April 20, 2021                                        Tuesday 9:00 am

The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with all three Commissioners, the County Counselor and the County Clerk present.

Also present were the following: (some were present for a portion of the meeting and some were present for the entire meeting), Tammy Helm with the Fort Scott Tribune, representatives from SEK Multi County Health Department, Susan Bancroft, Scott Shelton, Anne Dare, Will Wallis, Mr. & Mrs. Clint Walker and Mark McCoy.

Clifton made a motion to approve the minutes from the two prior Commission meetings, Jim seconded and all approved and signed the minutes.

Eric presented three culvert permits for culverts that have been completed for Ron Hillard, Doug Adamson and Nick Leighty; Eric and the Commissioners signed the permits.  Jim made a motion to allow a culvert installation for Dale Simpson at 1947 Tomahawk Road, Clifton seconded and all approved.

Eric reported they received $1,145 for the scrap metal at the Landfill.

Eric said they had poured a portion of a new deck and will be pulling forms and will have the bridge at 60th & Grand open next Thursday.

They have been crushing at the Beth Quarry and have been in contact with Buckley Powder regarding a blast to remove the overburden at the Blake Quarry.

Eric said they will be moving the bulk fuel tank from the Bronson Fire Station to Uniontown for the grader operator’s use.

The K39 bridge has been closed for repairs and they are detouring traffic onto County roads; Eric said they are having to add more gravel and said he will document this for possible reimbursement from the State.

Windfarm – Eric said they are still capping the roads between 39 and 3 Highway.  He said they have had reports of wash boarding on the roads in the area.  He said there is a bridge deck deficiency on a bridge between 60th & Arrowhead and Birch; he said they may need to reroute traffic and not use this bridge.  Eric said there is an area near 20th & 39 going north that the Windfarm company might do work to the road in order to use the road.

Lynne thanked Eric for cutting the road at 95th & Range.

Eric said after they review the budget, he might discuss purchasing trucks and a mini excavator.

Eric said he would give the Commissioners the Schwab Eaton report on the bridge inspections done this year.

Lynne plans to ride with Eric to the Southeast Kansas regional meeting on Thursday in Yates Center.

Rebecca Johnson with the SEK Multi County Health Department met with the Commissioners (other representatives from the SEK Multi County Health Department were also present); she presented the following speech to the Commissioners: “Fifty years. The SEK Multi-County Health Department has been serving the residents of Bourbon County as their local health department for the last 50 years.

In 1971, after the health departments of Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Linn and Woodson Counties served as a health planning organization for the state, an agreement was signed by the counties, which formed the SEK Multi-County Health Department. The County Commissioners could see the benefit of the organization and how it saved their counties money and also allowed for a balance of perspectives from policymakers, medical professionals and the public.  Linn County has since left the multi-county health department, which has resulted in the 4-county configuration.

SEK Multi-County Health Department is made up of 4 county health departments, Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, and Woodson. We share 1 medical director, health officer/administrator, regional public health emergency preparedness coordinator, accountant, and billing clerk. Each office has at least 1 nurse and clerk. We have 1 home visitor that covers Allen and Anderson counties and 1 that covers Bourbon and Woodson counties. We also have a nurse that is the WIC coordinator and we have a dietician. We have hired a 2nd nurse in our Bourbon County office this last year who has assisted with our other county COVID-19 responsibilities as well. Due to efforts needed still for the pandemic, we have been able to maintain 3 temporary staff to assist where needed.

Public Health is a specialty all its own. Public Health has many more trainings that are required than the average healthcare job. Trainings range from disease investigation and control to FEMA and incident command, to vaccine for children program to packaging and shipping of dangerous goods. We have a wide range of knowledge and expertise in many different areas.

SEK Multi-County Health Department partners with many organizations and entities, in Bourbon County, the surrounding counties, our region and at the state level. We also have worked extensively with some organizations in Missouri over the last year. These partnerships and friendships have been very beneficial to us through the years and through this pandemic. We try to maintain a well-balanced give and take relationship with our partners.

