Stoddard County commissioners will soon go out for bids regarding financing options for the voter approved jail expansion.
With the help of county attorney Ivan Schrader, the request for bids finance language was reviewed during Monday morning's meeting.
According to commissioners, after looking over the bid, they agreed it read as if it were left open for private investors and/or banking institutions.
"It's not narrowed down the way I thought it would be," Commission Steve Jordan said. "It's kind of wide open."
During an earlier meeting, commissioners discussed the possibility of a lease purchase option. If the county were to lease the project back from the builder, Dale Rogers of Robert Stearns and Associates, Inc. told the commission he would then be dealing directly with that person, who would be making the decisions, and not the county.
If the county were to enter a lease purchase, Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis said there would be a couple questions that would need to be asked if a construction company were to bid on the project.
"Who is hiring the architect, who is doing the design plans and who is in charge of all of that," he asked.
During next week's meeting, a representative from Gilmore & Bell of St. Louis, Mo., will be in attendance to speak with the commission and answer questions. Rogers is also expected to be in attendance with any questions he might have.
Gilmore & Bell primarily represents states, counties, school districts and other governmental and quasi-governmental entities as a bond counsel in public finance transactions.
After hearing from the firm, Mathis said the county would be in a better situation to know where money can be saved and how to handle the financing.
While on the subject of the jail expansion, Mathis proposed the possibility of implementing a county morgue within the building project.
"Stoddard County doesn't have a morgue," he said. "I provide services for the county with a 20 by 20 state-of-the-art refrigeration ventilated system that I built several years ago."
Mathis, who owns Rainey Mathis Funeral Home, said he holds many bodies for the county in his morgue and is required by law to hold unclaimed bodies for 10 days in efforts to locate the next of kin.
Once he leaves office in December, Mathis said he will no longer be providing that service by assuming responsibility and the liability.
"It is getting more involved then it use to be," he said.
Mathis asked in the event Stoddard County elected a coroner who was not tied with a funeral home, where would bodies be held, would the service be outsourced or would space be rented from a facility.
Current Stoddard County Coroner Kenny Pope is a funeral director and embalmer with Rainey Mathis Funeral Home.
While Sheriff Carl Hefner agreed a county morgue would be needed and the coroner's office is a part of law enforcement, he was unsure if it would be considered part of the jail, which the tax was passed to fund.
Hefner and Chief Deputy Andy Holden will discuss the proposal and come back to the commission at a later date.
Phone and Internet Service Bids
After hearing from GoSEMO Fiber two weeks ago, commissioners agreed to go out for bids regarding phone and Internet services.
The county, who currently receives phone services from AT&T, expressed their frustration regarding account information and phone lines being down frequently at the sheriff's department.
Hefner also added his office needed "a much faster Internet than what they currently have" to connect with MULES (Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System) through Jefferson City.
The decision to look into bid options came following Glen Cantrell of GoSEMO Fiber's presentation to the county with pricing options based on current services.
According to his estimated numbers, he could provide the county with a monthly savings of $4,464 and annual savings of over $53,000.
Mathis said the county will put the bid together for publication tailored to suit their needs and move forward.
While Cantrell has presented his numbers to the county, he was told his company would have to provide a bid as well to be considered.