County commission approves prepaid legal services contract

Returning to business tabled Monday, the Cape Girardeau County Commission approved a contract with the Missouri Association of Counties for prepaid legal services Thursday morning.

The contract is for up to 10 hours per month of legal services provided by phone or in writing for a flat rate of $200. Hours in excess of 10 will be billed to the county at $75 per hour.

County Clerk Kara Clark Summers said in her presentation to the board Monday that general legal fees are commonly $100 to $200 per hour and emphasized the benefit of using lawyers who specialize in county functions.

Commissioner Paul Koeper pointed out Thursday that the initial contract term is 36 months and said he was in favor of trying at least one term. Koeper said he is working on guidelines that would efficiently use the allotted time and plans to present details to the commission in the next meeting Monday.

Also approved was an $32,788 upgrade to the county software responsible for accounting and payroll, which will be paid for over the next three years.

Auditor Pete Frazier worked with Springbrook, the Portland, Ore. company who designed the technology, to customize the upgrade for a savings of more than 50 percent off the original price of $70,000. Frazier said the current version used by the county is obsolete and the new version will enable better reporting.

The commissioners, Frazier and Treasurer Rodger Hudson discussed how best to integrate software purchases into the budget, as the currently used technology fund that was created from refinancing the jail bonds in 2003 is shrinking. Adding a line item to the regular budget to predict and track expenditures was one idea proposed.

"Technology costs money," said Commissioner Jay Purcell, "It's just one of those facts of life."

In other business, the county was reimbursed by the state this week for $14,184 of debris removal services necessitated by extreme weather conditions last spring.

The county was authorized by the state to advertise for bids to replace the bridge over Bean Branch on County Road 233.

A firetruck that dispenses special foam that extinguishes plastics fires was added to the county fleet insurance policy. The truck is parked at the Nordenia plastics facility in Fruitland to satisfy safety guidelines, but is titled to the county. The Nordenia company will fully reimburse the county for insurance fees.

There will be no meeting of the commission on Oct. 27, as members will be attending the 40th annual Missouri Association of Counties conference in Osage Beach, Mo.

salderman@semissiourian.com

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