County requests 'cleaned-up' version or revised Local Emergency Operation Plan

CHARLESTON - Mississippi County officials will request a cleaned-up version of the recently revised Local Emergency Operation Plan before signing off on it.

The recently-delivered plan contained "lots of cosmetic and grammatical problems," County Clerk Junior DeLay said Thursday at the County Commission's regular meeting.

Louis Berger Group of Kansas City was hired by the State Emergency Management Agency to revise and update local emergency operation plans for every county in the state.

The content is OK, DeLay said, even though problems noted in an earlier "rough draft" were not addressed.

But overall it doesn't appear to be a professional document, he said.

DeLay said another area county's officials are reportedly not happy with the content in addition to grammatical errors and cosmetic problems.

In other county business:

* Ed DeField, formerly the county assessor for many years, said he thinks if the county owned the land where the Mississippi County Port Authority is that industry could be attracted.

"Most people at one time thought it belonged to the county," said DeField.

All the river frontage land at the Mississippi County Port Authority, however, belongs to the estate of the late Hunter Raffety which still collects 10 percent of money made at the Port, DeField said.

He said a fertilizer company was going to locate at the Port, but "after they read the contract they backed out." DeField speculated it was because of the extra 10 percent.

DeField said he thinks the land should be donated to the county or that officials should "make an attempt to purchase it for the county."

Without the additional 10 percent cost, perhaps the county could entice a business to set up there, DeField reasoned.

The land is being leased even though it isn't being used, according to commissioners.

Commissioner Homer Oliver said putting pilings out in the river in for loading and unloading barges would stimulate industrial development at the Port.

Oliver also noted that the Port Authority itself does not have the money to bid on the property.

* Commissioners reviewed a letter from Michelle Fayette, director of the Kenny Rogers Children's Center, which asks the county's Senate Bill 40 board to consider contracting with the KRCC to provide services for children with special needs who have no other payer source.

She suggested between $3,000 and $5,000 in funding from the county in exchange for the services.

Fayette said in her letter that 30 Mississippi County children presently receive services from KRCC, only one of which is completely without a payer source. The services are provided at no direct cost to the parents.

Commissioners also reviewed the history of the sheltered workshop fund in the county which was implemented through provisions in Senate Bill 40 as well as the Revised Statutes of Missouri pertaining to county sheltered workshops.

The goal of the sheltered workshop fund is to provide job opportunities for those with developmental disabilities, according to officials.

While there are long-range plans to build a residence for those with special needs, the sheltered workshop fund presently has over $1.1 million in it.

* Commissioners approved the purchase of a lawnmower for $3,800 from French Implement Company of Charleston for the Oak Grove Cemetery, but decided to keep an old mower rather than trade it in for $700 on the deal.

* An e-mail from the State Agency for Surplus Property was reviewed which advises the agency will make used federal vehicles available from March through July.

"It will be on a first come, first served basis," DeLay said.