[0:05] which I find really exciting. Uh I've been the mayor been the mayor here

[0:10] almost a year and this is our third meeting. Um one of the things that

[0:14] excites me the most is that when we have these we invite the county the county

[0:18] has been great to come and partner with us and it just makes our whole area

[0:23] better when we can do things together. So tonight we had had a request at the

[0:28] last town hall that we get together again before election time. We had

[0:34] several really tricky ballot initiatives going through this year and uh Miss K.

[0:40] McMerry is here and is going to help us with some information on some of that.

[0:44] Um, we have school board candidates from the Fair School District because we have

[0:49] several of them that will be running um, next Tuesday, I guess, is election day.

[0:55] And so, you'll get to hear from them and you'll get to hear from county. Uh,

[0:59] their election is not until November, but I think the sooner that we can get

[1:02] to know who's running and who they are, the better off we'll be. So, thank you

[1:07] for taking time to be here tonight and become more informed about our community

[1:12] and about our county. Um, we were going to start with candidates tonight, but

[1:16] Miss Kay has another engagement. So, I'm going to ask Miss K Mc Merry if she'll

[1:21] come up and she's going to talk to you about some of the ballot initiatives

[1:24] that we're going to be facing. Miss K.

[1:35] Some people say I don't. I'm Hale Bry. I have I've lived here pretty much all my

[1:42] life here. My dad was a ball teacher and I have

[1:47] been lobbying in Jefferson City now for 14 years. And I will tell you

[1:52] truthfully, this is the hardest year I've ever worked. So, um, tonight I want

[2:00] to address Senate Bill three.

[2:05] And if um Carol and Glenna did your job, most of you will have copies of that. If

[2:13] not, um I'll give you my phone number or my email, and you can certainly call me.

[2:19] I don't mind at all. So, I'm going to start this this way.

[2:25] When you vote for something unknown,

[2:29] Senate Bill 3 is just that. And let me tell you why.

[2:36] It is not out of the courts of Missouri yet. It is in the Cole County courts.

[2:42] Three two rep as a representative, a senator, and a citizen from Dixon,

[2:49] Missouri filed lawsuit in June

[2:54] 2025 and said, "This bill is

[2:58] unconstitutional." And part of the reason for that is it

[3:04] had two different sections in the bill. Number one, it was funding and trying to

[3:09] keep the Kansas City Chiefs here in Missouri. And number two, it was at the

[3:15] same time asking to give tax breaks and what have you for other people such as

[3:22] ourselves or because I'm old. Um, and we need to, you know, we need to all think

[3:29] about those things and look at those things. I want to read the ballot.

[3:35] Shall the county Oregon exempt eligible taxpayers from certain tax increases on

[3:43] eligible taxpayers primary residents above the liability incurred during the

[3:49] initial credit year. You all understand that?

[3:56] It's about as clear as mud to a lot of people.

[3:59] And my objective uh has been basically to contact

[4:05] everybody I know from north of Kansas City to the Osho across to Cape Dorado.

[4:13] Uh all all the people I can contact here in this area and say they, you know,

[4:18] they're opposing it. They're not supporting this bill. It's your right as

[4:24] a taxpayer to do as you wish. But when we are affecting

[4:30] school districts, when we're affecting fire departments,

[4:35] the libraries, county governments, city government,

[4:40] um, and we're asking them to forfeit money. And then today, the

[4:46] developmentally disabled came out with a great big uh post about how it will

[4:52] affect them. So, there are a lot of unknowns about

[4:57] this bill, but I'll give you some figures. And I tried to do my research

[5:02] and those of you that have been privileged to get one of these um has

[5:07] all of the people that I have contacted or the newspaper articles that I've read

[5:13] or the TV stations or whatever. So, it's not like I really haven't gotten into

[5:19] this. Tanya may know more about this than I

[5:23] do, but here here are the estimated losses to the school

[5:29] should sit billf free pass $359,000

[5:36] per couch $157,000

[5:42] kosh 100,000

[5:45] Alton 340,000 and we're not talking about one time

[5:51] shot. Folks, we are talking about multiple years.

[5:56] So, it continues. That's a that's a real concern for

[6:01] anybody in this county because what it's going to cause is that funding will go

[6:06] stagnant and nine times out of 10 people are going to say, "Well, we've passed,

[6:11] you know, issues before and blah blah blah blah." Somebody said to me today,

[6:15] "Well, we were supposed to get a lot of money out of the lottery."

[6:20] I think maybe 2% is what education gets out of the lottery fund in the state of

[6:26] Missouri that we voted on years ago. That's pretty sad.

[6:31] At the last town hall meeting Tanya gave us I'm sorry. Tanya gave us

[6:38] what would happen if Senate Bill 2780 should pass. And that's another property

[6:43] tax bill. This one, the concern is you're taking the $2.75

[6:50] levy down to $220.

[6:56] That becomes about a 17- 19% um sales tax if we expand. So, House

[7:06] Bill 2780 for the four school districts here in

[7:10] the county would give us 2,500 or 2557

[7:20] uh estimated loss and that would be again per year.

[7:26] So, now if you can do the math, we're getting on up to about a half a million

[7:30] dollars. Another bill floating through uh the

[7:36] legislature and it is um it's on the Senate side. It was discussed briefly

[7:42] today and laid over will be the initiative to change uh from income tax

[7:49] to sales tax. And we all think well that sounds pretty

[7:54] big. Well, if you're paying 17 to 19% more

[7:58] for your haircut, for instance, as a little example, I figured up today I'd

[8:04] be paying about $36 a haircut. Some of you may say, "Oh, that won't be

[8:10] the case." There's facts and figures out coming out of Dent County

[8:15] showing that if you spend $100 at a grocery store, you're going to spend

[8:19] about $25 in taxes. So, those things are concerning.

[8:26] The total loss for the Alton Couch and Koskinon

[8:34] would be almost $3.6 million. Now, if you think about that, how many

[8:42] can really afford that? Not a school district in this county,

[8:47] nor anywhere else that I understand. from talking to people from North Kansas

[8:52] City down to Joplin to do the show to Wright County. Nobody could afford it

[8:58] and they know that. So

[9:03] on Tuesday we vote and you in your own hearts

[9:10] can determine how you want to vote. I can't tell you how to do that,

[9:18] but I do know that it's so important not just to this county, but to the state of

[9:23] Missouri. When a judge can demand that we

[9:29] 97 counties in the state of Missouri have to vote

[9:34] for this issue on Tuesday. The rest of the counties are exempt

[9:42] pretty much. And if you, you know, having read a lot of that, you're going

[9:47] to be looking at places like Kansas City and Columbia where they're heavy

[9:51] Democrats. Uh, so just be aware, you know, I hope

[9:56] that you will uh consider your votes and I'll be anxious to to see the

[10:03] results next week. Um, I can briefly take questions,

[10:09] but I do have another obligation. This will be my fourth or fifth one today.

[10:16] [clears throat] >> Go ahead.

[10:18] » Just to be clear, >> yes.

[10:22] » I'm sorry. >> SB3 passed last year.

[10:26] » It did pass in the legislature, >> but now

[10:31] » the [clears throat] judge in Cole County has

[10:34] mandated that we will go back and revote Senate Bill three.

[10:41] because there's been so much controversy in the court challenge

[10:47] » and it's like 190 bill 190. It's very like Senate Bill 190.

[10:54] » Senate Bill 190. If you've not signed up yet, I'm going to tell I'm going to put

[10:58] a little plug in. On April 30th, if you were 62 years old and above, all right?

[11:06] and you own your own house, you have the opportunity to go to the courthouse and

[11:12] sign up for your credit there to freeze uh your taxes

[11:19] on your house and hopefully not do any work on it because if you do it'll

[11:25] increase again. But I'm just, you know, I'm trying to give you a little

[11:29] information here about that. Also, it's important. April the 30th is the other

[11:33] deadline for that.

[11:42] just your house. >> Sorry, Kathy.

[11:50] » I imagine they will be going after your farmland.

[11:55] » Mr. Hoba, >> what are the advantages? What are they?

[12:03] » Thank you. That is true.

[12:14] » Um, what David just said is true. It's similar to to 190, you know, and that's

[12:22] their intent and purpose, and they want you to believe that. And they also do

[12:26] not want you to think that um they are going to, as you said, blow

[12:34] smoke. That's not their intention to do that. And if you talk to any of the

[12:40] representatives or senators, that's probably what they're going to tell you.

[12:44] But um I've researched about tw 12 different organization

[12:49] organizations and probably most of you in this room have heard of the Missouri

[12:53] Schoolboard Association uh which is the state organization for

[12:58] education and believe me they're saying the same thing.

