County considers more digital land records

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by Patty Cheffey

If funding can be found, the county will continue its process of digitalizing land records.

Harla Friesz, county recorder, was back in front of the Marion County Commission Monday morning with figures on converting 25 more years of the old books to a digital format.

Also Monday, the commissioners discussed the bridges approved for funding through the state’s new BRO program, received paperwork on the jail roof project and briefly discussed the contract with Northeast Missouri Electric Power Cooperative concerning roads during a possible project.

According to Friesz, work to digitalize 25 years from 1941 to 1966 of county land records will cost $60,927.31, and asked if there would be ARPA money available for the project.

While the commissioners said they were unsure at this point if there is any ARPA funds left, they noted they felt digitalizing the records should be done.

Stating she was concerned about the condition of the old record books, Friesz noted anything since 1966 has already been digitalized and expressed some concern about waiting to continue the conversion project as she felt the cost could change between now and budget discussions.

However, the commissioners asked her to wait until budget time to discuss the project further, noting they might have a better understanding if there would be any ARPA funds available at that time.

Friesz noted that once digitalized, the current office employees can do the indexing themselves.

In other business, the commissioners learned the two bridges approved through the BRO program will be on County Road 230, which is slated to begin yet in 2022 and on County Road 281, which is scheduled for 2024.

While the county has still not received its official agreement, the commissioners asked Teya Stice, county coordinator, to contact the state to see if the county can at least begin engineering work.

The commissioners also met with Martin Meyers with Poepping, Stone, Bach and Associates, who presented them with the paperwork for the jail roof project.

In addition, the commissioners approved a proposal in the amount of $4,200 to have Meyers oversee the project through completion and report to the commissioners on work progress.

Commissioners also reviewed a cooperative agreement with Northeast Power about road conditions if a grant is received and Northeast Power can proceed with their project.

This agreement deals with Northeast Power repairing any roads which might be damaged during the work, and the cooperative asked that one paragraph be removed.

The commissioners voted to send the agreement back to their attorney to find out what steps can be taken on that request.

In her report, Stice also noted Ken Lewis has been hired as the new planning and zoning field representative to keep an eye on building projects throughout the county and will sign his employee paperwork next week.

She also said Renodry has been in touch with her about the wall drying done at both Hannibal and Palmyra courthouses, and said at this point, the product appears to be working.