The Warren County Board of Supervisors meeting on October 21, 2025, was a busy session that touched on everything from financial transparency to community safety. As a resident of the North River District, I believe our leaders need to be as precise with their data as they are with their public promises.
Correcting the Record: The Senior Center
I began by correcting the minutes from the previous meeting. While the official record suggested things were improving at the Senior Center, the reality on the ground is different. As a volunteer there, I reported that the flooring situation has worsened and that there were two falls recently at another location.
A fall for a senior can be a life-altering event. I urged the Board to stop “planning” and start “fixing” before someone is seriously injured. While I appreciate Supervisor Cullers addressing the issue, the seniors need to see action, not just hear reports.
The Mansfield Fuel Analysis
One of the most significant parts of the evening was the discussion surrounding my independent analysis of the Mansfield Fuel Reports. By diving into the data, I identified several irregularities:
- Odometer Discrepancies: Multiple instances of “quirky” or inaccurate odometer entries that make tracking vehicle maintenance nearly impossible.
- Lack of Policy: The current system allows for vague entries that lack descriptions, making it a “bad look” for public accountability.
I was pleased to see Dr. Jamieson and Supervisor Cullers acknowledge the value of this work. Supervisor Stanmeyer noted that while the errors might be “finger mistakes,” the county needs a better way to handle this analysis—moving away from un-user-friendly PDFs and toward a formal fuel policy that ensures department heads are actually reviewing these purchases.
Support for Local Business
Later in the meeting, during a public hearing on a new zoning ordinance and a subsequent Conditional Use Permit (CUP), I took the podium again. Having raised a brief technical concern during the zoning portion, I wanted to make it clear that I had no ill will toward the applicant. I spoke in support of the business, specifically advocating for their ability to work on weekends for emergencies. Supporting our local economy means ensuring that regulations are fair and that businesses have the flexibility they need to serve our community.
Final Thought
Whether it’s auditing fuel cards or advocating for a safe floor for our seniors, the goal is the same: a county that is efficient, safe, and transparent. When we look at the data, we find the truth—and the truth is the only way to build a county that is truly “easy to love.”
Watch the Progress
- 0:19 – Correcting the record on the Senior Center floor.
- 1:34 – Technical concerns regarding the new Zoning Ordinance.
- 2:25 – Speaking in support of the CUP for a local business.
- 3:04 – Dr. Jamieson and the Board discussing my fuel report analysis.
- 7:53 – Board members acknowledging the “time and effort” put into the data audit.
Transcript (auto-generated)
Chapter 1: Public comment for agenda items
0:00He’s tall. Lewis Motton, North River District.
0:05
5 secondsThe third light from the back. Ceiling’s still falling down. The minutes from last time are much better. I did not say
0:13
13 secondsthat things were getting better at the senior center. I was thanking Cheryl for actually addressing it. I’m I’m glad to
Chapter 2: Prior public comment
0:20
20 secondshear about the floor. I was able to review the video afterwards. Um although I think once they the seniors do see
0:29
29 secondsaction they’ll be more comfortable. Um you know I’ve I’ve experienced them going through emergencies before while
0:36
36 secondsI’m there and I don’t want somebody to fall and trip and hurt themselves because of the county. Um things have
Chapter 3: Current comment continued
0:43
43 secondsactually gotten worse. So I’m just wondering what’s going on from mainly we we had two people fall at Triad already.
0:54
54 secondsSo it’s like these people are susceptible to falling. Once you fall, the rest of your life is impacted. And
1:02
1 minute, 2 secondsthis floor issue needs to be addressed now.