[13:06] Am I am I right understanding if you sign up for this place will be

[13:10] reassessed for that and you have to sign up every year you do have to sign up for

[13:17] 190 every year the assessment I'm not sure David

[13:23] » automat

[13:32] $300 >> that could be very well true

[13:42] Anyway, I'll be happy to take questions if you

[13:45] have pencils and you want to write down my number, it's fine. I'm like a doctor.

[13:49] I'm on call all the time. >> Okay, Joy.

[14:01] » Vote or no? No means no in this in this instance. If

[14:07] you vote yes, you may be mad later on, but that's your choice.

[14:14] » Any other questions?

[14:31] cuz they won't confuse you. you know, you're fine. Having

[14:41] » I hope not. Having having been there for 14 years, I

[14:46] can tell you right now, it just goes up and down. Um, and if there are tax

[14:51] issues like we've got this year, we have 100 tax bills in the state of Missouri.

[14:56] Um, that could be heard at any point. And this is also the time of the year

[15:02] that they say, "Well, we're just going to put 270 and 1410 and and whatever

[15:08] together." And they'll expect you to understand all

[15:12] of that if some of it comes to a vote, which this is. They intentionally write

[15:17] ballots to where not very many people are going

[15:22] to understand unless you really research them. And I'm going out on land, but

[15:29] it's okay. have to retire again.

[15:33] » How did our state representative, our state senator?

[15:39] » Is he here? No. Um, [clears throat] Representative Elliott

[15:45] actually voted yes. He voted yes on uh Senate Bill 3. He

[15:50] voted yes on 278. So, he would uh be glad to put his two

[16:00] cents in, I'm sure. Senator Bean out of um the Southeast area.

[16:08] Oh, thank you. The Strawberry Barbecue um voted for Senate Bill Three. They

[16:16] have not um of course 2780 is still being heard in the Senate

[16:23] so they've not voted on that yet but um you know call them.

[16:31] You can look up their numbers pretty quick

[16:35] and if they won't talk to you just tell their legislative assistant exactly what

[16:39] you think and feel. My number 573 368

[16:47] 9889.

[16:51] If you can't hear me, call the radio station.

[16:54] Just kidding. Thank you.

[16:58] Things we have going on with these Senate bills and have interest and

[17:02] there's several people around you that have done good research. So, if you have

[17:06] questions, I know Miss Debbie, will you raise your hand? And Debbie Sanchez does

[17:11] a lot of research and she has stuff on Facebook. Miss Tanya knows a lot also

[17:15] about these Senate bills. These not only affect our cities and our towns and our

[17:20] county, they affect the future of our people. And so please, please consider

[17:26] carefully when you vote. Um, moving right along here, I'd like to ask that

[17:31] the candidates for their school board come down, please.

[17:37] Sorry, >> we're going to start with them because

[17:39] it's a smaller group.

[17:44] I'm so thankful for everyone who came out tonight. It's great to see you.

[17:54] » I'm going to have Brent bring you the microphone and I'm going to ask that you

[17:59] each one introduce yourself and tell why you chose to run for third district

[18:03] school board.

[18:13] Hello everybody. My name is Don Edward. I am u school board for a lot of

[18:19] different reasons. First off, I have three kids in the school system. Um

[18:24] they're doing great overall, but as I've been analyzing the situation, and you

[18:28] got to keep in mind where I'm coming from. I come from a military background.

[18:33] Been in the army for 24 years. Had positions from platoon leader to

[18:38] battalion S3, battalion S2, led trained uh soldiers on battlefields in Iraq and

[18:47] Afghanistan like five times. Desert Storm. Okay. I know what it takes to be

[18:53] a leader. I also know how to analyze things properly. I also know how to

[18:59] dissect what it is that you're trying to gather

[19:03] the come with sound conclusions after you get all the facts of the

[19:08] situation then when you get those facts then you

[19:11] can make a solid recommendation so that's the kind of extra things I bring

[19:15] to play I've been in there for for eight years now um my kids will continue

[19:22] through the school system the as we are at the moment they sure liked it to be

[19:27] better than than what is what's going on Now um there are some issues that need

[19:32] to be addressed, things that need to be fixed but that's

[19:36] like that in every organization you know as we try to do better you know

[19:41] hopefully you learn from mistakes of the past hopefully you uh try to uh you know

[19:49] do better than what you did before um and you try to not disenfranchise anyone

[19:55] so in the process and that's the difficult thing the school board's got a

[20:00] very important job to help our students be

[20:06] healthy in all areas not just physical security which one of the things I was

[20:12] was a military policeman when I was in the army okay I also was an intel

[20:16] analyst DI and I was an armor officer through my 24 year span so so I

[20:21] understand what it takes for physical security side and there's a

[20:27] lot of value added that I can provide on that lane. The I also did a lot of

[20:31] training within the army so I could come from an outsiders perspective in and

[20:37] provide those data points so that we can make what we got going on here at there

[20:43] even better. So those are the kind of things that I bring to the table and and

[20:48] then some that's just a taste if you will. It's the first time I ever tried

[20:54] on any level of politics. politics was normally not in my bag. When I retired

[20:59] 2014 and became a thing, I was like, well, hey, I'm just going to be retired

[21:04] and hang out and enjoy, you know, with my family and so forth and I'm dealing

[21:08] with that. But I also heard a calling that that uh I felt that I needed to

[21:14] fill and so uh so now I'm out of retirement.

[21:18] I was trying to get out of retirement a little bit and I would love to get your

[21:22] vote. Thank you very much.

[21:27] » [applause]

[21:36] » Hello, my name is Bill Hank. Excuse [clears throat] me, I'm a little dry. My

[21:40] allergies are acting up. I'm sure no one else has that problem. [clears throat]

[21:45] Uh I grew up just well out the couch community. went to cow school and uh I

[21:52] moved to the 30 years ago. I want to work for the railroad I guess and uh

[21:57] I've had three kids go through the school and some years ago I don't know I

[22:02] just decided that I might have a add my perspective to to the school board. U we

[22:10] we've had a lot of good people on there for years and I had no agenda or no uh

[22:17] big plan to make any changes. I just thought it just try to help. Uh there's

[22:22] always had a a good reputation statewide and not only not only locally people

[22:28] like to come here, they uh they like to send their kids to school here and we've

[22:32] got a lot of people that to to help the kids succeed. Uh we got a lot of good

[22:38] teachers. We've got very good administration. We got probably one of

[22:41] the best superintendents that that I would know of anywhere. Um, and uh, as

[22:48] far as I know, we we've we've made a lot of decisions

[22:53] that I think have uh, helped the community and helped the school grow and

[23:00] helped a lot of kids succeed. Uh, we we at board meetings we we had a lot

[23:08] of discussion probably I I talk too much. Most people

[23:12] will tell you that. Uh so we spend a lot of maybe a lot of time that maybe

[23:18] wouldn't uh we wouldn't necessarily need to to ask a lot of questions but uh we

[23:23] we we are very thoughtful in our deliberations. Uh everybody has a voice

[23:28] or set of voice. Uh no one person makes any decision on their own. So uh we may

[23:34] have differences opinion but generally we can come to consensus and and make

[23:40] decisions and uh everything is taken uh for the best of the district and for

[23:47] mainly for the kids in this district. So, I just appreciate your vote and I'll

[23:54] do my dead level best and continue to to make decisions with with every uh bit of

[24:02] information that that I can gather provided to us and appreciate your vote

[24:09] on Tuesday. >> ALL RIGHT. [applause]

[24:14] UH, MY NAME IS Mike Morris. Uh, been on the school board for probably about 15

[24:20] years now. My wife and I moved back in I think 1999 after living in the

[24:26] mountain home for about 20 years. I've worked for the railroad. I know I was

[24:30] going to be traveling for a long time and New York girls need to be in a

[24:33] smaller community. I graduated here in 80 and both my girls graduated here. My

[24:41] wife got on this

[24:45] help grading papers back at old elementary many years ago and she went

[24:50] back to college and ended up getting a job as secretary at elementary. A lot of

[24:55] your kids probably she's probably seen over her lifetime when she retired

[25:00] around the co time. Uh by far

[25:06] I think we have probably one of the best school districts around. I was fortunate

[25:10] enough for about 10 years to be on the Missouri School Board Association in

[25:15] Colombia and uh Mr. heard talk about that long

[25:20] ago. And I was a representative for the southern part of the state when all

[25:26] toward around Cape and uh

[25:33] a lot of people knew us there more or less to do our sports and stuff.

[25:38] But uh here several years ago, we started a farm and table program and I

[25:42] got a friend of mine to come up and uh we videotaped this and pieced it all

[25:49] together and I took it to Columbia and people were just amazed at what our

[25:55] students were doing down here. And we hear that no matter where we go as

[26:00] vacation free time or

[26:05] basketball football games, you know said your kids are the best kids in the

[26:12] public and uh you know we ought to be proud of

[26:16] that. We've had a lot of students graduate here and said, "Gosh, I would

[26:20] had Tony, what's Mrs.

