July 15th 2024 – Lewis County Commission

July 15, 2024 

The Commission met pursuant to order of adjournment on July 8, 2024, with Presiding Commissioner Wayne Murphy Jr., and Associate Commissioners Travis Fleer present. When and where the following proceedings were had to wit: Commissioner Murphy called the meeting to order: 

Minutes: Commissioner Murphy made a motion to approve minutes for July 8, 2024. Commissioner Fleer agreed. Approved 2-0. 

Payroll: Commissioner Murphy motioned to approve the payment of warrants #203400 from General fund, warrants #203402-203406 from Road & Bridge fund, warrants #203407 from Assessment fund, and warrant # from LEOF. Commissioner Fleer agreed. Passed 2-0. 

Payroll: Commissioner Murphy motioned to approve the payment by EFTP of warrants #2972- 2988 from General fund, warrants #2989-2991 from Road & Bridge fund, warrants #2992-2993 from Assessment fund, and warrant #2994-3010 from LEOF fund. Commissioner Fleer agreed. Approved 2-0. 

Bills: Commissioner Fleer motioned to approve the payments of warrants #32089-32099 from General Revenue, warrants #22275-22284 from Road & Bridge, warrants #5796-5798 from the Assessment, warrants #21010-21012 from L.E.O.F, and warrants # from Co Farm. Commissioner Murphy agreed. Approved 2-0. 

Road & Bridge: Road and Bridge Supervisor Larry Janes and Secretary Colclough were present. 

Commissioner Murphy signed progress invoice #10 for Orange Street bridge from Howe and Company 

Hauled county rock 

Fixed washouts- #304, 403, 444, 421, 428, 450, 456, 433, 482, 453, 425, 405, 412, 455, 322, 508 

Bladed- #524 school road 

Groomed- #405, 412, 428, 425, 403 

Fixed settled tube- #215 

Sprayed weeds around the snowplows and shed 

Weed eated around the trucks and graders 

New employee Sean Blickhan started today 

Clerk Sapp contacted Ivan Schreader to write an agreement for road and bridge stating if the county puts an employee through the cdl program they must stay employed with the county for at least 2 years 

Scott Rutledge was in to express concern over his mom’s dust control being graded- the commission said they would go out and look- he said it was a dark brown color now it is barely visible 

Other Business: Paige Legg was in to talk to the commission and Assessor Logsdon about wanting fair and equitable tax evaluations- she disputed her 2023 taxes after being changed from residential to commercial for putting her property on Airbnb- she took her property off Airbnb and her taxes were changed from commercial to residential- she said Knox and Marion County did not charge to commercial and Assessor Logsdon was following St. Charles County- Paige asked for a zoning commission to be formed for the county and the city’s zoning is over anything the county would decide- she also asked for copies of the paperwork Assessor Logsdon brought for the Boe meeting which she was given- Mrs. Legg stated that Assessor Logsdon missed 7 properties in Lewis County that are being used for commercial purposes- Assessor Logsdon found 10- 12 more properties that are running as commercial properties- she said she has to find them because people are not volunteering the information- Assessor Logsdon said as the assessor she is allowed by law to change the valuations and classifications- Paige Legg then asked for the statute number and was give it 137.016.4- Commissioner Fleer asked to read the statute out loud- he said shall would mean have to- Assessor Logsdon said the statues are interpreted differently- and the difference is using your house as transit housing vs running a business out of your house- Commissioner Murphy also read the statute- Commissioner Fleer then said the statue is a gray area and asked if it could open the county up for lawsuits- Assessor Logsdon said it is within her right as assessor to try and get more money for the county by changing properties to commercial if that is how they are being used- Commissioner Fleer said it is not fair to those who have paid commercial on property for years when other people are doing it and Assessor Logsdon just hasn’t caught them- Assessor Logsdon told Commissioner Fleer and Mrs. Legg if they know of anyone using the property as commercial they can tell her, and she will look for evidence and change the property to make it fair- Mrs. Legg said we are not getting anywhere and she is busy but there are people with more money, lawyers, pull and time than her that will take up for the injustice- she wanted to leave with this being said, when you swear in as an elected official you should treat the community fairly and equity- reach out to fellow elected officials and make sure you know what is the right way to do things 

Chris Feeney with NEMO RPC was in to discuss Knox asking NEMO RPC to submit a Reginal Bridge Improvement Program application for FY2025 to include multiple county bridges- the deadline is November 1, 2024- 80/20 pay- he was asking if any of the surrounding counties were interested- the commission said they would be to replace Sunflower bridge on #5523 over the Wyconda river- this will have no impact on previous or current BRO bridge projects- no engineering due- need to be ready to go within 18 months 

Chris Feeney also discussed Safe Streets for All- there will be 2-3 meetings in the county with a representative- Commissioner Fleer volunteered to be the representative- Chris is trying to get data from areas that need to be fixed or looked into- he would like to have a spokesperson from 

the sheriff’s office, mail carrier, county official, city official, or road and bridge department- then get a regional break down to each county 

Collector Lay was in to let the commission know she has purchased a concrete post and box to use as a tax bill drop off- the road and bridge department agreed on the spot it will be placed and will install it 

Adjourn: Motion to adjourn to Monday, July 22, 2024, by Commissioner Whiston. Commissioner Fleer seconded; Commissioner Murphy agreed, passed 3-0. 

Respectfully submitted: 

Shannan Sapp 

Shannon Sapp, County Clerk 

Approved:

Wayne Murphy Jr., Presiding Commissioner 

Travis Fleer, Southern Commissioner 

Deanne Whiston, Northern Commissioner- absent