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Commissioners Discuss 911 Funding, Roads

By MARK EVANS

mevans@stegenherald.com

More discussion was held about funding 911 services during last Thursday’s Ste. Genevieve County Commission meeting.

The combined St. Francois – Ste. Genevieve County 911 center is funded by a special tax on landline phones. This is becoming less and less of a revenue producer.

Felix Meyer, county emergency management director, pointed out that 83% of the emergency calls coming into the 911 center are from cell phones.

“Yet cell phones don’t support 911,” Presiding Commissioner Garry Nelson said.

There has been one fee added, which directs money toward 911 operations, but it only applies to the purchase of phones with built-in minutes. It is also a one-time fee.

The idea has been bounced around for some time that a tax on all cell phones, similar to the one land line users pay, could solve the problem. It would probably be a tough sell, however.

“I’m not a tax-happy person,” Nelson said, “but cell phones are what people use today and there should be some means of getting cell phone users to support 911, which at some point they’re going to call for help.”

REMONUMENTATION CONTRACT SIGNED

The commissioners voted to accept a contract to continue taking part in the Missouri Division of Agriculture’s remonumenting program.

The remomumenting process is to perpetuate surveying corners — many original to the time of the Louisiana Purchase of 1815. If the monument marking the corner of a piece of property is destroyed, the position can be reestablished, based on the witness trees. The county has been paying for five to 10 a year, to be done by county surveyor Gerald “Duck” Bader.

The fee has increased from $300 each, to $350, for a total cost of $2,100. It rose from $250 to $300 in 2017.

ROAD CREWS DOING CHIP & SEAL WORK

Scott Schmieder, road and bridge foreman, reported that chip and seal paving was being done on Frye, Buchholtz, Saddleback and other roads. Some duropatching was also being done on Church Road.

A resident of Frye Road had complained about the work had that no warning had been given. She threatened to send the county a bill for cleaning tar off of her vehicle.

The commissioers were quick to back Schmieder.

Nelson noted that Schmieder puts extra rock on, to keep oil from getting onto cars, whenever his crews chip and seal. He also said that signs are put out at least one day prior to the work being done.

Schmieder noted that it would not be feasible to individually contact every resident of a road prior to paving.