The Sun had a extensive interview with Cedar County Presiding Commissioner Marlon Collins on the state of the county. We gave him a chance to read over what we wrote and make any corrections or additions.
Q. What did the county accomplish in 2018 and what is the outlook for this year?
“One of our big accomplishments was replacing all the worn out squad cars at the sheriff’s department. Ten brand new ones. We were able to do that locally at Fugate Motors.”
“We finished all of our FEMA work on the roads from the disaster in April 2017. That was $330,000 worth of repairs. We ran some numbers and they did not pay us enough for hauling. This was apparent at the time of the FEMA exit and we were told to complete all the the projects and then pursue additional funds. We have requested another $92,000 on top of that.”
“People see us hauling gravel and say ‘We need gravel down here.’ All these FEMA sites are specific. Now we can get those other spots.”
“We did our first Economic Enterprise Zone tax abatement Dec. 31 for Superior Gear Box. They added on and hired an additional six employees. This qualified them for a 72% abatement on real property for that expansion. For them it will mean about $1,400.”
“We got our first bridge design for kind of a generic bridge. Our own crew can build these bridges.”
“We have our first one underway. We just got done staking right-of-ways and headwall locations. We planned on digging to bed rock to form footings this week then the rain came and shut us down.” The bridge was condemned by MoDOT in December of 2017 and is located on CR480.
“This will widen a choke spot where the bridge is located. It’s approximately 50 feet long.”
“That will give us credit in the BRO process. We’ll get the bridge down for I’m hoping $80,000 to $100,000 out of our pocket. By doing it ourselves we will be credited for the cost which is called soft match. This can be used in place of the 20% matching funds that are required of us for a BRO project.”
Q. What is BRO?
“That’s a Federal program. We get around $173,000 each year in federal funds credited to us for bridge replacement. Take that bridge on Cedar Creek (Stump Ford) we built a few years ago. That bridge cost close to $700,000. We were able to provide soft match for our 20% obligation along with accumulated BRO funds.”
“That bridge over on Bear Creek is an old iron bridge. It’s probably going to be a 3⁄4 million dollar project. It was shut down by MoDOT during an inspection this last month. We’re getting a temporary fix on it. We’re going to have to replace that bridge in the near future. It’s a fairly well used bridge.”
Q. Do you have plenty of new road graders and all?
“At this time. We have money set back for that. We did order a new brush cutter to be delivered in April.”
“Of course, the County Commission isn’t responsible, but I’ve got a lot of concerns about our hospital. I was looking at a list of all the county hospitals in the State of Missouri. This one has the next to lowest tax rate in the State of Missouri. The one that has the lowest tax rate apparently has much higher property values and brings in a lot more money than what our rate does.”
“If we are going to keep that hospital, we are going to have to try to support it.”
Q. Yes, people go to Nevada and people go to Bolivar.
“My personal thought on the whole matter is: Choice is very important. Convenience to family is important. A hundred and forty jobs are important. We talk about economic development. I hope we are not willing to just throw away 140 jobs.”
“Kenny, I’m putting my money where my mouth is. I moved my primary care to the Stockton Walk – In Clinic. He sends his blood work to Cedar County Memorial and is not obligated to CMH by affiliation. I talked to CCMH Hospital CEO Jana Witt. I had three surgeries in the last 10 years – hernia, gall bladder and appendix removal. They could have all been done there at El Dorado. I have no fear of them doing surgeries like that on me.”
Q. Did you get the hole fixed in the jail?
“Oh, yeah. The engineering firm paid for all of it. They agreed it was a design flaw.”
Q. How much did it cost them to fix it?
“Honestly, I can’t tell you. They just fixed it. I never saw the bills.”
Q, How is the jail coming along on getting prisoners from other places?
“Good. Good. Green County with their look from the State Auditor on the campaign to pass the half cent sales tax, had to pull everybody out and started occupying the trailers set up during that campaign effort.”
“Lawrence County has stepped up. We are getting more from St. Clair County and others as well.”
“It actually is a much better deal. We are getting the same amount of prisoners, just more spread out, instead of being so dependent on one.”
Q. Is the jail making the county money? How much?
“We have not got the final numbers yet, but are operating near break even.”
“(Cedar County Sheriff) Jim Bob (McCray) has just done an excellent job.”
Q. And he did an excellent job stepping up to help the school with the School Resource Officer.
“Yep. Absolutely.”
Q. I don’t know what all went on behind the scenes.
“Not much. He wanted to do it. He came in and talked to us. We gave him kudos and full support. That was pretty much it.”
Q. I was surprised at how easy it went down.
“Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?
It doesn’t hurt the sheriff’s department.
It will cost us a little bit. There will be times when that employee will be doing other stuff when school is out. We will find work for ‘em.”
“It’s a good deal.”
“Jim is a great guy to work with. I go to County Commission meetings across the state. One of their biggest battles is with their sheriff departments. Can’t get them to do this. They won’t do that. They don’t have respect for the budget.”
“Jim Bob is conservative. He’s always watching the budget. If he has an idea or something he needs we all talk about it. If it requires funds that were not budgeted and we can find a way to make it work then we do it. Thus we have an officer for EHS and a new fleet of vehicles. That is how it is supposed to work. He cut the food expenses in the jail by nearly $20,000 this year. This was something the commission could not control but has had continued concern over. Jim Bob got ‘er done.”
Q. How did he do it?
“Buying wisely. Buying food in bulk, eliminating name brands and doing more cooking and less warm and serve meals. Nothing wrong with beans and bread, right? They’ve got a gal over there who is very up on nutrition.”
“We’re trying to work up a pay scale on the jailers and dispatchers. We started that last year and will continue the effort this year. The deputies get a supplemental pay scale from the state. And any increase that we give to their pay scale, that supplemental amount decreases by that amount. So we accomplish nothing.”
“That minimum wage thing. Even though we are not required to abide by it, it is still going to affect us because who is going to want to work at the jail when they can go down to the grocery store or a convenience store and make more money without the headaches? So we’re also trying to stay ahead of that.”
Q. Anything else?
“We’re just working on the bridges.”
Q. How many?
“I don’t have any number. I’ll finish my tenure with this county and there will still be a lot more to be built. We have a lot of bridges that were built in the days of the WPA and before that.”
“The old iron bridges – the Hopewell Bridge being one and Bear Creek Bridge being the other in particular. That bridge was built in 1917. We’re pretty well got its life expectancy and then some out of it.”
“I like to look at all these iron bridges, but it would cost too much to refurbish them. We just had all our MoDOT bridges inspected in December. That’s how that bridge on Bear Creek got closed.”
“They are going to come back and discuss with us all of our bridges. After that, we will have a better idea of what our priorities are.”
“I would also like to thank and credit the voters of Cedar County who saw fit to support the general revenue sales tax. It has given us room to breathe and move towards the future. Thank you”
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