The Bourbon County Health Department currently provides 67 types of services to the public, many of which are at no cost. These fall under family planning, KanBe Healthy Screenings, School Physicals, Immunizations, Adult Physicals, Blood Pressure and Blood Glucose Checks, Hearing and Vision Screenings, DCF referrals, MCH Home Visitor, breastfeeding education, STD testing and treatment, and lab draws. We travel to many off-site clinics to provide immunizations and physicals for children and adults. Many of our services are at times provided in client’s homes.

Other services provided, that are at no cost to the public and stand out are:

• Disease investigations and contact tracing.
• Health Officer services such as review of plans for schools and LTC facilities, recommendations related to isolation / quarantine, creation of isolation and quarantine orders, rabies investigations, review/investigation of nuisance calls and other public health hazards.
• Provision of general medical, nutrition, immunization, etc information provided to all callers to the health department.
• Technical assistance to medical / non-medical providers, schools, day cares, industries and other businesses related to PPE, preparedness planning, availability of COVID vaccinations.
• Technical assistance to long-term care facilities related to PPE, preparedness planning, and review of COVID response plans,
• Assistance to other county health departments during disasters
• Review of mask usage in Bourbon County and mask distribution
• Mommy & Me classes, breastfeeding support
• Referral of clients to other providers such as smoking cessation, depression, birth spacing planning, hearing, dental, job sites, etc.
• Management of supplies received from federal and other sources and transfer of those supplies — hand sanitizer, masks, gowns to local medical and school providers in need.
• Education presentations for schools as well as being a member of the School Health Council, and participation in those meetings.
• Educational presentations for long term care facilities on bloodborne pathogens.
• On call 24/7 for public health emergencies-especially with the pandemic. Each superintendent has the Heath Officer’s personal number.
• COVID-19 Recovery Drive. We applied for a grant and were able to have 2 recovery drives where we provided food and supplies to Bourbon County residents in need. We were blessed to partner with many businesses who helped make the recovery drives possible, such as Valu Merchandizers, G&W foods, Walmart, Dollar General and also several community members and community partners.
• Health Fair participation.
• Offer our conference room to local organizations, such as the LEPC for meetings, trainings such as Love and Logic parenting class and CPR.

January 2020, SEK Multi-County Health Department started planning for the impending pandemic by meeting with regional and local partners regarding information KDHE and CDC were issuing. We began studying, training and preparing for our role in the global pandemic. We began educating the public, by way of newspaper, internet, Facebook, radio, flyers and also participated in numerous educational/informational meetings with department heads of many different entities. KDHE provided guidance and support to the local health departments, as well as regulations for isolation and quarantine. That set the stage for the expectations for local health departments and SEK Multi-County Health Department has held strong to these regulations to pull our counties through this pandemic. We’ve worked with our schools, long term care facilities, businesses, colleges and community organizations, to list a few, on their mitigation and reopening plans, as well as contact tracing within their facilities. COVID-19 investigations and contact tracing took up most of our days for an extended period of time. Many times this had us working evenings, nights and weekends to make sure everyone’s needs were met. Our own family life was put on hold for about 9 months, as we dealt with COVID-19 related issues.

During the fall, in Bourbon County, we pushed through and administered 619 flu vaccines and did 21 off-site flu clinics. On December 7th, Bourbon County’s active case count rose to 152 active cases, a dramatic increase from prior to Thanksgiving. We were all exhausted by this point, but knew we had to keep going. Later in the fall we began preparing for mass vaccination clinics and what those would look like. We reached out to the Fort Scott city commissioners and staff, who helped us secure a site for these large clinics for Bourbon County. We were able to get many volunteers, businesses and community members who were willing to help us out. Because of all the volunteer work, partnerships we have and new ones we’ve formed over the last year, every COVID-19 vaccination clinic was a success and at no cost to the public.

SEK Multi-County Health Department wanted to ensure that our school staff were also being vaccinated, so we transferred 600 of our Moderna COVID-19 doses to CHC-SEK to vaccinate the school employees while we were vaccinating the health care workers and elderly. To date, SEK Multi-County Health Department has administered 2351 COVID-19 vaccines in Bourbon County. SEK Multi-County Health Department will continue providing until there is no longer a need.