[26:26] teacher that retired?" >> Miss McInness.

[26:29] » Miss McInness. If we wouldn't had her, I would never got through college.

[26:37] And we do spend a lot of time, like Bill said,

[26:41] » every month going through equipment and trying to get the best teacher. If we

[26:44] don't have it, we're going to some way to get it. And

[26:52] on what Bill said, we've been through at least

[26:56] four three or four superintendent and T spends a lot of hours on the road, a lot

[27:00] of hours on the phone and

[27:06] heard Mark and Mr. Morso went to the elementary school. They bring us

[27:12] all these camps every month for new teachers where we need where we're

[27:15] needed at. And it's it's a process and they go through a lot and they bring it

[27:20] to us and we'll sit there for hours trying to pick out whichever one of the

[27:23] things the best and it's I love every bit of it. My girls enjoy going to

[27:29] school here. My daughter has got into education.

[27:33] She's a fourth grade teacher at West Plains. Not where I want her to go, but

[27:37] you know, it's close to home. So, um I believe that uh we're on the right

[27:45] direction and we'll continue to get better. And I know there's a lot of good

[27:50] things in the works right now that uh we'll be putting out

[27:55] for the district and for our kids and moving forward. And

[28:01] if you have students that's moving up from junior high into high school,

[28:06] we offer a lot of classes online. get you have a social degree before you

[28:11] ever graduate from high school. So, that's something that's really big and

[28:14] it's really blossomed over the last several years.

[28:18] But I appreciate your vote on Tuesday. And if y'all ever have a question for

[28:24] the morning, welcome. [applause]

[28:32] My name is Jason Baker. I I'm a lifelong resident of there. I'm a 1997 graduate

[28:38] of there. I I currently have two daughters in school, one in

[28:44] preschool, one in fourth grade. I I work for the railroad for 27 years

[28:50] now. Been on volunteer fire department here and there for 25 years.

[28:56] And uh I've had a had a lot of people I've always had the a little bit of a

[29:02] idea of running for school board, but I had a lot of people come to me and ask

[29:07] me if I'd be interested. I this year I finally made the decision

[29:12] that I was going to do it. And the reasons being are well first of all

[29:19] everybody after I signed up for it I had a lot of people come to me and ask me

[29:23] well what's your agenda? You have an agenda. if you have, you know, something

[29:27] you're going to do. I don't I the only agenda I have is to help the best I can

[29:35] to continue their school being as good as it is in faith. That's I have no

[29:42] opposition that or agenda that I'm going after by running.

[29:49] I feel like we have a great school and anybody that's from there or surrounding

[29:56] communities knows about Bobcat pride and I have a lot of Bobcat pride.

[30:03] You can ask David over there. He knows and he may be against it but he knows

[30:07] about Bobcat Pride. One of our biggest rivals with him we have always had is

[30:12] all high school. [clears throat] But the other thing I like is that if

[30:19] either community has a problem, there's no podcast, comments, none of

[30:25] that. It we all come together. And that's what's great about living in

[30:30] rural communities is everybody comes together to help everybody out. And

[30:35] there's no place like we're accountable for doing that. But I uh

[30:42] like I said, I don't have any opposition that I'm running like agenda that I'm

[30:46] running for. I just want to be here to offer whatever I can to make help make

[30:54] improvements to help keep the best teachers to get the best

[30:59] teachers to draw people to want to be a Bobcat.

[31:03] and I'd really appreciate your vote next

[31:07] Tuesday. Thank you. [applause]

[31:14] Okay, I am still new and still learning. I probably didn't do that in the right

[31:19] order, but these gentlemen, there are there's three positions that are going

[31:23] to be filled. There's four gentlemen voting for it. So, if there's anyone

[31:28] that has questions, I'm sure you all would be glad to answer any questions

[31:32] directed. If you'd like to raise your hand and say who you have question for,

[31:36] I'm sure we'd be glad to take your questions.

[31:41] Anybody got any questions? Miss Jessica? >> Yeah, I have a question for um for those

[31:50] that are running. Um, do any of you have past situations where you have received

[31:56] any disciplinary action or been restricted from being at the school

[31:59] district?

[32:03] » No, I haven't.

[32:06] » No, I have not either. And uh, we I'll speak for Bill, too. I won't speak for

[32:13] Bill. I'll just here. Uh we've all got we both I

[32:19] know have gotten phone calls over the years

[32:24] and nobody's ever said they hadn't been able

[32:30] to get to the school or anything. The one the one thing that we have had in

[32:34] the past is we first got on was proper channels

[32:42] and a lot of people would call us.

[32:47] We redirected to Mark. I said if they had a problem with their child and then

[32:54] could get satisfaction there and that didn't satisfy

[33:01] but that's kind of that kind of got stuck there but that's kind of the way

[33:04] it's always the process has been there's been some situations that a lot of

[33:10] people were familiar with how to do this

[33:15] No,

[33:20] » I feel like this question is directed directly to me. That way I can expound

[33:25] on things. Okay, great. The uh short answer is yes.

[33:31] Okay. I had an opportunity to have an engagement

[33:36] after an event with the teacher. teacher wasn't doing anything wrong, but I had

[33:42] to go investigate cuz my daughter came up to me and she said, "Hey, I should

[33:47] have been in this positioning over here during this concert and uh that didn't

[33:52] happen." So, I was like, my wife Susan, if you know her, Susan, he uh don't do

[33:58] it. Don't do it. I was like, all I'm going to do is ask a question. So walk

[34:03] across, start engaging with the conversation with the teacher. The uh

[34:09] started doing an assessment of the situation, realized that the girl that

[34:14] had swapped spots was one that had been bullying my daughter and she uh

[34:21] was the problem. So I was like, well, I'm getting tired of these girls

[34:25] bullying my daughter. So needless to say, the uh teacher was loud out there.

[34:32] Teacher was like, "I'm not bullying in here." We're like, "Whoa, no, no, I

[34:35] didn't say that." The uh and then another teacher from 20 ft away started

[34:39] yelling across the room and she's yelling and my wife's yelling back

[34:44] yelling. Two times over. I was like, "Okay, well,

[34:48] hey, it's time to go." So, we took a walk. He uh tapped the old grade school

[34:53] principal on the shoulder. I said, "Hey, I'd like to talk to you on on uh

[34:56] Monday." Brought a couple of your teachers. He uh and he's like, "Okay,

[35:01] great." So, show up on Monday. Before I know it, I'm getting like plans for

[35:06] everything. And I was like, "Whoa." I go I go, "What are you talking about?" The

[35:10] uh I go, "All I was doing was trying to figure out what was going on here with

[35:14] my daughter and and now I'm the problem." Yeah. So, I found that when

[35:20] you ask questions, doesn't matter whether it's a hard question to a

[35:25] teacher or anybody else, you know, it comes back on me. He uh I'll take that

[35:31] hit all day long. He as far as that's concerned. So, I was trying to stick up

[35:35] for my daughter. The teacher had nothing to do with with the whole situation.

[35:41] Now, the other teacher misunderstood and was being pretty loud. the uh if people

[35:48] had one apologized to me about the situation

[35:52] or if took me serious on my dialogue on what happened on there then maybe

[35:59] something in the future wouldn't happen and I won't get into that I'll remind

[36:02] you the uh but you know there's a cause and effect to everything and if

[36:06] something doesn't get fixed with an individual then they get lost to

[36:12] something else and something else and before you know it could do something

[36:16] really bad. He uh had been getting into the physical security side and I said in

[36:21] my speech earlier, this is one of those cases. He uh things get fixed early on

[36:29] and it doesn't snowball out of control. So So yeah. Yeah, I got wrote up for 14

[36:35] months. Um went to go talk to the board. He that didn't didn't work out. the um

[36:44] nothing changed for that one. I wanted copy of the uh the video. They said that

[36:51] they had a copy of the video and when I asked for it, uh they didn't have a copy

[36:56] of the video because apparently you they determined that it wasn't on. So, we had

[37:04] a long conversation about that and other things going, "Oh, well, that's got to

[37:08] be fixed." I go, you're supposed to have video 24/7,

[37:12] 7 days a week. Should be accessible. It should be

[37:16] working. The uh you should be able to see what's on the screen. I just noticed

[37:21] recently that they upgraded that the uh that's fantastic. That's, you know, if

[37:27] anything came out of all that very minimum, it was that now we have better

[37:32] video cameras than what we had before because that shouldn't be the case at

[37:37] all. That's kind of That's pretty dangerous for all of our kids and we

[37:41] want to make sure that we have a safe environment for all the kids here. We

[37:45] want to make sure that that all the administrators, the teachers, people

[37:50] working in a school, they are all doing what they should be doing is being

[37:55] strong mentors. They they are building up the kids, never tearing them down.

