Leadership Camden County

My wife and I participated the last nine months in Leadership Camden County (MO). Camden County became our permanent residence in March of 2009. We attended the class to get better integrated into the community. We had been week-enders for 13 years.


Camden County is 655 square miles with a population of roughly 41000 (9% urban, 91% rural). Average household income is under $30K. Cities include Climax Springs, Camdenton, Sunrise Beach, Osage Beach, Richland, and Stoutland. Camden County contains a major piece of Lake of the Ozarks. Lake of the Ozarks becomes the third or fourth largest city in the state of the Missouri during week-ends in the summer. Largest employers are local government, the school district, the hospital, and Wal-Mart. The County is heavily dependent on tourism and construction related to Lake of the Ozarks. The lake area generates approximately 1B dollars of sales each year.

Leadership Camden County involved 11 full day sessions scheduled over nine months. There was a bus tour of the county. Major topics covered were 1) history and natural resources, 2) the economy, 3) education, social & health care services, 4) law and order, 5) infrastructure, and 6) state government. Attendees included small business owners, law enforcement officers, three high school students, bank executives, county and city employees, and fire chiefs. We also attended a Camdenton City Council meeting and worked the optimists Christmas tree booth at Walmart.

This is really the first time since I was in high school that I actually now know by name many of the law enforcement personnel and fireman that support our community. It certainly personalizes every discussion on how to better support them. Not sure if it seems brave to others but its brave to me. A water patrol officer stopping a boat on a remote part of the lake after dark. Or a highway patrolman stopping a car at 2am on one of the county’s remote roads. Or a fire crew hauling its own water traveling over a windy, curvy remote count road to respond to a fire call.

There were some things that perhaps we should have known that we didn’t. For example, Camden county government is heavily dependent on sales tax revenue. Sales tax revenues have dropped year over year by roughly 8%. This has caused Camden County employee to go to 32 hours work weeks or less to save money. So now we try to spend most of our money within the county.

Building permits in Sunrise Beach remained about the same from ’08 to ’09 but revenue from those permits fell by 80%. Basically major new home construction ground to a halt.

While we can at least try and get DUI drivers off the road (or so many points against your license), there is no effective way to get DUI boaters or repeat offenders off the lake. No comparable laws exist for the lake. For example, a couple of years ago the water patrol stopped a boat at night that had its running lights off. The driver had his wife and kids on board. The driver also had two pistols, cocaine, and 10K in cash. This driver is still on the lake. (By the way the deputy county prosecutor said we really can’t keep repeat offender drunk drivers off the Camden county roads). My second example is the person that piloted the helicopter where a child was killed in ’08. In Sept of ’09 this same person beached a 52 foot sea ray causing 640K of damage to a 750K boat. This person is still on the lake.

During our law enforcement session, police coverage at the high schools was a discussion point. When did that happen: Police coverage required at the high schools in this rural community?

One of the things we had followed closely was the Camden County planning and zoning commission. The key message was how short of resource the commission is. Virtually all of P&Z’s time is spent dealing with developer issues. This leaves little time for enforcing P&Z rules when residential complaints surface. We have had personal experience with a very bad mobile home park owner. Resources are need for P&Z to address out of compliance land and home owners.

It was clear after our visit to Jefferson City, that we didn’t understand the MO budget process. The key to MO’s revenue is payroll taxes and the current MO unemployment rate is above 9%. Payroll tax revenue is down 13% year over year in MO. The only flexibility the state had left to balance the budget was to cut education. We heard an interesting debate on the MO senate floor on whether summer school should continue. Missouri’s unemployment rate needs to get to 5% or below before payroll tax revenues return to normal.

For a small community there were some impressive local groups supporting the county. I will mention three. 1) The Ambulance/EMT group can get to your emergency in under 15 minutes anywhere in this vast rural county. Its really pretty unbelievable. And we know how good they are. We used them when one of our god children had an allergic reaction three years ago.

2) One of our class participants was part of the original group that developed the toll bridge connecting the Porto Cima and Villages area to Lake Ozark. I was really impressed with the vision and persistence shown.

3) One of the world’s largest tropical fisheries exists in Stoutland, MO. During our Camden County tour we visited it. Blew me away. Main competition is China.

So what do we believe are the key go forward issues/questions for the county. This is a bit wordy so bear with us.

