Boone County News Release

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Boone County Week In Review

April 29, 2011

For the week ending April 29, 2011

Things you may have missed...

Shawver celebrates 30 years with Boone County

During his early years with Boone County, Stan Shawver remembered hearing a story that some employees had to completely use up their pencils before they could get a new one. "They would tape their names to their pencils so no one would take them," Shawver said. "Although things were never like that in my department."

Shawver is now the director of Boone County Resource Management, which brings together in one place the engineering, planning and inspection services provided by the County. As director, Shawver oversees the work of nearly 30 employees performing tasks ranging from road work, building inspection, stormwater planning and beyond.

The modernization of technology and procedures are among the landmarks Shawver said he has witnessed in county government since he started with the County on April 27, 1981. "When we moved into the new building in 1995," Shawver said, "every workstation got a PC." Before that time, a County department might have a single personal computer. Employees could use a word processing program available through terminals connected to the County's mainframe computer.

Shawver joined the Boone County government as a supervisor with the Youth Community Conservation Improvement Program in Public Works. The program allowed disadvantaged youth work performing various public-works jobs for several days a week and attend school the rest of the time, Shawver said.

After the YCCIP ended, Shawver transferred to a position in the Boone County Regional Sewer District, which was part of Boone County at the time, and then took a position as the County Planner.

Some of the developments Shawver said he participated in during his tenure with the County include the revision of the Boone County Master Plan in 1996, the adoption of county building codes in 1985 and the County's road-paving program.

Ginter speaks on the challenges of deployment at Boone Brown Bag

LTC Rodney Ginter of the Missouri Army National Guard spoke at a Boone Brown Bag on Wednesday, April 27, at 12 noon in Government Center Room 301.

Ginter presented an overview of the Missouri National Guard and spoke about his personal experience in Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War and more recently in Afghanistan. He addressed problems faced by himself, his family -- including his wife, Boone County employee Caryn Ginter -- and his employer while deployed, his experiences upon return and what services local government should provide to assist families and members both during the deployment and upon reintegration.

The Boone Brown Bag series was part of Boone County's celebration of National County Government Month. The theme for the event this year was "Serving our veterans, armed forces and their families."

Improvements to St. Charles Road begin

A portion of St. Charles Road in Columbia was closed on Wednesday, April 27, to allow road work near the site of the Battle High School project. The planned closure for this phase of the project is estimated to last for 4-5 weeks.

The section of St. Charles Road affected by these improvements runs from west of N. Frank Stanton Drive to Missouri Route Z, although the improvements themselves will be limited to the boundaries of the Battle High School project.

Inner Mongolia officials to visit Boone County Government Center

A group of officials from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region visited the Roger B. Wilson Boone County Government Center on Tuesday, April 26.

The group, which includes officials from the provincial government, education and the media, attended presentations by Boone County elected officials and employees on the duties Boone County's government and how it is organized. Presenters included: Wendy Noren, Boone County Clerk; Tom Schauwecker, Boone County Assessor; Patricia Lensmeyer, Boone County Collector; and Lamar Henderson, Boone County Public Information Officer.

The officials are in Columbia attending a program with the Asian Affairs Center in the Missouri International Training Institute at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Through intensive English language classes at MU, they are learning to speak both business and conversational English. Their visit to the Boone County Government Center was to inform them about some aspects of how county governments operate in the United States. In addition to learning in formal settings, they are also engaging in cultural experiences that take them from the average American farm to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. The group's visit to Columbia began in February and will extend through May 24.

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is a province located in the north of the People's Republic of China, bordering the Republic of Mongolia and Russia. Inner Mongolia is the third largest province in the PRC, with an area of about 425,000 square miles, and has a population of about 24 million.

Commission serves employee appreciation breakfasts as part of National County Government Month

The Boone County Commission served breakfast to Boone County's employees in appreciation for all their hard work throughout the year as part of the County's celebration of National County Government Month. Breakfast was served at Government Center on Monday, the Courthouse on Tuesday, the Sheriff's Department on Wednesday and Public works on Friday.

The menu for breakfast included biscuits and gravy, sausage and egg casserole, butter and jelly, fruit and juice.

Miller participates in Junior Achievement's "Are you smarter than a JA fifth grader?"

Karen Miller, District I (Southern) Boone County Commissioner, participated in "Are you smarter than a JA fifth grader?" The event was sponsored by Junior Achievement of Mississippi Valley, and was held at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel on Thursday, April 28.

Junior Achievement of Mississippi Valley is the fourth largest JA Worldwide operation in the United States. The group educates young people about work readiness, entrepreneurship and personal finance with hands-on programs. JAMVI reaches over 132,000 students per year in 5,500 classrooms and after-school locations. JA programs are taught by volunteers in inner cities, suburbs and rural areas in eastern Missouri and southwestern Illinois.

Have an item for Week in Review?

Do you have something coming up that you want to share? Send it in! Let us know what's coming up in your week that your colleagues may be interested in, or what happened in the previous week that everyone should know. Contact Lamar Henderson, Boone County Public Information Officer, at 886-4312 or lhenderson@boonecountymo.org; the deadline for next week's Week in Review is 5 p.m., Thursday, May 5.

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