[38:02] Okay? Positive mentors. The uh and you don't have things in place as safety

[38:09] mechanisms, then that will never happen. So, so yeah, that long story short,

[38:16] that's basically happened. There was a couple other things that got tied in

[38:20] there. It got went in the wrong way and, you know, before the buses wake cuz they

[38:26] closed parking lot out front for like 45 minutes before, you know, you know, 30

[38:32] plus minutes before the bus shows up. So, like me and 10 other people, we went

[38:36] in the wrong way. I got busted. I stopped doing that. That was another

[38:39] thing. I took full responsibility for that. I'm just trying to get to my kids

[38:44] the time of man. Yeah. I didn't do that after that. The um And then there was

[38:50] one other thing too. The uh you know, you got little kids that are one and

[38:55] three years old. The uh and they forget homework. You get kind of like flustered

[39:00] a little bit. I got three kids with me and some of the kids come out. I go,

[39:03] "Hey, you got all your homework?" like we forgot something. I was like, "Okay,

[39:07] well, let's go in and get it." The uh So, I start walking in the door they

[39:11] came out of and pretty much everybody's out of school and so forth. And walking

[39:16] in and I get two steps in the security guard that's doing this job. I said,

[39:20] "Hey, you're not supposed to be in here this way." And I was like, "Oh, okay.

[39:23] Sorry." Then you go back around. So, so, uh, so I did that and then, you know, a

[39:28] few months down the line or maybe longer. I can't remember what the

[39:31] timeline was. Got flustered again and went back in with my kids. Like I said,

[39:38] they're talking about, you know, ones that are fourth, fourth grade or below

[39:41] and so forth. Got roam again for that. I wouldn't be going way in there. So, what

[39:47] I do, I just went the right way. And so, that way we

[39:52] could, you know, both of those time periods were after

[39:56] after pretty much everybody was out of the building the uh as far as everybody

[40:01] but you know I still took responsibility for that because I was wrong I shouldn't

[40:06] have walked in that particular door at that particular time and so forth. So,

[40:10] you know, as a disabled veteran, you know, one of the things that they gave

[40:14] me was 14 months not being able to participate in any of my kids events.

[40:20] Um, as for recreat with the time period, 14 months. Now,

[40:27] you guys can judge for yourself. Was that appropriate for the situations or

[40:31] not? It is, you know, pretty lengthy time. I miss two of my my kids award

[40:38] ceremonies. My to doing a payup job. Um, and as a dad, I couldn't be there for

[40:44] them at that moment any time. I couldn't even [clears throat] get access. And as

[40:48] a veteran in particular, disabled veteran, corn state law, I'm supposed to

[40:53] have full access to all the kids. And that that didn't that didn't happen. The

[40:58] uh but they stuck with, you know, that I accepted it. I did I complied to that

[41:02] whole time period. And now I'm back on the normal guy list, if you will. so I

[41:09] can do what everybody else does and so forth. The uh

[41:14] I'm just trying to figure out what I can do to better future person's situations.

[41:21] Um and I can give better by by learning and growing from that particular moment

[41:27] in time. And then also asking the hard questions to make sure that everything's

[41:34] being properly investigated on all angles.

[41:38] multiple witnesses, whatever it takes the uh to get an accurate picture and

[41:43] that accurate picture is presented to the board. Not powerful picture, not not

[41:48] too clear of the picture for your perspective or not, whatever,

[41:53] but but the full picture. The uh and so if people need to really get pushed away

[41:59] from their kids in this particular case, then so be it. Okay, for the time

[42:03] period. If it's a shorter time period, okay, that's fine, too. The uh if they

[42:08] did something so horrendous that they were banned for life, then you know,

[42:12] that's the way that it is. But at least the investigation part is done properly

[42:18] and it's done impartially. So, thank you.

[42:26] » Any more questions?

[42:33] your name for me. Slowly

[42:37] slowly

[42:43] » for him. B O T G T O R I F. I think I'm the only D on the roster there.

[42:50] » Bill Honeyut

[42:54] » Mike Horse Jason.

[43:01] Okay, any more questions?

[43:05] [clears throat] >> Kind of twofold here. So, first of all,

[43:10] some of you guys said what your agenda was. So, the ones that didn't, what are

[43:13] your agendas or do you have one? And then the second question would be to

[43:17] Dawn for what you just said. Um, so if you were involved in something with the

[43:23] other school board meeting members or potentially some of these that were in

[43:27] there in the past, are you going to be be able to if you get with them this

[43:31] time, are you going to be able to cooperate with them or are there hard

[43:34] feelings because of that situation or how is that going to work?

[43:40] » You just asked me if I'm a better man or not. He uh what's their question and so

[43:45] forth. You know, I was always taught right from

[43:51] wrong. You admit to your your mistakes and then you learn and you grow and you

[43:56] move forward and you don't drag anybody down along the way. The uh you know,

[44:01] although I felt that there's a lot of folks on myself that didn't have a voice

[44:07] on there, I'm trying to have a voice for the parents, for the kids, okay, for for

[44:13] everybody out there. The uh I don't have any problem. I've worked with with all

[44:18] kinds of different leaders in the army. The uh ones that I didn't agree with.

[44:23] The uh ones that I did um some harder softer than others. Overall, women, men,

[44:30] you know, doesn't matter the uh um you know, we're all green here. Just like

[44:35] when I was in the army, we're all green. Okay. We're all got the best interest of

[44:40] the kids at heart. Okay. If they don't, if no one has the best interest in the

[44:45] case 100%. Then we'll have a discussion about that,

[44:49] okay? As I try to roll them back into that those particular discussion points.

[44:54] But but I have no problem interacting and working. Matter of fact, a couple

[45:00] days ago, had a chance to work with superintendent

[45:05] Bill the uh on on a very important initiative that came out with the

[45:09] school. the uh the Chennow survey. I don't know if everybody saw that. At

[45:14] first I said I didn't see it, Tanya, but I didn't see it because my wife did it

[45:18] for us. The uh that's why I didn't see it. But but um you know, we had 700

[45:24] something families and 114 families filled out this for these forms to come

[45:29] up with these statistics as they were trying to figure out where we're at now

[45:34] and what we can do in the next two years.

[45:38] We had we had great discussions and there was like another board member with

[45:42] me and superintendent with me and and we we stepped forward from that situation

[45:47] which you know ended uh almost a year ago. So so you know it's been been a

[45:54] while. So and I didn't feel anything in either direction from anybody you know

[46:01] regardless of of past situations or whatever. They seem like folks that

[46:06] could say, "Oh yeah, this is that moment in time. You're back in the mix.

[46:11] Let's let's talk. Let's interact. Let's try to move forward. I'm getting

[46:16] whatever we need to get done for the kids." And that's why I was there. I

[46:19] wasn't there for publicity or anything. Matter of fact, I could have just curled

[46:23] up in a little ball for this whole situation and said, "I'm done.

[46:28] You know, I got PTSD, which I do 90% disabled, a few different categories.

[46:34] The uh this is why I don't hang out with crowds and don't

[46:39] interact with people because one thing or another is is a difficult situation

[46:45] for me. The uh but I'm finding myself able to handle that. the uh as was a

[46:53] couple days ago and actually throughout the whole school year I bumped into the

[46:58] superintendent and Donna through multiple avenues regardless where it was

[47:04] at doing some kind of charity type of work I say it like that the u um or

[47:12] within the school itself and so forth or maybe it's just a passing dialogue you

[47:17] know in the hallway or whatever and And I don't see, you know, I'm not I'm not

[47:24] feeling like I'm a victim or anything like that. The uh and I and I'm not

[47:28] trying to make anybody else a victim. I don't know to what I did. The uh and

[47:34] left the other stuff back behind. Uh, one thing that I would never tolerate is

[47:39] is anybody, I don't care if they're an adult or a child that bullies or

[47:46] harasses or talks down to at any of our kids. The that is totally unnecessary at

[47:53] any angle. It doesn't matter whether they get disciplinary actions or or just

[47:59] you know and it was it was a small case and point where

[48:04] my daughter's name was being broadcasted name was was wrong

[48:11] that individual and nothing happened.

[48:16] Okay. Well, that's a different discussion mind, but but once again, you

[48:20] know, we we we are the stewards for all of our kids, all of us. It takes all of

[48:28] us to band together and work forward for positive progress. And so hopefully I

[48:34] can do that. Well, I know I can do that with with any of the board members and

[48:38] the superintendent and high school principles and great school principles

[48:42] and anybody else. You know, It was a blip in time. It gets discussed as

[48:48] adults and we move past that. Okay.

