The weather has been just fantastic here in Nodaway County this past week with temperatures hitting the upper 80s during the daytime hours and dipping down into the 60s overnight. The humidity has also been quite tolerable making outside activities quite enjoyable. There is little doubt that autumn is just around the corner and our first Bearcat football game next Thursday will make it seem like it is here already. I am a Bearcat, and an avid football fan, so the excitement of another season is here. I need to admit that I am also a Kansas City Chief fan as well but their pre-season is not going so well. I hope they get all of the "kinks" worked out in the next few weeks and have a more successful season than the past few years. One of my "friends" told me the other day that Omaha had applied to the National Football League for an expansion team but they were turned down because they were told if Omaha was given one, then Kansas City would also ask for one. I did not think his comment was funny but nevertheless, we are expecting the Bearcats to have another successful season. I heard we are ranked number one in the conference already this year and I am looking forward to another trip to Florence, Alabama.
The nice weather is allowing much needed work to get completed all around the county. The courthouse renovation project is progressing smoothly with the brick work on the very top of the structure nearly complete. I stated this past week that just a little over two feet of the brick was removed and replaced to stabilize the new flat roof that will be installed under the new tower roof. There are four steel columns that will extend down through two floor areas of the brick part of the tower and will attach to the interior wooden cross beams. These columns will extend up through the new flat top floor approximately two feet and will be attached to the roof replica. This will stabilize the entire structure.
The masons are also working on areas above and below the four clock faces where water had got inside the metal balconies and louvers rotting some of the wooden beams that supported the structure. The wood has been removed with brick and steel lintels to be installed across the top of these four areas. One other small repair is necessary on the west side of the structure where the triangular shaped metal trim was attached to the tower down near the main roof level. The metal also at this area had leaked and the wooden supports were compromised and need to be replaced, some necessary brick repair, and metal clips installed. All of the repairs will be done to replicate the original design and will be more water proof.
The county road and bridge crews are also busy with several repair jobs throughout the county. Numerous tubes are being replaced and they will begin hauling some rip-rap and used concrete for fill on several washouts at bridge approaches and tubes. The commission opened bids this past week for materials to build another bridge funded by a Community Development Block Grant. This structure, #686 on 310th Street between the Gentry County line and Panther Road, will be built by our own road and bridge crews. We are waiting for the environmental studies to be completed on #28 up in the northwest part of the county on 135th Street between Catalina and Danube Roads and then will go out for material bids on this structure as well. This bridge will also be constructed by our own manpower.
Both of these bridges are funded by grants that the commission has been dedicated in applying for the past few years. We also were awarded this past week a grant to install a new modern elevator in the courthouse. The county has applied for this grant twice before but I guess the third time was a charm. This project is expected to cost, in "round" dollars, $250,000 with the county expected to pay 50 percent. The commission budgeted this money hoping to be approved this year. A portion of the county's one-half of the cost can be spent "in-kind." We are required to use our own manpower for some of the construction including demolition, cleanup, supervision, and necessary signage. This means that the commission will have direct responsibility of the entire job from start to finish and will require on the job supervision by a commissioner throughout the project.
The commission was also informed this past week that we need to select three more bridges that need replaced that are eligible for another "round: of supplemental money coming from the Federal Disaster Relief Fund. These three bridges must meet certain criteria for funding including need, cost, eligibility, and damage from flooding. This money also is welcomed by the commission as it will help improve our infrastructure in the county without placing a burden on our own taxpayers.
I have mentioned throughout this report several examples of how the commission has been dedicated the past few years in applying for grants, federal "stimulus" dollars, funding from natural disasters, and all other means of acquiring money from other entities to improve our infrastructure, equipment, and buildings. This past week another application was received to apply for a grant to help preserve historical buildings which would include our courthouse. The commission is now working on this application and hopefully will receive more funding to help renovate the structure. The point is that the commission has received several million dollars the past few years from a variety of sources that directly benefited Nodaway County. The "naysayers" will point out that it is not "free" money and is still our tax dollars. I wish to point out that if we do not apply for it, then another county, city, or entity will and then get the benefits. We will continue to make an effort in getting as much "help" as possible from all sources to improve our county. They are our tax dollars and we may as well get them back and utilize them here as someone else in their own area.
–Joe Baumli is the presiding county commissioner of Nodaway County and provides a weekly column for the Maryville Daily Forum
