Northern Commissioner Candidates Compared

Wood is a sixth generation Howell County resident, with a member of his family still farming the same plot of land outside of Pomona. He has spent the last 24 years working with the county, as the Northern Commissioner since 2021 and as an employee with the Road & Bridge Department before that. 

 

“I think my experience speaks for itself. You know, all the years that I have here, the working relationship I have with my (Road & Bridge) crew. I go visit them every morning, we talk about every problem we have up there, whether it is a road issue or an equipment issue,” Wood said. “I really think the experience pays out.”

 

On Managing County Property

“We try to keep up-to-date newer equipment as older equipment has a large repair cost…We have tried to keep newer trucks under our guys, especially with the tax that we have in for road improvement. Every minute down with a piece of equipment costs (the county) a lot of money in the long haul.” 

 

Preparation of the Annual Budget

“I think on the budget side, we do a really good job. With our county road tax, we have the ability to purchase more material than we've ever been able to purchase before. I think the people will see the white rock, the new culverts, concrete slabs. We've even gotten a chance to put in bigger culverts. Before an 18-inch culvert was big. Now, we've got the chance to put in 3-foot tall culverts, 5-foot tall culverts and take care of some bigger issue problems like before we couldn't handle.”

 

On State and Federal grants and programs

“The grants on the road and bridge side are few and far in between. They're more geared for MoDOT or first-class counties.” Wood said. Howell County is classified as a third-class county. “I did come across a new one the other day from the Missouri Department of Conservation. I'm going to try and talk to them about the grant on a little project outside Willow Springs.” He said the county has been using the funding for the last four years to apply rock towards conservation areas. “We use them as a sounding board. The grant we're (currently) working through is a 65775 2017 flood (grant).” 

 

Wood said that some of his biggest accomplishments have been with concrete slabs. “County Road 1130, north of Willow Springs. I'm glad that one's in there. The Crooked Creek road just outside of Willow Springs, off of 76 Highway. We poured a bunch of concrete in a trouble spot that's haunted the county for years out there. County Road 266 at the Eleven Point, we poured a slab down there. That was a constant fight that the guys have always had to go repair after a big flood.” He also noted the hot mix overlays on some of the paved roads, taking some of the dips and valleys out of them. “It's expensive, but if I can expand the life of that blacktop and keep my guys from having to go out to them every other year, we can start building on our dirt side.” Wood said he has worked with a contractor and installed 60 new culverts around Mountain View.

 

 

Echols is a Missouri native who has lived in Howell County for 45 years. He runs Echols Construction and The Sunshine Market in Mountain View. He and his late wife, Nancy, have three adult children who graduated from Mountain View – Birch Tree Liberty, with two still living in Missouri. Echols says he is on the ballot as the “Karst Candidate” and is looking to get more attention to local watershed fragility issues. 

 

On Road and Bridge maintenance

“I would try to break it down using data points for analysis on different features the different roads go through. I would computerize it, basically. I would try to get them maps of the roads showing the specific types of maintenance needed. In the past, they would just get bigger and bigger graders and grade everything. It creates a situation which is awful for folks driving in smaller vehicles.” While he has experience in the construction industry, Echols said he didn't have experience with the heavy machines used in road work. “I would like to see some experimentation in techniques for maintenance.” He also suggested a text line or automated system to make it easier to communicate with the commissioners. 

 

On Managing County Property

“That's a subject that I'm not that familiar with. I don't know how much property they are managing. As far as I can tell, it seems the property is well maintained.” 

 

Preparation of the Annual Budget

Echols said he didn't have much information on the budget. “I don't know how much property they're managing, and I don't know what they're doing. The property seems like it's being maintained. The courthouse isn't falling down.” On the county road and bridge tax, Echols seemed in favor of it. “You have to have money to do this work. I don't think its excessive, but I would consider some of the things that are being done. I doubt the budget is going to go down, even if there is a way to save money. Taxes here are considerable lower than other areas, and that is why several people are moving here.” He suggested the possibility of saving money by grading county roads less.

 

On State and Federal grants and programs

“They need to get grants, all these rural counties need to get federal money to keep up. I mean, their tax base isn't good enough to meet the needs of a growing county. So, grants are absolutely essential for a county our size.” Echols spoke about a recent grant from South Central Ozark Council of Governments to help teach students grades 4-12 about the local karst topography and watersheds, groundwater, and water quality and use, titled Karst in the Ozarks.  

 

Echols, if elected, is wanting to focus on improving roads and protecting the local watershed issues. “As being a builder, one of the things the commission could try to set up: a best practices for construction development. Not building codes, I'm not advocating that. Understand what the practice is for site development or for farming to keep the watersheds in mind. Try to keep the karst in mind and remember the fragility of the watershed.”