[48:56] » I don't really I [clears throat] don't guess I have an agenda other than just

[48:59] continue to be as physically responsible as we can and uh with maybe things

[49:06] coming down from the state, maybe an unknown on the money. So, we're we're

[49:12] going to have to be fiscally responsible and One thing that I've always said,

[49:17] it's not some big epiphany or anything, but uh when a kid walks through that

[49:21] door, we all of us here, we've got differences, whether it be economic,

[49:29] run different social circles, uh different religious uh beliefs,

[49:35] different denominations, whatever, and any other number of other things that

[49:40] make us different. But I hope that at the school when a kid

[49:46] walks in the door that's all left on the outside and everybody's treated the same

[49:51] because every kid that comes through that door below deserves to be loved and

[49:55] deserves to have opportunities and we just need to do our best find the

[50:00] opportunities and help them realize the ones that maybe they need to take

[50:05] advantage of. So thanks. >> I don't have no agenda.

[50:13] I just believe that you know every child no matter what your

[50:18] ability is should have the best teachers possible

[50:23] to benefit and help you move forward as you're here. [snorts]

[50:31] There is a lot of unknowns coming down that we already

[50:39] move forward

[50:44] good way and we'll still be strong in the future.

[50:49] Thank you. Like I said a while ago, I coming into

[50:54] this, I don't have an agenda towards anything besides just doing the absolute

[51:00] best I can to continue with, in my opinion, there being a great school,

[51:06] great faculty, great kids, uh do everything in my ability to help

[51:12] continue with that. And like Mike and Bill said, they I've heard that too.

[51:19] Budget cuts coming and a lot of opposition and stuff to that'll

[51:26] have to be battled in the next 5 years probably. And if I'm lucky enough to get

[51:31] elected, I I'll face that with the best of my abilities

[51:36] and do what I can. >> Thank you, Julen. Because of time, we're

[51:42] going to move on to county. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for

[51:45] talking. [applause]

[51:54] Good afternoon. Thank you. Uh for those of you that don't know me, I thank I'm

[52:04] commissioner David Stfield for County. I uh been at this job almost 5 years.

[52:12] I like to thank the city council, the mayor for the things that have happened

[52:19] there in the last year or so. This is pretty exciting.

[52:25] I know you all worked hard. So, I'll not keep you any longer and not

[52:30] brag on you anymore. You all have done a good job. These

[52:33] people have done a wonderful job. They they deserve

[52:38] [applause]

[52:41] And with that, I would like to have the uh

[52:45] candidates for the county positions to come down. And uh we will uh give you a

[52:53] chance to uh say who you are. And by the way, I am running again this year,

[53:01] presided commissioner. I am going to hand this mic to the

[53:06] judge. you can start it off.

[53:12] » My name is Harvey Allen. I'm an associate circuit judge here in Oregon

[53:16] County. And many of you know me. I grew up here. As a matter of fact, if you

[53:18] know the underwood property over here that we just cleared off about 50 years

[53:22] ago, you can sit see me riding a pony up on top of that hill. That's our family

[53:26] farm. Uh I grew up here, went to I and my five siblings all graduated high

[53:33] school. My son graduated from the high school. Uh went to college at Missouri

[53:38] State University in Springfield and law school at Kansas City. Moved back to

[53:42] Springfield and practiced law with a law firm there for 5 years. Had a chance to

[53:47] come back to the when Bill Hans got elected as judge and I took over his

[53:51] office where I worked in that office for 20 years before I became judge. I've now

[53:55] been the judge for 15 years. This is my starting my 16th year. I'm not that old,

[54:01] but I'm starting my 16th year as judge. I just I just calculated a while ago. I

[54:05] think I think this month is my 40th year as a lawyer. So I've been I've been

[54:10] doing that for a while. Um in my position I was city attorney there for

[54:15] for 14 years and then also the the suburb of Koskin for several years. Uh

[54:22] so did those things and even as my time as a judge I I handle pretty much

[54:26] anything. I laugh once in a while that I'll do a be doing a murder arignment

[54:30] and then I'll be doing an all dog run please within 5 minutes of each other.

[54:35] So someone asked me what do I do? I said I do just about everything. Uh we handle

[54:40] those. Um some of the things I'm very proud of is

[54:45] that I deal with the I'm also the juvenile judge here in Nor County. So I

[54:49] deal with juvenile issues. I'm just telling you that that's that's tough.

[54:53] Justin having been prosecuted, he knows that being judge along those cases is

[54:58] half the people think you're too easy and the other half think you're too hard

[55:01] and that's just that's just how it goes being judge or being prosecuted. Um I

[55:05] started the treatment court, drug treatment court here in Oregon County.

[55:09] uh that was something that the state was really wanting to encourage us to do and

[55:13] uh you know there's mixed mixed opinions about it when it got started but let me

[55:17] tell you there's nothing to to make your opinion very solid as when someone

[55:22] graduates from treatment court and they come and tell you that if you

[55:27] had not put me in jail on the day you put me in jail I would be dead

[55:33] that's moving to them and then when their 50-year-old dad comes over and

[55:37] gives you a hug and say you what that's

[55:42] why do that's why that's why I want to do this why it because I've served for

[55:47] many years Bob Neckman doing community events and uh improving our community is

[55:52] the biggest thing to me very important to me uh I have a lot of things to

[55:56] consider people often I've heard complaints about issues concerning

[56:00] things such as a bond bond that I issue for someone I have a very limited amount

[56:06] of discretion about that but I do have discussion

[56:09] Two things I have to consider is make sure the bonds appropriate to make sure

[56:13] they show up show up in court and to protect my community. I take that

[56:19] do everything I can to protect protect our community. So I'm very proud of the

[56:23] commissioners this year. They have uh uh been working to improve and increase the

[56:27] jail. Uh they have remodeled both the primary courtroom and also have uh

[56:33] created a new secondary courtroom for us that's been extremely [clears throat]

[56:36] useful. I had the honor of swearing in Mayor Donna uh in our new secondary

[56:42] courtroom recently and uh it's been very we've been using a lot. So that's been a

[56:48] great expenditure of money and to the courthouse uh improvements to the

[56:52] courtrooms for the first time I think in 40 years. So very much in any event uh

[56:57] I'm running for one more term with this and I will primary on that is August

[57:02] 4th. I would appreciate your vote. [applause]

[57:12] » My name is Justin Nelson. I'm also running for associate circuit judge of

[57:16] Oregon County. Um I've been a lawyer now. This will be my 22nd year. I

[57:22] graduated 1997 with Jason Baker back there. Uh my parents of course both

[57:28] graduates here and there. My sister was a graduate there. So, long history

[57:33] there. I uh started out my first job out of law school was working as public

[57:37] defender. Uh so I represented the indigent folks, folks that did not uh

[57:41] have the funds to hire an attorney. So I be appointed to represent them. Uh later

[57:46] on ended up serving as prosecutor here in Oregon County and now in private

[57:51] practice principally doing a lot of family law issues, divorces,

[57:55] guardianships, uh things of that nature. What I would say originally attracted me

[58:00] to the practice of law was the idea of accountability and equal protection

[58:06] under law. And those are the values I would also bring to the bench to be sure

[58:11] that every case is fully heard, that every individual uh is respected,

[58:17] treated fairly without bias, without any type of favoritism. Uh to be sure that

[58:23] all all folks are afforded their equal access to the law. treated equally under

[58:28] the law and uh that's what my goal would be serving as your judge and uh I would

[58:35] appreciate your vote this August in the August Republican primary. Thank you.

[58:40] [applause]

[58:43] » You have any question to hold on to them just for a little bit. We'll go through

[58:47] these people and then we can act.

[58:53] » I'll go behind the podium but I'm not sure you can see me. I am not the

[58:56] tallest person in the world or the best speaker. Here we go. Good evening

[59:01] everyone and thank you for being here tonight and thank you for supporting all

[59:05] of our candidates. You're very lucky there's several here and they're all

[59:09] after your vote and want to work for you. I simply want to start by asking

[59:15] for your vote. My name is Crystal Hal and many of you may know me as a

[59:19] neighbor, a coworker, or just somebody that you see in the community. Some of

[59:24] you may have heard me on the radio a few years ago. If not, maybe Bob Beckman

[59:30] will give me a discount this year. I grew up believing in hard work and

[59:35] responsibility and taking care of the place that you call home.

[59:40] I studied contract law in college, but like led me back home to take care of my

[59:46] children. Along the way, I built a career centered on service and

[59:51] accountability, values that I hold here today. I spent 10 years at Aravac

[59:58] working in maintenance on software implementation

[1:00:02] and contract negotiations.

[1:00:07] This is where I learned how critical efficiency and accuracy are in the

[1:00:12] systems that we use today. In 2016, I joined the How County Circuit

[1:00:18] Clerk's Office. Over the last 10 years, I've worked in

[1:00:22] every aspect of the court system, and I've just completed my 36th jury trial,

[1:00:30] being a part of that, and it's very rewarding to be able to help justice

[1:00:36] move along. I've served two years as a region 9

[1:00:40] officer for the Missouri professional association of court

[1:00:45] clerks. This area of MOPAC is what we call it serves nine or 11 counties in

[1:00:53] our area. Through that work, I've helped train

[1:00:58] several other clerks in the 37th Circuit by sharing best practices and improving

[1:01:04] consistency across the state. Beyond the courthouse, I've also helped

[1:01:10] implement software improvements that have helped statewide.

