HERMANN – Gasconade County officials are being met with requests for more information in their effort to obtain grant money to finance improvements to a few roads in the Owensville area.

“It’s a very in-depth ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) survey that has to be answered” as part of the application process for a Community Development Bloc Grant (CDBG), noted County Clerk Lesa Lietzow. County administrators hope to use the grant money to finance upgrades to Cemetery Road, Old Highway 19 and Tappemeyer Road.

The application is being made through the Meramec Regional Planning Commission,

Lietzow Thursday morning told the County Commission that more information is being needed on this application than on prior efforts.

“There was never anything as detailed as this,” she said.

Southern District Associate Commissioner Jerry Lairmore, R-Owensville, acknowledged that the amount of detail being provided signals that, if approved, the upgrade of the county roads won’t be taking place very soon.

“It’s going to take some time,” he said.

Lietzow explained that county government is being asked to provide information on its policy regarding disabled residents’ access to government services in the historic two-story courthouse. Without an elevator, services delivered out of the second-floor offices have been provided on the first floor. The county years ago obtained a waiver from the federal government regarding the ADA — primarily because of a lack of funds to install and elevator.

But with available federal funding, the courthouse has been fitted with a lift reaching from the basement to the second floor. Although construction on the elevator is complete, it has yet to receive an inspection by state government, clearing the way for its use.

Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, said the inspection by the Missouri Department of Public Safety tentatively is scheduled for Aug. 26 and 27.

“Hopefully, we’ll have an elevator by the end of the month,” he said.

A special badge will be needed to take the elevator to the basement; about two dozen of those are being produced, he said.

Regarding the basement, which houses the county’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), workers will be busy in the coming days cleaning up construction debris and items associated with the elevator project. Part of the EOC has been lost to accommodate the pit that was dug to hold the elevator equipment.

Emergency Management Director Clyde Zelch is preparing for a major conference in the EOC featuring emergency planners from all four counties within the Callaway Energy Center radiation zone. The gathering is set for Monday, Sept. 9, at 10 a.m.

“Every county takes a turn and it’s our turn,” Zelch told the Commission.

Expected to take part in the conference are emergency management personnel from Callaway, Osage and Montgomery counties, along with representatives of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

“If we have to we’ll spill out into the hallway, which we’ve done before,” Zelch said.

In the event the EOC could not be made ready for the upcoming conference, Zelch a day earlier had talked with Gasconade County Communications officials about using the 911 agency’s meeting room.

The Commission also heard that Wednesday, April 2, 2025, is the tentative date for the resumption of County Government Day, an exercise aimed at acquainting high school students with the operations of the local county government. A project of county government and University of Missouri Extension Center, County Government Day previously included government class students from Gasconade County R-1 and R-2 school districts visiting the various offices in the courthouse, as well as often sitting in on a Circuit Court session. That could be the case again this year with a four-day trial scheduled in the main courtroom when County Government Day is scheduled.

The students historically have been treated to lunch items grilled up by members of the Commission and the county treasurer.

County administrators also have used the occasion of County Government Day to recognize the service of county employees. Employee Recognition Day publicly celebrates county workers who reach specific milestones of service.