Commission approves DWI enforcement, HMV grant applications

The Howell County Commission approved two law enforcement grant applications during their only in-person meeting last week. Instead of the regular Thursday meeting, the commission held a virtual meeting to approve payroll while the commission members were attending County Commissioners Association of Missouri training at Lake of the Ozarks Feb. 26-28. 

 

Howell County Sheriff Matt Roberts joined Lt. Jason Long and Senior Supervisor Angela Conboy to talk about grant applications 19-42 and 19-43. Grant 19-42 is requesting $21,000 for DWI enforcement. This grant is completely funded by the federal government and helps pay the overtime costs for DWI enforcement. “It focuses on the times of day and days of the week where we see the most crashes involved with alcohol.” said Lt. Long. “Our DWI arrests were down last year. We had 86 the year before. This year, we only had 40.” He said he didn't have an assessment of why it was lower. The commission approved the application unanimously.

 

Grant 19-43 is requesting $22,000 for hazardous moving violations overtime funding. This is another yearly grant application that is fully federal funded and helps pay for overtime for traffic enforcement on hazardous moving violations like speeding, stop sign, stop light, and aggressive driving. Lt. Long gave statistics for Howell County during fiscal year from 2021 to 2023. “In Howell County, there was 2,359 crashes. Of those, 434 involved excessive speed. Of the 434, 18 were for fatalities and 47 others resulted in serious or disabling injuries,” Lt. Long told the Commission. He continued saying this ranks Howell County at 26th in the state for crashes, 14th in the state for disabling injuries and 17th in the state for fatalities. This data comes from the Missouri Statewide Traffic Accident Records System (STARS), available on the Missouri State Highway Patrol's website. The commission gave this application unanimous approval.

 

The Howell County Commissioners are Presiding Commissioner Ralph Riggs, Northern Commissioner Calvin Wood, and Southern Commissioner Bruce Williams. The commission meets in regular session on Mondays and Thursdays, from 10 am to 3:30 pm. The meetings remain open during the lunch hour and are open to the public. Contact the commissioners' chamber by phone at (417) 256-3872.