[1:01:16] I currently serve on three focus groups. Those are for accounting, civil, and

[1:01:23] garnishments. These are new processes in our software.

[1:01:28] Um, as a select group of clerks, we help develop, implement, and process to

[1:01:35] strengthen those areas in our court system across Missouri.

[1:01:40] Our circuit recently received recognition for case processing. And

[1:01:44] while I'm proud of that work, I believe there's a lot more that we can do. That

[1:01:50] belief is why my slogan is your clerk, your neighbor, your voice. I'm not just

[1:01:55] someone who works in the court system. I live here. I raise my family here. And I

[1:02:02] understand the people in the needs of this community. My goal is simple. A

[1:02:07] court system that works efficiently, serves the people well, and reflects

[1:02:12] those that it represents. So tonight, I'll ask again for your vote. And I

[1:02:17] would be truly honored to earn your support. Thank you. [applause]

[1:02:29] THANK YOU. HI, good evening. My name is FA Reese and I'm from Alton,

[1:02:35] Missouri. And one of the things that I picked up on with the school board

[1:02:42] candidate was um how much he enjoyed the community and how the communities come

[1:02:49] together in such a big way. And that really made an impact on me. I guess it

[1:02:54] was the St. Jude's fundraising and for Alton it was like to me astronomical and

[1:03:00] then just any need they're there and it's the same here and all the

[1:03:05] communities and I'm from a small town too. I I recently moved up here about

[1:03:10] three years ago four and I think my favorite thing is getting to experience

[1:03:16] every season in one week. I'm like that's awesome. So it's like Missouri is

[1:03:22] telling you, hey, stick around if you don't like this. I'll show you in a

[1:03:26] moment. Anyway, I have signed up to run for the county clerk position. And I

[1:03:33] have a strong background in administration management. Um I was an

[1:03:39] office manager supervisor and traveled to seven states and covered 11 offices.

[1:03:44] So I am very acclimated to um handling paperwork

[1:03:49] um in public. I love to uh meet new people

[1:03:55] and help. I love to help. Um so that's why I'm running for the county clerk

[1:04:02] [laughter] background in all of that and would

[1:04:06] really appreciate your vote coming up.

[1:04:12] [applause] I do not want to go after those leaves.

[1:04:15] I'm just going to introduce myself. I'm Sandy Wheeler. I'm running for counter

[1:04:18] colle county collector. Um I currently work for the city of B. Um

[1:04:26] I just think that the county deserves someone that's respectful, someone

[1:04:31] that's dedicated, and that's basically it. I'm not going

[1:04:35] to hold you guys here much longer. Yeah.

[1:04:40] [applause]

[1:04:43] » Hello, my name's Wes Buckner. I've lived in Orange County. my entire life. I'm

[1:04:49] most generally from the Alton area. Uh grew up between Alton and there. My

[1:04:54] parents have had a place out there since I was just a little kid. And uh I've

[1:04:58] been on the city council now at Alton for 5 years. I've been on the Orton

[1:05:03] County recycling board for 3 years. Um, I enjoy doing work that serves the

[1:05:11] public that uh to try and help make our community better and stronger and I look

[1:05:18] forward to hoping to get to serve the community in the future. I've signed up

[1:05:23] to run as Oregon County Treasurer and I would appreciate your vote come

[1:05:29] August. Thank you. [applause]

[1:05:36] Hi, I'm Terry Williams. For you all who don't know me here, I'm from Bald. Um,

[1:05:41] I'm running for organics lecture. I'm not a speaker at all, but they said we

[1:05:47] needed to talk tonight, so I'm more of a work person. Get out there and get the

[1:05:51] job done. So, um, in August, I would appreciate your vote. Um, some people

[1:05:58] was brought to my attention today that said, "Is there anything that you would

[1:06:01] change? Is there anything you would do if you got in? Yes. Like I said, this

[1:06:06] person asked about being able to work through lunch hours. Yes, I agree.

[1:06:12] Personally, I own Southside Tire right now and all. I know most of you that

[1:06:16] know me from there know my husband Tom Williams. I've been there for 28 years.

[1:06:23] So, I've managed I've took care of all the book work on it. Got everything

[1:06:28] financially going. I've even took care of David a few times with some tickets

[1:06:33] through the years. Um, so yeah, that's how I get paid. So anyway, with all that

[1:06:40] said, I've got 27 years background of financial to be able to keep care of all

[1:06:45] that and everything. Um, managed it, managed the farm. So financially I would

[1:06:53] try to do my best to do everything that's capable to do for the county and

[1:06:59] I mean talking back about lunch hour. Yes we take off for lunch but I would

[1:07:05] agree if we had the office if I did I would rotate it to where somebody was

[1:07:10] there in the noon hour because a lot of times even if you're in the office you

[1:07:15] don't have time to go do your business and pay your taxes. So that is one thing

[1:07:19] that I would see if I was elected. So, but I appreciate your vote. Again, my

[1:07:26] name is Terry Williams. Thank you. [applause]

[1:07:32] » Hello, my name is Alana Hollis. I currently work at the DMV. So, some of

[1:07:37] y'all see me in there. I am running for county treasurer this year.

[1:07:45] don't really have an agenda. Just Linda is done a wonderful job and she's

[1:07:50] retiring. So I would like your vote and give me a chance to be the your

[1:07:56] treasurer instead of your DMV worker. But I also would

[1:08:04] like to say that I rode up here my whole life and this community means a lot and

[1:08:12] I would like to be able to help keep it local with the families and help the

[1:08:20] ones coming in to learn what is so great about our community. I'd appreciate your

[1:08:26] vote. [applause]

[1:08:30] » Hi, my name is Donna Morrison. I've grown up in Nordan County my whole life.

[1:08:36] I have worked in the courthouse for 10 years. I've worked for the county

[1:08:41] clerk's office for five and even the collector's office for five, which I in

[1:08:45] there right now. Um, I love doing the job.

[1:08:51] I'm not good at speaking, but I am good at taking your money. It's not a good

[1:08:56] thing, I know, but you kind of got to know what you're doing. It's pretty

[1:08:59] important. The collector is more than collecting money. You There's budget you

[1:09:04] keep up with. There's a report you have to balance out. It's not taking your

[1:09:10] money and you're done, which some people think that it's not. You got to balance

[1:09:14] out every month. But so, and as far as lunch hour, I do like my lunch hour.

[1:09:20] I'll be honest. So, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. [applause]

[1:09:28] » Hi, I'm Melissa Smith. I was raised here in Oregon County. I have married been

[1:09:34] married 34 going on 35 years. I've got three kids, one grandbaby.

[1:09:40] Um, I work at the courthouse. I'm in the prosecuting attorney's office. I take

[1:09:45] care of the bad chips and rest institution through office.

[1:09:49] So, what that means is just um when the money comes in from a defendant, I pay

[1:09:53] that out as quickly as possible. We do that once a month. It's at the end of

[1:09:56] the month. Um, I don't know what else to say. So, come

[1:10:02] vote August. >> [applause]

[1:10:06] » Thank you all. I believe there is 16 people running for uh seven offices this

[1:10:12] time. So there will be quite a few on the ballot and it is in the August and

[1:10:18] some will go on into November then. So right now if you have any questions for

[1:10:23] anybody. Yes ma'am. I have a general question. So

[1:10:27] all these people that just

[1:10:33] » Yes, it is.

[1:10:41] » I'd say we'll be out and about. >> What's that?

[1:10:44] » I'd say we'll be out and about fourth of July here at Clair Alton, things like

[1:10:51] that before the August primary. question.

[1:10:58] » Yes. >> Thank you.

[1:11:04] » Anybody else? >> I've got a question

[1:11:09] for the judge position. My question is to Mr. Nelson.

[1:11:17] Mr. Nelson, you know, this is a small county. Even being it's

[1:11:23] a small county. The judge job is a big big job.

[1:11:29] Do you believe that you possess the wherewithal and the knowhow to do that

[1:11:36] job? >> Well, I'm not sure how you define

[1:11:40] wherewithal, but as far as if you're talking about knowhow or experience,

[1:11:46] yes, [clears throat] I think I do. >> You care to explain?

[1:11:52] » Do I care to explain what? that you've got the knowhow

[1:11:55] » that I have the knowhow. >> Yeah.

[1:11:58] » Well, I've been an attorney now. This is going on year 22. Uh I've been

[1:12:04] essentially in every role that you can be in uh in the courthouse from public

[1:12:10] defender to private counsel to prosecutor. So, I I think I've been

[1:12:17] about everywhere in every county in court in South Central Missouri. Uh,

[1:12:23] I've seen multiple judges run courtrooms, so I I feel confident in my

[1:12:29] ability to do the job. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you.