On January 21st, Governor Laura Kelly recognized me as a Public Health Hero in Kansas. I do not consider myself a hero at all. I appreciate the recognition, but that tells me that my staff and I are doing something right. We’ve followed KDHE’s guidelines, state law and recommendations by our medical director. We’ve taken a more conservative approach to the pandemic and have seen less cases than other counties that did not. We have done the best that we could with what we were given and have managed to stay afloat and not given up, when many have.

If you do a comparison of funding for health departments across the state, SEK Multi-County Health Department asks for very little from Bourbon County. There have been talks of Bourbon County looking into contracting with an FQHC for public health. One county health department in Kansas is run by an FQHC, and that county provided approximately $666,000 this last year to the FQHC to run it. Looking at surrounding counties annual funding for health departments: Linn CO: 189,000; Crawford: 556,000; Franklin: 423,000; Coffey: 371,000; Cherokee: 108,000. Up until this last year, Bourbon County provided $80,750 per year to SEK Multi-County Health Department to provide public health services to Bourbon County. Our organization hadn’t seen an increase in 12 years, up until last year. Our staff are employed by our organization, we carry our own insurance, we own our own buildings, and apply for grants through KDHE that help aid our services we provide.

Bourbon County residents need a health department that have expertise in their field and prepared for public health situations as they arise, one they can count on for their children’s needs and family services and one they’ve come to trust for health-related questions and family support over the years.  Our 4 counties are stronger together and we’ve built Bourbon County Health Department to provide a sturdy leg to our organization. SEK Multi-County Health Department wishes to remain the Public Health Service Provider in Bourbon County. I cannot speak for the Commissioners of Allen, Anderson, or Woodson, but do know I have no outstanding complaints or issues that are holding them back from continuing on with SEK Multi-County Health Department as their county’s public health service provider.

Bourbon County Board of Commissioners, SEK Multi-County Health Department asks that you continue to allow us to be the public health service provider for Bourbon County. Look at how far we have come in 50 years!!  With your continued support, just think of how much more we can accomplish together for our residents of Bourbon County in the years to come!”

After her presentation, Clifton asked what the main thing they did prior to pre-pandemic was; Alice Maffet said all of the things that were listed in Rebecca’s speech.  Jim said he has heard from the public that they would like to see the Health Department open on Friday’s; Alice said have early and extended hours of 7:00 am – 5:30 pm Monday through Thursday.  Justin Meeks said the contract has been the same since 1971 and said if the County opted to not renew, then it would have to be done in May of 2021.  Lynne and Jim both said they didn’t think the County should change.

Scott Shelton met with the Commissioners regarding a variance on the County sanitation code; he lives in the Country Hills subdivision which is located north of Redfield outside of the city limits of Redfield.  He said in 1998 Redfield got a loan to get a sewer system and to install a pump station.  A 40-year contract was signed between the City of Redfield and the residents of the subdivision and part of the contracted stated the rates for the subdivision were to be the same as for the residents of the City of Redfield.  From 1998 – 2019 the rates were $18/month, in 2019 the sewer rates went to $30/month + $7.50 per person in the house, then the rates went to $36/month + $8.00 per person in the house for city residents and $44/month + $8.00 per person for residents in the subdivision.  In 2021 the rates were increased to $36.00/month + $8.00 per person in the house for residents living in the City of Redfield and to $51.70/month + $8.00 per person in the house for residents in the subdivision.  Scott said he questioned the City of Redfield what the reason was for the increase; he was told they increased the costs to pay the loan off faster as well as there was no money in the account to pay expenses and said they were behind on paying the loan – Scott said that USDA told him they were not behind on paying the loan and said the City later said during a City meeting that there was $20,000 in the account.  Scott questioned the different amounts being charged for the City residents vs. the subdivision residents and said he was told it costs more to operate the sewer for the subdivision than it does in town.  Scott said Redfield was in violation of the contract.  He said he as well as the City of Redfield have lawyers involved and said they are now at an impasse on the sewer rates.  He said now several residents of the subdivision would like to install septic systems, he said a contractor has said they can install the septic system, Scott has worked with the County Appraiser’s office and they told him as long as the County Commissioners say it is ok to install the system, he is ok with it.  Scott said the County sanitation code from 1998 says any resident within 400’ must connect to the sewer system and said the code requires a minimum of a one-acre area for a septic system.  Scott said some houses that want a septic system have a little under one acre and some have a little more than one acre.  Justin Meeks said he could address Scott’s legal counsel or the City of Redfield’s attorney about this issue and said the County Commissioners have no authority over the City of Redfield or the subdivision.  Justin said a KORA request could be filed with the City of Redfield for information.  Jim Harris said the County would need to work with KDHE regarding the requirements and to get the sanitation code changed.  Justin said they would need to look over the contract; Scott said he would provide a copy of the contract to them.  Jim made a motion to request Justin Meeks to get involved and review the contract, Clifton seconded and all approved.  Scott said that the County sanitation code does give the Commission the ability to grant exceptions.

