Longtime Scott County deputy to retire

BENTON, Mo. -- After serving almost three decades in various positions at the Scott County Sheriff's Department, Tom Beardslee will retire at the end of this month.

He submitted his resignation for retirement last week, said Sheriff Rick Walter.

In April 2008, at his request, Beardslee became the new 911 director in the county. Before that he had served as chief deputy. He is also involved in the K-9 Search and Rescue Team.

"For anyone who has served that many years and wants to retire, in any job, you have to say congratulations first of all," Walter said. "We all wish him the best."

Walter said he is unsure how Beardslee's position will be filled at this point.

"We're looking into options and seeing if anyone is interested in it," he said.

If no one volunteers to become the full-time director, Walter said it may be split into shift supervisors, or a new individual may be hired. "We'll just have to wait and see," he said.

Although Beardslee will retire from his role in Scott County, he's expressed an interest in continuing teaching for the Missouri Sheriff's Association and doing the volunteer work he's involved in.

"[Teaching] is something he really likes to do -- he really has a love for it," said Walter. "In a lot of ways, he'll still be working with us."

In other news, Scott County is closer to closing out projects to clean up from the January ice storm, officials said at Thursday's commission meeting.

A check for just more than $150,000 was recently received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for debris removal and cleanup.

"We're still waiting for the state portion," said Presiding Commissioner Jamie Burger. Guidelines dictate that 75 percent of costs will be paid for by FEMA; 15 percent by the county or agency applying for the projects; and the remaining 10 percent by the State Emergency Management Agency.

Scott County's match was primarily in-kind, with inmates working to do the cleanup and the county being reimbursed for its own equipment usage.

"We were out some expenses," said Burger. "It was about 15 cents on a dollar."

To speed up the process, Scott County split its debris removal and cleanup into two projects. "Within the next 10 or so days, we'll submit the second one," said Burger. That project is also estimated at $150,000. About $50,000 in funds are expected from SEMA, which have not yet been received.