The Moniteau County Commissioners hosted the quarterly meeting of the West Central Commissioners Association, held Thursday, Sept. 18, at the California United Church of Christ.
In addition to Moniteau County, the 20 county association includes Bates, Benton, Boone, Callaway, Camden, Cass, Cole, Cooper, Henry, Howard, Johnson, LaFayette, Miller, Osage, Pettis, Saline, St. Clair and Vernon.
The meeting location changes each quarter, in alphabetic order, with the Miller County Commissioners hosting the previous quarterly meeting and Morgan County hosting the next.
The group visited the restored Finke Theatre and the were given a tour of the Eitzen Mansion by owners Rich and Pam Green. Several of the visitors were heard to praise the city for having such places. Callaway County Commissioner Doc Kritzer spoke of a community effort to restore a similar theater in Fulton as he admired the restoration of the Finke Theatre.
The meeting began with a Pledge of Allegiance, before the tours, then the group was welcomed by California Mayor Norris Gerhart, and updated on state legislation which may affect the counties by Todd Smith, representing the Missouri Association of Counties. Donna Gregory conducted a brief business meeting, after which a visitor spoke about the effort to obtain funding for improving the 911 access by cell phones.
The lunch was preceded by entertainment by the Rohrbach Brothers, who sang the national anthem and several other tunes.
Lunch, which was prepared by Moniteau County Commissioners Kenneth Kunze, Tony Barry and Kim Roll, was followed by a brief update on what is happening in each of the counties. Due to prior commitments, the commissioners of Benton and St. Clair counties were not present.