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The Dent County Commissioners regular meeting was held Monday morning at the Dent County Courthouse.  In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell said that work crews were going to repair a sinkhole on Dent County Road 5450, and check the bridge on Dent County Road 6080 for debris and buildup. He said that work crews would also be checking road conditions and looking for downed signs. He also said that the spreader box on truck #119 needs repair. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson reported that there was a washout on Dent County Road 2750 that was to be repaired, plus the workers will check other roads for possible washouts. He also said that truck #114 won’t start and that it would be worked on. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles reported that he attended the Region I Homeland Security Oversight Committee meeting Thursday and the county grant for an additional $24,000 for the generator at the Red Cross Shelter at the Oak Grove Baptist Church was approved and will be sent to the state for approval. He also said that he heard back from the Phelps County Clerk on more questions that he had about the bill from the county for the jurors, but they did not provide any more answers. Later Friday, a fax from Judge Long came in ordering Dent County to pay the outstanding balance of the bill to Phelps County by March 1^st. Scott Krieger from Marceline Mapping came in to discuss plat books and that they would be interested in bidding on doing the job. He said that they can print as few as 200 copies at $25 per book initially, then the county could order at least 25 books at a time for the same $25 per book price. He also said that they could provide GIS services for the assessor. At the last meeting, Mayor Gary Brown, Police Chief Clifford Jadwin, Lt. Keith Steelman and Sheriff Rick Stallings discussed the past boarding bills at the jail. The Missouri state statute of limitations on paying those bills only allows going back five years. After making some clerical corrections between the state and city billing, they came up with a total of $6,055 due. The city and county will have their legal counsels revue the information and get back to the commission. Also at the last meeting, Nick Hutchinson from the Crawford County Juvenile office came in to visit about a $3,000 grant they were awarded for training in the field of child abuse and neglect. The amount will be filtered through Dent County’s budget. The next meeting of the commissioners will be held on Thursday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

The Dent County Commissioners held a budget hearing Monday night at the Judicial Building in the Associate Courtroom. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles reviewed the five major funds of the county based upon revenue figures that remain flat from 2009. In the general revenue fund, the county actually finished $67,073 better that they budgeted for in 2009 and had cash available to start the 2010-year of $1,065,295.19. Major expenses expected include $20,000 for plat books, and extra expenses for the upcoming elections in 2010. The budgeted ending balance for December 31, 2010 is $944,002.08. The Road and Bridge Fund cash balance at the end of 2009 was about $90,000 more than budgeted at $524,400,54. The commission stated that more repairs to chip and seal roads are expected this year, and the price of fuel, oil and propane remains volatile. The commissioners also did not transfer the $50,000 from General Revenue into the fund as they did last year. This will result in an expected ending balance at the end of 2010 at $310,750.54. The Assessor’s Fund will be affected by the state’s decision to cut back the reimbursement of parcels from $6.00 per parcel to $3.99 per parcel. The ending balance for 2009 was $141,696.58 and the expected cash balance at the end of 2010 is $111,012.58. The 9-1-1 Fund is expected to continue to increase slightly in 2010 going from an ending balance in 2009 of $91,307.74 to $94,244.32 at the end of 2010. The Law Enforcement Fund that is generated from a one-half cent sales tax is expected to go down from the $133,240.03 balance at the end of 2009 to $125,913.89 if sales taxes remain flat or decrease in 2010. After there were no questions asked by those present, the commissioners approved the 2010 Dent County Budget.

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