Clifton made a motion to sign the Tri Valley agreement for services, Jim seconded and all approved and signed the agreement.

Lynne made a motion to transfer the operational portion of the BWERKS organization to BEDCO which includes the possession of the material assets, he said they would need to revisit this again on 12/31/2021, Jim seconded and all approved.

Lynne briefly discussed the KOMA training that the Commissioners participated in last week; he said the Commissioners are not required to televise the Commission meetings and said if people have a subject they want to discuss with the Commissioners, then they should schedule this on the agenda, Jim Harris agreed with this.  Lynne said if possible, people should be at the Commission meeting in person if they want to address the Commissioners.

Elected Officials Comment: Bill Martin and Ben Cole phoned into the Commission meeting, Bill said they had been awarded cars from seizures and said that the deputies have requested that the vehicles be used as undercover vehicles; Bill said he would contact KCAMP insurance to get the vehicles included with the fleet.  He said he would bring the cost to insure the vehicles to the Commissioners in a few weeks.

Justin Meeks discussed the tax sale, he said he will be sending petitions and summons to individuals and said he hopes to have a tax sale at the end of June.

Justin said APEX (windfarm) contacted him and said the County now has the $408,000 PILOT check; Susan Bancroft will work with Patty Love to get an account set up for this money.

Justin suggested putting on the agenda (scheduled for May 4th) a discussion over adding zoning to the November 2021 ballot.

Justin said he would start collecting data regarding population and valuation.

Susan Bancroft met with the Commissioners; she gave the Commissioners a 10-year recap of assessed valuation and mill levies for Bourbon County.  She said the Bourbon County audit is scheduled for the week of May 10th.  Susan will work with Diehl, Banwart, Bolton to do the audit.

Commissioner Comment: Jim said it was previously requested that he work with KDHE regarding the old landfill site, he presented a letter from Charles Bowers with KDHE which stated that construction at the site would be an alteration of the final cover and in accordance with Kansas Administrative Regulation (KAR) 28-29-6(b) require a permit modification application with a design and drawings sealed by a professional engineer licensed to practice in Kansas.  There is only a total of 24” of cover at the site.  Jim said the County would need to do a restrictive covenant for the site disposal area and would need to put this on file in the Register of Deeds office.

At 10: 15, Clifton made a motion to adjourn, Jim seconded and all approved.

THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS

(ss) Lynne Oharah, Chairman

(ss) Jim Harris, Commissioner

_________________, Commissioner

ATTEST:

Doretta Neville, Bourbon County Deputy Clerk

April 27, 2021, Approved Date

April 27, 2021                                                                Tuesday 9:00 am

The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with all three Commissioners, the County Counselor and the Deputy County Clerk Doretta Neville present.

Also present were the following, (some were present for a portion of the meeting and some were present for the entire meeting); Anne Dare, Nancy Van Etten, Susan Bancroft, Lora Holdridge and Jason Silvers.

Jim Harris made a motion to approve the minutes from the April 20^th Commission meeting, Clifton Beth seconded and all approved and signed the minutes.

