Commission makes 911 board appointment

By MIKE MCCOY

Statesman Staff Writer

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- The Stoddard County Commission on Monday appointed John Stepp to the Stoddard County 911 Board of Directors and heard an update on construction of a bridge on County Road 410 northwest of the Aid community.

Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis said County 911 Administrator Carol Moreland had recommended Stepp as a replacement for William Nelson, who resigned from the board. The position is one that represents fire departments on the board.

Mathis said he had contacted Stepp, who is a member of the Advance Fire Department, and he was willing to serve on the board.

Commissioner Carol Jarrell made the motion to appoint Stepp to the 911 Board, and it was seconded by Commissioner Danny Talkington. It passed by a 3-0 vote.

Keith Simpson Contracting, LLC, of Benton, Mo., is constructing the bridge on County Road 410 across Delaware Creek. Simpson was the low bidder with a bid of $319,010.90. The bridge is an 85-foot single span bridge that is 24 feet in width.

County Clerk Joe Watson said he had accompanied Engineer Bill Robison of Smith & Company to the construction site last last week. He said construction was progressing quickly, and the bridge is one of the longest to be replaced in the county in recent years. He said the contractor had hoped to have the bridge completed by the end of the year, but it would probably be mid-January before it is open to traffic.

The bridge was destroyed by flooding in 2011, and is located in Castor Township. FEMA officials gave preliminary approval for replacing the bridge using FEMA funds, but there have been many snags since that time.

The initial estimate by FEMA to replace the bridge was $135,000. Castor Township Director Ron Williams said the FEMA representative who originally assessed the bridge noted at the time that the amount was probably not sufficient. FEMA was to pay 75 percent of the total cost of the project, while the township would pay 25 percent of the total.

Castor Township did not have the funds for the local match, which held up progress on the bridge initially. The county commission later decided to use county funds for the 25 percent match, which in turn could be used as soft money required for off-System Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program (BRO) projects.

Several factors caused the increase in cost of the bridge, including erosion that caused the bridge to be lengthened to 85 feet. The commission made a decision to build the bridge back at Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) specifications. It was widened to 24 feet and guard rails were installed.

FEMA approval came in May of this year.

In other business, County Assessor Jody Lemmon told the commission that he had to buy a new copier/fax machine for his office. He said the old machine was eight years old and developed a problem that prevented printing copies good enough for the needed bar codes on the office mail-outs. He said he purchased a Konica from Shelton Business Machines. He said bids were not needed because the price fell within the state bidding contract rate. He told the commission that his office had the money in the budget for the purchase.

Lemmon said the old copier worked for "plain copying," and he would be glad to give it to another office if it were needed.

Lemmon also told the commission that he had hired Sharon Jones as an office clerk in his office.