Cape County commission signs off on records, mental health, election agreements

A new land records life cycle extension received approval at the Cape Girardeau County Commission meeting Monday, Sept. 16.

Drew Blatter, the county’s recorder of deeds, told the commissioners about a three-year contract extension with recording software vendor Fidlar Technologies of Davenport, Iowa.

“Just like anything, just about any year the price goes up a little bit. By doing a three-year contract, you lock in increments if something changes. If the price of everything goes way up, this will keep it moderated in somewhat feasible increments,” Blattner said. “We pay a lot of money to them; I think they’re the best recording software out there, though, and we recoup all those funds with a little overage that goes to general revenue. All in all, it’s not like it’s really costing us anything.”

The contract’s first year starts at $64,729, then increases to $66,671 in the second year and $68,671 in the third. Vital records would cost an extra $5,000 per year. Since the commissioners approved the contract, it takes effect in 2025.

Mental health funding

The commissioners also approved a mental health allocation request, giving $131,252.75 to the sheriff’s office to aid with mental health issues among the county’s incarcerated population.

“It’s a contract between the mental health board and the sheriff. We’ve got more and more mental health cases now in the jail, and so this is an effort to offset some of those costs and get those folks the help they need,” Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy said.

Election lease agreement

County Clerk Kara Clark Summers informed the commission that, following conversations with other county officials, they determined the county’s current satellite office in Cape Girardeau is not large enough to hold voting for the 2024 general election this November.

“We looked all over in Cape. I reached out to our current landlord for the satellite office. They didn’t have anything. I reached out to some other landlords in that area … about also getting a temporary lease for four weeks. I don’t want to staff it the whole six weeks for cost, obviously,” Summers said.

The commissioners approved a lease agreement with Heritage Square for election space rental to cover absentee and in-person voting. Summers said her office had been given a choice between a $2,000 rental inclusive of water and electric payments or a $1,721 rental without those costs, and the commissioners decided to go with the former.