VIENNA — Maries County Commissioners held an abbreviated meeting on July 15 as they once again appeared on the court docket for an update on the Fish Hollow case.

The case, which asks the court to determine the open or closed status of Maries Road 306 and the Fish Hollow access to the Gasconade River, has been quiet since Judge John Beger ordered in January that the road, hammerhead turnaround, and boat ramp were public while the parking lot is private. The resolution of the case depended upon the county turning over a survey of the property to the court.

After getting the survey, the county commission and Prosecuting Attorney Tony Skouby spoke in March with researcher Patrick Kliethermes, who had found a right-of-way deed from 1936 that gave the land that would become Maries Road 306 to the county. After talking with Kliethermes, the commission asked Skouby to move to reopen evidence in the case so the deed could be added.

In April, Skouby made the motion and the court set a hearing date for July 15. In June, Kliethermes received a subpoena to appear at the hearing.

On July 15, the commission met briefly in its usual meeting room before moving upstairs to the courtroom. When they got there, the case had been called, but it was put on a brief hold. After working through some of the other items on the docket, Beger called a recess and met in his chambers with the attorneys present, including Skouby and David Bandre, the attorney for the petitioners.

Throughout the recess, attorneys came out of the chambers. When Bandre exited, he left the courthouse. A few minutes later, Skouby came out and gathered the commission and Kliethermes outside the courtroom.

Skouby informed the group that Beger had agreed to admit the new evidence, an unsealed and unsigned copy of the deed, into the court record. He said that during the discussion in the chambers, the judge got to hear both sides before making the decision. He thanked Kliethermes for attending and said having a witness available was important even though he did not testify.

Following the July 15 hearing, the court scheduled a case review for Aug. 19 at 9 a.m.

Election Concerns

County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers said she had heard concerns from the public about a possible conflict of interest that could arise in her office on election night. Deputy County Clerk Renee Kottwitz works part-time for the sheriff’s office and has publicly supported one of the candidates in the Republican primary for sheriff.

Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre asked what would be wrong with Kottwitz working the election.

“They think we’re going to cheat,” Rodgers said. “They don’t understand how the system works.”

“Everything is too transparent,” Fagre said. “You can’t cheat.”

Rodgers said anyone who has concerns or questions can visit the county clerk’s office to learn more about the way it runs elections to ensure that they are fair.

“I can explain how things work and our checks and balances,” she said.

Rodgers said the voting machines all have memory cards. Whenever a ballot passes through a voting machine, the memory card registers the ballot. When the polls close, a report prints from the machine with that polling location’s totals.

“When (the poll workers) come in that night, they bring those tapes plus that memory card,” Rodgers said. “The memory card gets inserted into the computer. It uploads just like that. Instant. A report is printed out (and) checked against the total of the tape that the machine printed out at the precinct to make sure those two match. There’s nothing in this office that we can do that messes with any count.”

The commissioners agreed that they did not see any reason for the county clerk’s office to change the way it conducts its election night responsibilities.

Elevator

Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman said he had met with Cardinal Elevator and Schindler Elevator to look over the courthouse elevator, which had been experiencing problems in recent weeks. The commission recently agreed to look into options for repairs to the elevator

During the visit, the companies took photos and notes of the elevator to put together bids for repair costs. As the company that originally sold the elevator to the county, Schindler Elevator already had much of the information on file. Stratman said he had been talking with another company that he expected would also make a visit and potentially bid on the project.

The elevator was back in working order after remaining out of order for a few weeks. The county continues to monitor its status.

Roads

Maries County resident Clifford Oesch visited the July 18 meeting to ask if something could be done about the potholes on Maries Road 505 near Kenner Church.

Fagre said recent rain had washed out the road. He planned to pass on the notice to the Road One crew.