Minutes from the September 23, 2026 Bates County Commission meeting The Bates County Commission met with Presiding Commissioner Jim Wheatley, Northern Commissioner John Gray and Southern Commissioner Trent Nelson present.
Chris Gach was present all day.
Roger Bruden, Mark Bruden and Cliff Lean from Henry Kraft met with Virginia Carlton to then meet with the Commission about Floor Machines and Towel Dispensers.
They spoke over a new towel dispenser that helps save waste. This machine offers a more efficient way to dispense one towel at a time. Roger informed the Commission that he is working on getting the County on the Hospital’s Contract, which in turn makes the dispensers free of charge. The Commission would then only be responsible for ordering the paper towels to keep them filled. Trent asked Virginia how many rolls of paper towels that she had left, thinking that the rest could be sent out to Road and Bridge to be finished off, as they have dirtier working conditions and might need the extra paper towels.
Mark then presented a cleaning system, as well as a new mopping set up.
John felt that this was a no brainer, as this would help Virginia. He was on board with whatever she felt she needed. He also liked that everything was color coded.
Chris asked Virginia how many mopheads she thought she would need. She explained that she would need enough for each building (administration building and courthouse). Trent told her to make a list, if she needed to, and to get whatever she felt she needed. Jim then told her to get with Henry Kraft and figure out what she wants and went on to explain what she needed to be doing.
Trent made a motion to switch to the new and efficient towel dispenser and to purchase the new mopping system. John seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion carried. No opposition.
Sheriff Chad Anderson met with the Commission to furthermore discuss the Radio Console that he came and spoke about on September 16th, 2026. He then started reminding Trent and John of the cost and informing Jim, since he was absent at that time. He told them that the console was $562,339 for two operator positions and two backups. This price also included training. There was also a $50,000 discount until August, but Chad received this packet in September so they are honoring that $50,000 until September 25th, 2026. That would then bring the cost down to $512,000 with a one-year warranty included. Chad spoke over lease payments, with a payment due one year after the sign date. Chad then spoke on the fact that the console needs upgraded no matter what. He also sent this packet to Christy, with the State of Missouri, and spoke highly on her knowledge.
Chad told the Commission that he was here to move forward with the $512,000 and felt like Motorola had cheaper rates and was ready to lease with them. The Commission then asked about the warranty cost after one year. Chad informed them it would be $143,000 for five years. This would make it to where they would take care of everything, and all upgrades would be free. Chad then informed the Commission that Motorola could find something within the contract that they are not using and it can be removed, which would then save more money.
This upgrade means the Bates County Sheriff’s Office would finally have access to all frequencies at their fingertips. If there were ever any issues, Chad's Office would be able to call Jeff City and have them dispatched if needed. Chris confirmed that they can redirect dispatches elsewhere.
Chad then spoke about his request to the State of Missouri to get radios that have been turned in the from the Highway Patrol. If he receives any, they will then give them to the surrounding Fire Departments who do not have radios.
Chad mentioned the Chapter 100 Bond with the Solar Company and was hopeful to see some of the funds that are in writing, that way they can put that towards the new radio console.
John told Chad that he appreciated his leg work on doing things and stated he had no issue moving forward. Trent and John agreed and talked about this being something that they have been talking about for the last couple of years. Trent stated that the main goal here is to save lives and thinks it is time to move forward.
John made a motion to move forward with the purchase with a total up to $512,339 as the maximum amount over five years and the lease with Motorola. Trent seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion carried. No opposition.
Chad asked to get a second motion for the lease instead of combining them. Jim agreed that two were needed.
John made a motion accepting a lease with Motorola. Trent seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion carried. No opposition.
Chad will get the lease and present it to the Commission for signatures.
Chad also informed the Commission that he received an email about a 9-1-1 GIS meeting with the State Of Missouri. He stated he was going to have someone join that meeting to learn the details. He then mentioned that GIS 9-1-1 would make it easier for responding units. It will also have the technology to know the seriousness of a call, and it will dispatch the call accordingly.
John asked Chad if he remembered how many addresses he created for Bates County, but Chad was unsure and couldn’t really give an amount since his office has been doing it voluntarily since 2006.
Carl Bettels sat down with the Commission and Sheriff Chad Anderson and stated that it had been suggested that he take over GIS but quickly corrected himself that he had been suggested to take over the 911 addressing and that it wouldn’t cost his office anything. He then presented a copy of quotes he gathered to take over the addressing, stating, “My office does not have the funding for that, period, at the moment, so therefore I cannot do it.” He then explained that he did some investigating and talking with different people and visited with SAM and received a quote from them as well.
