June 12, 2023 Monday, 5:30 p.m.
The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with all three Commissioners and the County Clerk present at the Mapleton Community Center.
Ron Burton, Jason Silvers, Clint Walker, Susan Bancroft, and Shane Walker were present for some or all of the meeting.
Jim Harris opened the meeting with the flag salute followed by a prayer led by Nelson Blythe.
Clifton made a motion to approve the consent agenda which includes the approval of minutes from 6/5/2023. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved.
Dustin Hall, Assistant Public Works Director, gave an update stating the asphalt plan is going well and they are now headed back to 245th Street on Valley Road. The culvert crew has replaced the culverts on their hard surface roads list and will continue replacing culverts on gravel roads as well as new installations. The mowers are currently mowing hard surface roads. A resident in attendance asked if they were going to mow two passes and Dustin said the county plans on making two passes on all roads this fall. Dustin said the new truck that was ordered for the Landfill was delivered today from Canton, Ohio. Clifton said he has received calls from residents who can’t buy chemicals from the county barn to spray their noxious weeds. Clifton said he is assuming we have money somewhere in the general fund and we need to transfer money so we can buy chemicals. Clifton made a motion to transfer $30,000 into the Noxious Weed fund. Justin recommended going into executive session. Clifton made a motion to go into a 5-minute executive session KSA 75-4319(b)(1) to discuss personnel matters of individual nonelected personnel to protect their privacy to include the three Commissioners, Dustin Hall, Susan Bancroft, and Justin Meeks. The executive session will be held in another room within the community center and they will return at 5:41. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved. Clifton made a motion to resume normal session at 5:41 with possible action. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved. Jim said there is a cash flow problem with getting the chemical sold and waiting on customers to pay their bill. Jim seconded Clifton’s original motion to move $30,00 into the Noxious Weed fund. Nelson questioned if we have the funds to transfer, and Susan said the transfer can be made from the General fund. Clifton said we would be doing a disservice to the county by not doing this. Dustin said by statute the county loses a certain percentage off the top when we sell the chemical to residents. Dustin said we need to put limits back on the amount of chemical a person can purchase. Clifton said he thought there were limits. Jim talked about letting the motion die to allow Dustin to talk with Susan and bring back a new plan. Jim withdrew his second of the motion to move $30,000 to the Noxious Weed fund and said it sounds like we need to have limits. Nelson suggested if people paid for the chemical before they left with it that might help. Nelson asked if we were out of chemical now and Dustin replied yes, we are waiting on money to come in and they haven’t received budget reports so they don’t know exactly what they have now. Susan suggested reaching out to other communities to see how they handle their Noxious Weed program. Jim asked if Noxious Weed could take money from Road and Bridge, and Susan said she would have to do some research to determine if that was possible.
Jennifer Hawkins, County Clerk, brought Gary Hall’s fence viewing application back before the Commissioners since the prior fence viewing time had to be re-scheduled. Clifton placed a call to Gary to set up a new time, but there was no answer.
Clint Walker gave a newspaper to Chairman Harris to read about a high risk grant another community received. Clint said the 14th is Flag Day and the Avenue of Flags will be along National Avenue to East National Avenue and will continue to the National Cemetery and suggested anybody who is free to volunteer to help set up flags.
Ron Burton, Mayor of Mapleton, said they just purchased a tractor and asked the process of purchasing chemical for Noxious Weeds. Mr. Burton discussed Union Street and said they are looking into grants to try to pave the small section of street. Mr. Burton said the road starts in Redfield and comes to Mapleton and asked why the county doesn’t maintain that portion of road. Jim said it is in city limits and said it is same as Jayhawk Road turning into Margrave and the City of Fort Scott being responsible for Margrave. Jim suggested Ron check with the Register of Deeds office to check the boundary to ensure the road is in the Mapleton city limits. Ron discussed the limited funds of Mapleton saying he is unsure as to how they could pave the road, and that he has contacted the state to find out why their funding has gone down. Susan said the last two years they have had a hard time receiving a budget from Mapleton so they may not get levied funds. Susan suggested she and the County Clerk could come to a meeting and help explain the RNR and budget process. Susan suggested checking with KDOT to see if they may have grants to help the city pave the road. Mr. Burton asked the county for Mapleton’s five load allotment of gravel and Dustin said they would try to get it hauled Thursday or Friday.
Several local residents attended the meeting to discuss the condition of Yale Road. Around 95th Street culverts were installed on one side of Yale Road and now the other side is plugged. Dustin said he would look at the culverts to see if they needed cleaned out or replaced. A resident asked since the county voted to mill the road if they would sign something saying it will be put back next year. Jim said he could not do that because Eagle Road has been waiting five years to be paved. Nelson said they made a guarantee to pave one mile of Yale Road next year. It was discussed why the road had to be tore up before it was asphalted, and it was explained that there is no base currently under the road so even if the county paved the road, it would never hold together properly. A resident of Hidden Valley Lakes said the road tears his car up and that a lot of expensive trucks and boats travel the road. Jim said he drove the road before coming to the meeting and agrees it is bad. Dustin said they want to fix the road, but want to do it properly. Stacey Kline discussed the condition of the road west of the lake and said it is not maintained well at all and that she goes out of her way to avoid driving it. Stacey also said the roads need mowed because you can’t see to turn onto the road and people don’t follow speed limits. Dustin said the road grader will be out there Wednesday to grade the road and that a mower is already in the area mowing roads.
Steve Hall presented pictures of a noxious weed issue on the property next to his. Steve said they have had this problem for a lot of years. The last few years the county has been mowing ditches and that helps, but stated the landowner needs to spray his property so the noxious weed doesn’t get onto Steve’s property.
Justin Meeks, County Counselor, said there will be a tax sale on June 29th at 10:00 a.m. at the Bourbon County Courthouse to sell Hidden Valley Lake lots. Justin asked for an executive session. Clifton made a motion to amend the agenda to allow an executive session. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved. Clifton made a motion to go into a 5-minute executive session under KSA 75-4319(b)(2) for consultation with an attorney for the public body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship to include the 3 Commissioners and Justin Meeks. The executive session will be held in another room in the community center and they will return at 6:44. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved. Clifton made a motion to resume normal session at 6:44 with no action. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved.
Clifton reassured the residents in attendance that the county has a plan to fix Yale Road. Jim said the county must fix the road, and Clifton agreed that we are on notice we have to fix it. A resident asked if the road could be chip and sealed. Clifton asked if we should throw good money at a bad road? Clifton discussed the noxious weed chemical situation and stated there need to be limits set in place again because some are abusing the program. Clifton said the county sells chemicals to be used for noxious weeds not for crops.
Jim made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:49. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved.
Approved 6-19-2023 THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS
___________________, Chairman
___________________, Commissioner
ATTEST: ___________________, Commissioner
Jennifer Hawkins, Bourbon County Clerk
_______________, Approved Date