[0:02] President of the United States of America, into the Republic for which it stands, one nation

[0:16] under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[0:20] Thank you all very much.

[0:25] Okay, we have no financials and no madness as unusual or pretty we'll call it up on that.

[0:33] We need to, the items under consideration will start in order and finish in or do we

[0:39] need to have a close session at the end, the motion to approve the agenda consent and

[0:46] to the state. So we've got motion in a second. All in favor say aye, aye, aye. Okay, first

[0:52] item on the agenda day is purchasing Miss Kim. And we have Amy Smith with Sheriff's Office.

[1:01] She is our former master. It's Amy. Basically a metaphor control. So this is for a contract

[1:15] We are picking backing off of Jasper County's contract for this purchase.

[1:22] This is for four stopper and tenor radio units from Cherokee Mobile.

[1:28] Our attorney office has reviewed and there was no issues.

[1:32] The cost on this would be $13,260 and my recommendation to approve the contract using Jasper County's contract.

[1:41] I had to purchase these radar units.

[1:43] These are an additional funds, this is asking for additional funds, this is already in

[1:48] the budget.

[1:49] That's going to be the budget.

[1:52] So is this a radar unit that solves the antenna?

[1:55] Yes, it's a radar.

[1:56] It's a different technology than what?

[1:59] No, it's not a different technology.

[2:01] It's just in addition to what we currently have.

[2:03] Oh, I'm out of the fashion.

[2:04] But I know the dash and they catch the speeders.

[2:06] Oh, okay.

[2:07] All right.

[2:07] Front target.

[2:09] Any other comments, questions?

[2:12] I don't know.

[2:13] Okay.

[2:14] The motion.

[2:14] I'll make a motion to approve the JCI CC232820010.

[2:21] Okay, we've got a motion.

[2:25] Incorrect.

[2:28] Your one.

[2:28] So sorry.

[2:30] JSCO20.

[2:31] I'd rather online.

[2:32] I'll make a motion to approve the JSCO2021-001.

[2:38] Second.

[2:39] Okay, the motion and second, all in favor say aye, aye.

[2:43] Thank you very much.

[2:46] Okay, the next item is also Ms. Camper,

[2:48] seeing contract amended.

[2:52] Mr. Regard coming out.

[2:56] So we came to you back in July to approve the JTI contract

[3:04] to do fire inspections and fire monitoring over the new campus

[3:11] and we were looking around and asked some other quotes

[3:15] for the rest of the county and they came back to us

[3:17] and said, we would like to lower our price

[3:20] and we would like to not lie to them for three years

[3:23] and we were like, okay, we will do that.

[3:27] So now it's going to be a yearly contract for the new campus.

[3:31] They reduced their price from $850 to $600,

[3:34] which totally, again, we did not approach them on this.

[3:37] And that's very important to say that.

[3:40] But our attorney house in fact has reviewed it.

[3:43] And this is just for the fire alarm monitoring annually.

[3:48] And you're happy with that.

[3:50] This is the renewal of their...

[3:52] This is, this is, we just had the contract done in July.

[3:56] So this will be...

[3:57] We have to update the price.

[3:59] Yes.

[3:59] We have to update the price.

[4:00] I'm going from three years to one year renewals.

[4:03] Okay, so contract amendment.

[4:05] This is the contract amendment.

[4:06] the number one yes. Okay very very good. Unusual but good. I'm already practice this number so I think I can see. I'll make a motion if nobody has anything else for the contractor with the JCI

[4:22] I proceed to see two, three, two, eight, two, zero, zero, one, zero.

[4:25] Okay.

[4:26] We have motion, second, all of a favor, say aye.

[4:28] All right.

[4:29] If not, please.

[4:30] Thank you.

[4:30] Okay.

[4:31] Thank you.

[4:32] All right.

[4:33] The next item is highway.

[4:36] It's an M-way on Grand Bridge replacement project.

[4:42] Good morning.

[4:43] Good morning.

[4:44] Good morning.

[4:45] Good morning.

[4:45] Before you today is an M-O-A between several groups, which I will list out here in a second.

[4:52] Basically, it declares that all of these groups will work together to do our best to operate

[4:59] under the sort of perturbation which is required of the red bridge structure of this unread

[5:06] bridge road.

[5:07] So, it is an eligible structure to be on the NHRP, but it is not on there, however, if you're

[5:15] eligible, you generally go through the same procedure you would as if you were actually listed

[5:19] visited from the register of historic places.

[5:24] So this MLA for a service reached out

[5:27] to a bunch of groups.

[5:29] The Osage Nation, SAC and Fox Nation of Oklahoma,

[5:34] but they have declined to participate in Christian County

[5:37] Commission, which is what's happening today,

[5:39] National Trust for Historic Preservation.

[5:41] The Legacy Retreat Center, which

[5:43] is a group that had originally put in to take the bridge.

[5:47] however, they didn't have any funding to do so, so their request was denied that they'd still like to participate.

[5:54] And Dr. Robert Kippher, who owns some lands down there by the bridge, and he also has a really good book about that

[6:01] full-green crossing that you could buy from this very state, which he didn't tell me to plug his book, but it is a really good book.

[6:08] So again, it's an MOA between all of these groups, and also including the Forest Service that we will abide by the state historic preservation offices requirements,

[6:20] We've already done our pre-construction Archaeological Day in Missouri State Student Archaeology

[6:26] with this project.

[6:28] Didn't find anything, but of course, when a contractor gets down there and starts digging,

[6:33] there are procedures that you have to follow if you find anything once you start digging.

[6:36] So this M.O.A. takes us through the reek of the project and I believe a few years after

[6:41] the project as well, if we are to find any.

[6:43] anything of archeological significance. So if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer.

[6:51] It's questions.

[6:53] The red bridge project is popped up on social media.

[6:58] You're likely to, since we're recording live, do you have an estimated timeline of constructions

[7:07] so we can put the rumors to rest publicly?

[7:11] It's a very tough question.

[7:14] I understand.

[7:14] That's why I'm asking you.

[7:16] If the project was in the county's hands,

[7:18] I'd have a lot easier time answering that question.

[7:22] But for services lead agency, it's being directed out

[7:27] of their Ava office.

[7:29] And they are not, well, they're all office

[7:31] and some other offices have dealt with bridge products in the past.

[7:35] This is Ava's first, as I'm understanding it.

[7:38] So we're doing our best to push them along. This historic preservation effort has taken

[7:43] a lot longer than normal. But again, with it being outside in the county's hands, it's

[7:49] a little tough. However, the design heart is mostly complete. We're just awaiting some

[7:55] more of this information and what we're required to do from the state. Then we can enter into

[8:00] Radoway Negotiations, which really are only on the west side of the bridge because the east

[8:06] side is all for a service. So they're handling that internally. I am hoping fingers crossed

[8:13] that we can go out to the next spring.

