The Cole County Commission used its Nov. meeting to clear several routine matters: appointments, accounts payable, two budget adjustments, a construction change order, a care-leave approval and the 2026 holiday schedule.

Appointments and reappointments were handled under the consent portion of the meeting. The commission reappointed Hal Dooley and Shannon Hawk to the Cole County Parks Committee and approved reappointments to advisory and traffic boards including Bruce Dawson, Jason Otke, Don Newman and Morgan Patterson. Emily Altman was appointed to the Residential Special Services Board. Motions were made and approved by voice vote.

On financial housekeeping, the commission approved accounts payable pending review. It also approved two second-and-final reading budget adjustments: budget adjustment No. 8 for $108,360 (law enforcement fund) and budget adjustment No. 9 for $50,000 (law enforcement fund); both passed by voice vote.

On capital projects, staff presented change order number 1 for the Lakewood Subdivision stormwater final closeout. Meeting materials and the presentation listed reasons for the change order including additional pipe, ditch liner and concrete pavement and recorded an overrun of $888,709.28. The transcript records the original contract amount as $5,537,227.68 and later references an apparent total; the commission moved to approve change order number 1 "in the amount of $88,709.28," and that motion passed by voice vote. The transcript contains inconsistent totals in how the final cost was read; staff follow-up was requested to reconcile the packet numbers and the contract closeout totals.

The commission approved a care-leave committee recommendation to grant an unnamed county employee 30 days of donated care leave, with the committee scheduled to reconvene to consider a subsequent 30 days. "Care leave is actually due to the generosity of county employees donating some of their vacation time or comp time to a program," the committee chair (Larry) said.

For unfinished business, the commission accepted the result of an employee survey (about 140 responses) and approved the 2026 holiday calendar by court order, keeping the schedule the same. Commissioners discussed whether to close the county the day after Christmas in 2025 but took no formal action on that item.

Near the end of the meeting commissioners voted to go into closed session under Missouri Revised Statutes section 610.021, subsection 3, to discuss personnel matters; a roll call was taken before entering closed session.

Votes recorded by vocal affirmation were not always transcribed with individual roll-call names; the outcomes above reflect the motions and voice approvals recorded in the minutes.