John spoke at the Capital on Tuesday the 24th and spoke over SB40 and Shelter Workshops across Missouri. He also visited the offices of Denny Hoskins, Rick Brattin, Dane Deihl and the State Auditors.
Trent and Jim attended the West Central Commissioners Association at the Capital on Thursday the 26th.
Shelly Harrison, Jami Page, Terry Bettels, Jean Furr, Danyelle Baker, and Kacie Robey with Bates County Women, met with the Commission to follow up on the signing on the American 250 Resolution.
Trent made a motion to put Resolution 26-001 in place for the 250th Celebration and Commemoration of the United States. John seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion carried. No opposition. Jim signed the Resolution and pictures were taken.
The Commission sat down together and discussed recent concerns and caught up on some situations.
John explained a meeting with the Wall That Heals Committee that took place in the Commissioner’s Office that Jim had caught wind of and had concerns over it. Jim mentioned that he did not like people using the back door to enter the building, so John just wanted to clear the air that it was a meeting that had nothing to do with work related issues. John then asked Jim about a meeting between Meghan Robbins, Trent and Jim that took place after hours. Jim and Trent explained that she only stopped in to ask about the software and how it was coming along. John asked if the meeting was recorded and told them that it was an illegal meeting.
John then continued to speak on the Software and the bid process that took place. He also informed the other two Commissioners of information he had learned from different individuals. He learned that Ulrich has kept data from Counties that have left. John also has an issue with this as well, as that data belongs to the County. Jim pointed out that it does state in the Contract that Ulrich understands that the data belongs to the County, but John is worried because that did not stop them from holding data hostage from other Counties. Ulrich uses the same DOS system that the current software uses, but there is a significant increase in money totals and then the chance of losing the Counties data if they decide to leave. Trent said that he spoke to several individuals at the West Central Commissioners’ Association and heard nothing but good things, to which John agreed he has heard great things as well, but he wants to make sure the County is covered in case anything should happen, due to the bad things he has heard. Jim stated that he had talked to people about Vanguard but there wasn’t a side for the Collectors Office and he too heard that Vanguard had several issues when paired with another company and was warned to use a company that had both offices available.
John informed the Commission about the bid proposal from Vanguard that was sent to the Assessor’s Office before there was a bid placed and asked if the Commission wanted to send the Contract over to their Attorney so they could make sure it’s all ironclad over the issues they have. John doesn’t like that there isn’t a Termination of Cause in the Contract.
John threw out the idea that Ulrich sends us our data every six months. Jim thought that there was already something in place that had been backing up our data but was unsure. He then said he was going to call Ivan and see what the holdup was. John stated that he sent over a copy of the Contract to Ivan this morning and one to his attorney was well.
As Jim was on the phone with Ivan, John spoke to Trent about how he felt it was unprofessional that the Collector and Assessor received the bid for Ulrich on February 17th and waited until March 9th to come in and demand signatures and to move forward.
Jim got off the phone with Ivan and explained that Ivan stated that most of the companies will not put anything in a contract for releasing data.
The Commission agreed that it’s time to get away from Governmentor but wants the County to be covered in all areas before they switch. He wants to wait to hear back from the attorneys before making any moves. He stated that the money that is going to be spent is from the Taxpayers and he wants to make sure it’s being spent carefully.
Jim got a call from Sam Ulrich and they said they will be sending over an addendum to download and transfer data by Wednesday. They have rewritten the Contracts, and the Commission is going to review them.
Cathy Pittman came in and asked the Commission about the process of making some of her personal property into a personal burial site.
April 1, 2026 The Bates County Commission met with Presiding Commissioner Jim Wheatley, Northern Commissioner John Gray and Southern Commissioner Trent Nelson present.
Ellen Galab came in and addressed issues that she was having with the Assessor’s Office. The Commission was able to contact the DMV, make more sense of the situation and ease her mind until the Assessor's Office was able to distribute the waiver she needed, as their software was down. Jim went to Assessor's Office to check into the situation and there was nothing that could be done until the software was up and running again.
