Candidates vie for presiding commissioner, recorder's office

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Steve Moyer - Nevada Daily Mail

Voters in the Aug. 3 primary election will determine all of the winners of the general election as well, none of the local candidates face opposition from the opposite party and only two races have more than one candidate in the primary; the race for Vernon County Presiding Commissioner and the race for Vernon County Recorder

Presiding Commissioner

In the Democratic primary Vernon County Presiding Commissioner Bonnie McCord is vying against Jim Earnest to retain her seat. On the Republican ballot Vernon County Recorder of Deeds Doug Shupe is running against Lewis Dunkeson to hold on to his office.

Jim Earnest was Presiding Commissioner for two terms, 1991 to 1998, and said he enjoyed his time while serving, wanted to return and thought he had some ideas that would benefit the county.

"I would like to serve the county again," Earnest said. "I had a good time the first time, most of the time -- there were troubled times, there always are in something like that and you wonder why you're doing it. I had a good time the first time and I enjoyed it. I think that there are things that need to be done, some small changes that need to be made. I'm just ready to serve the county again."

McCord has been on the commission for more than 17 years, 14 as Southern Commissioner and is in her first term as Presiding Commissioner. McCord said the commission is facing a difficult time because of the economic woes facing all levels of government.

"Right now a lot of our focus has been on the budget because we're trying to wear it out, use it up and make do with what we've got, and it's less than what we've had in years before," McCord said.

Earnest said whether for good or ill the jail had been built, now the only thing to do would be to try to get other entities to help pay for it.

"The big thing I think we talk about today in conversations around town is law enforcement and the new jail, '"What's going to happen to the new jail, was it good or was it bad,'" Earnest said. "Whether it was good or bad, it's ours. We now have to make it work. I talked to the sheriff quite a little bit this morning (Friday). The normal population is around 55 or 60, the maximum population is 83. What we have to do is we have to get enough clientele in there that are paid clientele, paid prisoners of other entities; the state, federal, wherever. We've got to get that up to the maximum population every day --we've got to charge for 30 or 40 of those beds in order to make this thing work."

McCord said the new jail is a better environment for the employees who had to work there but it's an expensive venture.

"We're real proud the voters approved the jail for us because it's a much better working environment for our employees, but it's still expensive to operate," McCord said. "We're seeing a decline, other counties are having budget shortfalls also so we're not getting as many inmates as we would like to see. That (having a full jail) helps the economies of scale. I know we have a contract with one of the departments, I think it's the Department of Mental Health, they're paying us $70 a day to house about 16 inmates. They like our facility because it's a safe environment, they like that we have our medical, 30 hours a week they're on staff with a direct contact with a doctor. That was helpful in getting that contract."

Earnest said the commissioners needed to be active participants in getting other governmental units to make use of the space in the jail.

"I think the sheriff has enough to do with his day-to-day law enforcement procedures that it's very hard for him to go out and solicit those kind of prisoners that would be paying their own way," Earnest said. "I think the county commission needs to do that for him. They need to get arm-in-arm with him and go out and do the solicitations and do the sales job for him. That's a priority for me."

Recorder of Deeds

Doug Shupe is the incumbent Recorder of Deeds and has been in office since 1991. Lewis Dunkeson is trying to unseat Shupe in the Republican primary. Dunkeson said he wanted to get active in the political process and thought the Recorder of Deeds office a good place to start.

"Our country is in a crisis financially and I've been listening to a lot of talk radio and how to get involved with the political process," Dunkeson said. "The younger people need to get involved and for my part I need to get out there and do something about it instead of sitting on the sidelines."

Dunkeson said he felt the best way to learn something was to do it.

"The best way to learn it is to jump in and see how it works," Dunkeson said. "It's been a fun process so far and I've got to meet a lot of new people and businesses. I wanted to get in there and see what it was all about and see how I could help and make things better."

The Recorder of Deeds does much more than just record deeds, however that is a very important duty in and of itself. Shupe said the job has grown over the years but the mission is the same.

"The most important part is preservation of our land records, whether it's deeds of conveyances and mortgages or something else," Shupe said. "We've grown, we're not little Vernon County anymore. Mortgages come from all over the United States now. Lending institutions have really changed over the course of the years.

"Now we're computerized and digitized which helps with the backups we have. In case of a disaster we've got three different forms of backup so we will not lose any of our land records."

"We do marriage records, military discharges, state and federal tax liens, non-probate transfers, we record divorce decrees, and anything that pertains to real estate, basically," Shupe said. "Starting Aug. 28, we're going to be filing mechanics liens, too. Circuit court is going to be filing them also, they're dual filing those to protect contractors and sub-contractors that maybe didn't get paid for a job."

The Recorder of Deeds does research and also keeps track of cattle brands.