1:07
1 minute, 7 secondsActually, last month, two months, four months ago, so I’d like that to be taken care of sooner. Um,
1:16
1 minute, 16 secondsthere was other issues. I’m just trying, my mind’s drawing a blank, but I’ve already sent the fuel reports. A few of you have gotten back to me. I appreciate
1:23
1 minute, 23 secondsyour feedback and hopefully we can get something on the board. Um, it was a surprise how much I could find with
1:32
1 minute, 32 secondsthat. So, thank you. Hello again. Lewis Bton, North River. It’s like is that the
Chapter 4: Public Hearing – Zoning
1:39
1 minute, 39 secondsright location? Um, so I was just concerned. I I don’t have an objection to it really. I’m just like concerned
1:46
1 minute, 46 secondslike um we’re giving everybody access to this all at once. it’s not just this one individual person. Um, and then the
1:56
1 minute, 56 secondsother issue is if a company sees this and they can’t go yet, they’re probably going to say, “Well, company X can do
2:03
2 minutes, 3 secondsthis. Why can’t company Y do this?” And then the open storage lots, I I think it’d be ideal if there was like some
2:11
2 minutes, 11 secondskind of restriction on like the lot size or how often people come and go. Um, so it’s it’s those are just the little
2:20
2 minutes, 20 secondsthings and I’m sure you guys have already thought through all this, but I just wanted to bring it up. So, thank you. Lewis Mo, North River. Uh, I’d
Chapter 5: Public Hearing – CUP
2:29
2 minutes, 29 secondssupport this. I think that we need to let him be able to work on the weekends for emergencies or something, but yeah, looks good to me.
Chapter 6: Approval of accounts
2:37
2 minutes, 37 secondsOkay, next we’ve got approval of accounts.
2:55
2 minutes, 55 secondsany comments or questions?
3:01
3 minutes, 1 secondI have a comment. the accounts includes the the PECARD fuel reports and we we I I believe the whole board got an email
3:09
3 minutes, 9 secondsthat I received today from uh a constituent about uh an analysis he independently conducted and and found
3:17
3 minutes, 17 secondssome seeming irregularities in the fuel reports. Um, I corresponded with him a little bit on it. Um, uh, surmising
3:26
3 minutes, 26 secondswhether or not some of the events were just honest mistakes or lack of information available to complete the the required fields or if anything
3:34
3 minutes, 34 secondspotentially could amount to to abuse or not. Um, which uh there were not conclusive indications of that. Um, in
3:43
3 minutes, 43 secondssome sense I might be inclined to to vote against this just because there are open questions there that but I think that will be a longer term fix to to
3:52
3 minutes, 52 secondscome up with um a better way to handle uh that analysis and maybe get the reports out of PDF and into something that’s a little bit more user friendly
4:00
4 minutesto work with um and uh and and and probably come up with a little bit uh of
4:08
4 minutes, 8 secondsuh revision to the uh to the policy around those those uh fuel cards. Okay.
4:13
4 minutes, 13 secondsUm but I I’m not going to vote against all the accounts on that basis because that would there are much bigger uh things in the accounts than just those fuel reports.
4:24
4 minutes, 24 secondsSo I am going to vote for the accounts, but I just wanted to put that out there that I’m aware of this issue and I believe it does need uh some further
4:32
4 minutes, 32 secondsattention. Supervisor Collins it if I remember the conversation I had
4:38
4 minutes, 38 secondswith um the state director uh who first talked to me about this system because
4:45
4 minutes, 45 secondsit’s a system the whole state uses um and and then with Miss Scott this program
4:52
4 minutes, 52 secondshas a lot of potential to give you all kinds of different reports if I remember that correctly. Um, I don’t think we’ve ever asked for more than what we see.
5:02
5 minutes, 2 secondsAnd, um, part of the process is you’re supposed to put in your odometer
5:10
5 minutes, 10 secondsreading. Um, we had a similar um, system set up for our farm so that at the end of the year when we did our taxes, we
5:19
5 minutes, 19 secondscould reconcile out the gas used on the farm and so forth. Um, and every time I filled up in that farm truck or got for
5:27
5 minutes, 27 secondsa tractor, I had to put in the odometer reading on the truck. Um, I’m not sure everybody is putting in maybe accurately
5:37
5 minutes, 37 secondsor maybe hitting the wrong number or something because I think that was one of the things was the odometer readings are um from month to month a little
5:46
5 minutes, 46 secondsquirky with each other. Um, and I don’t know that that’s intentional or you get in a hurry and it’s like, you
5:55
5 minutes, 55 secondsknow, punching in numbers, you hit different runs or just the fact that it seems like an unnecessary step or
6:03
6 minutes, 3 secondssomething. But again, I don’t think it’s anybody trying to do anything sneaky
6:10
6 minutes, 10 secondswith the gas or anything. But there I was I am not a tech person as I will tell everybody and the amount of work
6:19
6 minutes, 19 secondsthat was done on this. I was just amazed at all of it and appreciative of the time put into this. Um,
6:28
6 minutes, 28 secondsso you know, saying that I think it might be of something to look at to see
6:35
6 minutes, 35 secondswhere improvements or especially because you can use this to keep up with the maintenance of your your vehicles and
6:43
6 minutes, 43 secondsuse that as a guideline and a reinforcement when sheriff’s department or uh fire and rescue or whoever’s got
6:51
6 minutes, 51 secondsvehicles come to us and say, “We need new vehicles. Here’s the proof. Here’s all the data on it to back up the need.
