The fourth and final public meeting in the ongoing discussion regarding the water patrol’s merger with the highway patrol is set to take place Thursday in St. Joseph. A special committee consisting of a bi-partisan group of state representatives was formed to investigate the merger and will make an official recommendation to the Missouri house by the end of the year. The four public hearings were scheduled following the death of 20 year old Brandon Ellingson who drowned at the Lake of the Ozarks while in the custody of the highway patrol’s water division back in may. Tomorrow’s meeting begins at 10am.