Two of Audrain County’s elected commissioners attended the annual Missouri Farm Bureau dinner on Friday, Jan. 26, to give an update on what’s happening locally.
Presiding …
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Two of Audrain County’s elected commissioners attended the annual Missouri Farm Bureau dinner on Friday, Jan. 26, to give an update on what’s happening locally.
Presiding Commissioner Alan Winders started the conversation and addressed the biggest issue in the county and city of Mexico: What’s going to happen with the hospital?
Earlier this month the owners of the former Audrain County Hospital, Ziva Medical, laid off most of the workforce it hired in 2023 because of setbacks in court.
“We were cautious, in bold and caps, cautiously becoming optimistic,” Winders said about the situation leading up to last week’s layoffs. “My crystal ball isn’t very good when it relates to hospitals but it’s very important to you.”
Winders addressed a couple of transportation issues including the current condition of roads and the fact that county road crews have started using bigger rocks to help build the base back up on roads that have deteriorated.
“I told you last year you’re going to be driving over some big rock and some of you did and more will,” Winders said. “I’m very proud of our road maintenance crew. They’re doing everything they can and we’re providing them will all of the resources we can.”
Winders also addressed Highway 54 and a four-lane shared highway study recently completed by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT). Winders said the project isn’t funded currently but when constructed it will be the best type of road to alleviate congestion without encroaching on farmers.
“It’s the most efficient and it involves the least taking up of any additional farmland of any kind,” Winders said.
Another concern in the county is farmland being taken up by green energy projects like a solar farm near Vandalia. Winders said the problems have to be solved by locals but are being created by the federal government.
“It’s not driven by the state and it’s not driven by the county,” Winders said. “As much as I would like to tell my neighbor ‘Please don’t lease your land to a solar farm,’ It’s really not driven by my neighbor either. My neighbor didn’t dream this thing up. Somebody came to him and said ‘Here’s a $1,000 per acre for the next 30 years.’”
Eastern District Commissioner Leslie Meyer also spoke briefly about the county’s small structure program and gave a little promotion to her Audrain County Municipalities program. The program is going into its second year with full county participation.
