BLOOMFIELD — The Stoddard County Commission approved a bid to repair the Stoddard County Public Water District No. 3 tower in Grayridge during its Oct. 12 meeting.
The commissioners accepted a bid of $202,439 from Hogan’s Painting and Sandblasting of Van Buren, to paint the inside and outside of the tank. The funds will be paid with the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The commission has allocated $5 million of the county’s ARPA funds to be used for projects such as water, sewer and broadband and for the hospital, the ambulance district and licensed residential care facilities. The remaining $637,766 has been reserved for future needs.
So far, the county has committed funds to four projects:
• $800,000 to a water-and-sewer system for a project to bring a truck stop and hotel to property near the U.S. Highway 60-Missouri State Highway 25 interchange near Dexter.
• $1 million to help build a fiber-optic internet service for the western portion of the county, including the Puxico R8 School District outside city limits.
• up to $225,000 for the Stoddard County Ambulance District.
• repair of the Water District No. 3 tower.
Fiber optic grant
Kelly Mitchell, executive director of Bootheel Regional Planning Commission, told the commissioners Monday that the Community Development Block Grant to fund up to $2 million to build a fiber optic network in the Puxico R-8 School District has been approved by multiple review boards and is sitting on the governor’s desk for signing.
EMA Report
• EMA Director Andrew Bohnert told the commissioners that FEMA approved a grant to pay unbudgeted costs for COVID-19 expenses such as cleaning, overtime/comp time for the EMA director, and mileage during Monday’s meeting.
The grant, which covers costs for June through August, is for $7,967.94.
Bohnert said he will submit another bid for grant money at the end of October.
Presiding Commissioner Danny Talkington said the budgeted funds ran out in May or June.
“That’s all we had budgeted,” Talkington said. “By June (we were told it) should be over … but that’s when we got hit with the Delta variant.”
• The Bootheel Local Emergency Planning Committee approved the purchase of Salamander software, which is used to streamline the process of tracking personnel and equipment during a natural disaster. The group is funding the software for its entire six-county region, which includes Stoddard.
• Bohnert said he is working on rewriting the local emergency operations plan, updating everything in “modern terminology and modern action.”
He said the current plan was probably written in the 1980s.
• Bohnert is looking for volunteers to help the EMA during disasters. He needs volunteers to help run shelters and with donation and volunteer management.
“We’re going to do monthly meetings and training on how to set up a call center,” he said. “I was talking about trying to get people more involved. If something big goes on, I can’t do it all by myself.”
• Bohnert said that all cameras for the Radar Omega network have been installed.
The system not only offers an improved radar system, Radar Omega has installed eight cameras in the county as part of a pilot program. The weather station has installed the camera network at no cost to the county.
Mowing services
The commission approved a bid for mowing services for Drainage District No. 19 in southern Stoddard County during the Oct. 12 meeting.
Tom Riggins Excavation, of Dexter, offered the low bid of $15,795.