Oct. 13
• The Commission approved and signed accounts payable in the amount of $57,364.42.
Oct. 14
• Presiding Commissioner Bill Lant and Eastern Commissioner Jamey Cope met at the public defender's office in Carthage to discuss additional office space for the public defenders. Also in attendance were three Newton County commissioners and an associate commissioner from Jasper County.
The public defender's office is requesting a larger office space it says is needed to accommodate an attorney and clerical and investigative staff. McDonald, Jasper and Newton counties are in agreement to offer office space to the personnel who travel to each individual county but do not agree with the requested office space to accommodate the entire staff within one location. This request would increase the amount McDonald County contributes by 350% annually. No motions were made or votes requested.
Oct. 18
• Commissioners held a phone conference with Eric Kratzberg of McBride, Lock & Associates, to discuss the county's financial audit.
• The Commission met with members from the McDonald County School Board and Health Department, and the Prosecuting Attorney. The main reason for the meeting was to discuss Department of Elementary and Secondary Education quarantine guidance, Option 4, Test to Stay.
Option 4 would allow students who are in close contact with a covid-positive student or faculty to stay in school as long as they are tested at least three times in seven days and before every extracurricular activity. The students must also wear their masks at all times while in school buildings and during extracurricular activities. If a parent or guardian does not want a child tested or to wear a mask at school and the child was in close contact with a covid-positive individual, there is an option to keep the child at home during the quarantine time.
Prosecuting Attorney Maleia Cheney stated that the McDonald County Health Department was following CDC guidance and would continue to do so to ensure the safety of school faculty, children and their families. Those present wanted to know why McDonald County Health Department was more stringent than Newton and Jasper County health departments.
This was explained as misinformation. Jasper County Health Department officials made their recommendations based on CDC guidance, but Joplin Schools chose to go against those recommendations. Newton County Health Department officials have not followed CDC guidance.
Paige Behm, director of the McDonald County Health Department, stated the department would agree with Option 4 if covid-positive cases in each individual school stay at or below 1% positivity rate. The 1% is of the total census of an individual school building within the district, not 1% of the entire district, in order to determine when Option 4 is available.
At the point a school within McDonald County goes above the 1% rate, it would no longer be recommended by the Health Department to have Option 4 as an option until the school once again obtained a positivity rate below 1%.
Those in attendance for this meeting were McDonald County Schools superintendent Mark Stanton; assistant superintendents Joy Hardridge and Will Gordon; McDonald County School Board members Josh Banta, Chris Smith and Bobby Parish; McDonald County Health Department registered nurse Erin Pagel; McDonald County Health Department director Paige Behm; and McDonald County prosecuting attorney Maleia Cheney.
Oct. 20
• Commissioners attended an all-day regional county commissioners' meeting in Bolivar.
Oct. 25
• Nate Ledgerwood of Tri-State Trucking met with the Commission to finalize paperwork on the lease of three Mack dump trucks for the Road and Bridge Department. This is a two-year lease with the option to purchase or return the trucks at the end of two years. The Commission unanimously voted on March 31 to lease three new Mack dump trucks after the 2019 lease contract ended in Oct. 2021.
Oct. 27
• Human resource officer Jessica Cole updated commissioners on the amount of comp time the sheriff's department accumulated during the 2020 and 2021 pandemic. Western Commissioner Rick Lett motioned to pay out comp time using ARPA funds. Motion passed unanimously.
• Chett Daniel, Crowder College director of research and innovations, met with the commission to give information about the broadband effort Crowder is working on. There will be a meeting at Crowder College on Dec. 2, spanning the entire day.
• The Commission approved and signed accounts payable in the amount of $508,014.50.
Nov. 1
• Commissioners drove the following roads for inspection: Goodin Hollow Road, Mill Creek Road, Pendergraft Road, Brush Creek Road, Cyclone Road and Hickory Road.