Wall drying work at courthouses tabled

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by Patty Cheffey

Although they received information on costs, the Marion County Commission voted to table any action on the drying out of walls in the courthouses until more information can be obtained.

Renodry presented the commissioners with their findings and provided a costs to eliminate water in the walls of the Hannibal and Palmyra courthouses during Monday’s commission meeting, at which the commissioners also heard a road report, reviewed monthly financial statements and approved a flood buyout lease.

Costs to dry out the courthouses, using Renodry’s system would be a little over $31,000, but the commissioners indicated they wanted more information as to the effectiveness of the program.

They asked Teya Stice, county land improvement coordinator, to contact other counties where the system is in use to find out how long they have had the system in place and if it appears to be working.

Since much of the moisture in the courthouses are in areas of storage, the commissioners again discussed building a storage unit on property near the Marion County Jail.

While no drawings have been made or cost estimates received for that, all three commissioners noted they are pursuing the matter with the hopes of getting stored items out of the courthouses and into a more permanent, drier and safer location.

In other business, Mike Schaefer, county highway supervisor, reported the County Road 402 bridge was closed to the public on Monday, and that he had received a request about speed limits from people living on County Road 403, which is seeing more use.

However, as the county has never had speed limits posted on county roads, the commissioners said they do not plan to start using them now unless speeding becomes a problem.

Schaefer also informed them a highway vehicle had hit a brick mailbox, which was situated on county right-of-way, and had knocked it over.

While the county fixed the mailbox, Schaefer said the property owner is not happy since there is still a cracked brick on the back side.

As the mailbox was on county right-of-way, the commissioners told Schaefer to inform the property owner that if she can find a matching brick, they will replace it, otherwise the repair will stand as is.

Schaefer said many counties are going to requiring either no or non permanent mailboxes on county right-of-way, and suggested the commissioners consider that option.

The commissioners reviewed the fund balances and monthly statements, noting all are in really good shape.

Current fund balance for the combined general revenue and road and bridge funds is $4,806,270.84, which includes $771,764.91 in American Rescue Plan funds.

In her report, Stice said Jay Graupman is again leasing some flood-buyout property on  County Road 408 for 10 years, and the commissioners signed the paperwork.

She also reported Tom Rupp had officially moved out of Miller Township, but had suggested a name for his replacement on the planning and zoning commission. Stice will check to see if that person is interested.

The commissioners also:

• signed letters to be sent to various agencies for an environmental review for the Douglass Community Center project; and

• learned the Department of Revenue has changed the submission date for sales tax collected from businesses which collect sales tax, giving those businesses  a longer time to collect.