[1:12:34] » All right. Anybody else? I'm going to give this back to the

[1:12:38] mayor. She's the lady that invited all of us and I want to thank her and we'll

[1:12:43] do it again sometime. >> Well, I want to thank all of you for

[1:12:47] coming and spending your time here with us this evening. It's so nice to put

[1:12:51] faces with names ballot for people to be able to speak and ask questions. It's

[1:12:56] great. And so, thank you again for coming and uh I hope we'll get to have

[1:13:01] another get together between now and the time August rolls around. And don't

[1:13:05] forget to go there folks and vote on Tuesday

[1:13:09] uh for the board meeting. And I was going to see is there anything I have my

[1:13:12] council here tonight. I'd like to thank them. They've been very patient uh with

[1:13:17] the new meeting times that we have and we're just always upset. [clears throat]

[1:13:22] Got Mark Bryant and Durk Schultz and Stephen Clark here tonight. Miss Janice

[1:13:27] is ill and couldn't be with us, but I truly appreciate them and all the work

[1:13:30] they're doing and the school for allowing us to meet here. Did anybody

[1:13:34] else do you have another question? Sir, >> I guess there's nobody here.

[1:13:40] » Do we have anyone here from special

[1:14:11] And you're you're asking about

[1:14:23] There he comes. Here he is. >> You want to come talk?

[1:14:38] » You're in the spotlight.

[1:14:44] Wild women

[1:14:50] or down below and hold up the mic. I've run for the

[1:14:56] I've run for county for about 15 years running on the fair special. And the

[1:15:02] reason I quit was because I didn't think since I was working on the railroad, I

[1:15:08] didn't have enough time to devote time for RV.

[1:15:13] And the last few years, our road just went downhill. We've had a lot of

[1:15:19] floods, a lot of rain, a lot of lot of problems.

[1:15:26] So if you want to complain, you got to get in and mix and complain. So that's

[1:15:33] where I'm at. There's some things that uh can be

[1:15:38] changed. I've not been in it long and it's been a

[1:15:41] long time. So I'm not really sure where our budget's at. So,

[1:15:46] uh, with fuel at $4 a gallon, we're probably going to see a lot of road

[1:15:51] crers and a lot of back and a lot of D trucks going up down the road. But

[1:15:56] there's a lot of waste material out there in the roads that can be used. Uh,

[1:16:02] one of my pet peeves is if you go down a gravel road, you'll see a big amount of

[1:16:07] gravel on the side of the road. Well, that is really good field to fix

[1:16:14] and crown our roads. And

[1:16:18] I'm not, you know, don't know anything about building roads. I spent 35 years

[1:16:24] running and doing maintenance on the railroad.

[1:16:28] So if it's an inch and a half out of

[1:16:32] deviation, you can ask Michael Wor and Jason Baker this. They get to stop while

[1:16:37] we fix it because that's out of service. And county roads don't matter if it's 2T

[1:16:43] deep. County roads are still in service. You either slow down or

[1:16:49] take your chances. So, I would like to try to help and

[1:16:57] might be able to, might not. No promises, but I'm there.

[1:17:02] Questions

[1:17:06] » really.

[1:17:13] Any

[1:17:20] [applause]

[1:17:25] other questions?

[1:17:30] » You want to talk to me? >> Sit down.

[1:17:35] » Have a commissioner talk to you.

[1:17:40] » Another room. Well,

[1:17:42] » there you go. >> You were commissioner

[1:17:46] » not too many years ago. >> You don't tell me that you were the road

[1:17:50] commissioner.

[1:17:56] » All right, I'll talk a little bit about the road tax. Uh, if anybody don't know

[1:18:00] me, I'm Jake Parker, Northern District Commissioner.

[1:18:04] Um, so >> we'll get into the road tax asset sales

[1:18:08] tax and basically it's going to be split

[1:18:11] between 75% go to the county, >> 25% go to all over there.

[1:18:20] » This will be split up between the municipalities by um basically

[1:18:24] population. If voted in, this will give fair road district somewhere around

[1:18:30] $91,000. >> It'll provide all around 26 $27,000 and

[1:18:36] cost around $8,000. >> So right now Fair Road special they get

[1:18:41] 16% of revenue come in from the county plus they have a little bit of road tax.

[1:18:47] So what the county would do at that point is we would take them their road

[1:18:50] special from 16% to 20%. That would give their road special about 36 $37,000

[1:18:57] extra. >> This road tax is for materials only. And

[1:19:02] um it can't go to fuel, it can't go to trucks, labor, anything like that. This

[1:19:07] is for pores, concrete, asphalt, um gravel, clay.

[1:19:12] Um basically what this is is a way to rebuild infrastructure whose tax will go

[1:19:18] out in 5 years. >> Um it can even sunset in 5 years. It can

[1:19:23] either be voted back in. Um personally, I don't think that we'll be in a shape

[1:19:28] where we need it voted back in. We need a chance to rebuild infrastructure as

[1:19:32] current, you know, budgets right now, you you'll never be able to rebuild

[1:19:37] infrastructure. I mean, you're relying on FEMA and um

[1:19:42] » they're difficult to work with, to say the least,

[1:19:45] » but did that cover your questions?

[1:19:51] » So, a couple years ago, our county passed a internet sales tax called Tax.

[1:19:58] » Use tax, correct? >> That was in effect

[1:20:01] and put on the ballot. That money was intended to go into road

[1:20:07] » 40% going to road was all supposed to go. Well, the first year that that

[1:20:13] generated about $260,000

[1:20:21] a failed infrastructure is the reason why we need more money. I have 236

[1:20:25] corrid 46 low water crossings that are bad gravel roads that have been flat top

[1:20:31] with material on the sides of the roads. >> Wasn't building

[1:20:35] wasn't lost in a day either.

[1:20:46] » The sheriff's office. Correct. >> You're right.

[1:20:50] » Sheriff's got a lot of expense, too.

[1:20:56] trying to make the sheriff stand on his own.

[1:21:00] » It It's working now and you don't have to put this tax in. I'll continue to

[1:21:04] make it work. You're just not going to get your fixed

[1:21:13] when you got

[1:21:19] at the end of the year.

[1:21:27] Five years. This year we had two7

[1:21:43] billion. >> No.

[1:21:47] » True.

[1:22:03] We're going to pay for the jail. >> That's what we're paying right now.

[1:22:10] » $500,000. >> There was money in general to do that.

[1:22:18] » What are you going to do? what I want to do.

[1:22:31] » What good is money in the bank if you can't serve your people

[1:22:46] that >> I slow that down? Uh

[1:22:52] if you will uh think about it, uh this jail will uh generate between 160 and

[1:22:59] $200,000 a year because we won't be transporting inmates to West Plains,

[1:23:06] Don, Salem, >> right? That will add to

[1:23:16] » why because the sheriff will need the >> money

[1:23:28] you cannot have money.

[1:23:34] » We're trying to put that back in June.

[1:23:39] Okay. So, you're going to use tax money.

[1:23:50] » Yes, sir.

[1:24:02] » Y'all are going to slow down.

[1:24:08] Don't budget while you're at the time.

[1:24:17] I know exactly

[1:24:20] where my budget is right now.

[1:24:26] » So, so >> back up just a little bit. As long as we

[1:24:30] don't get any more natural disasters, I promise you the spending will slow down.

[1:24:37] Yeah. >> Did y'all apply for FEMA?

[1:24:40] » I don't know. >> I believe it was a FEMA project there.

[1:24:48] » This is an option to rebuild your That's 4 in of surface, 24T width, and 2 in of

[1:24:54] surface are paid for by FEMA. All the money that has left the county has went

[1:24:59] to repairing holes in roads, repairing wash outs in roads. We're not able to

[1:25:04] move water. We weren't able to move water. All our water was moving down the

[1:25:08] roads. When you had the 14 inches of rain, you have a natural disaster which

[1:25:12] was declared by FEMA. I personally worked all year last year without a dime

[1:25:18] on my own income to make sure this money comes back in for the county. You know,

[1:25:25] » money. >> It's already approved. Once the

[1:25:29] government comes back open, I've already got you remember a FEMA project called

[1:25:33] 4855 when you were in office November of 2024 flood. You do remember

[1:25:40] that? Okay. So I I went back and regained all the lost income that you

[1:25:44] had. I already got paid for back county $333,000

[1:25:49] back to the county. FEMA project 4872 over $400,000 in tornado debris cleanup.

[1:25:56] That money has gone back to the county, already been approved. 4872, which would

[1:26:01] be your April flood, $1,700 something,000 has already been

[1:26:06] approved with an additional 200 or 101 miles of roads that are still up for

[1:26:11] approval. Estimated somewhere around $4.6 million that will come back into

[1:26:16] the county. As this sits right now, already approved through FEMA. All

[1:26:20] everything is done. The road department will have more money than it has ever

[1:26:24] had. general CD that we leverage which y'all are talking about the CD will be

[1:26:31] replaced and another one will be added. It's already in a minute since the

[1:26:34] county. >> Why do you need taxes?

