VIENNA — The three Maries County Commissioners on Monday made the decision that the county’s business and election information should be available to as many citizens as possible. The commissioners were charged with making the decision on which legal publication would run the coveted county election advertising throughout the year and they decided it would be run in both the Maries County Advocate and the Maries County Gazette.

The county’s annual financial statement will be shared every other year by the two county publications with the Advocate running the financial statement in even-numbered years and the Gazette in odd-numbered years.

At Monday’s meeting both newspapers were represented by reporters and management. Jacob Warden was present as well as Craig Snodgrass and they both presented their case. County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers said there are four elections in 2020 with legals that will be published to inform citizens.

Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel said the information, especially about the election and primarily the publication of the ballots before the election, should not be one-sided and in only one of the legal newspapers. He said the information “is for all the people.” With two different newspapers sharing it is the only fair way to go.

Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre said this way they can’t go wrong.

As Bad as its ever been

The rain event followed by a winter storm that blew into the area on Friday brought with it over four inches of rainfall in some areas and made travel hazardous on Saturday with freezing rain followed by snow.

Most people said they stayed home and let the weather pass before getting out on Sunday. However, Commissioner Fagre said the Road One crew was out working on both Saturday and Sunday making roads passable. Much of the damage was from the heavy rain as over four inches fell in some places and flooded and washed out low spots and water crossing sites. Fagre said roads close to Argyle and Meta areas sustained a lot of damage. Sugar Creek covered Highway 133 going into Meta.

About the road damage, Fagre said, ”It’s as bad as its ever been.”

Heaving Floor

Ken Stratman is working with the commissioners to figure out why the floor in the hallway of the sheriff’s office continues to heave upward. Stratman said there are symmetrical cracks about every eight feet he thinks are caused by pressure. He dug out a small spot to investigate and said there are three layers of floor. The top layer is stamped concrete and the second layer appears to be a layer that was fixed where it popped up before. The bottom layer is a solid, painted concrete floor and it appears to be fine.

Fagre said before the courthouse renovation when the lower floor was converted to the sheriff’s office, there was often water standing in the basement. He told Stratman there is a sump pump in the elevator shaft and in the past the pump has turned over. Treasurer Rhonda Slone said when this happens the crickets come in and this actually alerts them to the problem. Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman said a sump pump can be used to tie in with the one in the elevator. Ken Stratman went to investigate.

Drewel wondered if there is a spring below the building. Fagre said the basement has always been wet and the building is on solid rock. Drewel said they won’t really know how the contractor graded out the area without jack hammering it out. Ken Stratman said the floor is popping up in the center of the hallway for at least 30 feet. It’s the two top layers that are coming up. He said the plumber suggested taking up the two top layers and putting the carpet back down on the original concrete floor. He suggested doing a 2 ft x 2 ft test hole to investigate further. The commissioners gave him permission to do this to see if the original floor is cracked.

New Fund

On Jan. 9, the commissioners discussed the possibility of the Maries County Sheriff’s Office taking over patrol and law enforcement duties in the City of Belle should the Belle City Council decide to accept the contract offer from the sheriff’s office. The Belle Marshal has been over budget every year and the police department is using money that could be used elsewhere in the City of Belle. The Belle Council can’t hire a different Marshal because he is elected. They can’t seem to work together and in the meantime there has been a lot of criminal activity in the town. The Belle Council solicited the bid from Sheriff Chris Heitman who gave a bid of $155,000 for the year plus half of the fine money to provide police officer coverage 20 to 24 hours a day in Belle.

The commissioners said if the Belle Council decides to go with the sheriff for law enforcement, they think Belle should have its own fund in the county’s financial paperwork and budget rather than being included with the sheriff’s financial paperwork.

Treasurer Rhonda Slone was hesitant to add another fund as she already has 52 funds to keep track of. Drewel said if she wanted to handle the Belle transactions with a line items in the sheriff’s budget, there would be a lot of line items. Besides wages there will be vehicles, fuel, insurance, equipment, uniforms and a lot of expenditures to keep track of.

Sheriff’s Deputy Lt. Scott John was present to talk to the commissioners about it and he agreed with Drewel that it will be a lot of transactions. He said Sheriff Heitman wants the money from the city at least quarterly, and they talked about receiving half of the money up front to pay for the start up costs. The sheriff purchased the new, black Chevy Tahoe thinking they would need it to begin patrolling in Belle in January. It takes six to seven months to get Ford Explorers so they needed time they didn’t really have and purchased the Tahoe. They called around and found out Don Brown Chevrolet had seven Explorers and they ordered one of them that will be put into service in Belle. This Explorer should arrive in February or March. If the Belle council does not contract with the sheriff’s office, the vehicles can be used by sheriff’s deputies as two deputies are driving vehicles with over 100,000 miles.

The cost of the new vehicles is about $37,000 to $38,000 each. Lt. John said the average mileage is about 20,000 to 30,000 miles a year. The sheriff’s office tries to replace the vehicles every three to four years to keep them under warranty. Currently the sheriff’s office has nine vehicles and if they take over patrolling Belle that number will be 12. Lt. John said the Belle officers who live in Belle will have a vehicle and they guys “coming in will share one.”

Water Issues

The courthouse continues to be plagued with water and drainage issues. On Jan. 13, Commissioner Stratman said a toilet stool in the men’s jail in the basement is running over and they shut off the water to it which caused a leak in the boiler room. They were told that is not how it was supposed to be shut off because it caused a back flow. The stools are welded shut and WTR Works, Inc. out of Dixon is working with the county to get this taken care of. The City of Vienna also is replacing a water meter.

No Complaints

Stratman said the custodian Shane Eaton cleaned out the furnace area and there is a heavy jack stand and a light floor jack there that don’t need to be. Fagre said he will take both of the to Road One to get them out of the way.

Stratman said the custodian is coming in on Sunday to wax the floors. He said there are “no complaints about the custodian.”