeting of the Dent County Tourism Commission, in which two applications were approved, along with three requests for reimbursements. One reimbursement was tabled. Larson also said he attended a meeting of the South Central Commissioners Association in Houston the day prior, and later on the evening of Sept. 21, would be attending a meeting of the IDA board.
