June 29, 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), Harley & Beverly Fuhrman, Rob Harrington, Michael Hoyt, Jason Silvers with the Fort Scott Tribune, Mr. & Mrs. Clint Walker, Mark McCoy, Anne Dare and Susan Bancroft.
Clifton made a motion to approve the minutes from the previous 2 meetings, Jim seconded and all approved and signed the minutes.
The Commissioners held a road opening hearing for Harley & Beverly Fuhrman for an area at 45th & Unique; Jim reported that the road had been closed in 1896. Mrs. Fuhrman said that one owner in the area only has access to their property by this closed road and said the road used to be graded 20-30 years ago. She said that utility companies need access to the road and felt there was a need to open the road. Eric Bailey said he had driven the road and said it could be maintained, but said it is currently a low maintenance road, he said they would have to haul in rock to the road. Lynne said they would need to have the area surveyed and, it was stated that if the Commissioners opened the road they would have to try and acquire fences and the right of way in the area. The Commissioners are going to consider this again on July 6, 2021.
Eric Bailey presented a permit for R&B Towing; he said they moved a house in April and said there was no damage.
Jim made a motion to allow public works to install a culvert at 1255 Maple at no cost for the Rural Fire District, Clifton seconded and all approved.
Eric said the rain had halted the asphalting; he said they did 7-7 ½ lane miles of a leveling coat last week.
Eric said the road had failed in an area of 75-95th & Yale; Jim said it was time to reclaim the road and do it right.
Eric said they did dust control in the areas of 60th & Birch and 115th & Cavalry. They also milled an area at 35th & Soldier.
Eric said the recent rain has washed out several roads; he is documenting the repair expenses in case it’s needed later for possibly later.
Jim said he would like to see Eric get aggressive in ditching, even if he has to hire part time help.
Eric said they did side mowing in an area of 75th & Soldier Road for a cattle trailer to get down the road. They removed dirt off of the shoulders at an area of 2485 & Locust Road and put a new culvert in at that address as well. They replaced an existing culvert at 855 245th. They are getting ready to blast at the Blake Quarry. Eric said the belt broke on the crusher. The permits were renewed for the Landfill. Ag Engineering will be at the Landfill this week to survey for the berms there. The Bureau of Waste Management will view the Landfill to see if there is an area for soybean disposal; Jim said the berms used to be there, but thought they were pushed away with the C&D removal.
Eric reported that he had 2 employees with health issues needing access to donated vacation time; Jim made a motion to allow Eric to move forward with the donated pool time for the 2 employees and that the department heads meet for this issue, Clifton 2nd and all approved.
Lynne made a motion to allow all of the Commissioners to attend a Road & Bridge retirement luncheon for Jimmy Wiggans and Harry Sayers on Thursday at 11:30, Jim seconded and all approved.
Windmill update: Eric said the weather has delayed their work, but said they are cleaning ditches.
Eric Bailey, Susan Bancroft and Dustin Hall presented the 2022 Road & Bridge budget requests; the requests were as follows: Bridge and Culvert $204,000, Noxious Weed $168,000, Road & Bridge $2,188,826, Road & Bridge Sales Tax $1,172,725, Special Bridge $196,000, Special Road Machinery $542,221 and Landfill $200,000. Susan said she was concerned with the Landfill fund; she said it isn’t generating enough revenue to cover the cost of operating the Landfill.
Clifton made a motion to amend the agenda to move the discussion of the internet access to the County Counselors scheduled time, Jim seconded and all approved.
Register of Deeds Lora Holdridge presented her 2022 budget; she requested a total of $93,208.24. She budgeted to start training her intern to work part-time at 20 hours a week.
Angel Wilson presented the County Attorney’s budget; she requested a total of $336,666.
Bobby Reed presented the Bourbon County Fair Board 2022 budget; he requested $10,000.
Judge Ward and Rhonda Cole presented the 2022 budget for District Court; they requested a total of $315,010.00.
