08/24/2026
*Official Commission Minutes for August 19, 2026 provided by Jami Page, Bates County Clerk*
Gayle Beachner / CART Funds / Socket Fiber / Closed Meetings / DAR / Bid Opening / Elected Officials - Insurance
Wednesday, August 19, 2026
15th day of July Term
The Bates County Commission met with Presiding Commissioner Jim Wheatley, Northern Commissioner John Gray and Southern Commissioner Trent Nelson present.
Chris Gach was present all day and sat in every meeting that took place.
Jami spoke to the Commission about the Sunshine Requests they have received from Gayle Beachner. Jami informed the Commission that she has been reading the Sunshine Law Request guidelines as well as reaching out to the Attorney General to ask, in depth, if the Commission is required to reply to a Sunshine Law Request within a Monday through Friday business week or the Commission Monday, Wednesday business day hours. She is also wondering if what was requested in the sunshine request can even be released since it was discussed in Closed Session meeting. Closed Session meetings are not public record.
Jami informed Trent that Patricia Herman came in on Tuesday the 18th and asked about hiring someone herself to put dust control on her road. She wanted to know who she could reach out to so she could pay for someone to come do so. John told Trent the business name and number that he could pass along to Patricia.
Jami then brought up CART Funds to Townships that the Commission listed they were paying. Charlotte was listed to be paid but they have yet to send in their contract. Jim said he went through and took off the Townships that had not turned in everything they should have but he missed Charlotte. Jami then stated that Rockville did not have a budget turned in either and they were on the list to be paid out, as well as Deer Creek having no budget submitted. John informed Jami that he had gone over that situation with her Deputy Clerk and told her that Deer Creek said to use the budget from 2024, as it would be the same. Jami felt as if they should turn in a budget because other Townships are required to turn one in and suggested that the Commission redo the Contract if they are not going to enforce the requirements. Jim then stated that the Contract needs redone, anyway.
Jim was having issues with logging into his computer. Jami called iNetVisions to get that figured out.
Matt Kohly, with Socket Fiber, came in and discussed their upcoming plans since buying out Fastwyre Broadband. They informed the Commission that they will begin construction located in Vernon County, outside of Nevada, and work their way North. Their plan is to redo all the copper lines that Fastwyre had with fiber lines. They will eventually start in Bates County, (location not decided) and work their way South to meet up with the construction coming from the North. They will also be working with Townships as well.
Matt then explained the invite Socket Fiber sent out, inviting the Commission to join a meeting they have scheduled at Steiners here in Butler, MO.
Matt wanted to be sure of the requirements he needed to know to be able to do this job. Jim informed Matt that Bates County was not zoned but encouraged him to reach out to the Cities to make sure there isn’t anything they need from Socket. Jim then reminded him to stay within the right of way and out of ditches.
The Commission then told Matt to be sure and set up a meeting with Road and Bridge so they are aware of where this construction work will take place and they can avoid those areas while Socket it working on the lines.
Matt informed the Commission that their trucks will be labeled with the Socket Fiber name and there will be “road work ahead” signs and the things any other construction site would have. The Commission then asked where they would be parking their machinery. Matt was unaware of a place so Trent offered for them to use his parking lot in Rich Hill, Mo. Trent felt this would be a perfect place for them to park, as it is just right off the highway and close to the main building. Matt was thankful and said he would pass that information off to his contractors.
Jami Page, County Clerk, reached out to her attorney and got his partner, as he was not in office. Jami called to ask about the guidelines on Closed Session Meetings with an Elected Official. Jim wasn’t present yet, so Jami waited and found the ordinance stating that the County Clerk was the Custodian of Records. Jim still was not present, but Jami decided to go ahead and inform Trent and John the things she learned from the attorney.
Jami learned that Closed Session can only take place about an Elected Official if there is legal counsel present.
Jami also learned that HR Solutions did not have to respond to Sunshine Requests, as they are not a Government Body.
Jim was now present so Jami gave a quick recap, that when complaints are made on an Elected Official, they cannot go into closed unless legal is present. Jami then informed the Commission that the attorney did encourage her to stay firm on the decisions at hand but to use this new knowledge moving forward. The attorney also suggests that the Commission be sure to reach out to Ivan, as she did not want to go against the Commissions attorney.
Pat Taylor and Dawn Steuck, with Daughters of American Revolution (DAR) Chapter, came in and asked about any broadcasting systems in the area where they could potentially ring a bell at 3:00 pm on September 17th. Pat then told the Commission about the skits she does for schools, books she gives the schools and informed them that this was all out of pocket. She then asked the Commission if they knew of any organizations that would want to donate towards the cost of the books so the schools could have them. Pat and Dawn were very passionate about their duty in teaching children and even told a few stories of history, aweing everyone in the room.
John gave Pat some contacts to reach out to. Trent then asked who the checks should be made out to. They asked that the checks be made out to “Harmony Mission DAR.”
Trent said that he was going to put a put a bug in some people’s ears and John asked about mailing in donations as well.
Kent Page, Road and Bridge Supervisor, came in for the bid opening at 2:00pm. First, he updated the Commission on different tasks they are undergoing.
They then discussed the two bids the Commission received. Koehns bid came in at $18,795.00 and Viebrock’s bid came in at $18,000.00.
The Commission discussed the two, as it was hard to decide. They wanted to be able to go with Koehns as this would be something they would like to be able to go to them for, but Viebrock has the experience they are looking for and with this being a big project they wanted to have the experience to rely on. Trent said that he would love to keep it local, but looking at the experience of the two, he is unsure what to do. John said he felt the same way. Kent said he would like for someone local come in and knock it out and they would then know that they could use them next time, but this would be their first time doing something like this and since Road and Bridge is also learning how to do this, it would be a good opportunity for them to help with this job so they can know how to do more next time something like this presents itself.
Kent and the Commission had a hard time deciding that the Bid Opening meeting ran into the next meeting for Elected Officials and Insurance so they recessed and said they would come back later to gather a decision.
Jami Page; County Clerk, Kacie Robey; Treasure Office, Carl Bettels; Assessors Office, Chad Anderson; Sheriff’s Office, Brenda Doody; Public Administrator, Hugh Jenkins; Prosecuting Attorney, Charles Rush; Cooks Insurance joined the Elected Officials Meeting to discuss insurance.
Jami charted out on a whiteboard the different plans within United Healthcare accompanied by NonStop. She explained the different plans and what it meant and let the Elected Officials ask questions and come to a decision. Meanwhile, Jami and Jim were also trying to get United Healthcare and NonStop in the Zoom that was not wanting to stay up on Jims’s computer.
They were finally able to get the issue resolved and both teams were able to answer questions from the Commission and the Elected Officials.
Jim asked if there were any more questions and encouraged them to digest this information, as they did not expect an answer right now. No one had any further questions for the teams on Zoom, so they ended the call. Chad then informed everyone that he did not need to digest, he feels as if the second option was the best one and felt that waiting around sitting on the information could make it harder and bring up more questions. John agreed. Jami asked Carl and Hugh what they felt but neither of them answered. Jami then stated that she is also for option two, to which Kacie and Brenda stated they were good with option two. Carl stated that he would come back with an answer before the end of the day. Hugh left without deciding.
The Commission must decide before September 1st, 2026.
Trent made a motion to accept the Bid from Viebrock, as they were the lowest bid and had more experience. John seconded the motion. Jim stated that if there is ever another opportunity for them to do a small bridge for the county, they could potentially then have Koehns do it. All were in favor. Motion carried. No opposition.