[8:17] I would never make that promise to anybody because

[8:20] again this is something that's 80% of the time so far for the entire length of this project

[8:25] and it's not been in the county's hands. So even though it's our bridge and we pay for

[8:29] it, that's just kind of how these bridge projects go.

[8:32] So best case scenario, spring, we go out to bid.

[8:37] Spring, we go out to bid.

[8:39] We have a plan actually to go ahead and remove the bat seatable trees during the down periods.

[8:44] That doesn't impact construction, which is November through April.

[8:49] So even if it's awarded in spring, they won't have to then wait until November to start instruction.

[8:56] My thought would be if it's awarded in April, they can probably start in June.

[9:00] and it's about six months of total construction.

[9:03] Maybe faster, but it's just a little bit difficult to get to this site

[9:07] when you're delivering the beams and stuff, so we best made it about six months.

[9:12] I will say I do my best to keep the transparency site.

[9:18] There's a project link that you can click on through the auditor.

[9:21] And whenever we have big updates, we put them through there as well as

[9:26] like attaching permits that we received, so people can follow along that way as well.

[9:31] Sure, unfortunately they don't, they follow along on the chit chat, so.

[9:36] So we're looking best case scenario, we need to be first quarter 28 best case scenario.

[9:47] Listen, I'm selling you, I don't normally...

[9:50] That's why I said best case.

[9:51] Best case, yeah, December 27th, January 28th, February 28th in there.

[9:57] If there's any other significant delays, like obviously I'll come to the commission and report those

[10:02] But really once we get to ride away negotiation and is back into the county's hands, and I think we can ask that I think

[10:11] Better that way

[10:13] We have to somewhere going on the Hawkins Bridge similar time frame. Yeah, we don't obviously that's not a forced service project

[10:21] But we do have mode at as our main agency on that one

[10:24] And we're still in right away with negotiations.

[10:28] We've got some of it worked out.

[10:30] The Hawkins family, we're still working on that group.

[10:34] And once we can get them, at least back to the deal to discuss right away, we should

[10:40] be able to be pretty disciplined if that went out to the government.

[10:45] I think that, I'm glad we're having that discussion.

[10:49] I'm glad you're making the comments because, just like Commissioner Jackson said, I mean,

[10:54] were aware of what the citizens are saying and any time that you stop a bridge and you

[11:03] can't go through the bridge or the bridge and you have to go around. It does put our

[11:08] shift on our citizens and they don't understand. It's been a real learning process for me to

[11:17] know that when we were working on Green Bridge we all talked about the fact that we thought

[11:23] all three bridges, Green Bridge would be first, but we thought Hawkins and

[11:27] Green Bridge would be after that, and sooner. Now we're looking at much later

[11:33] than what we've done, but when you start dealing with bed girl and you start having to

[11:38] go through all the hoops that they make you go through besides this state, that's

[11:45] really taken a lot longer than I think we ever planned.

[11:47] Well, in the, you know, I've been a engineer for 24 years now, and when I first started in less than a year, you could design, you could get all the way from preliminary design to advertising your bridge in less than a year.

[12:03] Now it's like three and a half years to get through that, and it's not, it's not because of anything like your local agency does.

[12:10] We do the same thing almost on every bridge, but you do have different apartments

[12:17] almost every year that you move into these things, especially with the different

[12:20] agencies. This is new for us as well, working with Forest Service, but you know there

[12:25] might be something attached to the bottom of the bill that has a much bigger

[12:29] subject to it, but there's a little paragraph at the end that now you have to go

[12:33] through this particular procedure. Very similar to like FEMA, you know, FEMA wants

[12:40] So you know, like if you remove a down tree from your road, when did you pick it up?

[12:44] How did you pick it?

[12:45] Did you cut it?

[12:46] Like, all the way to ashes.

[12:48] Where did you take it?

[12:48] Did you burn it?

[12:49] Where did you put the ashes?

[12:51] Like, there's just all these new requirements that haven't always been there, and we have to

[12:55] navigate those every year.

[12:56] But yeah, I've had to adjust my schedule when projects start because the behind the scenes

[13:04] didn't use to take longer than the construction, but now that behind the scenes is three or four

[13:09] years construction six months completely turned around but you know I think I think we're

[13:17] all kind of realizing even if it's not a bridge project behind the scenes are incredibly

[13:22] longer than these to be able to do well and I know we're new and the best we can and I'm hoping

[13:30] that we get Hawkins bridge completed before they have a lot of chances now.

[13:40] Good thing

[13:41] but it could be, we don't know if we can be sure that we do have a lot of cycle inspections

[13:47] in January. They do those inspections and we don't know. And so hoping that we can get

[13:53] that one down before we have it shut down, but very good. Need a motion to bring them away.

[13:59] So I'm going to get a motion and second all in favor say aye. Okay. Passers, thank you.

[14:05] I'll grab signatures at the end.

[14:09] Okay, the next item is commission.

[14:11] Show me Christy County.

[14:13] We've got a request for funding.

[14:15] Ladies here.

[14:23] I'm going to apologize first.

[14:25] I woke up with a little cold.

[14:27] So I'm going to kind of start off with

[14:30] Separate yourself.

[14:33] I don't know, get sick.

[14:36] So I'm going to highlight a couple things

[14:40] and then I'm going to leverage how to get some highlights, so and then I'll chime in every once in a while.

[14:45] But we did provide a report for you guys to get a highlight understanding

[14:51] of the things that we've been working on really since the beginning of this year.

[14:57] The things, and again, I don't...

[15:00] We need to bring everything to you guys. I'm just going to make a couple of highlights. The first one is that I want to talk about is what are a couple of our projects that actually are in the county and that is moving forward. And the first one is straight line canvas. It was one that was approved earlier this year. All behind the scenes stuff is going on right now, but that is about a $2 million project. And it's going to have about 20 new jobs that are going to be located here in the

[15:30] County and then with that there's there's actually going to be relocation of some people that will

[15:40] be from outside of Christian County that will be coming into the area as well. So it's not just

[15:46] that the 20 jobs there's other people coming in and it would come a almost a destination and it's

[15:53] to breathe that there were the bringing in to the area.

[15:57] Proline metal fabrication is one that we recently assisted.

[16:04] They, we worked with SimPog on this project

[16:07] and it was a brand new company who was getting up and started

[16:12] and we were able to, could I come to be able to create

[16:16] a small business revolving loan fund for their inventory

[16:23] were to be able to keep things going there. So they were just a startup as of January and

[16:31] they had a tight timeline of September to get these funds secure and so we were able to

[16:36] meet that deadline with our partners and they were also both of these projects also were able

[16:42] to use some of the state programs as well. The other one I wanted to point out was our

[16:48] Highlandville Comprehensive Plan. That's one that has been on our report for several years now.

[16:56] The holdup was all along has been funding for that project and to be able to get that done.

[17:02] It was about $25,000. We were actually able to help secure about $18,000 of that for Highlandville

[17:09] and it took a little bit of time, but it is in progress. They've started the meetings,

[17:14] Rachel is attending and participating in that, and it will be about a year-long project

[17:20] in partnership again with Syncog on this as well.