Justin Meeks and Rob Harrington met with the Commissioners to discuss the NRP tax rebate program; Justin requested that the Commissioners hand the reins over to the Bourbon County Ready to do the promoting part of this program, he said the administrative process will still be the same. Clifton made a motion to allow Bourbon County Ready to work with NRP for marketing and promoting the program, Jim seconded and all approved.
Clifton made a motion to amend the agenda for an executive session, Jim seconded and all approved.
Clifton made a motion to have a 7-minute executive session for KSA 75-4319(b)(4) to discuss data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts and individual proprietorships concerning a hospital tenant, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room at 10:12, Jim seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Justin Meeks and Rob Herrington). Clifton made a motion to resume the meeting with action, Jim seconded and all approved. Lynne made a motion to allow Rob and Clifton to negotiate a contract with a tenant at Mercy, Jim seconded and all approved.
Justin Meeks (regarding the donation of Mercy Hospital) said he had talked to the title Company and the commitment was emailed this morning; Clifton made a motion to allow Lynne to sign the donation agreement and closing documents and accept the donation, Jim seconded – Clifton added as long as the legal matters are in order, Michael Hoyt questioned the helipad, Justin said Mercy has a control of the helipad for 5 years, all approved the motion.
Clifton made a motion to go into a 15-minute executive session for KSA 75-4319(b) (1) to discuss personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel to protect their privacy regarding job duties, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room at 10:37, Jim seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Kendell Mason, Susan Bancroft and a non-elected personnel). At 10:37, Clifton made a motion to return to the normal session with no action, Jim seconded and all approved.
Clifton made a motion to go into a 10-minute executive session for KSA 75-4310(b)(12) to discuss matters relating to security measures, if the discussion of such matters at an open meeting would jeopardize such security measures, dealing with law enforcement and infrastructure, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room at 10:49, Jim seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Justin Meeks, Shane Walker and Susan Bancroft). At 10:49, Clifton made a motion to resume the meeting with action, Jim seconded and all approved. Lynne made a motion to allow $200,000 of the ARPA funding to be spent on broadband and public safety, Jim seconded and all approved. Lynne made a motion to give Rob Harrington permission to apply for grants for broadband activity, Jim seconded, Clifton said that according to KS. Gov there is extra money available for broadcast, all approved the motion. Jim made a motion to give Shane Walker the authority to spend the funds, Clifton seconded and all approved.
Susan Bancroft met with the Commissioners; she said OMNI had contacted her regarding the $300,000 for the EMS outstanding collections.
Susan suggested having a budget work session; the 2022 budget work session will be held on July 13th at 1:00 pm.
Susan said that the Health Department had requested to receive some of the ARPA funding.
Public Comment: Anne Dare (regarding the budget process) said she trusted the Commissioners will look at each department and said with less pay and benefits the budget looks a little better; Clifton said the less we have the less services there will be.
Clifton made a motion that the Commissioners be able to attend a conference in KC regarding information on sports fields, Jim seconded and all approved.
Commissioner Comment: Lynne said he appreciated Josh Jones being on the radio with him to discuss shared services and co-locating; he said this is not consolidation, he said consolidation takes a vote by the people. He said by doing shared services they are trying to save taxpayer money.
County Treasurer Patty Love presented the 2022 budget request; she requested a total of $166,296.50, she said 3 years ago her department staff was decreased by one person, but said she is understaffed, her budget request asked for an additional person and raises for her staff. She said the majority of her staff is paid from the motor vehicle fund.
Clifton made a motion to amend the agenda to have an executive session, Jim seconded and all approved. Clifton made a motion to have a 10-minute executive session for KSA 75-4319(b) (1) to discuss personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel to protect their privacy to discuss job duties and job performance, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room at 11:17, Jim seconded and all approved. Clifton made a motion to resume the regular meeting with no action, Jim seconded and all approved.
At 11:17, 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
(ss) Clifton Beth, Commissioner
ATTEST:
Kendell Mason, Bourbon County Clerk
July 6, 2021, Approved Date