Lynne Oharah stated that he received a call from Blake Wilson, Clifton Beth stated he had received a call as well, regarding Jayhawk Road as well as other roads that have been affected when Craw-Kan came in and put the fiber optic in and they were right on the edge of the right of way which has created a pothole scenario.  Even the roads that have been fixed are still an issue due to clay.  Lynne said we hope the citizens will bear with us as it will take a lot of work to get this resolved.  Eric Bailey, Director of Road & Bridge, stated that some of their fiber optic ended up in the road, they didn’t stay the 15’ off center line or 5’ off the edge of the road whichever was greater, they did submit a utility plan but he doesn’t believe it was signed off by commission.  He thinks there may have been a verbal to proceed but doesn’t know that there were any signatures on it.  Jim Harris stated that he didn’t see it.  Eric stated that he didn’t get any of the bond paperwork.  Eric has e-mails on this, and said they are working with us on this.  They should be done by the end of the month.  He will drive the area with Matt Wells, foreman for Bob Hull Inc, the contractor that is working out there, and see what we can come up with.  Craw-Kan has been very good to work with.  Eric said with all the rain it’s sloppy out there.

Eric reported several culvert permits that have been completed: Clint Hazen, T & C Hunt Club, Larry Shead and Dale Simpson.  He said they are under 80 culvert replacements and crossroad tubes.

Eric said 60^th & Grand opened last Thursday.

Bridge inspection reports were handed out to commissioners regarding the bridge over BSNF.  Eric has had conversations with the Engineer about grants to see what is available.  Linn County has gotten some grants, so he will be meeting with Jackie Messer, Linn Co., to see what grants they’ve gotten and what we can do.  It was determined to revisit this in a couple of weeks to give Eric time to find grant information.

Eric reported they will continue patching potholes.  The County borrowed the city’s mini excavator and are hauling brush from the lake.  The County is going to be working with the city on a bad spot near the spillway in the road.  There was discussion regarding what part of the road was city and which part is county.  Jim Harris stated that Chad Brown showed him a document a couple of years ago that said the city’s property went up to the camping area; Eric will get with Chad regarding this.

Eric received a complaint that stated they had listened to the lake advisory board meeting and it sounded like it was promised that the road would be resurfaced this year on 195th.  Jim Harris said that during the road work session a chip and seal could be possible.

Eric stated another grant opportunity for roads would require a Local Road Safety Plan to be done.  We haven’t had one done.  Bourbon County is one of 33 counties out of 105 that haven’t.  There would be a $50,000 cost but the county’s share would be $5,000.  There is up to 3 ½ to 4 ½ million dollars available.  Jim Harris stated this was the same grant that was used down at the sale barn.  Barbara Albright was driving that and received the grant.  Eric asked to be able to get the Local Road Safety Plan done so that the county would be eligible for these types of grants.  Jim made a motion to allow the Local Road Safety Plan to be done. Clifton seconded and all approved.

Eric had a meeting with CIC regarding implementing computer software programming that we already have.  They will be providing training in a couple of weeks.  Eric will get a date and time and let everyone know.

Regarding the Jayhawk Wind are and the bridge on 60^th between Arrowhead and Birch, Eric said it has been recommended by our engineer to put a speed limit sign of 15 miles per hour over that bridge.  He said they had an issue where bridge decking did come loose and said it would take 4 signs, two to reduce the speed and two to return it to standard limit.  Jim made a motion to allow Public Works Director to place a 15 mile per hour sign on either side of the bridge.  Clifton seconded and all approved. The completion of capping the roads with 4 to 6” of rock is at 90%.   Eric said everyone has been very good to work with.

Jim had a conversation with Eric regarding the mowing plan; they have two mowers and two side arm mowers.  The bridge truck has a motor issue.  They got a quote back from R & R on the blue tractor, they think it is a clutch fan and will be around $3,000 to $4,000 to fix it.