[17:24] That pilot book conference plan will set Highland fill-up for about a decade of growth

[17:29] and development when people come in, they will have a plan.

[17:33] This is their first one they've ever done, and they've really neat a bit, so when people

[17:37] come in and want to build a storage unit facility along the highway, they can say, well, that

[17:41] doesn't actually fit with our conference of plan or zoning and it gives us a city, some

[17:45] teeth to say this is what our community has voted that they actually want there, they

[17:50] want commercial retail there. And it just helps give them better guidance when people

[17:54] are wanting to come and develop and they've really needed a document like this for a long

[17:57] time, but it's expensive and it's a long process. And so now we started that and we're hoping

[18:01] to wrap that up in about a year.

[18:05] Another big highlight from our development pillar

[18:08] our organization was the project Maribelau and then of course, Ozark Marketplace

[18:14] meeting was that. But we had the groundbreaking for Maribelau this year and

[18:20] we'll expect it to use over 500 units that will be located up there with a

[18:28] commercial component as well. And in Ozark Marketplace, we're just continuing to

[18:33] see the work that we did early on is bringing in those additional new projects you guys heard

[18:42] the announcement about Chipotle and Chick-fil-A, so we're really excited about them coming

[18:47] too.

[18:48] We should be counting too.

[18:49] The developer that works in that project is on our board as well, so continuing to have

[18:54] conversations with them about additional potential projects in the area which is exciting.

[18:57] And then last year we reported that four of our projects had generated $136,000 and that

[19:07] sales tax to the county and in a couple of conversations we had revenue protections

[19:14] are higher.

[19:15] So there is an expectation that there will be a higher than that dollar amount this year

[19:22] generated.

[19:22] And that doesn't include any of the new funds from Ozark Marketplace or anything like that.

[19:28] So we're seeing that ROI as well from the projects that we've been working on.

[19:37] And so I know I have a little low key today.

[19:40] Okay, Rachel has a little more energy.

[19:43] So the other two pillars of our organization, so we've got business development, which you touched on,

[19:47] and then community enhancement, and then promoting Christian County.

[19:50] So on the community enhanced that side, you guys know we were working on receiving our 501-C3

[19:55] public charity status from the IRS and the state of Missouri. We got that approved in the end of January.

[20:00] That was a requirement for us to be able to apply for the DMO destination marketing organization,

[20:06] which we talked from the Division of Tourism for Missouri.

[20:10] So we were able to turn around, get that approved, get that applied for,

[20:13] and thank you guys for supporting us in that effort.

[20:15] with that 501c3 status though we've now been able to apply for several grants

[20:20] this year that we were not eligible before we had that 501c3 status we've received

[20:25] several small grants some from the Louisville Community Foundations which

[20:30] has been great and one of those we were able to use we got awarded $7,500 to purchase

[20:35] park benches for the Oath Park development in NYXO which is 100 acres worth of

[20:41] Parkland that we're working with them to develop to be open to the public and so

[20:44] So we officially purchased those park benches.

[20:46] We worked with the city of NYXA on that.

[20:49] And so they've got that project started.

[20:52] The other one for teeny enhancement

[20:54] is our work with the city of buildings

[20:56] to establish their wild cat camp.

[20:58] They only have a four-day school week.

[20:59] So they have no school on the nays,

[21:02] and they did not have adequate childcare services

[21:04] in the city of buildings for the kids that go to their school.

[21:07] So families were having to take their kids to childcare services

[21:11] outside of the city of buildings

[21:12] and then come back to work if they work in the city.

[21:14] and it was starting to create a lot of issues there.

[21:17] So they had it initially started inside the school,

[21:20] but the school wasn't able to handle the facilitation of it.

[21:23] So OCAC stepped up, we've worked with them

[21:25] on advertising it, helping them probably,

[21:29] we've applied for a few grants to receive additional funding

[21:32] for that program for SNACs and programming for the kids.

[21:35] But OCAC is doing the programming for it.

[21:38] So all three of us, us, the city and OCAC,

[21:40] we are all working together.

[21:41] they now have a building that they're using and I believe their community

[21:45] building that their firehouse takes care of to facilitate that and have all the

[21:50] kids there on Monday. So that started this week which we're excited about this

[21:54] year is the first year that's outside of the school and the city is really taking

[21:57] on the burden of trying to help their citizens by having child care of

[22:01] they will afford those kids. So I believe they have 25 kids that are started in

[22:07] that program and they will have room for up to 50. So as that grows, if they meet all

[22:12] the needs for the kids in buildings for that that need that care, then they are going

[22:16] to potentially extend it to clever children as well. That might need that extra care.

[22:20] So they've got big plans. They're really excited about it, but we've been working on that

[22:25] involvement of that program over the past few years and they've been appreciative of our

[22:30] help. We're happy to help them with that, but that's been a really big one because it helps

[22:34] with the child care but also facilitates workforce participation for families because if your

[22:39] kids able to be in child care you can go to work. So it just provides a lot of different

[22:45] opportunities. So an OKCAC is using this as a pilot program. So if this goes well they're

[22:49] going to try this out in other cities partnering with other city communities to have this where

[22:53] their schools can't function or don't have the capacity to do a program like this on their

[22:59] off days. So okay, it's trying to see how this could work in other communities. So it could

[23:04] start a domino effect of other communities around here that have 40 school weeks. We'll see.

[23:09] So I'm going to move on to promoting Christian County. You guys know the tourism promotion that

[23:12] we started a few years ago with Explore Christian County. Our website that we have in our social media

[23:17] channels. We now, now that we have the designation of the destination marketing organizations,

[23:23] there's a Missouri division of tourism. We now have access to up to $30,000 worth of matching funds

[23:28] to be able to market and advertise Christian County outside of this

[23:32] area. So those are matching funds so that means we have to raise up to 30,000

[23:38] to get an extra 30,000 so this year we only applied for 6,000 because that's

[23:42] what we had that we could put towards it but we're hoping in the future to be

[23:45] able to generate additional revenue to be able to put in that

[23:48] pot so that we could potentially max out at 30 grams to be able to

[23:52] really let people know all of the cool things we have to do here and bring more

[23:56] vendors and tourists into this area to spend money here. So with that we've got, we've just launched

[24:04] spending some of those dollars and we are going to be, you'll see some billboards around and

[24:09] they have to be outside of a 50 mile radius to truly bring people in. So we've got some enjoupling

[24:13] Lebanon, Northwest Arkansas and I think just out of the Kansas City area. So it's really cool to

[24:20] you're coming in. We've got on our social media, we've got 22,000 unique website visitors to

[24:29] Explore Christian County, which is awesome. We get those from all different states across the US.

[24:34] We're able to track that on the back end of our website. We've had 2.1 million combined impressions.

[24:39] That means people that have interacted with our content across all of our social media channels.

[24:43] We've almost doubled in the past month. Our social media followers across all our platforms.

