As many as ten inches of rain fell over Worth County in a three-day span, and Road & Bridge foreman Jim Fletchall and Emergency Management Director Abby Hawk were over county roads looking for and documenting damage around the county. Much of it was gravel washing off roads. The county does have enough damage to qualify as a state disaster area. 123rd Road between Grant City and Isadora, which is gated if you go far west enough, had the road wash out and a landowner requesting help. The tube remained intact.
That sparked an extended discussion about gated roads, abandoned roads, and legal issues at the Worth County Commission meeting Tuesday, May 26th. Under Missouri law, there are two ways for a county to close a road. One is if a road is abandoned for five years, with no traffic or maintenance, then it is considered to be abandoned. The other is if 12 or more landowners in a township petition to abandon a road and notices are posted in three different locations around the township, then there is a procedure to do that. The twelve landowners in question must reside within the township.
The complication is that certain landowners have been gating off sections of county road that have not been traveled on much in order to keep teens, meth and fentanyl users, and thieves off. There have been ongoing issues with teens driving into peoples' crop fields and spinning tires and doing donuts, damaging crops. The problem is that the roads still belong to the county under state law, which could create a liability issue if someone, say, goes through an abandoned bridge and wrecks. A gate was put up in 2024, but the road in question was never officially closed.
Commissioner Jubal Summers said that if the county is to start maintaining such roads, then the gate needs to disappear. "We can't keep gating roads like this, it will come back to bite us," Commissioner Tyler Paxson said. "I don't have a problem with people trying to protect their property, but year 'round is a problem," said Commissioner Reggie Nonneman. "We need to get in there and maintain the roads."
Assessor Tresha Petty came in to talk about statewide reassessment. She reported that many places had been under-assessed for years; the state has been leaning on the county in recent years to rectify that. For 2026, according to Ms. Petty's office in an ad posted in the May 6th issue, the only increases of assessed real estate in Tax Year 2026 will be new construction and buildings found that were not previously in the county's tax records. If a taxpayer's value has changed, they will receive a letter in the mail showing the new and old values.
Ms. Petty maintains an open-door policy for her office for any taxpayers who have questions about assessment. Her hours are from 8:30 am to 12 noon and 1 pm to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday. A public forum has been tentatively scheduled for November so that Ms. Petty can address issues regarding assessed valuations.
One of the county trucks hit an overhead power line south of Grant City. Nobody was hurt. In the event of an emergency, call 911.
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