November 10, 2025 The Bates County Commission met with Presiding Commissioner Jim Wheatley, Northern Commissioner John Gray and Southern Commissioner Trent Nelson present.
Mike Totten with Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. met with the Commission. Mr. Totten introduced himself and explained the services he offers and left a business card.
Jami Page met with Commission and discussed a reimbursement issue with State Tax Commission. There is currently a reimbursement check on hold due to a $20,000 Emergency Budget amount. This issue came as a shock since this has never been an issue before. When Jami dove headfirst into figuring out where this was coming from, she found some interesting concerns.
Debbie with the State Tax Commission informed Jami that the Assessor had told them to withhold the reimbursement until the $20,000 from the County was deposited into his fund. The $20,000 was budgeted for EMERGENCY ONLY so it is being discussed that next year it will not be in the budget since it is seemingly forced to be spent this year.
Jami asked the Commissioners to discuss this issue and for them to come up with a letter for the transaction of $20,000 from the County into the Assessors fund.
Trent made a motion to accept Dewey’s Bid of $3,600 for tree removal for a tree that is causing issues in the courtyard. He had spoken with Gary about the limbs and such falling and dinging vehicles, and it was starting to be seen as a liability. The bid included tree and stump removal. John seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Motion carried. No opposition.
Sonia Lalla with Small Business Administration (SBA) for Disaster Recovery, Located in Nevada Missouri, met with the Commission to discuss Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). These loans are meant for Businesses, Homeowners, Renters, and Nonprofits who have paid for or is paying for natural disaster damage. Sadly, Farmers are not eligible due to not being considered a business or a nonprofit. Sonia did mention that Farmers with an LLC could possibly be approved.
Jim requested a phone meeting with Sonia and her SBA Leader for more information.
Jim has started looking into SB3. He is figuring out information for the April ballot and how SB3 is going to affect individual property tax throughout the county.
November 12, 2025 The Bates County Commission met with Presiding Commissioner Jim Wheatley, Northern Commissioner John Gray and Southern Commissioner Trent Nelson present.
Perry Workman and Josh Hines with Federal Protection met with the Commissioners to discuss the lack of security involving the Court House, previously discussed on Wednesday November 5th, 2025. Mr. Workman and Mr. Hines discussed and explained the software that they had to offer and the advantages the software provided.
A good portion of software that they discussed with the Commissioners would still be within the maintenance lease, meaning there wouldn’t be any more costs to the Commission if they wanted to upgrade to certain cameras.
Mr. Workman and Mr. Hines along with Gary Ratliff from Maintenance took a stroll over to the Courtyard to see the best place to put these cameras.
Mike Irick came and discussed his Deceased Fathers Estate, Bruce E. Irick. The Estate was not on any lists for Probate; it had just sold for more money than taxes owed, therefore Mr. Irick feels as if he is the one who should receive that certain amount of money when it becomes available in August of 2026.
It seems, though, that a lawyer has caught wind of said Estate selling for over tax price and has hunted down very distant nieces of Mikes deceased Step-Mother and informed them of what has happened, and the distant nieces have lawyered up and are doing their best to receive that amount of money instead of it going to Mr. Irick and his siblings.
The Commissioners reassured Mr. Irick that they would do everything in their power to help him with whatever.
Dan Kisner spoke with the Commissioners today and let them know that he would donate a good portion of his free time to help build a shooting range. He told them that he had previously built one and could certainly build another if that was something they felt moved to do.
John made a motion to pay MarksNelson for the EEZ Board Advisory. Trent seconded. All voted in favor. Motion carried. No opposition.