[24:48] and that's crazy. That's before we even started using the state dollars to help push some of that

[24:53] advertising. So that's organic, which is great. So people are looking at our stuff to see what

[24:58] there is to do here, especially as we get into the fall with a lot of our all festivals and stuff.

[25:03] That's just going to grow. As far as being the DMO, there are only 40 in the state destination

[25:09] marketing organizations and now we're one of those 40. So it's pretty cool to be able to say that.

[25:16] We also worked with the James River Basin partnership a few weeks ago, or two months ago actually,

[25:22] to do an educational video series on reverse safety. As people are fishing, kayaking in the rivers here,

[25:26] we wanted to have some reverse safety instructional videos. James River Basin partnership was super excited to work with us on that.

[25:33] We gave them some content, they gave us some content, and we did all the filming, editing, and online promotion for that.

[25:39] And then we went to the Missouri Connections content summit in Columbia that the

[25:45] Department of Innovation of tourism put on. We were able to represent Christian

[25:48] County alongside Springfield was there too and Brighton was there but we were

[25:53] able to represent Christian County which is really cool to be in the room. And then

[25:57] we've got the governor's conference on tourism. We'll actually be hosted in

[26:00] Springfield this year. Last year, it was in Kansas City and travels around the

[26:03] state but that's right in our backyard and so we will be going and we will be

[26:07] attending that to represent Christian County as well which is gonna be our

[26:10] first year going to that so we're excited to be able to participate. We also last

[26:15] year you guys know it's the last thing I'm gonna touch on but we work on having

[26:18] the official Christian County area guide which last year we will be able to make

[26:23] a digital area guide because printing costs are not cheap so we wanted to at

[26:27] least have something out there and that was also a requirement for us to

[26:30] prerequisite for us to apply for the DMO there was a lot of work and steps

[26:34] and the seeds that had to go into being able to even apply for that.

[26:38] This year, now that we have one in our adult, we are going to print one this year, which

[26:42] are really excited.

[26:43] We're looking at printing about 2,500 of those.

[26:46] We have gotten several local businesses that have purchased advertising in that area guide,

[26:52] which is exciting, and that has helped us to be able to fund some of the printing costs

[26:58] for that.

[26:59] So, we put funding aside, we know we want to print it, but that has helped us cover some

[27:03] of this cost which is great. So we will have a physical book that says Explore

[27:07] Christian County that will have all the cool things to do here. So we'll be able

[27:11] to hand out. The cities will be able to have some inside their buildings. The

[27:14] chambers will be able to have some to hand out. A lot of chambers still do relocation

[27:18] packets when people are looking to move here and they want to know what there is to

[27:22] do here. A lot of times the chambers will send in a packet of some different

[27:25] things. We'll be able to help you move this in that packet. That's our goal. So

[27:30] a lot of really cool things that we'll be able to do with that. So we'll have that printed

[27:35] January-ish of 2027 so early this next year we'll have the printed ready to go.

[27:44] I know you guys started a kind of in hand-in-hand with the new development the index of the

[27:49] 198 because can you guys talk about the development where you are with that? Yeah and so that we've

[27:54] been working on that project just over a year now and a great partnership with Breaking and

[28:02] million are leading up different sections of that project and it is going to be a mixed

[28:10] use development. About 50% will be housing. The rest of it will be park space. There's

[28:18] an adventure park included in it. Quite a bit of commercial space opportunity. In that development

[28:27] they're looking to have a square built-in that overlooks, that has the walkable almost

[28:37] create almost like a downtown s-field for Knicksa as well. Not the historic line, we're not

[28:43] taking away from that, but we're enhancing the connectivity for the whole community and have a

[28:49] space together. So there will be designated space for a hotel. There is plans to have probably

[28:59] more of the big box retail type of development in there. Alongside the commercial use that are

[29:06] going to be more local businesses as well. The smaller business will have a component of that.

[29:12] The 20-ish acre adventure park is going to be indoor about a, I think it was a 60,000-square-foot building that's gonna have an indoor space, so it's a year-round attraction.

[29:29] We do think that this will be more of a regional draw.

[29:34] We do believe that tourists will come into the communities as well, but the idea with

[29:42] a developer is that it's going to be more something that local people in the region

[29:47] that will want to access that.

[29:49] So where we are right now in the process is, and I also want to mention real quick, that

[29:56] we're out in all of these conversations. We've had a lot of

[30:00] Community meetings to hear from the community on what they would like. We talked through and looked at the comprehensive plan to try to help meet the needs of what people are already saying that they want. This was not just them coming in with their own intention. They were very deliberate on listening to people to create development. Yes, that more people want. So where we are in that process.

[30:30] is we OTO, the city, and Brad, they're all working together for the traffic study right now.

[30:39] There is hope that there would be another stoplight within on the 160 boardwork, so

[30:48] they're navigating that part of it right now.

[30:51] It's been going on for a few months now back and forth with Moda trying to get that to happen.

[30:58] And in addition to that, there was a presentation

[31:03] and the reason I went to share all of this

[31:04] is because there was a presentation to City Council.

[31:08] And the attorneys came in to kind of get the highlight,

[31:12] the overview of the project.

[31:14] And then right now, but it's all the behind the scenes

[31:17] with the attorneys discussing on incentives

[31:19] about the cost of the massive improvements to 160

[31:26] or that how are they going to fund this?

[31:29] And so that's the behind the scenes right now

[31:31] and there's been no package presented.

[31:34] So we're gonna have to wait for that

[31:35] to be able to even continue the conversation.

[31:39] So don't they expect them to have to come in?

[31:41] Well, I talked with Brad last week

[31:44] and he's pushing his own attorney to help push it along.

[31:49] They're hoping to have a package

[31:51] by the end of the year, early next year to present

[31:55] and start that discussion with the city.

[31:58] The adventure progressed like that.

[32:00] I'm sure you guys are familiar with like Fritz's adventure

[32:02] in Branson, the same guy that helped bring that to life

[32:07] as a state with this project.

[32:09] So not to make any promises that it will be

[32:11] similar to the exact same thing,

[32:13] but that is one of the initial ideas

[32:15] that kind of spurred on some of this, too.

[32:17] And that would be really cool to have some things

[32:18] that would work to that in this area.

[32:19] that's Billy has he's an aerospace engineer and he built out dolling wood he

[32:27] worked for the versions so he did a lot of the roller coasters there in the

[32:32] design he does the butterfly pallets and prints his adventures so he's he has

[32:38] a very successful record in development and perverships and so he's he's been very

[32:46] excited about coming into Christian County. He's all over so working on a big project in Branson right now.

[32:52] It's the Bible experience, I believe, is what it's called but it's been in that life, too.

[32:59] So they created a very good team to try to get this thing done.

[33:05] And this is going to be years in the late making.

[33:07] Yeah, it's another large good development.

