County Awarded $225K Jail Grant

A $225,000 grant from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services will make it possible to, among other things, pay for three new storage structures at the Ripley County Detention Center.

During an April 10 meeting of the Ripley County Commission, Jail Administrator Dennis Cox said that he applied for the grant just before the end 2023.

“There was a long check list of things that were approved, so when I applied I already pretty much knew what to ask for,” said Cox. “This money is only available to jails and detention centers, but it has to be spent by July 31,” he said.

That being the case, he has already ordered the storage buildings, and most of the rest of the money will be used for supplies.

“A lot of the money will be spent on stuff we would have had to buy anyway, such as medical equipment and disposable plates. This was an opportunity to stock up,” said Cox.

In addition, the money paid for an office computer, and part will be used to pay the wages of two employees for the months of April through July.

Cox reported that “things are going well” at the detention center. He told commissioners that the jail now has a pod for housing female inmates. This will hopefully eliminate the need for transporting them to Wayne County.

County Crew Road Foreman Dale Beston reported that he is not getting much of a break on quotes for prefabricated materials for reconstruction of the the low water bridge on 142E-24.

Engineers say the bridge can’t be repaired, and the commission needs to make a decision about whether to have the county road crew do the work or hire it done.

There are several ways to approach the job; however, there is not much time.

Since the road is part of the Doniphan R-I school bus route, the commission wants the work to be completed while the school is not in session.

If the county crew does the work, it will take time away from their regular road maintenance duties.

Prefabricated materials are also very costly.

Also to be considered is the weight and size of pre-fabricated pipes, and whether the county might have to hire a crane to set the sections in place.

Beston said for future jobs he would like the county to consider purchasing forms so that the crews can build their own concrete culverts to save money and also for the sake of convenience.

Kurt Humphries presented paperwork for the commissioners to sign to renew the county’s employee health insurance, and set up a schedule to meet with employees for them to sign on.

Presiding Commissioner Jesse Roy noted that collections for the one half-cent levy passed in August of 2023 are not adding up, which suggests that there are businesses which did not raise their rates to reflect the new tax.

He is having the county clerk’s office added to the individuals authorizied to access that information in the system.