Roads
Evert Tensley came in to say that gravel trucks that weren’t covered and rocks flying off had chipped his windshield. There was some discussion about trying to pack the gravel into the dump trucks a bit better and possibly getting tarps ($1000 each) for the trucks.
Executive Session Last Week
The commissioners were asked if they could share the parts of the discussion in the executive session related to the tax sale on Friday that they didn’t feel would put the county at any type of risk. The request was based on the public nature of the discussion and because it seemed that the bulk of the discussion wouldn’t hurt the county’s legal position.
There was some concern that it might not be legal to tell things that were mentioned in executive session. However, Commissioner Warren pointed out that in other meetings members involved in the executive session would come out and tell the public what was discussed. He said it was causing all kinds of problems and confusion.
Note: The Attorney General’s website specifies that discussions made under executive session can be revealed to the public unless other laws apply.
Some other laws, or considerations such as fiduciary duty, personal privacy rights, or contracts, may require or influence such confidentiality. But the KOMA itself does not require that the topics listed in K.S.A. 75-4319 always be kept private. (source)
Chairman Endicott said that since revealing what was discussed would defeat the purpose of the executive session, he didn’t want to say what was discussed.
County Insurance
There was some discussion about bidding out insurance which is currently held by KCAMP. In previous meetings the commission decided to bid out the insurance, but they were looking for the best way to facilitate the process.
The county attorney is going to check with the city to see how they handle their insurance.
County Map
The 911 map was proofed by an individual at the chamber who is doing an excellent job of helping catch errors to make it very accurate. She has spent hours comparing it to a bunch of other maps. She is putting a great deal of effort into and the commissioner’s were very appreciative of her help.
Fort Scott Chamber Directory
The chamber had previously asked if the county would like to buy an ad in the chamber directory. The smallest ad costs $175. The city and BEDCO have ads. The commission decided to buy one of the small ads. The idea was to include the website and a picture of the court house.
Tax Sale
The county attorney suggested that commissioners compare people on payment plan as to whether or not they had been published for 2006 and 2007. She felt the county should make sure that the properties were bid-in. The county attorney feels that the publication is necessary in order to trigger the bid-in process which is necessary to create a lein agains the properties necessary to forclose.
The commissioners decided to ask for a copy of the publication of delinquent taxes from the past few years in order to see if the names on the list given to the abstracting company were published or not.
Mark: They said that the payment plan did not allow anyone to do anything that they could not have ordinarily done (partial payments). When I had said that it most certainly did, keep them from ever being auctioned off, that was said to be wrong and I can’t remember exactly where the issue came up but according to the Statute, what I thought I remember is that it doesn’t make a difference. They can run those (2006, 2007 and earlier) in the newspaper this month and still meet the deadline in time for the tax sale the first part of 2012. I do not understand why we have not gotten answers on the questions being asked after so long. I would think these would have been researched immediately in order to begin correcting the “situation”. We are talking cut and dried violations of the statute and the remedies for that. I also think it is important that the County Commissioners better understand “executive session” so they don’t end up making “errors” in that venue, unknowingly. I do think that they are being careful as to not violate the law but maybe, they might consider something other than a local source for their guidance. And, thanks for the update.
We were told that properties on the payment plan were auctioned off just like properties that were not on the payment plan and there was not difference in when that occurred. It is possible that some properties were foreclosed on and auctioned off when the county did not actually have the legal basis to do so based on the fact that they were not published in the paper. I don’t know of any specific situations where that occurred, I’m just saying it is possible based on the concern that is being raised about going forward with the tax sale this year.
So can people get their properties back if it was sold incorrectly?