"People don't realize we do as much as we do," Shupe said. "We do a lot of research, research of legal descriptions, you have to be well versed in your legal descriptions, whether it be blocks and lots in town or whether it would be real estate out in the county. The recorder's office is also keeper of the State of Missouri livestock brand book. If you want to register a legal brand you can come and I've got the paperwork to fill out to send to the Department of Agriculture and you can go through the brand book to make sure the brand you want to use is not already being used."

The Vernon County ballots will have just the two contested races and four uncontested candidates: Associate Circuit Judge Neal Quitno, Clerk of the Circuit Court Vickie Erwin, County Clerk Tammi Beach, Prosecuting Attorney Lynn M. Ewing, III, all on the Democratic ticket.

Missouri State Representative Barney Fisher, 125th District, faces no opposition in either the primary or general election. However, the situation is different for U.S. Congressman Ike Skelton who not only faces a primary contender, Leonard Stienman, but, if successful in that race, will also face a Republican who will be chosen Aug. 3 from a field of nine possibilities as well as a candidate from the Libertarian Party from a field of two in that primary and one candidate from the Constitution Party in the general election.

Comments

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Does the sheriff's department have the manpower to handle 30 more prisoners? Our neighbors have had to call the sheriff's office several times in the past, and each time they are told the same thing. "I'm sorry, but we don't have anyone on right now." Do they just work from 9 to 5?

-- Posted by resident65 on Tue, Jul 27, 2010, at 5:50 PM
"Listening to talk radio to learn the political process," said Mr. Dunkenson. That's not really who I want to be placed in charge of our counties very precious records. Mr. Shupe has many years of experience, countless hours of classes and schooling. If it's not broken, don't fix it. Maybe Mr. Dunkenson should learn and begin his political process at a lower, less costly venture to our county, such as a councilman for his community.

Keep Bonnie McCord in the presiding commissioner seat. We've experienced the wrath of Mr. Earnest before and don't need to relive that again.

-- Posted by Kiss the Cook on Wed, Jul 28, 2010, at 2:02 PM
Kiss The Cook must have short term memory loss. She can remember something Mr Earnest did 15 years ago, but she can't remember what Ms McCord has helped do in the last few years. She took a 6 million dollar jail, which everyone knows we needed, and turned it into a 12 million dollar "money pit", which won't be paid for in 20 years. She, "Kiss The Cook", may not have a problem letting her children and grandchildren pay for this mistake, but we do. I am in no way a big fan of Mr Earnest, but I don't think he ever did anything like this.

-- Posted by resident65 on Wed, Jul 28, 2010, at 8:01 PM
Kiss the Cook- I totally agree with you on Mr. Dunkenson....if it's not broke, don't fix it! Mr. Shupe has done an excellent job in office for numerous years! However, you should do your homework on Mrs. McCord as you have done on Mr. Earnest. Word on the street is that there was some sort of grant that did not get done by Mrs. McCord and that is why the county is in the shape it is in. Could you please refresh my memory on what the wrath of Mr. Earnest is that you are referring to? As I recall he fixed a lot of projects that were in disarray when he took over the office of Presiding Commissioner the 1st time.

Well said resident65! I believe that Mr. Earnest has some great ideas and is ready to take on the county and bring more revenue into the jail to cover expenses! He is correct in saying that the Sheriff has enough duties to take care of as do the deputies!

However, as for the deputies working from 9-5, that is inaccurate. They work endless hours and are always on call in the event of an emergency. For example, there were a couple a few days ago that worked all day and night because they were looking for a missing person. A few of the same ones had also worked over the day before as they were doing a narcotics investigation. They are overworked and underpaid due to the economic condition the county is in.

Of course there have been however many bridges built in the county since Mrs. McCord has been in office as her commercial states and she is National Incident Management Systems certified(which is person in her position is required to be and I'm sure if Mr. Earnest got the job he would be as well). Was the county in dire need of ALL of those bridges? I don't recall the exact number, but it sounded like a lot to me. I would think there would be other ways that the county could spend their money. Like paying for more deputies so that the aforementioned ones wouldn't have to work long shifts or overtime. Or paying for bills incurred by the new jail.

As for wondering if the Sheriff's Office is staffed enough for 30 more prisoners, that is a different department than the deputies. The Corrections Officers take care of the prisoners and to my knowledge, they budgeted for more Corrections Officers for the new building so they would have enough if prisoners were at capacity. Last I had heard, they were full-staff or pretty close.

To me, it sounds as if Mrs. McCord was eager to build a new jail for the EMPLOYEES from this article. Granted, from the looks of the old jail, the employees needed it too but I thought it was built for 83 or however many beds so that the county could get revenue from outside entities as Mr. Earnest stated. Sounds to me like he is very optimistic about coinciding with the Sheriff and other agencies to get funds into our county and that is what the people need. As he stated, whether it was good or bad, it's ours now and we have to make it work!

Whether or not you're an Earnest fan, the man seems to know what he's doing! Let's help make our county a better place to live and vote DOUG SHUPE and JIM EARNEST on August 3rd!

-- Posted by ifuonlyknew on Wed, Jul 28, 2010, at 10:27 PM

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