County Commissioners
210 North Grand Avenue Suite 301
Houston, MO 65483
Phone: 417-967-3222
Fax: 417-967-8040
Texas County has three Commissioners as do all third class counties, each Commissioner
serves a four year term. The election of Commissioners is staggered every two years,
the District Commissioners being elected during the Presidential Election and the
Presiding Commissioner in the next two years. The Presiding Commissioner is elected
by the votes from the entire county.
Texas County has 17 townships and is divided
into two districts, District I & II. These districts are decided by population and
they are divided as equal as possible. Every ten years a census is taken and the
Commission decides whether to redistrict the townships. After the 2000 census the
commission had to move one township into District I to meet this requirement.
District
I Commissioner is elected by the voters of 6 townships which include Cass, Clinton,
Burdine, Morris, Piney and Sargent.
District II Commissioner is elected by the voters of 11 townships which include Boone,
Carroll, Current, Date, Jackson, Lynch, Ozark, Pierce, Roubidoux, Sherrill and Upton.
What
are some of the responsibilities of the Commissioners?
The Commission approves the
County’s yearly budget. By state statue they cannot start the budgeting process
until January 1st. It usually takes about three weeks to complete the budget. They
start reviewing budget requests from each elected official. After they review these
requests and make any needed changes to them, they go back to the elected officials.
The commission will then meet with any official that wants to discuss his/her budget
before they make their final decision. The State Statues prohibits the county from
writing any checks until a balanced budget has been signed. Any amendment to the
budget must be by a Commission Order.
The County Commissioners are responsible for
all county owned property. This includes all real estate such as the Courthouse,
Sheriff’s offices, the Jail, Annex building and the Memorial Building and everything
in these buildings plus the patrol cars.
Each month the County Commissioners have
the responsibility to review various reports from departments within the county.
Such as:
- Associate Circuit Clerk’s reports showing how much revenue has been collected in fines and fees for the month and how it has been distributed.
- Circuit Clerk/Recorder reports on monthly fees.
- Circuit Judge’s report on expenses.
- County Clerk’s report on fees his office collected for the month.
- Juvenile Division’s report on expenses.
- Prosecutor’s reports for bad check fees and child support reimbursements.
- Sheriff’s reports for his criminal miles, his Deputies’ mileage, Board of Prisoners report, and the monthly prisoner menus and inspections of the jail.
- Treasurer’s report showing sales tax revenue collected, the balances on accounts and the amount of Real Estate & Personal Property taxes collected and distributed to the schools and other county entities.
Every two weeks the Commissioners review and approve payroll and accounts payable.
After approval every County check is signed by the County Clerk, Treasurer and Presiding
Commissioner or Presiding Commissioner Pro-Term. The Commission approves all hiring
of employees and the rate of pay for each employee.
Although Texas County has Township
form of government the Commission works with each township through a contract to
provide road and bridge funds to them. The commissioners also work with the townships
by helping them complete required reports, discussing problems with roads and bridges,
help obtain bridge inspections and offer other assistance.
County Commissioners are
responsible for the emergency disaster planning for the county. If a disaster should
happen it is their responsibility to provide the manpower and supplies to handle
the emergency.
Where are the Commissioners?
Unless they are away from their office
attending other meetings or it is a holiday, there is always at least one Commissioner
in the Courthouse from 9-3 every week day. All three Commissioners are there for
Commission Sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, and then they take turns with the
other days. This way if anyone has a problem, they can speak with a Commissioner.
The
present County Commissioners represent Texas County by attending regular scheduled
meetings of the 17 different committees or associations. They also attend special
Federal and State hearings and meetings on issues affecting Texas County.
Once a year
they are required by the state statute to obtain 20 hours of training. This training
is always done in Jefferson City. They also belong to the County Commissioners Association
of Missouri and the Missouri Association of Counties (MAC). Each spring they attend
a MAC Legislation Conference to discuss legislation bills that are being introduced
that will have an effect on counties.
The most important part of being a County
Commissioner is to work for and with the people of Texas County.
Presiding Commissioner
Fred Stenger
District II Commissioner
Linda L. Garrett
District I Commissioner
John Casey