BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- The Stoddard County Commission set July 20 at 10 a.m. for convening the Stoddard County Board of Equalization (BOE) for 2015. The board will be open to hear appeals from residents who dispute their property tax assessments.
The county BOE is made up of Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis, Commissioner Carol Jarrell, Commissioner Danny Talkington, Mary Worley and Mike Bollinger. The deadline to file an appeal is the second Monday in July, as set by Missouri state law.
The Board of Equalization (BOE) is a Statutory Board governed by the Missouri Constitution and Missouri Revised Statutes. It has the responsibility of determining the correct value of real and personal property for individuals, businesses and manufacturers. For more information or to schedule an appeal, residents may call the county assessor's office or the clerk's office.
In other business, the commission asked County Clerk Joe Watson to contact representatives of Mutual Medical Plus in Peoria, Ill., to meet with the commission to review the county health insurance. The commission opted for a partially self-funded health insurance plan for 2015. It marks the first time that the county has entered into such a plan.
Mathis said the county was six months into the new insurance, and he would like a review to see how the insurance is working out financially and with providing insurance to employees.
Talkington said he had fielded complaints about the insurance. He said employees had discovered that the old health insurance plan had paid for some items and procedures, while the current plan does not. He said he would like to meet with company representatives to see if the current insurance could be more closely aligned to the old policy.
County Building Superintendent William Dowdy told the commission the humidity levels in the courtrooms in the Justice Center were too high. Humidity led to the growth of mold in the building which had to be remediated just a few years ago.
Dowdy told the commission he was unable to establish the cause of the increased humidity. He said he had contacted Langford Mechanical and Sheet Metal, Inc., to look at the problem. Their workers also were unable to determine the cause of the increased humidity. Talkington said there had to be water being trapped in the building in some location.
Dowdy said he was contacting the manufacturer of the HVAC units to see if they could offer an remedy.
Mathis said it was important that the problem be addressed before it became a more costly problem.
The commission voted to buy shelving for County Sheriff's Detective Hank Trout's office in the Justice Center.