VIENNA — The Maries County Commission continues to leave options open for the building the county purchased at the corner of Third Street and Coffey Street in Vienna across from the courthouse.

The county completed the building’s acquisition earlier this year. Throughout that time, the commission had floated a few ideas for the property, including space for the sheriff’s office, an electric vehicle charging station and parking space for the courthouse. The idea of tearing down the building has garnered some pushback from the community, and the commission has remained open to reselling the property. Recently, the commissioners contacted South Central Land Title to have an appraisal done on the building.

Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman met with a small group, including Debbie Byrd, who has communicated with the commission about the building’s future throughout the last several months. She has expressed that she would like the building to stay because of its historical value to downtown Vienna.

Stratman said that he spoke with one of the people, a construction professional, after the tour, and he believed the building was too far gone to restore. He mentioned the poor condition of the floor sills and joists.

After the tour, Byrd said in a follow-up email that though she is very involved with Vienna Main Street, her interest in the building is personal and goes beyond her role in the organization, which has other projects in the works, including recently purchased street banners for downtown.

“The building is pretty cool but there are a lot of structural issues around the base and the roof probably needs to be replaced,” she said. “As with any old building, it would require a lot of work but I feel it would still be worth it.”

Byrd said she is looking into possible funding to buy the building as a volunteer community project or finding someone who has a business proposal for the site. She plans to spread the word to save the building once she has a plan.

Infestation

The commission discussed a $2,995 bill from Steve’s Pest Control for four visits to the courthouse to treat for bedbugs in the men’s jail and other potentially exposed parts of the building. The treatments began on Sept. 6 and will continue once weekly through the end of the month. The commission opted to wait until more treatments had occurred to pay the bill.

This round of bedbug treatments is the second at the courthouse this year. In April, the county paid for a similar treatment plan. The commission wondered if some of the bugs had evaded the original rounds of treatment by hiding in the walls.

Court concerns

Resident Jerry Cook came to the Sept. 12 commission meeting to inform commissioners of an issue he was having with the prosecutor and courts. He said he had received a driving while revoked ticket in 2022 in Belle municipal court. A letter with the prosecuting attorney’s office address had also denoted the offense as a felony. Cook believed he had been double-charged for driving while revoked.

Cook acknowledged that he had caused issues for the county in the past, but now he is sober and problems like he perceived with the court posed challenges to that.

The commission asked Prosecuting Attorney Tony Skouby to come to the meeting. Skouby said the letter with the prosecutor’s office address only went through his office because another entity sent it there. He advised Cook to call his congressman.

The commissioners said they understood that Cook was frustrated, but there was nothing they could do to help him. They recommended that he get an attorney to help him resolve the problem.

Courthouse Phones

Stratman called AQM, the county’s contracted IT service, to ask about setting up the new phone system the county has had since before the resignation of the previous IT manager in March. The switch from Mitel phones to RingCentral has been in limbo over the last six months as AQM had higher priorities in its service to the county, including the county’s network security.

During the call on Sept. 12, a representative for AQM told Stratman that the company would schedule a time to talk with RingCentral about completing the changeover process. The company planned to follow up with the commission later this week to set up a visit to the courthouse to complete the switch. The service falls outside the parameter of the county’s contract with AQM, but the company will complete the work with additional billing.

Sales Tax Revenue

Treasurer Angie Stricklan reported the county’s sales tax revenue in September.

The first sales tax fund brought $37,258.17 to General Revenue in September, which was a 13-percent increase from last September. Three-fourths of the way through the year, the tax has generated 81.5 percent of last year’s total revenue.

The second sales tax brought the county $37,258.45 to split into thirds among General Revenue, Citizen Safety and the two road funds. The figure was a 14 percent increase from last September. So far this year, the tax has generated 81.6 percent of last year’s total revenue.

The third sales tax brought the county $37,258.45 in September, which was also a 14 percent increase from last September. Citizen Safety receives two-thirds of the revenue. General Revenue and the road funds split the other one-third. So far this year, the tax has generated 81.6 percent of last year’s total revenue.

The law enforcement sales tax brought the county $12,369.82 in September, which was an increase of about 14 percent from the previous September.

The county received $24,174.79 in revenue from the use tax in September, which was an increase of about 16 percent from the previous September. So far this year, the use tax has generated about 74.4 percent of last year’s total revenue.