[33:13] So I guess our request today is for you guys to consider

[33:19] continue to support, show me in our efforts and economic development realm and we

[33:25] just wanted to come today and give you guys an update on what we've been doing

[33:30] and how your dollars are going to continue just for the efforts of sustainably

[33:36] growing the community. We'll see, too, before we get to that. Last time we told you

[33:40] guys we did have a request for us to increase, asked from some of the public

[33:46] sector organizations to kind of help us with some of what we're doing. We have had another

[33:52] school district that has come on board. Clever schools have decided to join Show Me Christian

[33:57] County and support us financially. This year, so it's the first year they've done it and they're

[34:02] really excited about that. We've also had an increase from next the public schools, which is great.

[34:09] And so we have been working on that process to get more people involved from the public sector

[34:15] help support what we're doing but again it's you know we know it's a big ask for a lot of these

[34:20] things and so we're trying to do our due diligence to or what you guys have asked us to do so.

[34:26] Which is good because we talked about you know the schools are being benefit to that program and

[34:30] wanting to come in and you know meet some of the aspects of some of the stuff and you guys came

[34:37] in last year and in the past you know we had we had donated $50,000 for many years in the program

[34:45] and we were making some pretty big cuts across the county last year, we cut over seven full-time

[34:50] positions, we got rid of our recycling, we had dialed back and asked other positions not to

[34:55] be hired and really went, you know, would dope into that. And you guys were asking for 60 last year

[35:01] and we actually took 50 and cut you guys to 40, which was a 20% cut and we know that was tough

[35:07] and looking and even this year we're looking at making what cuts and areas and things like that.

[35:13] My recommendation today would be to keep you guys where you weren't before, and I know

[35:18] you're asking for 50.

[35:19] We don't have that funding and we're trying to make those cuts, but it would be to keep

[35:22] you guys where you are because you took such a big cut last year, even that we will be

[35:27] cutting some things from some other organizations, but they didn't take the amount of cut that

[35:31] you guys took last year.

[35:34] It's not to say you're not doing a good job, or it's not worth a $50,000, it's just where

[35:39] we are budgetarily in moving into this, so let them speak on anything else that they have.

[35:46] That's just my opinion.

[35:48] Yeah, I think it's great to hear that some of the other organizations are stepping up.

[35:52] I mean, still, I don't know what that is in comparison to what the ask is of us.

[35:58] I know that, you know, when you look at some of those districts, annual budgets are greater

[36:05] than ours.

[36:06] and our participation level is greater than that or is monetarily, you know, we had to discuss it

[36:13] and we were worried about sales tax revenue.

[36:16] Again, this year's sales tax revenue is down.

[36:20] From last year, we were not keeping up with it when I say down.

[36:23] We're not keeping up with the pace of inflation.

[36:26] Our sales tax revenue is not.

[36:27] And that's alarming and concerning as we're looking at how do we continue to fund the

[36:37] necessities of our local government with revenues that aren't keeping up.

[36:44] And I mean we are, we're looking at there's potential more cuts and I almost feel like I

[36:57] know

[36:57] So that $50,000 is not something I'm comfortable with.

[37:00] $40,000 is isolated.

[37:02] In my gut, I feel like there needs to be at least a five to 10%

[37:06] reduction of expenditure here and studying.

[37:09] And yes, what you guys are doing is what kind of message

[37:12] are we sending to our own staff in all these different

[37:16] departments when we're asking them to continue to cut.

[37:20] We're asking them to find cost saving measures.

[37:22] We're asking them to do all these things.

[37:23] Not filling, back filling positions.

[37:25] and we don't backfill positions in theory that's putting more pressure on the existing employees.

[37:33] And that bothers me, we've got to take care of our own house first.

[37:42] If my neighbors' kids are hungry, I've got to feed my own children first,

[37:46] and then I help, or the analogy when you're on the airplane.

[37:50] So the oxygen masks fall, put your own zone first, and then help your neighbor.

[37:55] We've got an organization, we've got to continue to fund, we're under funding roads, we're under funding, different aspects.

[38:03] Mr. Team behind you is trying to darn this to keep these buildings in great condition, but we keep finding issues and problems that keep popping up.

[38:12] I understand that your organization can be beneficial to the continued growth of the county and the revenues coming in.

[38:21] and we're just not seeing that through the sales tax I have.

[38:25] And when all of these businesses come in

[38:28] and the property taxes bill up,

[38:32] we don't see much of the property tax bill

[38:35] and we're in my new portion of the property tax bill

[38:38] that's being collected.

[38:42] Other organizations are primarily or only funded

[38:46] through the property tax.

[38:48] And so where are they at at the table in relation to us?

[38:53] So I'm kind of undecided, my initial is I think we should have a 5% to 10% reduction in

[38:59] external expenses.

[39:05] I don't know if that would be a favorable option, but I guess I can't see us doing a back

[39:12] up-of-the-fade announcement.

[39:12] Let

[39:17] me make some comments to, I agree with both the commissioners that have made comments

[39:23] and I think their valid comments kind of take it from a different person.

[39:29] Thank you for being here ratio today.

[39:31] You explained everything.

[39:33] Well, Chris and you and I had a great discussion yesterday and we kind of just went over the

[39:39] things of what's been going on the last several years, and you know, everything that

[39:48] crews from Jackson said about our budget is correct. We are still struggling. One

[39:54] of the things I think you and I talked about yesterday, and what I want people to hear

[39:59] that's watching this, either live, or there are going to be people watching it later on

[40:03] today or this week, is sooner or later, these other two commissioners and our new presiding

[40:10] commissioner and you guys as a business as a business because you're a

[40:15] business the county is a business. Our business model is not working. We're

[40:22] not collecting enough money to provide the services that we really need to do

[40:28] when just like commissioner Jackson said. Ms. Miranda and her people were working

[40:33] really hard both on the eastern west side but we don't have enough money to

[40:38] really make our roads like we want them to make and what the citizens are wanting.

[40:45] It's not our fault but we just don't have the money. I look at you guys and you're struggling

[40:53] trying to figure out how to meet your budget and then I was thinking last night that if you left

[41:04] and we stopped showing me Christian County. The chambers back in the 70s, when I

[41:12] belonged to 12 different chambers and I'd go over the area where my stores were

[41:17] and I would go to every chamber meeting, they used to take care of tourism, they

[41:22] took care of development, economic development. The cities didn't take care of

[41:26] They're only 3 or 4,000 people in those arcane nicks

[41:30] that are back in the 70s.

[41:32] And things have changed.

[41:34] But if you disappear, the chambers aren't already

[41:38] to take it over again.

[41:40] And so we have no economic development in one

[41:43] of the vastest growing counties in the state.

[41:46] It would be expected that you guys as a county would take

[41:48] on an entire team of people to be employed.

[41:52] Which is a lot more expensive than what you've got.

[41:54] That's a problem.

[41:54] That's a problem, Richard.

[41:55] We don't have the money, we don't have the money, so our business model is going to have to change too.

[42:02] And that's what these gentlemen will be tasked to do is we're going to have to change our business model.