Justin Meeks stated that he and Eric visited with patrons regarding bridge on 35^th & Yellowstone Road, he said we started research on it yesterday and found that the road is open and does belong to the county.  The bridge was closed in 2012.  It is about a 4 ½ mile route around.  It’s a beautiful old iron bridge.  It was built in 1889.  Patrons would like to get the bridge to accommodate ATVs, side-by-sides and foot traffic.  It would take a small fortune to get it up to accommodate vehicles.  Justin said two options would be to fix it or close 35^th down.  Justin said maybe we could possibly get grants from the Department of Wildlife because of the area it’s in.

Lynne stated that the Gilmore & Bell Disclosure for Refinance expired in September 2020.  We are required by law to do a disclosure every year.  Susan Bancroft, Finance Director, stated that anytime you do any kind of lease/purchase agreement, any new debt you issue as a county, you should let Gilmore & Bell know so that they can continue to disclose that because otherwise it could be a material issue.  Clifton made a motion to renew the contract with Gilmore & Bell.  Jim seconded and all approved.  Clifton made a motion for Lynne to sign the contract.  Jim seconded and all approved and Lynne signed the contract.

Lynne discussed the mask mandate; the County did a diligent job to protect our employees and fellow citizens while in the Courthouse.  One of the biggest items was the liability it created.  Things have changed, we’ve been through the process of offering vaccinations against the Corona Virus.  We’ve had minimal response to get vaccinations.  With us offering vaccines at the county and the medical professional providers, our liability is now non-existent. Because it’s available, people that don’t want the vaccine don’t have to get it but the other side of that is the County no longer has a liability that I can see and I’ve also talked to the County Counselor with moving forward with the mask mandate.  Justin suggested that if the mask mandate is lifted it is for the County only and this facility only.  If any other entity wants to keep a mask mandate, they have a right to do that.  Each person can make their own choice of whether to take the vaccine.  You can’t force an employee to take the vaccine.  It’s each person’s choice.  Jim asked for Clifton’s opinion; Clifton stated he agreed with Justin.  It’s a person’s choice whether to wear a mask or not.  He did suggest that people keep their circles small.  There are still hot spots in the country.  Jim stated he spoke with some of the elected officials.  Kendell Mason, County Clerk, stated that she would like to see the masks continue.  Patty Love, Treasurer, said that she preferred the masks continue but is okay either way.  Lora Holdridge doesn’t think they are necessary.  Clifton made the motion, applicable to only Bourbon County buildings, excluding 3^rd floor, which are under their own mandate, would not be under mask mandate.  The rest of the County would fall under State Legislature guidelines.  Jim seconded and all approved.  Jim made a motion for this action to be immediate.  Clifton Beth seconded and all approved.

Justin requested a motion be made to go into executive session.

Clifton made the motion to amend the agenda and go into an executive session KSA 75-4319(b)(1) To discuss personnel matters of individual nonelected personnel to protect their privacy.  Subject matter is job performance with possible employment opportunity for individual (the session included 3 Commissioners and Justin Meeks).  The Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room at 9:55am. Jim seconded and all approved.  At 9:55am Clifton made motion to come out of executive session and resume the normal meeting.  Jim seconded and all approved.  Lynne made a motion to have permission to talk to an employee about future employment.  Jim seconded all approved.

Lynne Oharah requested a short break from 9:57am to 10:07am.

Elected Official – Bill Martin, called in via phone.  The connection was lost.  Lynne said that Bill spoke with them at a previous meeting about bringing three vehicles from forfeiture that he wants to add back to the fleet.  Lynne asked for insurance costs to add these vehicles back in and he can get that information to Kendell’s office.

Justin stated that the tax sale will wait two more weeks.  The abstract company is working diligently and they are very busy which is a good thing.  He said we have around 400 parcels total.  If we can get 150 to 175, we might have a second sale in November or December.  We were hoping for June for the first one but with the housing market “on fire” it is delaying the abstracts.  We would rather have the person who has bought a home to be first in line instead of the tax sale.  We don’t want to put any pressure on the abstract company.  There are people redeeming which is good.  The collections rate is good and we will hopefully be at $300,000 pre-sale which is a big deal.  Justin said hopefully we will keep up with the trend and keep collecting back taxes.

