County commissioners appoint additional deputy coroner

Craig Williams became the newest deputy coroner for Cape Girardeau County when the county commissioners approved his appointment Thursday, Feb. 22.

Sheriff Ruth Ann Dickerson, who brought up Williams for appointment, said his prior experience and training mean he is capable of handling coroner’s office issues.

Cape Girardeau County Coroner Wavis Jordan was barred from performing his duties after the Missouri attorney general’s office filed civil and criminal complaints against him, the latter for misdemeanor theft and providing false information to vital records.

In the interim, Dickerson’s office has taken over administrative work for the coroner’s office. Williams has previously served as a deputy coroner for Cape Girardeau County. With his appointment, all three available deputy coroner positions have been filled.

David Taylor was appointed as a deputy coroner Feb. 15 and Scott Wren had already been serving in the role when the coroner’s office duties were given to the sheriff’s office.

Payment contract approved

The commissions also approved an amendment with their contract with Allen, Texas-based CSG Forte Payments Inc. for the payment processing company’s new Engage platform.

“They do our online payment system, our point of sales system and our IVR (interactive voice response) system, and now they’ve added a new product called Engage where we’d be able to text message from our computers a tax bill to a person who needs it,” Cape Girardeau County Collector Barbara Gholson said. “They can pay it a lot simpler instead of having to go through the online site.”

This new electronic option comes with a $4 charge for the customers paying their taxes with no additional cost to the county. Gholson said this charge helps CSG Forte pay for the new software.

“... This way they wouldn’t have to go to their phone, pull up the online site, find their bill and pay it. It would just be there and they can just pay it from that one spot,” Gholson said.

Another, less direct, option for online pay is available for a $2 fee to customers.

Trouble with boring

Associate Commissioner Paul Koeper expressed frustration at internet service providers not contacting the county before hiring contractors who bore holes across roads to install wires.

“They don’t ask. They just do it. By law, they have to ask,” he said.

In one instance, Koeper said contractors bored through a culvert, allowing it to become filled with trash. In another, contractors bored through pavement, raising a rural road.

“They’ve got to get permission from us to cross the road. ... It’s getting old,” Koeper said.