Road closures, budgets amended during weekly meeting

Just prior to the regular weekly meeting of the Ozark County Commissioners, Western District Commissioner Layne Nance said the west side of the county experienced more damage during flooding earlier this month than during the 2017 flood. He said the extra damage was likely because of several small bridges that were undermined during the 2017 flood at places that were not able to be seen during the damage assessments at that time.

Nance also announced that two county roads – County Road 883 near Pond Fork and County Road 922 on the JJ Highway end at Thornfield – are closed until further notice because of flooding damage. County Road 861 near Steel Tracks was reopened Monday afternoon.

Officials from FEMA were scheduled to ride around with commissioners Tuesday to conduct a preliminary damage assessment for the recent flooding.

Budgets amended

The county commissioners also amended the budgets of two departments.

They approved adding a total of $66,400 to the law enforcement’s budget. The money comes from two sources: $63,000 from the county’s law enforcement bank account and $3,400 from the inmate security account. 

They also approved adding $2,500 to the law library budget to bring the total budget for the law library to $10,911.99.

The action was required in order to allow the funds to be spent this budget year. 

The Ozark County Commissioners meet at 9 a.m. Monday mornings in the upstairs meeting room of the Ozark County Courthouse in Gainesville. Meetings are open to the public and everyone is invited to attend.