"Noble tyrannical malicious contempt of the constitution."
That's the crime Carla Malone Steck, former candidate for Cole County presiding commissioner, alleges the county and the commissioners have committed against her.
Only a few minutes into Tuesday's commission meeting, Steck came before the commission to discuss the alleged offense. She began by asking each commissioner if we live in a constitutional republic or a democracy.
Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman answered democracy, while Western District Commissioner Harry Otto and Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Hoelscher both said constitutional republic.
Steck told the commissioners that the answer is a republic, meaning citizens are guaranteed constitutional rights. Her rights, she said, were violated by the county. She said her land rights were taken away in 2017 without due process by the county's public works and health departments.
She specifically named Shannon Kliethermes, public works senior planner, and Mike Sapp with the health department.
Kliethermes and Sapp "incorrectly interpreted the expansion of a residential development," Steck said, leading to the addition of a third parcel of land that she said, "doesn't exist."
Steck said she was "forced to capitulate to gain approval" of a plat from the county, resulting in "21 land rights officially taken without due process."
Steck also detailed the legal process she went through to gain back some of those land rights.
Steck said she came to the meeting to give the commissioners a chance to remedy the situation and be left out of her coming lawsuit. She said the situation could easily be fixed if her plat is changed so it only shows two lots instead of three, but after years of calling Kliethermes, it hasn't happened.
Basically, Steck claims her property was incorrectly adjusted on the county plat to show three parcels instead of two. She said she came before the commission before to solve the issue, and nothing was done. Steck argues that even if what was done aligns with county statutes, her constitutional rights supersede those statutes.
Hoelscher said he stands behind Kliethermes and Sapp. He said Kliethermes goes by the book and wouldn't violate Steck's rights.
Bushman said he wasn't prepared to address the issue.
Otto said he had no comment or questions.
"So I guess that means ..." Steck started.
"I'm a no. I'm sorry, we've talked about it," Hoelscher responded.
"Thank you very much, we'll see you later," Steck said.
This was not the only point of contention at the meeting. Recorder of Deeds Judy Ridgeway raised concerns with the commission regarding the county budget. When public works was given approval to take money from its salary reserve for years of service bonuses at the Jan. 17 commission meeting, Ridgeway said she saw that as reopening the closed budget.
She said she thought if public works was allowed to give out $100 years of service bonuses, every employee in the county should receive the same.
Hoelscher said he also thought it was unfair that public works was able to request an adjustment to the budget only two weeks into the new year.
Hoelscher abstained from the Jan. 17 vote because he wasn't at the meeting and participated via phone. He said he couldn't hear very well and didn't agree with the idea.
Bushman agreed he wasn't happy about making adjustments so close to the start of the year.
Otto made two points. First, he said the budget is never really closed. Rather, it is adjusted as needed throughout the year. Second, he said that departments shouldn't be given adjustments just because another department received one.
Otto said every department head needs to make their case before the commission. In the case of public works, he said, Public Works Director Eric Landwehr told the commission his department was losing people. Additionally, the money Landwehr was requesting to use was within the public works budget, however, it was in the county's general fund.
County Clerk Steve Korsmeyer and Health Department Director Kristi Campbell spoke out in agreement with Ridgeway.
The commission said they needed to move on for time, but the issue needed further discussion.
In more regular action, the commission:
• Appointed Rachel Busche to the CAMPO Technical Committee.
• Signed an agreement with the Missouri Department of Social Services for an IV-D County reimbursement grant.
• Approved a sole source for CI Technologies and signed a contract with CI Technologies pending review of the terms by the county attorney.
• Approved the publishing of a sole source ad for Butterfly Network Inc. for portable ultrasound machines.
• Signed an annual contract with JCREP for professional services for economic development activities.
• Signed a contract with Huber and Associates for EMS 911 phone system hardware. The contract involves the replacement of the EMS network router and the addition of a new router port. The total cost is around $10,080.
• Signed a contract with the Division of Youth Services for a reimbursement grant. The grant reimburses the county's spending on a juvenile tracker. The tracker will check in on youth that the county's juvenile attention center as deemed high-risk. The contract is for $20 per hour and 10 hours per week.
• Approved an application for non-profit scrap tire cleanup reimbursement from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR). There is a property in Cole County with some 170 scrap tires that were illegally dumped on it, prompting complaints from neighbors. The county will pay to dispose of the tires and, with the application, DNR will reimburse the county for the service.
• Approved the purchase of a new Heritage tractor by the parks department. Landwehr said the tractor will cost around $28,600 and will hopefully come in early May.
• Signed a 2023 State Drug Task Force grant award. Sheriff John Wheeler said the $119,000 award will be used across a multiple projects at his department.
The commission ended the meeting by going into a closed session to discuss real estate. The full meeting can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufu0hOC49oo.