VIENNA — During the June 24 Maries County Commission meeting, Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman said he had talked with state Rep. Bennie Cook about getting Maries County involved in the voluntary Agri-Ready County program by Missouri Farmers Care.

The program designates a county as Agri-Ready after the county commission completes an application. According to the Missouri Farmers Care website, the Agri-Ready County program “connects counties with Missouri Farmers Care to encourage and protect agriculture and secure it as a thriving component in our state’s economic future. The granting of Agri-Ready Designated County status begins a partnership in which Missouri Farmers Care and our members will work with county leadership to promote agricultural economic development in Agri-Ready counties.”

Additionally, an Agri-Ready County designation “will encourage county leaders, farmers, ranchers and agricultural processors to position the county for agriculture growth and development, encourage on-farm stewardship and encourage partnerships equipping students for skills needed in agricultural jobs. The program encourages local leaders, farmers, agri-businesses to strategically assess needs and opportunities to make sustainable, long-term decisions about investing and expanding farms, ranches and agricultural processing in a county.”

Seventy of Missouri’s 114 counties have received Agri-Ready designations, including neighboring Gasconade, Miller and Osage counties. Stratman said receiving the designation could benefit the county or groups within it when applying for grants. He said Cook planned to bring people to a commission meeting in July to start the process.

Elevator

The courthouse elevator was still defective at the time of the June 27 commission meeting. Stratman made several calls to Schindler Elevator and other companies to try to get the elevator fixed as soon as possible.

During the July 1 meeting, Stratman said the new part for the elevator had shipped though he did not know its current location or when it would arrive.

Communications Grant

Stratman said he had been reviewing documentation about the grant a group of local counties received to join the Emergency Services IP Network (ESInet). Last fall, the commission agreed to have Maries County join Crawford, Phelps and Pulaski counties in applying for the grant.

ESInet provides a reliable network to support and transport 911 calls to Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) in the area. Establishing the local network will increase redundancy and allow for reliable backups in case of communications failure at one of the individual counties’ dispatch centers. The process will remove old copper trunk lines that centers use to receive calls and move to a digital system. The new network will also help dispatch centers locate the geographic source of calls.

Stratman said the paperwork he had seen for the service included a bill for more than $151,000. Before signing the paperwork, he wanted to ensure that the approximately $151,000 was the total cost that would be divided between the member counties and not Maries County’s portion of the bill.

Later in the meeting, Stratman confirmed that the grant covered the full cost and the county would not even have to pay for reimbursement.

Courthouse architecture

The commission received correspondence that an architectural historian with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ State Historic Preservation Office planned to stop by the courthouse on the afternoon of June 24 to take a look at the courthouse, which was completed in 1942 through the help of federal Public Works Administration funds as part of the New Deal. The county has received historic preservation grants for the courthouse in the past.

During the June 27 meeting, the commission was unsure if the historian came to the courthouse because the scheduled visit was after hours, and the commission had received no further correspondence about the visit.

Fuel Tax Revenue

Treasurer Angie Stricklan reported the county’s fuel tax revenue for June. Road One and Road Two share the revenue 55 percent and 45 percent, respectively.

Motor fuel tax revenue totaled $41,900.34 in June, which was an 8 percent increase over the previous June. Halfway through 2024, motor fuel tax revenue has totaled $238,772.74 compared  to $222,993.16 at this time last year.

Motor vehicle taxes totaled $9,545.86 in June, which was a 13 percent increase over the previous June. Halfway through 2024, motor vehicle tax revenue is lower than in 2023 with $53,612.78 in revenue compared to $55,028.09 at this time last year.

Motor vehicle fee revenue totaled $4,350.45 in June, which was a 12 percent decrease over the previous June. Halfway through 2024, motor vehicle fee revenue is lower than in 2023 with $24,652.04 compared to $26,639.53 at this time last year.