Their cost included everything in Bates County, getting it set up for proper 911 addressing. It showed the City of Butler had supplied their electric meter overlay to SAM (Surveying and Mapping), so that helped the cost. John seemed shocked, asking for clarification of the total $133,130. Carl reassured him. John then mentioned taking off the $47,000 for the City of Butler because they wouldn’t pay for them. Carl then said they would have to because they provided their overlay, taking off $23,000. Jim stated that the City of Adrian mentioned putting their information in as well and Carl stated Rich Hill could too, which could bring down the cost some more. Jim said due to the City of Adrian, Rich Hill, and Butler redoing things and computerizing it, addresses are corrected. With those addresses corrected, they will be entered into SAM and will correct the addresses as it goes. Jim then went on to say, “if you look at GIS right now, Butler does not have addresses in a lot of places, Adrian as well. Various locations throughout the County are the same way.” He continued about addresses not being picked up because they were never given to the Sheriff's Office correctly, the Post Office in Adrain moving back and forth, and farmers with rental houses without addresses – just the owners address on them. Chad then reminded Jim about the layers on GIS, explaining the address points and asked Jim if he had any specific locations he was referring to. Jim gave him an individual and stated that he knew about this issue firsthand when he was dispatching in Adrian. Chad then mentioned that he could speak on city addressing, if Jim wanted. Chad then started talking about how the Bates County Sheriff’s Office has never had anything to do with it, due to the numbers never matching up with the county’s coordinates. They’ve always excluded the city and never asked them for anything. Chad then stated that as far as he remembers, the City was supposed to be submitting their addresses directly to the Assessor, at the time, for it to be put into GIS. Jim said the Assessor at the time was Roger and he never put them in and stated Roger wouldn’t let anyone change any numbers and had them leave it alone. Carl then stated, “some of the addresses are alright within the cities, but they said when they lay out a box, they have so many addresses in that block and would have to skip some or leave it blank in between to make them come out if somebody was to build in between there. And they can tell by looking at it real quick-like that there’s gonna be an issue. Some people are gonna have issues and gonna have to change their address.” John asked who “they” were and Carl informed him he was referring to SAM. Chad spoke over the Chief doing the city addresses and left spaces between and did every other house number, keeping it standard. Carl mentioned that Jarrett told him that he gave the Post Office an address just to send mail to.
John asked about the software that the Bates County Sherriff’s Office is using and what was wrong with it, to which Jim and Carl informed him that it is outdated. Jim explained that even if the BCSO keeps it, they’ll still need to update it through SAM. Carl then pointed out that the update will also bring the County up to the new 911 addressing system…” and Jim jumped in, stating, “NG911 System.” Carl then continued about the SAM price eliminating the other “deal” and stated that it would cost the County $10,000 a month for them to do 911 addressing and maintain the system. John, Trent and Chad all at once questioned in unison, “$10,000 a month? Or a year?” Jim and Carl then replied it was $10,000 a year, once it goes online. Then SAM would be doing the addressing and would have to be notified when Bates County needs a new address. John asked Carl if he was going to budget for this next year, Carl said that his office cannot do this and that it was for the county. John then asked him, “You can’t do our addressing?” Carl then replied, “I could, I guess, but I don’t have it in my ability of a budget to do it. It would cost me more than $10,000 to hire a person to do it.” John asked Chad how many addresses he thought the County did a year, Chad was unsure and reached out to see if he could find a total, but they did not have a record kept. Chad stated that they come in and receive a paper and leave with it. John then went on, “so, maybe a 100 a year would cost us $10,000” and went on to say that he knows of an individual that would do it for $100 apiece. Jim asked who and John told him Shane Balk and reminded him that Shane came in and spoke about doing it in office. Jim then asked if anyone had spoken to him and stated that Shane had not spoken to any one of them about it. Chad then mentioned that he had spoken with Shane and Shane was going to reach out to the Commission about the 911 addressing. Chad was unaware that he did Vernon County’s addressing, but it was brought up by coincidence in a conversation Chad and Shane were having. Chad said he wasn’t sure what software he used and also mentioned that the cities should continue doing their own addressing. He then went on to talk about an address within Papinville that is labeled Rockville, while Rockville has the same labeled road located within Rockville. He also touched on some places in Adrian that he knows could need fixing and questioned what all came with the $133,130. Jim explained to him that it was the conversion of everything and to, “make it all match out.” Carl then stated it was the conversion from the system the Sheriff’s Office is using to the software that Carl has. Chris mentioned that he felt that number was “pretty steep”, and John agreed it was a “chunk of change.” Chad then mentioned that he has never seen numbers like this cross his desk, even if he was to continue doing addresses and needed upgrade to the system Carl already has in his office. Jim replied, “that’s because you’ve never asked to convert anything over. This is moving everything from yours, converting it to the new system.” Chad still questioned the amount. Carl stated. “I thought it sounded kinda high myself, but you know, it seemed kinda ridiculous to me that it was going to cost me $7,000 or better to convert another system, and then I had to hire someone to do it yet, too. So, I mean, this is just… We don’t have it… We can let it go… Just let it be the same as what it is right now, but I don’t think that’s doing our county justice.” Jim then stated, “Even if Chads office keeps it, he’s going to have to upgrade it. And the thing is, trying to upgrade it… what’s the cost of the upgrade?” Carl then stated, “I’ve already got the GIS Pro.” Jim stated he talked to Henry County and has their budget for the