March 9, 2026
The Bates County Commission met with Presiding Commissioner Jim Wheatley, Northern Commissioner John Gray and Southern Commissioner Trent Nelson present.
Kacie Robey, with the Collectors Office, and Carl Bettels, with the Assessor's Office, came in and presented a Bid Proposal for new Software. They posted the bid in the News Paper and received one bid. The software they use right now is no longer doing the job that they need it to do. There have been issues that they have called Customer Support about, and they were unable to be resolved, leaving gaps and unbalanced totals in the system.
Kacie was on the phone for five days causing the system to be shut down to attempt to resolve the issue. With the system being down, that meant the Assessor’s Office was down as well and neither office was able to do anything. They deal with glitches in the system often and Customer Service doesn’t have any solution to any of the ongoing issues.
Kacie called Jimmy in to see if he would be able to help with said issues since he has 30+ years of experience with Governmentor and Gene, the Customer Service Representative. Jimmy couldn’t resolve the issue with Gene either. With this new software there will be options for them to set up the platform in a way that works specifically for their offices on a day-to-day basis.
Trent made a motion for a 3-year payment schedule, with the possibility of a 5-year schedule, with Ulrich Software Inc. John seconded the motion. All were in favor. No opposition.
Carl is going to be in Contact with Gene and update him on what is happening and give him a deadline to transition over.
Judge Julie Highley met with the Commission to follow up with the vehicle for Lily’s house as they wait for the Opioid Board to approve the Counties half of the donation.
She also discussed the request for $3,912.17 that will pay for things that will be spread throughout community to relay information about Breath for Bre and point all individuals to weblinks for help and any insight they may need. The request was approved.
The Commission spoke about the 4-D County Reimbursement Agreement for them to sign. She is letting them discuss it and then will be coming back through to retrieve the Agreement.
They signed the 2026-2027 Assessment Maintenance Plan Agreement and Approval. They are now just waiting for the State Tax Commission of Missouri to sign.
They also received the Affidavit Publication from the Software Bid out of the Assessor and Collectors office through the Newspaper.
Shelli White stopped in and discussed Reimbursement for Child Support and explained to the Commission what they have added and changed from January 1st of 2023 - December 31st, 2025, to January 1st, 2026 – December 31st, 2028.
Jami Page came in and spoke with the Commission over an Invoice her office received of $400.00. The Bates County Sheriff ordered updated Plat Books from the Assessor to put in all the patrol cars. There was a concern since the last Assessor gave the BCSO free Plat Books to put in patrol cars.
John made a motion to appoint Randy Cantrell as the New Trustee, effective immediately, in place of Jared Fuller. Trent seconded the motion.
The township voted him off after he failed to attend two meetings. The township met on 03/03/2026 and voted to remove him as Trustee per Statute 65.183. The Commission will prompt a letter. All were in favor. Motion passed. No opposition.
Wade Chandler came in and spoke to the Commission about Mt. Pleasant Township issues. He said that he wanted to touch on the allegations being made towards Jared Fuller and wanted to make sure that this situation is not taken lightly and is pushed to the fullest. Wade lives in Mt. Pleasant Township and is sickened that his money was part of what was stolen.
He claims that before a Township meeting, Jared came in and dropped off a pile of Milwaukee Tools without their chargers and a sprayer and left. He is also concerned about the Asphalt issue where two checks were written from Mt. Pleasant Township, one to the Company and one to the owner personally. He expressed further concern about the additional gas cards he got after changing the mailing address, gas card charges for alleged personal use, keeping the keys to the PO Box for the Township, buying stuff from Tractor Supply for his personal use and leaving the Township account overdrawn $2,000. Wade also caught Jared using Township equipment for his personal use last summer.
Wade feels like these issues need to be audited and taken care of, but the Commission informed him that this is out of their control, as the Highway Patrol has now taken the case and is further investigating it.
#MidAmericaLive