[42:09] And I think we can't do it.

[42:11] We're always going to do well in this county, but we're going to have to change it.

[42:16] And you already have to change it too.

[42:18] Figure out ways to fundraise and things.

[42:21] I mean, it's just the way it is.

[42:23] and we've been doing that. That's been part of our major planning for the next five years we've

[42:29] been working with our board for additional revenue streams and trying to figure out how to

[42:33] supplement that and I would also challenge you guys you know after today to just speak with other

[42:39] county commissions and see how they're funding their economic development organizations because

[42:44] comparatively in other counties we're very unique usually in other counties their local government

[42:50] entities are funding their economic development organizations if they're not

[42:55] employed through their county they're funding them a between 50 and 70% of

[42:59] their budget. Right now ours with just the county is about a six of our budget.

[43:06] If we take all of our public entities that are funding us it's around 40%. So the

[43:12] fact that we're still we have so much support from the private sector is

[43:17] It's really an anomaly, but I think that shows how much support we have in this area and

[43:21] how much growth and how many people want to be here, but it is still pretty significantly

[43:25] different.

[43:26] We've talked with our partners in other counties, and they ask us how are we doing it because

[43:30] we don't have a majority of our funding from our public sector.

[43:35] And so it is really unique, and I think that speaks a lot to our, you know, hit the ground

[43:39] running to try and get the support where we can.

[43:41] But I would just encourage you to maybe even if you're looking at changing how you're doing

[43:46] things and how you're able to support. I would just challenge you to maybe ask

[43:49] some of the other commissioners and the other counties to see how are they

[43:51] making it work because they are doing that and that's what we're seeing in

[43:55] other communities. They don't, they're just, they're just dealing with things

[43:58] differently and I know their dynamics are different but I would also be just

[44:01] curious to hear from their perspective and that might, that might be

[44:04] helpful to you it might not but I would just challenge you to talk to them and see

[44:08] how, how they're making that work. And I think that we can definitely do that we

[44:12] We have a meeting coming up with the Southwest Missouri Commissioners Association in October,

[44:17] so we can definitely ask that in the comment section when they ask for just general

[44:23] lives, comments to see what they're doing now.

[44:27] I don't really know what some of those counties, what they're doing with respect to economic

[44:33] development, you know, Barry County and McDonald County and some of the very rural counties,

[44:38] So, but that's who we deal with regularly, you know.

[44:43] It's just a tough, it's just a tough and moving piece, you know.

[44:48] We get excited about anything that's commercial that has a sales tax component, and here recently,

[44:55] you know, some of the big wins that we see are heavily driven.

[45:00] The residential component, and we understand that it takes rooftops to bring the commercial in, but some of those would not have had the commercial component that they do have now without our team fighting for that commercial spot. It would have just been residential. It's hard for us to get really excited about residential because we just look black and white, right? So we're looking at, if you lose, if you use, say FBI statistical value, any one law enforcement officer for every

[45:31] what is it? 700 people roughly. We don't we can't we can't nearly keep up with

[45:37] that number. So I think that our local agencies were probably looking at more

[45:41] about 1,000 1200 people versus the 700. We feel the same way. We get more excited

[45:46] about commercial too. We look at all of the roads that they get built out and

[45:51] then donated back to the public sector for us to maintain a perpetuity.

[45:58] The

[45:59] my background in the municipality and that street lights are being donated back to the city

[46:04] in our elected bill and when you look at the makeup of the municipality or county being

[46:11] you know 80 plus percent funded through sales tax versus property tax when we take

[46:16] on all of those additional liabilities we come out on the losing end if there's no sales

[46:21] tax revenue to offset it right now we still have this huge problem in our county of

[46:30] not supporting local businesses. I just heard of one yesterday that it's going to be closing soon.

[46:39] And we have a bad habit of taking off this right field or shopping online or whatever the case may be.

[46:46] And that's where our pinch is because our sales tax revenues can't keep up.

[46:52] For at least four years that I've been here, our sales tax revenues have not kept up

[46:57] of a CPI which has caused us that had the opportunity

[47:01] to raise the lip on our citizens,

[47:04] which we didn't do for three years, we did this year,

[47:07] but that's a tough position.

[47:10] It compounds more and more of the problem.

[47:13] So that's just kind of where,

[47:15] kind of the next one issue of where my brain is going

[47:18] with regards to getting old though.

[47:22] I understand if you're not growing your diet.

[47:26] So can you can you just clarify for me for the sales tax revenue?

[47:30] I know last year we talked about it and I know it's been it's been tough and

[47:34] you've seen a decline in that do you see that if there is on the flip side of

[47:39] that if there's an increase in local sales tax revenue that if we're being

[47:44] held to will our sales taxes down so we can't fund you as much when the sales

[47:48] tax goes up will you see a shift in that to where we could have some

[47:51] additional funding? I mean, that is a potential. I mean, that was an auditor's

[47:56] suggestion from maybe last year or last year before. Tie your revenue

[48:07] reimbursement or whatever you want to call it back to sales tax. So if the sales

[48:11] tax is climbing and we know that and I don't think that Christensen was a huge fan

[48:17] of being recognized just on the sales tax. Well, it makes us feel like we're

[48:20] responsible sure sure all the sales tax in the entire county when we're

[48:25] showing the businesses we've brought in have brought in more sales tax than

[48:29] even what you guys are funding us at I feel like that's what we can show

[48:32] we are responsible for sure and that's kind of where we're in where it's a tough

[48:36] dynamic that's why I'm looking you know maybe three years ago we ask help us with

[48:41] the campaign for the shop yeah you know use that as a deliverable no

[48:47] different than the City of Los Arts contract with those are Chamber of Commerce. Here are these

[48:52] deliverables if we're going to give you X number of dollars. We need something back in return.

[48:58] And we do have the opportunity for the county to enter into a contract with us if they would like

[49:03] to have specific deliverables like that. That is an option that we have on the table in the county

[49:07] has just never agreed to do that. So but that is something that we are willing, full and willing

[49:12] to do and that is something you guys would like to see us and have measurable

[49:17] performance on specific asks. We are more than happy to have those discussions

[49:22] and go into a contract because we do with the city of NYXDA and the city of

[49:26] Ozark and they say love having that because they have specific measurable things

[49:30] that we can do. So just something to consider. As you dive into that, is that

[49:34] something that you feel like you could put together in a reasonable amount of time

[49:36] if we tabled what we have proved today or do you feel like that's something that

[49:40] that we're talking about for next year.

[49:42] I will assure that we had that stipulation

[49:45] that set up at 50,000 and higher

[49:48] when we did the enter into the agreement with people.

[49:51] So that would be the caveat is that we're launching

[49:57] a funding campaign that is in our bylaws every five years

[50:00] that we need to launch it.

[50:02] So we're actually at a first meeting yesterday

[50:05] and we're revamping all of our...