First, the LOZ water quality issue raised repeated times by the Kansas City Star (and in a consistently negative way). Perception is reality on this one. Although water quality samples taken at the lake are generally OK it only takes a couple of bad samples that go unreported by the DNR to create a lake wide perception. (and this became a major embarrassment for the Gov of MO in 2009). The lake community needs to address this perception in a systematic and sustainable way. The Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Alliance introduced a 150M watershed management plan for the lake at its April meeting. The 187 page document is a planning start. Continued water sampling with timely published results need to continue. Funding for the LOWA plan will be key with the first suggestion being a 1 cent addition to the sales tax. And movement forward on this will be a jobs boost for Camden County. http://www.camdenmo.org/EcoliHandout.pdf

Second, Camden County needs to expand the number of good paying and sustainable jobs. Is the lake area doing enough to promote LOZ as a year round destination? Are there lessons to be learned from Minnesota’s resort areas? We discovered a call center in Sunrise Beach that supports over 80 employees. Should we promote the call center business in the lake area? (had a director from the State of MO that bad mouthed the call center business during one of our sessions) And what about IT? The lake area is an attractive area to live. Should we develop a near shoring IT strategy for the county (and rural MO in general) that takes jobs away from the Indian firms? Should this IT strategy be supported by the local school districts? Construction needs to recover at the lake. How will second home financing work with the new financial credit restrictions? How can Camden County planning and zoning contribute to construction recovery? Has enough been done to promote the lake area as a retirement destination? Are there specific actions that should be taken around retiree social activities? Can the lake area learn from Tucson?

Third, social agencies in the county need to continue to be funded. It was disheartening to hear every county law enforcement officer and prosecutor discuss child and sexual abuse as a significant problem. We know from our experience with Bridge Home for Children in Kansas City that children are permanently damaged if allowed to stay in an abusive environment. And the lake area continues to have a significant drug problem. These issues cannot be addressed by law enforcement alone.

Fourth, highway infrastructure is still a major impediment in parts of Camden County. The 6 miles of MO 7 between Greenview and J Road where accidents occur so frequently is very dangerous. MO 5 north of the Niangua bridge needs to be improved all the way to Gravois Mills. TT which supports the lake toll bridge is a safety hazard and should be immediately improved. You can generally find a mostly 4 lane route to St Louis and Springfield (after MO-5 is improved to Lebanon). This is not true of Kansas City where at least 50-70 miles of two lane road need to be driven. A super 2 from Camdenton to Gravois Mills and a super 2 from Greenview to US 65 would improve this situation and lead to more economic development in those parts of the county. Remember, when competing for week-enders business, cutting 15 to 20 minutes of one way drive time is very significant. Many in KC will pick a second home at LOZ versus Table Rock for that kind of time reduction.

Fifth, we need to be concerned about the merger of the highway patrol and the water patrol. The water patrol officers are so important to everyone’s safety on the lake. We have sent a note to our state rep and state sen on this topic. We have suggested three things: That the LOZ combined forces commander be a water patrol officer, that financial incentives for WP officers who make the transition to HP officers be put in place (because HP is short of head count), and that a measurement metric be put in place to make sure WP coverage of the lake isn’t short changed.

Sixth, as noted above, Camden County needs sufficient resources to address P&Z complaints for out of compliance land and home owners.

Finally, we are very happy we participated

Chris Curry - How the republican party purge me

Decided in the end that this wasnt worth a read.   I intend to extend this post with a series of issues of substance but actually want to call Chris out first. 

“Now, we have became the party of the Old Straight White Folks. We should rename the Republican Party the OSWF rather than the GOP.” – Chris Currey


It’s interesting to be mocked. Since I am retired, white, and straight he must mean me. He feels free to paint me as racist and intolerant. And by the way the reference to Bedford Forest suggests I also belong to the Klan. And the implication on the Beck reference (who I never watch) is that I cant think for myself.

Well, Chris, let me tell you who we really are. We OSWF’s have been paying all the bills. As individuals we pay more federal income tax in a year, than most families do in a lifetime, and we do so year after year. We have been high achievers our whole life. We have been intensely competitive (and have been so on a global basis) and worked in industries where what made you good last year didn’t necessarily make you good this year. Many of us have run large organizations of people who are the very best at what they do in the world. Running these large organizations we have achieved very difficult and complex global organizational objectives on an annual basis. We have an incredible amount of “show me” experience learned through the school of hard knocks. Many of us have delivered first of a kind solutions to the world. Many of us led the efforts on affirmative action at our work place and attained corporate diversity objectives. Many of us are leaders in the local community directly addressing our localities most pressing social issues and financially supporting multiple local charities. We have a wealth of experience on what motivates people, how to manage people, and how to retain the best and the brightest. We have made the hiring, firing, promotion, and promotion decisions . Many of us have had to deal with a complex bureaucracy our whole careers and understand what it means when a new one is introduced. We OSWF’s have been winners our whole life. And we understand how to win. And the only thing we know how to do is think for ourselves. Mock us at your peril. The last 3 state wide elections – VA, NJ, and Mass have gone to OSWF’s. Finally, the other sexist, racist, and intolerant aspect of your characterization is that high achievers are only white males. I suggest you rename us the osf’s – old successful people which covers all races, sexes, and sexual orientation. And remember Chris the difference between champ and chump is U. CHUMP. See you in November.