6:59
6 minutes, 59 secondsUm, and on the rest I I’ve gone through and I go through and through these um,
7:08
7 minutes, 8 secondspecard things and I do want to say I haven’t seen hardly any just plain purchase and I appreciate that. I know
7:15
7 minutes, 15 secondsthat’s taken a while and people get tired of me talking about that, but um you know when when people ask you
7:24
7 minutes, 24 secondsbecause this all goes out what was this amount of money spent for it it’s just a bad look not to be able
7:31
7 minutes, 31 secondsto look at and say what you was I don’t know but I approved it. So, I do appreciate that that I like I said, I’ve
7:39
7 minutes, 39 secondsgone through here a couple of times and I don’t think I see any that just says purchase without a description and I appreciate that.
7:48
7 minutes, 48 secondsAny other comments?
7:53
7 minutes, 53 secondsThank you, Mrs. Scholars. I did want to say that I did receive the report from the citizens and I’m also very appreciative of the time and effort that it took into going through the data and
8:02
8 minutes, 2 secondsanalyzing it accordingly. So, um I have sent the report to administration and I believe it’s a good idea to possibly
8:11
8 minutes, 11 secondslook at each individual item that was provided um to see what happened uh
8:18
8 minutes, 18 secondswhether it was a a finger mistake on the on the keypad um or looking into what better reporting we can pull from the
8:26
8 minutes, 26 secondsMansfield fuel report. Uh going all the way to possibly developing a fuel policy. Uh, so it is up to the
8:34
8 minutes, 34 secondsdepartment head to review those individual purchases and ensure compliance with their department policies, but we’d be have to look at that in the future.
8:43
8 minutes, 43 secondsAnd that’s a task because when you’ve got vehicles that um run
8:50
8 minutes, 50 secondsChef Klein, you run 12 10our shifts or 12 hour shifts?
8:54
8 minutes, 54 secondsWhen they’re running 12 hours, they they um they take gas, a lot of it, so it’s a lot to keep up with. And if
9:03
9 minutes, 3 secondsanybody ever sees that running list, it’s it’s a long list. Certainly is.
9:09
9 minutes, 9 secondsYeah. So, do appreciate everybody’s efforts. Um, and I know it’s tedious.
9:19
9 minutes, 19 secondsSo, do I have a motion?
9:26
9 minutes, 26 secondsI will move to approve accounts as presented. Second. Second. Roll call.
9:35
9 minutes, 35 secondsMr. Henry, abstain.
9:36
9 minutes, 36 secondsDr. Jameson. Hi, Mr. Chairman. Hi, Mr. Stanmire. Hi, Mrs. Colers. I Okay. Next is approval of minutes on the
Chapter 7: Approval of minutes
9:43
9 minutes, 43 secondsOctober 7th regular meeting.
9:52
9 minutes, 52 secondsNo changes. Okay.
9:58
9 minutes, 58 secondstake it that uh Supervisor Henry, you you you’re still abstaining on this.
10:02
10 minutes, 2 secondsI didn’t even participate in that meeting. I think I don’t think it’d be fair. All right. All right. I move to approve as presented.
10:11
10 minutes, 11 secondsI have a second. Second. Roll call.
10:16
10 minutes, 16 secondsMrs. Cullers. I Mr. Stanmire. I Mr. Chairman. I Dr. Jameson. Hi. Mr. Henry. Abstain.