GIS Office and said they have two people in it. Chad then asked Carl, “you already have the ArcGIS Pro Software?” Carl shook his head, yes. Chad then continued, “So if you already have that… what are we buying? Because that is the upgrade to what I have. We have the Esri ArcGIS, which they’ve been telling us for years to update.” Carl then replied that they are done with that software. Chad stated they are still using that software for the time being, but they have no maintenance on the software due to it being outdated. John asked Carl if Ryan knew that they had the ArcGIS Pro software when he received this quote. Carl said he did. John wondered, “and it’s still that much?” Jim stated, “for them to convert everything over from the old system to the new system, yes, that’s what he’s saying.” Carl said yes. John said, “So to move data from one place to another?” Carl replied, “Right,” but Jim began saying “and to verify that data. It’s all verification. It’s not just moving it over and hoping that it works. There may be something in the old system that won’t work with the new, I don’t know how this system works. I don’t know anything about it.” John asked, “How much do we already have in it? In this ArcGIS? And if we already have all that information, it should be in there. What’s to transfer?” Jim replied. “I don’t know.” Chad then stated he understood there needs to be a transfer from the old software to the new, and he went onto say, “I hate to say it, but say nothing changes and I call SAM tomorrow and tell then we’re going to upgrade to the new ArcGIS Pro Software and a computer to put it on. You know, how much is that? They’re going to say, ‘well software is $6,000’ or whatever, ‘but the transfer from one software to the other is $85,000?’ We could almost hire a person to manually enter that into the computer. I guess I can’t understand what the $85,000 gets us.” Carl then went on to explain that the $85,000 for Bates County is correcting all the issues that are there and making everything right to start. Jim started in, saying the same thing Carl did and adding that they would verify all the addresses. Carl went on to talk about a specific issue in Adrian that bugs him. How the addresses are in the center of the street so he’s unsure of where they belong to, using that as an example of what they are going to fix. Chad then pulled up on GIS on his phone, of the individual that Jim had suggested previously, and showed them that they can zoom in and it will show you which address belonged to which house. Carl stated that it made sense, but Jim stated that you cannot zoom in on GIS. Chad then informed him that he was on the Commission's GIS and that he wasn’t even logged in yet, he was just using it publicly. John then agreed with Chad and stated that he has always been able to zoom in. Jim then asked what address it was showing, but Chad could not access the address due to his phone not allowing that layer at that time. Carl then stated that this quote also included them moving the addresses onto the house. Chad then informed Carl that for emergency personnel, that could cause issues. Trent asked about labeling the house and the driveway, but Chad told him that would make them have two addresses due there being two different address points. He also mentioned that he doesn’t disagree with the changes that need to be made, but the amount to fix it just baffles him. Jim then said that they need to get ahold of Shane and see if this is even something he would be interested in doing.
Chad then went back to the fact that Carl already has the ArcGIS Pro Software, Carl confirmed, and Chad went on to explain the price break down, wondering why it states that they will take the information from the Sheriff’s Office and switch over to Carls Office, and then some, for only $6,200. “and then all of a sudden I see a six figure.” Carl went on to explain that they aren’t correcting anything with that total. Chris asked, “they’re saying the correction is what’s generating the $85,000?” Jim told him that was correct. Carl then explained another bid he received that was $7,000 and he cannot afford that, either, so they gave him another option, and Jim went into explaining that SAM will take care of everything and there will be a form that needs to be filled out and turned into SAM and SAM will get back to us within 48 hours. Chris asked Chad about how long it takes to do an address and Chad said it takes about 3 minutes.
Jim said to get ahold of Shane.
John stated. “We definitely need to look deeper into this.”
Everyone spoke about the cities being involved, some cities were left out and that was questioned. Carl stated that Butler was really the only city on board. John asked if other cities were aware of the meeting, Jim said yes and no one got back with Carl. Jim said this is all something to think about, Trent mentioned Chad needing to update if he kept doing it, and Jim stated, “that’s just it. Then he would have to hire someone fulltime.” John stated he does not think that position needs to be full time. Jim replied, “I know that!” John then reminded him that he just said Chad would need to hire someone full time, 100 addresses a year does not warrant a full-time position.” Jim then stated, “you’re not listening to what I just said. What I said is you would have to hire somebody, and I agree, he’s not going to pay someone $100,000 a year. Okay. That’s obvious.”
John asked Chad if he knew his software was outdated. Chad explained that he knew they were not going to be servicing the software anymore and reassured the Commission the software still functions.
John then told Chad that he never meant to skip over his comment about the addressing not being law enforcement, so he was no longer taking it on. John stated that he understands where Chad is coming from. Chad then went on to explain that when he was elected to office, no one else would do it so he stepped up and took it over. Jim stated that it affected him more than anyone else at that time. John stated that he helped the county by stepping up and taking it on.
They spoke over the quote for $10,000 a year, Carl felt it could be divided up, and cities could pay their part. Chad then stated that $10,000 wasn’t much when you’re taking it out of $2 Million to serve the County. Chad went on to say that the initial six figure cost was hard to swallow.
Trent and Jim then spoke over Shane doing it and reaching out. Trent felt Shane is very knowledgeable and always does a good job.
John made a motion for the Notice Of Intent To Execute Financing Documents and Effects Collateral Assignment To Financing Party. Trent seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed. No opposition.
#MidAmericaLive
