St. Francois County commissioners approve multiple contracts, grant changes and hires

St. Francois County commissioners on a voice vote approved a series of motions ranging from property vacates to contract awards and a grant purpose amendment during their regular meeting.

The board approved a request from property owner Logan Comfort to vacate unimproved alleyways near 5303 Hurville Road after a required 90‑day posting period produced no complaints. The motion to vacate was made and seconded and accepted by the commission.

The commission also approved a move to change the county jail’s pharmacy vendor. County law‑enforcement staff reported the jail currently uses Health Direct and presented a proposal to contract with a local provider referred to in the record as John’s Pharmacy; staff said a vendor review indicated a potential reduction of roughly 50% in the monthly pharmacy bill. Commissioners approved proceeding with the contract process after noting notice periods tied to the existing contracts.

Two contracts procured through the TIPS interlocal purchasing system for work at the Justice Center were approved. Record notes identify one contract amount shown in the meeting as $14,165 and another previously referenced at $46,379; commissioners then approved a change order of $10,863 that, when added to the $14,165 contract item, produced an adjusted line item of $25,028 for that portion of the work. Commissioners moved, seconded and approved the contracts and the change order.

Following an evaluation of engineering consultants, the commission voted separately to approve Great River to provide engineering services for three bridge projects listed in the record as King Road, King School Road and Silver Springs Road bridge projects; each motion was recognized and approved by voice vote.

The board approved creation and hiring of a part‑time peer‑support specialist to support the county’s RSAT/RSAP jail program. Staff explained the position is budgeted within an existing grant and that the full‑time‑equivalent headcount would not increase; the motion included the condition that the position depends on available grant funding.

Commissioners also amended the purpose of a local Department of Public Safety grant after learning the state would not permit using two awarded grants to buy the same body‑camera equipment. The county retained the larger Blue Shield grant (about $50,000) for body cameras and reallocated a $24,818 local violent‑crime grant to purchase nine mobile fingerprint readers under the Missouri state contract for $22,500; the commission approved the grant purpose change.

Where the meeting record included numerical contract amounts or grant sums those figures are reported here as stated during the meeting. In several places the transcript references figures with partial uncertainty (for example, one contract was described as “40‑something thousand” before later being recorded as $46,379); where totals or exact vote tallies were not spoken aloud, the record shows actions passed by the commission’s voice votes.

The commission closed the meeting after routine departmental updates and a sales tax report.