[50:09] so that we can have three to five-year agreements

[50:11] and things like that from different organizations

[50:13] and businesses so that we can budget for the future

[50:15] so that we can know if we have jobs

[50:16] and we can know what we're able to do.

[50:18] So, but that is how we're able to do that.

[50:20] With that, because as you know,

[50:23] you guys are trying to set budgetary things for you.

[50:26] And then, you know, with us,

[50:28] we're trying to do the exact same thing.

[50:29] We don't know what we have year to year.

[50:31] Last year, the reason we got hit so hard

[50:33] is we have hit with so many things

[50:35] that were outside of our control.

[50:36] So, we had one rainstorm where Miranda's department wouldn't be spend on that one rainstorm.

[50:43] It's close to 300.

[50:44] Yeah, almost $300 from one storm.

[50:46] We weren't counting on it.

[50:47] We had a million dollars that we spent on the sewer from the jail.

[50:51] We had no idea we were going to have to spend on it.

[50:53] So last year we were like, then.

[50:55] So it's so hard.

[50:57] And we don't want to feel like we're printing on you at all.

[51:00] We're just saying that's how our organization, our board, has voted just as great to talk

[51:03] about.

[51:08] It's tough for when you look at the other old taxing organizations in this county, they're dealing with property tax.

[51:15] And property tax is a steady income.

[51:18] We've never, in my lifetime, I mean, we had a couple of small financial crisis and housing market crisis in 2008.

[51:25] This property tax pretty much is always on the clock.

[51:29] you can always see it. I mean in the past 12 years, Christian County's known for one billion

[51:34] assets valuation, two billion assets valuation. And so they can project and they can look long-term,

[51:40] they can look five years. Municipality's counties on the sales tax work, we're more of a rollercoaster,

[51:46] you know, we're up and down, up and down, up and down every single month and it can get nauseous riding

[51:52] the rollercoaster as we're trying to prepare and plan. And we're trying to help not only on the

[51:58] development side with that. But as you said, the shop local campaign, now that that is a few years behind us and

[52:05] and morphing into the Explore Christian County, which is an even bigger, you know, entity not just

[52:10] encouraging people that are here to find local things to do and come to local festivals and events and

[52:16] shop at your local stores and highlight the, you know, retail stores and things that we have here, but

[52:22] also to bring in outside dollars to our community so that we're not just relying on the local spending

[52:28] their dollars a year but we're also encouraging other people to come and see what we have here

[52:32] and spend their dollars a year. So trying to kind of hit that from both sides will really

[52:37] I believe start to see a really good return on that here in the next years as that continues

[52:41] to grow especially as we have some state funding that can match what we're able to spend to kind of

[52:47] help boost that. So with this being the first year to do it we're really excited to see what that

[52:52] will look like and I can't wait to be able to report back to you guys with that. So when I can speak

[52:57] you know, just from only being in office almost two years and just being around and seeing

[53:02] the things that you guys are involved in, the things you're doing, and what it can doubt

[53:05] that one did. You know, you guys doing an amazing job.

[53:09] If it wasn't, we wouldn't have been like, okay, we would have cut the money completely.

[53:14] We didn't think that what, you know, the irrevaluable and what you guys do.

[53:18] We just looked at it kind of why we talked about that contract thing.

[53:21] We'd be able to commit to, you know, five years that have set them out for us.

[53:24] why that's so hard is because we don't know the year we're going to spend a million dollars on

[53:28] sewer or where we're going to have those as we dial in year to year. We almost have to have

[53:33] that flexibility for our own budget to go oh my gosh what did we get hit with or what happened

[53:38] or what's there you know what this or that that's why I think it makes it a little bit harder for us

[53:42] to come in to that and people that don't understand you know 80% of our budget is through sales tax.

[53:51] And as we go forward, you know, and you can't continue to be the fastest, one of the fastest growing counties

[53:58] continue to add the services with the new road subdivisions and all the things

[54:01] that then have your sales tax go stagnant.

[54:05] Because we talked about it a million times in here, it's because people are purchasing more online.

[54:10] That's why in the very first year I said, I put forth the use tax.

[54:14] I know it's not popular, it's never popular when you say, hey, we need to ask for this,

[54:17] but we can see, long-term, we don't do something here,

[54:22] we're gonna continue to just be stagnant

[54:24] and it only hurts the growth that hurts

[54:27] what we're able to provide for people.

[54:30] So I feel you're getting it completely

[54:33] and that's why, you know, I felt like you guys took

[54:35] such a massive cut last year and that's why,

[54:40] that's why I speak to that as if I could see what we're not here.

[54:44] I think you're sharing about that,

[54:46] But I think it's it's one of those things that it's important everyone understands

[54:49] It'd be no different for your organization if you were in and you were like oh my gosh

[54:52] All of a sudden money gets super tight. You can't do anything. You can't go

[54:55] Well, we were gonna donate 10 grand to this or whatever it is and we can't this year or whatever and that's what yeah

[55:00] We would also just like you guys to think of this more as an extension of your team that you guys have here

[55:06] That other people are also paying in to utilize our organization like all the other cities and

[55:11] And private businesses too are paying for our organization to help everyone across the county that's wanting to expand and do business here.

[55:20] I would use the City of Ozark as a great example. They really see us as an extension of their City of Ozark team.

[55:26] And they call upon us when they have questions about staff or if there's a development going on, like they see us as that,

[55:32] unless of a donation and more of an extension of the team that they have within the county.

[55:36] so it's just it's a cool way that they've really kind of modeled that and we've

[55:41] been really excited that they've they've really kind of taken that all on as

[55:45] they really do see us as an extension of their employees and their team which

[55:49] is really cool so I would just encourage you to think about it more of that

[55:52] aspect and less of just a terrible donation because we do the work that we do as

[55:57] you guys know stands to benefit the county as a whole more than anyone else and

[56:02] so we we look at ourselves as an extension of your team and we would love to see

[56:06] that was imricated, and whatever way that was.

[56:08] I think that's the easiest way to look at is because when we do make donations to other

[56:13] things, they provide services and do things where yours is more generated and it comes

[56:18] back.

[56:19] There's return to that.

[56:21] And one of the biggest things when you're self-tax is going to stay out doing that is to

[56:26] work with entities to help that grow and how we do that.

[56:29] And that's why you come in and you give us reports and you're like, here you want to come

[56:32] in here.

[56:32] So we've been working with stuff.

[56:34] We appreciate you guys.

[56:35] Thank you.

[56:35] But hopefully, Rachel, we can, we've got Commissioner Williams as a new board member for you guys.

[56:45] And I think that in the future, maybe we can do more of that.

[56:50] I just want to point out, and, you know, thinking again, Chris, what we talked about yesterday,

[56:57] listening to Mr. Brandon today, talking about how long it takes to build a bridge.

[57:02] It's nothing that we ever thought this was going to happen on Green Bridge, our red

[57:07] bridge, our Hawkins.

[57:08] This is all taking longer.

[57:11] And what you guys do is a process that you don't get through overnight.

