BENTON — Scott County fared better than many places in Thursday’s storm but did not completely escape harm.
County commissioners discussed damage sustained by the county during Thursday’s storm with Joe Burton, emergency management coordinator for the county, during their regular meeting Tuesday.
All reported damage in the county appeared to be from “straight line wind,” Burton said. “I didn’t see any indication that it was a twister at all.” Several structures were reportedly damaged.
“We had two mobile homes completely destroyed, three with severe damage and several with moderate damage that were still livable,” Burton said. No fatalities were reported but one man was taken to the hospital for injuries, according to Burton.
“We had a gentleman that was hit by a tree that fell into his house and broke his ankle,” he said. “He was taken to a hospital in Cape.”
Burton also presented some ideas for forms along with a proposal to put the county’s street naming procedure down in writing. Burton said he researched forms and addressing ordinances used by other counties to come up with the forms.
Among the forms is a petition to establish or change a street name which includes fields to document that a street name change was requested and that affected residences have been notified.
“The commissioners actually have the authority to say yes or no,” Burton said. Commissioner Jamie Burger said he is opposed to changing any street names for safety reasons.
“When you start changing names, it creates a problem,” Burton agreed, as dispatchers get used to street names and familiar with their locations. In other business Tuesday:
• Commissioners accepted a bid of $1,770 from Hi-Tech in Sikeston for a phone system with a message feature for the juvenile courts as recommended by Barbara Smith, juvenile court administrator.
The purchase of two computers through the Office of State Court Administrator, one for the Sikeston juvenile office and one for the juvenile office in the county courthouse at Benton, for a total of approximately $3,000 was also approved.
Smith said the new phone system is needed so the secretary can do her Juvenile Information System data entry without interruption. “It’s a statewide database system through the Office of State Court Administrator,” she said. The computer at the Sikeston office is needed for an office shared by several deputy juvenile officers.
Smith noted she came in $16,000 under budget last year and doesn’t anticipate going over her $130,000 budget this year.
Even though Smith’s budget does not include a line item for these purchases County Clerk Rita Milam advised it will be fine as long as her total budgeted amount is not exceeded.
As recommended by Smith, the computer purchase will be made through the Office of the State Court Administrator so they can get computer systems at OSCA’s price and that match OSCA’s specifications.
• County Developer Joel Evans said he attended an informational meeting on the Missouri Department of Transportation Safety Grant program with Chief Deputy Tom Beardslee March 8 at the Missouri State Highway Patrol offices in Jefferson City.
These grants can be used for special projects geared at decreasing vehicle accidents by focusing on statistical information on past accidents in the county, Evans explained.
Information includes demographics such as driver age and statistical information such as location, if drinking or excessive speed was involved, time of day and the day of the week accidents occurred.
Grant money can be used to pay deputy and dispatcher overtime to increase law enforcement presence during identified problem time periods. Funding can also be used for educational programs or equipment aimed at decreasing accidents.
• The county sheriff’s department is interested in using this year’s Justice Assistance Grant money to hire a drug enforcement officer and to purchase body armor and surveillance equipment, according to Evans.
Applications for JAG grants are due this month, he said.
• Joe Lane of the Bootheel Regional Planning Commission is reviewing information to see if public water for residents southwest of Water District 1 is a feasible project, according to Evans.
• Evans suggested holding a meeting with potential users of county’s Geographic Information System and representatives from the GIS vendor, Midland GIS Solutions of Sunrise Beach.
Although it would have a negligible security risk, setting up a server for the county’s GIS so all users are working on one database would be much better than the several disconnected databases in use now that are updated separately, Evans said.