Justin also stated that Mr. Coon contacted him a month ago regarding a lot on Wall Street; Justin said he wants to start building spec homes, smaller square footage wise but will be perfect for our demographic in our community.  There was a special on that property with the City and the City did the right thing and waived the special tear-down fee.  The tear down fee was around $7,000 to $8,000.  He’s paid back taxes on the property and he is going to use Clint’s office with the NRP program.  If there are some taxes in the future, we might want to think about waiving taxes at the County level to help spur residential and even commercials on some level.  Mr. Coons stated that he has owned this property for many years, but due to bad city management that left a bad taste in his mouth and just said there you go.  There is a lot of new energy in the City right now as there is in the County and I like that.  My wife and I decided to invest a little bit, but we have to have some incentives.  The city has given me a waiver for $7,200.  My plans are to build 4 additional homes in 2021 and 2022.  There is a 5-year tax abatement for new building.  Lynne clarified that it is a tax refund and not abatement.  Mr. Coon said the City tears houses down and then it has no taxable value and if there were incentives for investors for new construction that would be helpful.  Justin stated that the NRP program is available.  An incentive for economic development that happens for a builder that wants to do residential development like Mr. Coon’s is talking about. The County has moved toward the BEDCO model where you have an economic source to go to.  The Landbank would be a big part of this where someone could come in and get lots for next to nothing or free and not having back taxes and having a clear title.  It can cost $1,800 to $2,500 to get a clear title.  We have to do things on our end to get him the help he needs and we aren’t there yet.   Mr. Coon’s is currently seeking a grant.

Susan Bancroft, Finance Director, the last meeting we talked about going out for bid on Property/Casualty, WC and Health Insurance Benefits.  She recommended that the County look at a broker, consultant or advisor that is non-biased that helps you through this process or we can try to do it ourselves.  The problem is when you try to compare apples to apples you don’t always get that when you’re doing these types of bids.  I’m recommending an advisor to help through this process.  Lynne stated that he feels the County has very good benefits and we need to compare apples to apples.  Clifton stated that he wasn’t comfortable with getting a broker/consultant/advisor as he didn’t feel they would be fair as there would be a commission at stake.  Clifton suggested a consultant be brought in once the quotes were received.  All Commissioners agreed.  Lynne stated that we should look at what it is going to take to have a consultant look at the quotes prior to presenting them to the Commission.

Anne Dare was scheduled for comment but had not received all the information she needed.

Public comment: Clint Walker stated that the county has done ok with the mask mandate.  The Commissioners have allowed each entity to enforce their own mandate.  Also, regarding healthcare, we want young people to move here and yet if they want to have a child they will have to go to Nevada, Allen County or down to Pittsburg.  Allen County is talking about expanding and Chanute got a grant for $2,000,000 to expand.  My brother is a medical doctor in a town half the size of Fort Scott and has a hospital.  What is wrong with this picture?

Lynne stated the hospital pulled out because they were not making any money.  The Dialysis Center went out because they weren’t making money.  You have to make money to keep an operation going, even though a lot of them are heavily subsidized.

Jim stated that he read in Fort Scott Biz that Via Christi is not moving with CHC and hopes they will make their plans known soon.  We need an emergency room.  Clifton stated that hospitals make very little money.  They are a private business and if they are losing money they are going to shut down.  If we as a County want to subsidize that to the tune of about $5,000,000 per year, we can do that for a hospital.  Regarding an ER, there has to be a standing hospital within 35 miles to operate an emergency room.  Via Christi is it.  As far as Via Christi and CHC that’s between them.  They are private businesses.

Justin stated that we are very grateful for CHC and Via Christi being in our community.  We may have to think about subsidizing an ER.  Without it we won’t be a normal community.  An ER is vital.  If it comes with a $1,000,000 per year price tag it may be something we have to look at.

At 10:50 Jim Harris made a motion to adjourn.  Clifton seconded and all approved.

THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS

(ss) Lynne Oharah, Chairman

(ss) Jim Harris, Commissioner

(ss) Clifton Beth, Commissioner

ATTEST:

Kendell Mason, Bourbon County Clerk

May 4, 2021, Approved Date