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County OKs bid for financial, CARES Act audits

by Patty Cheffey

The Marion County Commission approved the low bid to have audits completed of not only the finances for the county, but also a separate audit for the CARES Act funding.

The bid from Devereux and Company out of St. Charles, Mo., was approved during Monday’s commission meeting, at which the commissioners also heard a brief overview of the final CARES Act funds, discussed the plat book pricing, and approved a bid for snow removal.

Devereux’s bid was for $13,500 and was the lower of two bids received. Also bidding was Daniel Jones and Associates out of Arnold, Mo., which bid $20,000.

Since the audit does include one for the CARES Act, the county has set aside CARES Act funds to be used to pay for that.

The audit will cover the years of 2019 and 2020.

In other business, Teya Stice, county improvement coordinator, reported the county will have $7,750.96 to distribute in CARES Act funds once she has received all of the necessary invoices and other paperwork on the funds already distributed.

As funds have to be paid out before the end of the year, the commissioners will be reviewing some late applications and possibly earlier ones that were passed over for assistance to finishing using up those funds.

Stice noted a couple of those getting funding have ordered materials, but they won’t be delivered until after the first of the year. In those cases, she is asking for paperwork to show an order has been placed and the final costs.

She also reported since there will not be available time to install the new audio system in the Palmyra Courthouse courtroom prior to the end of the year and since payment must be made before the end of the year, the company, Audio Acoustics is willing to pay for a performance bond to guarantee the job gets done.

Stice also reported the costs for the new plat books needed to be set.

While the county only ordered 200 books this time, and usually give away 100 of them to various entities, cost for the remaining books needed to be determined so the county can recoup some of their costs as well as help out the University Extension which sells the books for the county.

After some discussion, commissioners approved asking the Extension to set the cost for the books high enough to make a profit and to reimburse the county $20 per book.

The commissioners also approved a bid from Durst to do the snow removal from the courthouse drives at the same cost as last year, $140 for plowing and $135 for salt.

Mike Schaefer, highway department supervisor, reported a narrow bridge on County Road 213 has been replaced by a culvert.

In his report to the commissioners, Sheriff Jimmy Shinn reported on an incident that occurred at the jail last Friday.

Shinn said a federal prisoner was upset he had not gotten his e-cigerattes and was trying to encourage others to start a riot.

While the prisoner did manage to block out the cameras in his pod and attempt to flood it, Shinn said the situation was under control in about 15 minutes. 

The Missouri Highway Patrol and the Palmyra Police Department also responded to assist the Sheriff’s Department.

The commission also reviewed the General Revenue and Road and Bridge fund balance, which is in “good shape,” according to County Clerk Valerie Dornberger.

The combined fund sits at $1,369,842.91, compared to $1,289,511.85 at this time in 2019.

The also reviewed the monthly budget report with the commissioners, noting a large payment will be coming out of the medical deductible savings fund, but there should be enough to get through to the end of the year.

The county also approved the 2021 holiday vacation schedule.