By Dale Johnson
    CAMDEN COUNTY – A new director for the county’s Emergency Management Agency (EMA) has already been chosen.
    Ron Gentry was chosen last week to replace outgoing EMA Director John Page. Page recently submitted his resignation to the county commissioners.
    Gentry is the former Mid-County Fire Protection District Chief and though he has been out of emergency services for seven years, it has always been something he has wanted to get back into.
    The EMA director is in charge of preparing the county to respond to any large disaster, from tornadoes to chemical spills to terrorist attacks. In other words, they have to think of the worst case scenario and then prepare for it.
    Though no official date has been released for Page to leave, Gentry is ready to begin learning what is currently taking place.

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City may use NID for streets

By Jeff Thompson
    CAMDENTON - Unfinished streets within the city limits may soon be drawn into its official infrastructure through proposed Neighborhood Improvement Districts (NID).
Residents living on Clint Avenue - marked with damaged asphalt and a lack of gutters and curbs - could be a test case for the procedure.
    City Administrator Jeff Hancock had presented a draft NID petition for the Clint Avenue project with the Board of Aldermen packet last week.
    The petition calls for two-thirds of the property owners’ signatures asking the city to create the NID to pay for the curb and guttering, according to Hancock.
    According to the draft petition, the cost of the project would be approximately $19,000; 1,200 linear feet at $16 per foot.
    The petition states that costs to the property owners “will be assessed on a linear foot basis to the adjoining property owner or owners based upon the property’s boundary adjacent to the proposed curb and gutter project.”
    After the project is completed, there might be additional costs:
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Camdenton Board of Aldermen actions Tues. Feb. 3

    CAMDENTON - In other business at the Feb. 3 Board of Aldermen meeting:
    * Second-reading approval was given to an ordinance replacing the city’s pit bull ban with a broader set of animal control regulations.
    Pit bulls will be allowed within the city limits, but only one per owner (and that owner cannot have any other dogs) within a strict set of guidelines.
    The ordinance also addresses other dog breeds, cats and other animals within the city limits.
    The city has been examining its dog control regulations after a resident spoke to the board late last year.
    Misty Brown said she had been forced to sell her house after learning her two American Bull Dogs were considered pit bulls and not allowed within the city limits.
    * A price hike in water and sewer rates was also given second-reading approval by the board. The new monthly water rate will increase from $8.80 for the first 2,000 gallons to $10 while the $3.25 charge for every 1,000 gallons thereafter remains the same.
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By Jeff Thompson
    OSAGE BEACH - A proposed drastic personnel cut that could eliminate over 5,000 uniformed and civilian employees at Fort Leonard Wood (Ft. Wood) within five years was addressed at City Hall Thursday night before the regular Board of Aldermen meeting.
    Joe Driskill - Leonard Wood Institute executive director - spoke to city officials and residents attending his presentation.
    Driskill said the reduction would have a definite negative economic impact at the lake.
    “I’m not here to scare anybody or to say the sky is falling but sometimes we react too late,” Driskill said about the proposed downsizing of Ft. Wood personnel.
    Eighty percent of the Ft. Wood downsizing would be military personnel while 20 percent would be civilian, according to Driskill.
    According to a federally-required Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Assessment (SPEA), the army base would lose 5,400 people from its baseline permanent population by 2020.
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More sidewalks for OB

By Jeff Thompson
    OSAGE BEACH - The city is looking to the future of additional sidewalks with actions taken by the Board of Aldermen last week.
    Two ordinances dealing directly with a proposed sidewalk stretching from a location on Osage Beach Parkway near Arby’s Restaurant to Case Road were give swift first- and second-reading approval by the board.
    The first ordinance provides funding for the sidewalk project through the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission’s (MHTC) alternative funds program.
    According to Public Works Director Nick Edelman, the MHTC funding program is set up as 80 percent federal funds with a 20 percent local match, the total of which will not exceed $382,459.
    Edelman said the city would begin preliminary work on the project but that actual construction would not start until next year.
    “We will only be doing the engineering work on this project this year,” Edelman said in a report to the board.
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OB Board of Aldermen actions Thursday Feb. 5

    OSAGE BEACH - In other business at the Feb. 5 Board of Aldermen meeting:
* City Attorney Edward Rucker spoke about the cooperation between Osage Beach and Lake Ozark in creating taxi cab regulations for each city that would mirror each other.
    Rucker said the proposed regulations would be a “safe but effective way for taxi services.”
    Alderman John Olivarri asked if the proposed regulations address online taxi services such as Uber and Lyst.
    Rucker said the city could address the online taxi issue after a basic framework of taxi regulations were in place.
    “It’s not wise to put (the regulations) on hold,” Rucker said. “We can work on Uber later.”
    * First- and second-reading approval of an agreement with the Tri-County Lodging Association for cooperative advertising was approved by the board. The $10,000 agreement will provide the city with space on two electronic billboards in the Kansas City area as well as 30-second radio spots during St. Louis Cardinals games.
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