[1:26:37] » Because we need to repair the infrastructure that everybody let go.

[1:26:41] 236 corrid water crossings that were let allowed to go fix them all.

[1:26:48] » I'm going to fix them over a 5year sunset plan. Yes, sir.

[1:26:51] » So, what what happened to the money of the

[1:26:55] brand new purchase built back. >> The money went back into the tribe, but

[1:27:00] it was bought without purchase orders. >> They were picking back from county.

[1:27:05] » Yep. And both of them currently broke down right now.

[1:27:08] » So, what happened to the quart million from the sell off

[1:27:15] » to go into leases? I traded in a grater that was the um it was matter of fact,

[1:27:20] it was George's grater. Transmission was bad on it. didn't have warranty anymore.

[1:27:26] I have not bought any more graders since then and I'm not going to fix any. We're

[1:27:30] going to do with what we got right now. But if the grader's back, it's going to

[1:27:34] be prepared. >> Then the transition out

[1:27:42] you can talk. I know I would the Uion

[1:27:52] » that's that's going to the northern district 211 miles of rebuild

[1:27:58] all the money that the county had >> do what now

[1:28:04] » because I have 236 corrs that are bad that FEMA's not replacing

[1:28:09] you know they they wanted the documentation about repair records and

[1:28:13] maintenance records North County has zero. They do now. I can tell them

[1:28:17] whenever we replace, what date it was placed, when it gets fixed, every road

[1:28:22] has documentation, whole spreadsheet right now of every tube of grease is all

[1:28:28] come out there. You can more than welcome into the office and I'll show

[1:28:32] you everything.

[1:28:36] your time book surf. But have you ever went through a $4 million project

[1:28:39] looking at time books and somebody wrote down no details? It ain't possible.

[1:28:47] » It's in bad shape. By no means. >> So, so one thing I'd like to add to this

[1:28:54] and the reason why I kind of feel this tax sunset tax is important. It allows

[1:29:00] us to rebuild the infrastructure not only on the county level, fair special

[1:29:04] level, but in municipality levels, too. You know, I'll give you an example of

[1:29:09] how we're working there. Around $91,000 will come in there. You got a lot of

[1:29:13] water lines that are bad there right now. Well, this will allow you to come

[1:29:16] back and have asphalt and chat to fix your water lines. This would free up

[1:29:21] money for the municipalities to be able to come in and apply for grants. This

[1:29:25] tax money can hold money.

[1:29:30] What? >> I'm going to take entire county money

[1:29:34] and fix the entire county. 25%

[1:29:38] will be split to fair, kosh, and home road departments only.

[1:29:51] So, I do want to add that uh this tax probably wouldn't be so important if a

[1:29:57] 2% sales tax on new vehicle purchases wasn't allowed to laps. You know, that

[1:30:02] brought in a good good amount of money into the county. Um that's no longer in

[1:30:07] a good place anymore and that certainly won't be voted back in. Um, I'm not a

[1:30:13] tax person myself, but I also say with $240,000,

[1:30:16] $260,000 in the fix 440 mi of road, it's not going to work. And it's clearly not

[1:30:23] going to work because y'all tried to make it work. You know, the roads are in

[1:30:26] bad shape. Anybody that can't deny that. The point moving forward is is how do we

[1:30:33] get past that? It's a short fiveyear tax. It falls off.

[1:30:38] We have a fiveyear plan. I'll certainly sit over here and show you to you down

[1:30:42] to the penny. Everything will be replaced in that 5 years. I I I don't

[1:30:49] care to have a half cent sales tax, but I know it's important.

[1:30:52] » Is it just north? >> No, it's for north to south. I can't do

[1:30:56] their special. They already have a road tax. That's why we're giving them the 4%

[1:31:01] of revenue that the county brings in. It'll put their special somewhere around

[1:31:05] almost $200,000 to work with. And that's a huge improvement from their

[1:31:10] especially. You know, they're down a brush cutter

[1:31:13] right now. They're operating a greater. Their roads are in just as bad a shape

[1:31:16] as ours are. You know, I can say that fuel at $4 a gallon and two degrees at

[1:31:23] $7 a gallon. It's tough to make. People want to see greater roads. I want to put

[1:31:28] greater roads, but then again, you got to keep it within, you know, your

[1:31:33] budget. So this year, my budget's exactly where it

[1:31:38] needs to be. Last year when I got in office, March tornadoes, April floods,

[1:31:43] and I inherited a flood project from you. It's a pre flood project, two flood

[1:31:48] projects, and a tornado project that they're all done. Everything's turned

[1:31:53] in. Literally waiting on the government to reopen so they can allocate money

[1:31:57] back into the county, which they've already had on one project completely

[1:32:01] closed out. So when you say that the county is going broke,

[1:32:06] you know, only thing has been spent out of general is $62,000

[1:32:11] all year last year other than a jail project. And we didn't vote for a jail

[1:32:17] project. That was previous administration. I think it's a great

[1:32:20] deal and y'all should come up there and look into jail. Instead of 27 26

[1:32:25] inmates, we bumped it up 34 inmates now. >> It's It's a good thing. It's a good

[1:32:32] thing to see the county grow. Um, I will tell you that you can't do it with

[1:32:38] pennies. >> You try.

[1:32:43] » The other Yes, sir.

[1:32:50] And the other thing

[1:32:55] we're not

[1:33:06] » the uh half cent sales tax if you buy $10,000 worth of taxable goods. That's a

[1:33:14] pretty tall order if you think about it. It will cost you $50.

[1:33:22] Now, the state will mandate on this Senate Bill three and whatever they're

[1:33:26] wanting to do that we've been fighting so hard, they will mandate on your

[1:33:31] property such significant more amount than that.

[1:33:37] And if you spend $5,000 on this, it will cost you $25.

[1:33:43] So if you live on a county road, $25 is not much. That's been an expense because

[1:33:50] I've lived on one for 43 years. So any other questions? Jason,

[1:33:56] » is this on the August or is this >> This is only April.

[1:34:00] » Tuesday. Tuesday. >> So I just want to work at DMV. He

[1:34:08] mentioned a 2%

[1:34:12] tax that you're no longer getting for the general fund. That is for the

[1:34:17] county. So if you buy a vehicle, you used to be

[1:34:23] charged 8.225%

[1:34:28] if you live in the city limits of Alton. pos has a little higher tax

[1:34:35] because something was not put on the ballot like 12 years ago, maybe not

[1:34:42] quite that long, we no longer get to collect the extra tax for the county or

[1:34:49] the city limit. So now if we buy a vehicle from an individual or out of

[1:34:56] state dealer, we only collect 4.225% and that goes to the state. That does

[1:35:03] not go to the county, the city or nothing.

[1:35:07] If you buy from a Missouri dealer, then we are allowed to collect the 4.225%

[1:35:14] for the state, 2% for the county and their city tax is two. So then you get

[1:35:23] back to your 8.225 if they live in the city limits. If they live in the county,

[1:35:28] it's just 6.225.

[1:35:32] That tax goes to the whole city and the whole county for them to spend however

[1:35:39] they want. So they have to split that up between fire department, sheriff's

[1:35:45] department, police department, ambulance, all of that. Where this tax

[1:35:50] that they're asking for just goes to the road

[1:35:57] » and sun, >> right? So you've lost a lot of I work

[1:36:03] there daily. So when we seen that this was not going

[1:36:08] to be we got an email three years ago, four years ago that we were no longer

[1:36:14] going to be able to collect that sales tax. We went over to the courthouse and

[1:36:21] asked them about it. They didn't realize that they were not going to get that

[1:36:25] tax. Alton did not realize that they weren't

[1:36:31] going to get it. there somehow knew about it and put it

[1:36:36] on their ballot when they were supposed to. The people voted to keep it. So if

[1:36:42] you live in fair city limits and you buy from an individual or out of state, you

[1:36:48] are still being charged the 8.225 because you as a community

[1:36:54] voted to keep it. So the county has lost a lot of money from that not being on

[1:37:01] the ballot. So the last three years that has took a to maint.

[1:37:22] [sighs and clears throat]

[1:37:30] I think we're going to conclude now. Um, [clears throat] I appreciate you coming

[1:37:34] out this evening. I appreciate you talking and visiting and we've learned a

[1:37:38] lot here tonight and I think it's valuable to everyone. So hopefully we'll

[1:37:43] see you again next time we have a town hall meeting and I wish everyone luck on

[1:37:49] uh April the 7th and come out and vote. Thank you.

[1:37:54] [applause]

Thayer Town Hall Meeting With Ballot Forum And Meet The Candidate Speeches

Transcript