[57:19] In fact, you don't even get through in one year.

[57:22] Most of your projects, because I think about the project building the road that we talked

[57:27] about in front of Chevrolet and bringing those six-figure incomes jobs behind

[57:35] creative audio and we finally got the grant money and we're finally going to

[57:40] get the road started maybe this fall or you know so next year and we

[57:45] completed and we can start building buildings to get jobs but we talked about

[57:50] that three or four years ago so it's kind of hard very long term planning for

[57:56] And so generally, it's a little different in growing your garden that you have to do a

[58:02] whole bunch of stuff, but you get produce in the same year.

[58:06] But in you guys, you're not getting any produce for a few years, and it makes it hard.

[58:13] The chat with fire branch was the process for grant writing on that, that our team told

[58:18] produce some of the grant writing for to get that bridge secured.

[58:22] That happened before I was even at Shelby, and I'm going into my fit here, being here.

[58:27] Yeah, yeah.

[58:27] That's adjusted the risk for that, so it takes a while.

[58:31] That's a problem.

[58:32] But that's the nature of economic development, it's not a short trip thing, it's for the long

[58:37] haul.

[58:37] So I'm trying to set up the county and the community for our kids and grandkids, and it's

[58:42] just a lot of fun.

[58:43] I am grateful that we have, show me a Christian County.

[58:46] Thank you.

[58:46] I think you guys are very important.

[58:48] There are so many things important in this county, and we just have to figure out a way

[58:52] work together and we appreciate you guys we understand it's a tough decision to begin so

[59:02] and Johnny I think going back to your question about the contract I feel like it might be something

[59:08] that we do like work on in the next couple of months but like I said we are launching and trying to

[59:17] to do a five-year commitment and rather someone that you mentioned earlier to about taking

[59:25] care of internal 13. The organization showed me they were started with the county commissioners,

[59:33] the city of NYXS, the city of Rosarth and to me that is our foundation and having the three

[59:40] you guys on board and supporting the organization is so key and it shows the

[59:47] business community to that this is the collaborative effort and I think that

[59:53] our partners really do look at that and they do care that everybody is at the

[1:00:00] And so, I look at you guys as our foundation. And so, as Rachel said, we're going to be an extension of the team. We're trying to partner with everybody to make all of this stuff happen. We can't do it by ourselves. And we know that. And so, you talk about Chevin Plyar. I mean, that was 30 different parties together. And it was you guys going to Northwest Arkansas a long time ago. It's always bringing everybody together to think this happens.

[1:00:28] So for our foundation, though, having you guys be a solid base for the organization to continue, I think it's just, it's very important.

[1:00:38] That's how I look at it.

[1:00:40] I

[1:00:49] want to make a motion today, take a vote or do we want to spend a week or two and decide what we want to do.

[1:01:01] I'm open to whatever you all decided to do, so I'm going to go and need a direction as well.

[1:01:07] That's a matter to me.

[1:01:09] If

[1:01:13] you made a motion to set at 40, stay at 40, I would second that motion.

[1:01:20] I was going to say we have anything left to research or anything to wait.

[1:01:24] I'm talking about more of the contractual stuff in the future, given us your time to look at that.

[1:01:29] Yeah, I would prefer that if we if we were to do that any year that we've had a couple of months built up

[1:01:37] Expectations, so we don't lose any time

[1:01:39] So I make that motion to

[1:01:43] Approved $40,000 for the new contract

[1:01:47] Second, okay, we've got a motion

[1:01:53] Let's do a growth conflict

[1:02:04] Okay, so what you guys can do is go ahead and kind of research and we'll look at, I don't know,

[1:02:15] we'll look at and see what you guys can propose and what we think that we can do,

[1:02:24] and we'll work with the auditor and work with other people.

[1:02:29] You know, one of the things I'm always concerned about is, and maybe now the other citizens

[1:02:36] in this county are concerned about it, but I am concerned, I mean, we're still working

[1:02:42] on the auditorium where we can even afford to have a co-op for our employees this year.

[1:02:49] Not everybody gets a raise in our county every year, and so if we don't have enough money

[1:02:56] to do a COLA, just a simple COLA to try to keep up with the cost of living. Our

[1:03:03] employees just continue to go down and our employees deserve better than that

[1:03:12] because they're providing the services for all of our citizens.

[1:03:17] We understand we're in a state of emergency, we're not doing that either, yeah, yeah, so you're all in the same

[1:03:23] This is problems that we have, but I believe that we're going to overcome the problems.

[1:03:31] This is not the end.

[1:03:33] This is the beginning of something I believe that will be better in the future.

[1:03:38] I still believe this county will continue to grow and be better.

[1:03:43] I really believe it.

[1:03:44] We do too.

[1:03:45] And I'm not going to give up on that county.

[1:03:48] So, but those are other considerations that's always in my mind.

[1:03:54] I want to take care of you guys, because you take care of everything.

[1:03:59] But I also want to take care of all the employees.

[1:04:03] We want you to, for sure.

[1:04:04] It doesn't help me any.

[1:04:06] But I'm fighting for the employees.

[1:04:10] Well, we appreciate that.

[1:04:13] We'll do our own research too and try to figure out something that sounds fair to everyone

[1:04:18] and that makes sense for the work that we're doing, but we want you guys to feel really

[1:04:21] good about it too.

[1:04:23] And we want us, you know, if there's a potential for contracts, like we want a little bit more

[1:04:27] I know we've got our work study coming up, our workshop.

[1:04:30] Yeah.

[1:04:30] We're going to talk.

[1:04:31] Yeah.

[1:04:31] And maybe we just have more of those, maybe quarterly, where we sit down and talk.

[1:04:35] There's some of that stuff.

[1:04:36] Yeah.

[1:04:36] Maybe we'll do this.

[1:04:38] You know, so great.

[1:04:39] That way we're constantly communicating.

[1:04:40] Yeah.

[1:04:41] Let's think it would be good.

[1:04:41] Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you. Have a great day.

[1:04:47] All right, me. Next item is, next item is communications. New gentlemen have any communications.

[1:05:02] Okay, so it's got a couple real quick. September 28th is a good neighborhood day in the state of Missouri.

[1:05:10] So that is coming up. And then also National Good Neighbor Week is September 28th through October 4th.

[1:05:21] Miss Brenda and I will be sending information out to all the chambers today and tomorrow.

[1:05:27] So they will have it. We're going to try to get the chambers to talk this up and communicate to all of their members

[1:05:35] and try to see if we can get some more entries into our contest every year.

[1:05:43] We did have a Christian County winner last year in the state and I'd like to see more entries this year.

[1:05:50] It makes our communities better when we have good neighbors and promoting good neighbors.

[1:05:55] So those are the only two things that I have right now.

[1:06:00] and if there's no water business, we will go into recess and they know when to close session.

[1:06:09] We

[1:06:17] will go into recess and we'll sign.

[1:06:22] So I'm just going to start charging my quarter...

Untitled meeting

Transcript