Road and Bridge Department gets use of credit card

The Road and Bridge Department will be getting its own credit card, after St. Francois County Commissioners approved it at their regular meeting Tuesday.

Associate Commissioner Patrick Mullins explained that the current system has caused personnel to make extra trips back and forth for the purchase of repair parts or other supplies needed during the course of working. The credit card will help them handle these issues more quickly, with fewer trips back and forth, improving their efficiency.

Mullins said all purchases will be cleared verbally with a commissioner prior to being made and the monthly statements will be carefully monitored to ensure nothing inappropriate is being purchased. The bill will be paid in full monthly to avoid accruing interest and to ensure there are no late fees incurred.

This is the first time Road and Bridge has had a credit card, County Clerk Mark Hedrick said, and they will be one of few county departments to have one. Another department that has one is the Sheriff’s Department.

In other matters, the travel policy was put on 30-day review to give all office holders ample time to review and comment on it. The policy clarifies the allowed use of county vehicles, spells out mileage rates and per diems and cleans up other issues.

Hedrick said each year on July 1 the state posts its rates and that is what the county will use each year for the policy.

“This just cleans up the old policy and adds some things about the use of county vehicles,” Hedrick said. “There have been questions on per diem amounts, and all those are in there. Those are based on the State Department of Administration. Every July they update their guidelines and we can pull that down so we can have it July 1.”

The County Commission also opened roller bids and placed them under advisement and discussed a bid for the Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Dan Bullock brought a copy of the state law governing the expenditure of the funds in question.

“We’re not ready for this one,” Presiding Commissioner Dr. David Cramp said. “Nothing is going to be bought until we have a meeting. That board is the only one authorized to distribute the funds. Is there any indication at all from Scism that these will fluctuate?”

Bullock said there was no such indication.

Commissioners accepted an order to vacate a street, waived penalty and interest on a tax bill for a resident who said he’d never received the tax bill despite repeated calls to correct his address and unanimously approved a closed session to discuss contract negotiations.

Renee Jean can be reached at 573-431-2010 ext. 117 or rjean@dailyjournalonline.com