Christian Farris, with Viebrock, came in and presented a bid to the Commission. Great River had put out a bid for the Bridge #48500121 Project happening at County Road 3286. Great River expected another bid, but they never showed. The Commission was under the impression that Great River would be in attendance as well, so John called Zack Olivias and lined out the situation. Zach apologized, he was only planning on a follow-up call when the decision was made.
John made the motion to accept Viebrock’s bid. Trent seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion carried. No opposition.
Kacie Robey, with the Treasurer/Collector Office, and Carl Bettels, with the Assessor’s Office, came into follow-up on the Software Bid progression. Meghan Robbins and Carolyn Lake joined alongside Carl and was accompanied by Lonny Duckworth and Troy Hendrix.
Right off the bat, Jim called for a motion to be accepted to sign the contracts for the Software. There was no second motion made. Two voted Aye in favor and one not voting.
Jim reminded Carl and Kacie to get with Ulrich and updated them that Ulrich is still waiting for the NDA to be signed by iNetVisions, their attorney is still looking into things before they sign. He then went over the contracts, reading the part that needed to be updated before they signed where they state there is a three-year contract and a data release agreement.
Trent spoke over conversations he had with other Commissioners and how they talked highly about Ulrich. Kacie then explained that she and Carl did her research and strived for software that was going to benefit the county best, they didn’t just jump into this. They needed something that isn’t as outdated and better customer service. She explained that she enjoys Gene, he’s just getting old. Carl then chimed in and mentioned that it’s about time for Gene to start thinking about retiring.
Chris Gach joined the meeting to observe.
Contracts were signed and they are going to make copies.
John asked Kacie if he could have a few minutes of her time, to which she happily said yes. John mentioned that he had seen some of her comments on social media about the HR contract that was explained in previous minutes. He explained to her when the Commission spoke about the HR contract, when HR came in and met with the Commission and when the contract was signed. Kacie mentioned that she appreciated the information and thanked John.
Several individuals from West Point, Homer and Prairie Townships came in and spoke once more about the Solar Farms that are to be joining Bates County. Chris Gach was still in attendance, as well.
These individuals were here to push the questions they had asked the Commissioners’ at the last solar meeting. Jim and John both were told by Clearway that they would be in attendance, but they were a no show. The Commission informed these individuals that they had no agreement with the Chapter 100 Bonds, and they haven’t had many conversations to speed up the process, just emails here and there.
There were mentions of Ordinances the Commission could pass if they go fully taxable, since no one expects these Solar Companies to back out.
Brent Bettels pushed the Commission, again, to be the ones to reach out and make the move to get a meeting put in place so the citizens can ask questions directly and get the answers they deserve.
The Commission also mentioned that they have not seen any contracts that the Solar Companies are giving the landowners or the neighboring landowners, so contracts were presented and copied for the Commission and any other individuals that wanted one. Chad Wiley also shared a map of where the panels will be located. The map was also copied and passed around to any individual that wanted one.
They spoke over reclamation and decommissioning bonds, again.
John said he did speak with Clearway to try and rush them and that is when they said they would be in attendance.
It was asked why this had been hidden, to which John replied that it had been in the minutes on Facebook. Jim asked the individuals to spread the word and get questions that they might have, to which an individual stated that it should be the Southern and Northern Commissioners’ job. John stated that they had been.
It was also noted that Ivan Schrader testified in Court that he was an employee of these Solar Companies and is currently in a lawsuit in Henry County. John noted such matters and stated he was going to investigate that and thanked Stan Klinksick for the information.
Chad asked when the Commission would get a contract from GilmoreBell, John said they are waiting for the Commission to get back with them and hoped they’d know more next week.
They spoke over numbers and percentages, but the Commission cannot give them a certain amount due to not having that information from the Solar Companies.
Chad asked if the Commission could send out letters to inform citizens about the solar farm project and to get meeting dates figured out, but John felt as if it would be best for the Solar Companies to do that, but agreed to do so.
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