Associate Commissioners of Districts 1 and 2 Mark Pfeiffer and Jared Boast gave some updates on March 17 on their respective bridges that were damaged during the recent flooding.

A majority of the Butts Road bridge work was finished on March 17, but it will reopen on March 20, giving the concrete time to cure and allow for finishing the work up to the approach.

They had to get the bridge opened quickly because Bass River Resort has opened for the season and has a large upcoming event. More work will be done at a later date, like sloping the other side of the bridge.

It was discovered that the shot rock wasn’t put as deep as what was previously claimed by the contractor; underneath the bridge was just fill. Fill is usually made of soil or some kind of aggregate material used in compacted layers to help with a structure’s strength, density and stability.

Pfeiffer said that they are exploring options when it comes to funding the repairs.

“We can talk about this all day long, but...(it would) be about a $20,000 to $21,000 cost to the county, but we are exploring options because we do have some money left over in that flat grant to use. So we are requesting the balance of that to assist with this repair,” Pfeiffer said. “Hopefully, we will hear back from them in a couple weeks, and they will approve that, and that’ll take a majority of the financial burden off of us.”

Presiding Commissioner Steve Black mentioned he drove out to see the damage.

“Definitely no expert, but just standing and looking at it, that bridge stood no chance,” Black said. “(The) bridge is fine, just the approach, but I saw how they fixed it, and...I think it’s gonna work.”

During a conference call between the commissioners and Great River Engineering (GRE), which did the engineering work for the bridges, Black mentioned that GRE wasn’t willing to accept responsibility for either bridge.

“Both bridges look to me like a cookie-cutter situation. They just plug one design into both situations,” Black said. “Maybe that’s wrong, but that’s kind of how it looked.”

Boast agreed that the contractor did well with the repairs on the Butts Road bridge, and that the High Point bridge will be repaired similarly, but with approximately 40 feet added to the approach. They also plan to angle both sides of the bridge.

He explained that it puts District 2 in a tight financial decision.

“We don’t have any money, so we have to pay for it. And like I said, we’re adding on our repair,” Boast said. “I don’t want to say substantial. It’s just a different type of (repair) because we’re going to add onto ours. Think it’ll give it a more of a fighting chance.”

Commissioners signed the payouts for the High Point bridge and the change order on the Sellers Road bridge.

Boast talked a little about the plans for the Smith Road bridge.

“These plans have been reviewed on site. It will not be like Butts and High Point. This is a bridge over quite the ravine, if you will. So if it washes out the approaches on this, we’re going to have a lot more to worry about than just the approaches on this.”

In total, the contracts are set to be $536,584, with 19.55 percent being covered by the county.

Shifting the topic to the use tax, Black mentioned he contacted Bonnie Prigge with the Meramec Regional Planning Committee (MRPC), and asked her which surrounding counties in MRPC had a use tax.

“Her reply was, ‘Gasconade, Maries, Osage, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington counties all have a use tax. Crawford and Dent do not,’” Black said.

Boast added that Walmart already collects the entire amount of sales tax from online purchases according to a buyer’s physical address.

“They 100 percent collect the sales tax based on that address. They do not remit that sales tax to anyone that does not have a use tax in place to capture that. That money is then turned over to the Missouri Department of Revenue...where it sits,” Boast said.

He further clarified that this does not include Walmart Pickup, where consumers purchase items online for someone else to shop for them, and then go to pick it up at a scheduled time.

“The whole issue with the use tax is, in most cases, you’re already paying it,” Boast said. “We just want the device to capture the money so that we can put it back to work for you right here in the county.”

In other business, Treasurer Karen Sikes reported on the county’s newest CD, which has $493,735 for 24 months, consisting of about $112,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), combined with another CD that previously matured.

Sheriff Darin Layman announced that Crawford County has been approved as a Blue Shield County again for 2026, but must wait until all applications are submitted and approved before knowing the exact amount Crawford County will receive. The state requested $10 million, which will be divided equally among all approved entities.