Cass County Commission - Regular Meeting

Something new coming. Okay, we're going to go ahead and call the April 29th, 2026 12 o'clock commission meeting to order. Roll call, please, Jennifer. Bob Huston. Present. Mike Morland. Here. Jeff Weathers. Will Bryce, please lead the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat] Any motion to accept agenda as presented? So moved. Second.

All in favor? Three votes for, zero against. Any motion to approve the commission meeting minutes from April 8th, 2026? So moved. Second. All in favor? Three votes for, zero against. Any motion to approve the work session minutes from April 2nd, 2026, uh the meeting with Havig and Neer on the walk through in the courthouse repair project, and April 7th, 2026 meeting with Rowan Bridge? So moved. Second. All in favor? Three votes for, zero against. Resolution 26-36, Cass County Rowan Bridge Department, uh approving the purchase and installation of exterior doors for the Rowan Bridge facility from D.H. Pace Services Group. I need a motion. So moved. Second. Uh staff report, Travis, please. Yeah, this is just a replacement of all of our exterior doors. Um we've got several of them are not much better than a pop can. This last rain that we had water in the building by the doors, so it's time to get them replaced. Well, the facility's really 30, 40 years old down there, so it's time. We only had one bidder on it, too, so Okay, thank you. Any questions? No, it needs to be done. Yeah. All in favor of resolution 26-36? Three votes for, zero against. Resolution passes. Resolution 26-37, Cass County Treasurer's office, approving and adopting an updated investment policy and procedures. I need a motion. So moved. Second. Mr. Chessler? Yeah, this is just updating the investment policy with your signatures on it. It's been overdue. We probably have had several different commissions and each time there's a new commission it's probably a good idea to update that so you're all aware of it. No major changes. Just really one type of investment which is kind of the goal of that. That's where we are. Thank you, Mr. Chessler. Any questions? No. All in favor of approving resolution 26-37.

Three votes for, zero against. Resolution passes. Resolution 26-38, Cass County Road and Bridge Department, approving the purchase of 2026 John Deere Z950N mower from the Cass County for the Cass County Road and Bridge Department from Heritage Tractor Inc. I need a motion. So moved. Second. Travis, uh, can I have a report, please? Yeah, we've got a whole cut connect mower this time. It's last leg. It's a homeowner's model so we're upgrading a little bit to commercial grade cuz we mow here all three locations and we're going to do some mowing up north, too, so getting a mower that can handle it. It has two-wheel tires all the way around it so we're not worried about flat tires or anything else. Okay. Any questions? No. All in favor of resolution 26-38. Three votes for, zero against. Resolution passes. Resolution 26-39, Cass County Commission, approving task order number two with Navigate Building Solutions LLC for the professional services related to the old courthouse building assessment. I need a motion. So moved. Second. Shelly, would you like to speak on that?

That's up to you guys. Would you like to speak for just a second, please? Yeah, so this task order is just shy of $18,000 and it's really doing an assessment of both the exterior and the interior of the building with the priorities kind of looking visually that the commissioners have indicated including exterior tuckpointing and any work out there and then also looking at the courtroom and some reconfiguration and acoustic work there. Providing some of the cost estimates associated with that so that you guys have the information needed to prepare for the next phase of work we need. Thank you very much. Any questions for Shanna? All in favor? Three votes for, zero against. Resolution 2639 passes. Ordinance number 26-06, Gasconade County Commission, an ordinance amending County Code Chapter 100 regarding open meetings and the open records. I need a motion. So moved. Second. Paul, would you give us an update on that? Sure. So, last year the General Assembly amended Chapter 610, which is referred to as the Sunshine Law. They made it clear that um uh an advanced deposit can be required when somebody makes a request for records, and that deposit is not limited just to the photocopying expenses, but can cover the staff time needed to fulfill the request. Um there've been some issues about whether those uh charges could be obtained in advance. And there were instances anecdotally throughout the state. I know we've um dealt with them as well where cities, counties, other public entities have received Sunshine requests, some of which were significant and took up a fair amount of staff time um for which an advance deposit was not

obtained, and then when the request was ready for pickup and the amount of the fees were calculated, and the requester was contacted, they would just not respond. They would ghost the city or the county or the other public entity, and so you had, you know, numerous hours of staff time that that just people just walked away with no recourse. And so, the law just clarifies that you can get that advance deposit of the fees. And once you calculate it, then if the person requester does not uh make that deposit within 90 days, then the request is deemed abandoned. Um or if the advanced deposit exceeds $1,000, then they have up to 150 days to make the request, or else it is deemed abandoned. So, just I don't think the county's Sunshine Law policy has been updated since 2001. So, this is just a good time to bring it uh to align with the recent state law changes. Okay. Thank you. Any questions for Paul? No. I know we just had one request last week to the clerk's office for a bunch of health insurance information. This gentleman sent a request to every county in the state of Missouri, and it was going to require lots and lots of time for our people to be able to research that. So, hopefully this will take care of some of these requests that Yes, that's a good example where county staff has to meet uh the request would take up until 30 hours to fulfill. Um staff, of course, is more than ready, willing, and able to fulfill it, but in light of this new law, that's a significant

uh task on on the staff's time to do that. Um and the staff will do it, but we're going to do it in a in a strict law Pay up front. Okay. Thank you, Paul. Any other questions, sir? All in favor of ordinance number 26-06. Three votes for, zero against. Ordinance is approved. Today, we are going to recognize the ALS awareness of the month from the county of Cass County. We've had several requests. People asked that we recognize this month as being ALS May month, so we are going to do that. And we've lost a good friend to it. Lost a good friend, a good friend who used to be an officer. His wife passed away a little while ago, so we're more than happy to do that. Uh for the record, the Cass County clerk's office inspection of the precinct reports is done on on the election period. Make sure everything was correct on that. Is that right, Jennifer? That's correct. Everything's good? Okay, thank you. Add that to the record. Uh public comment at this time. Welcome the public for some comment at the meeting. Seeing none, we're going to close the public comment portion. Uh commissioner communications. We are going to go into executive session under RSMO 610.021.1 legal and RSMO 610.021.2 real estate. When we come out of the executive session, we will close out the general session. Need a motion. So moved. Second. Can I have a roll call vote, please, Jennifer? Um Commissioner Huston? Yes. Mike Rowland? Yes. Jeff Butcher? Yes. Thanks, guys. Yep.