Crawford County Commissioners on Dec. 30 discussed Sheriff Darin Layman’s last day as Emergency Management Director and the replacement candidates for the position.

Layman’s last day was Dec. 31, resigning from the position because of a conflict of interest. As someone who holds a county office, such as the sheriff, he is not allowed to hold another office that is incompatible with his position.

Incompatibility can occur when one office is subordinate to another, or if the offices are separate, so the office holder cannot perform their duties without giving the public inconsistent loyalties.

Layman first took the position because a previous sheriff operated both offices, but since then, has been advised by his lawyer to resign from the position.

“I’ll still help with whatever I can,” Layman said.

Presiding Commissioner Steve Black said that there are two potential candidates for the position.

“Spoke with one of them last night. He’s got to do some checking, but he seems very interested,” Black said. “One candidate I haven’t spoken with in several weeks....”

Discussion of the use tax continued this week. Associate Commissioner of District 2 Jared Boast explained that if the county votes to adopt a use tax, money would go toward materials. Not all the roads will be fixed within a year. 

“So whether that would be box culvert projects, asphalt resurface projects or just simply rock, it all boils down to materials,” Boast said. “It’s not...for purchasing equipment or anything of the nature.”

Black thinks that last year, when they tried to put a use tax on the ballot, they were a little hasty.

“Maybe we didn’t have (the) time to inform the public. We got a little bit of time left....We’ve taken more time to try to get questions answered, where the money would go, why there’s a need,” Black said.

He added that out of Missouri’s 114 counties, nearly 40 have a use tax. Black mentioned that he sat with two commissioners of another county and talked about their use tax.

“I sat with the, can’t remember what county it was, but I sat with two of the commissioners from that county, and they went on and on, how the use tax pretty much saved them from complete failure,” Black said.

Many of those in favor of the use tax have been for using the increased revenue to improve the county roads. Associate Commissioner of District 1 Mark Pfeiffer explained that he has no desire to do additional paving — just resurfacing.

He explained that they received data that estimates how much it would cost to do some paving, but that it would take a large amount of his capital improvements (CI) budget. The CI budget is already underfunded in the 2026 fiscal year.

“Yesterday I got a phone call. We talked last week about Sellers Bridge....Krysta (Swartz) called me yesterday from Great River (Engineering) and said she wanted to know if I wanted the good news or the bad news,” Pfeiffer said. “...Good news is when they were drilling holes, the bedrock, as they went through, it actually raised up. So the cost is down. The bad news is when they went on the other side of the road, it’s the exact same thing.”

Initial estimates were between $30,000 to $58,000, but that setback will essentially double that cost of the project.

Pfeiffer added that $150,000 was set aside for both the John Coleman Road bridge and Sellers Road bridge replacement, but with the additional cost, the Sellers Road bridge will consume about 60 to 70 percent of that.

“It’s heartbreaking because you plan the entire time, and then one little thing...and you only have four years...to prove yourself. One day...left of this year...and then we start off my second year...by tying my hands behind my back,” Pfeiffer said.

Black hopes that the commissioners have better informed people about the use tax this year.

“I guess it’s a case of, do the voters want, in my opinion, better or status quo? I know people who live on these county roads do not want status quo,” Black said.

In other business, during citizen participation, Annette Burdett of Liberty Township in Crawford County, asked for clarification on various topics when the redistricting is finalized.

Redistricting was approved on Jan. 6, 2025, at the first commission meeting of the year. The last time the township was faced with redistricting, the voters were not informed ahead of time. 

“We found out at the polls that day,” Burdett said.

County Clerk Kim Gibbs offered to send out a letter to the voters clarifying which road district they are supposed to call when there’s an issue, which voting district they’re in and which district they are paying their taxes to.

Black and Pfeiffer also wanted to clarify some misconceptions about elected officials’ salaries.

Black had added later in the meeting that he saw that someone had claimed that elected officials got a 135 percent pay increase.

“...If you just do a little quick math there, and an elected official is making, let’s throw $40,000 out there. 100 percent of $40,000 is $40,000. Is there anybody in here that’s an elected official that got...their salary doubled?” Black asked. 

Pfeiffer mentioned that he has also heard people mention that elected officials would be giving themselves raises when they previously spoke about how to increase employee wages in past meetings.

“That is not the case by any means. We cannot just give ourselves raises,” Pfeiffer said. “This money that we’re getting towards, what you consider hourly employees, does not have anything to do with us or any other elected official....Our salaries are set.”