The Buffalo Grill’s last day with be October 22nd. The announcement email that went out was signed by Dean & Becky Mann. It cited a statistic that fast food chains have seen a 22% decrease in customer visits over the last five years and that the pace had accelerated at the beginning of this year.
The River Room will still be available for rent as will the space where The Buffalo Grill restaurant is currently.
It was originally assumed that Terry Sercer would complete the audit and then it would be presented to the commission who would make it public. For example, when Terry Sercer was asked to perform the audit, there is no mention of it going to any entity other than the commission.
Jingles Endicott made a motion to authorize Terry Sercer audit the payment plan, per his recommendations and to look into prior years. Allen Warren seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Commissioners said that as soon as they know any results, they will be made public. (September 2nd Minutes)
My notes from a week later on September 9th reflected that the commission still held the same view.
The auditor is still going through past taxes and once he is finished, the commission said they would make the results public.
The Fort Scott Tribune talked to Terry Sercer and seemed to indicate that he would be sharing the results of the audit with the commissioners.
Terry Sercer, of Diehl Banwart Bolten CPAs, completed the county’s 2010 audit and was given the responsibility of looking into the Bourbon County Treasurer’s Office following the allegations of questionable and potentially illegal practices by Treasurer Susan Quick. (source)
When I emailed Mr. Sercer to see if he was going to be presenting the audit at the commission meeting on September 30th, he did indicate that the paper was incorrect. However, it appeared that the part that was misunderstood was this:
Results of the audit are expected to be presented to the commission during their Oct. 3, meeting, however, the appointment has not yet been made, Sercer said. (source)
In fact, Mr. Sercer indicated that he expected some type of public announcement once the report was complete.
However, on October 3rd, the commission seemed unsure of how the report from the audit would be handled and where it would be sent.
Terry Sercer has yet to provide the commissioners with a timeline for when the audit and report will be completed. The commission wasn’t clear if the report would come to them or go to the county attorney or the attorney general. Jingles Endicott will contact Mr. Sercer and have an update on the timeline for Friday’s meeting. (Notes from October 3rd.)
At the meeting on October 7th, the commission said that the report would be going to the KBI and the Attorney General. Terry Sercer will be presenting it to them on October 17th. I asked if the change to present to the KBI and Attorney General before being presented to the commission was based on what the audit had found. The commissioners said “no” and that regardless of the findings it would not have been presented at commission meeting before being presented elsewhere. Commissioner Coleman pointed out that the commission isn’t in a position to determine if there are any criminal implications so it wouldn’t make sense to give it to them first.
The other thing that seems a bit odd is that on Monday (October the 3rd) the commissioners didn’t know when the report would be complete and Jingles Endicott said that he would check with Terry Sercer to find out the status. However, on October the 7th, they all seemed to be familiar with the fact that the report would not be presented at a commission meeting. Update: It appears that commissioner Endicott had answered the same question before I came into the meeting, so the other commissioners may have just been explaining what he had originally said. Also there may have been more details given when the question was originally asked.
This raises some questions.
It is unclear if this was an actual change of plans or if it was just a misunderstanding as to how these sort of matters proceed.
I called the KBI and the person I spoke with couldn’t find a record of any meeting planned for October 17th regarding an audit. The Attorney General’s office said that if there was some type of investigation, they could not comment on it one way or another. I asked if that meant if there was presentation of the audit report on the 17th, it would be closed to the public and was told, “Under that hypothetical situation, that would be correct.”
By the way, if you see anything that I misunderstood or any errors, please leave a note in the comments.
The previous owners of the Fort Scott Middle School gave up on their plans to turn it into an art center after partially renovated some of the rooms into a very modern looking apartment. The fate of the building has been uncertain for some time.
If you’ve driven by the old Fort Scott Middle School in the past few days, you’ve probably noticed a “Sold” sign in the yard. The property was purchased by Paul Feeney and his wife. Their goal is to turn the building into a large entertainment venue. They plan to start off with indoor electric race carts and eventually add a video arcade, rock climbing wall and a restaurant. They would also like to look at renovating the auditorium so it could be used for events.
Paul said it is a long term project, but they are moving to Fort Scott in the next few weeks and plan to live here full time. The initial attractions probably won’t open for two years because there is going to be a lot of work necessary to renovate the building to accomodate the planned changes and he is expecting some regulatory hurdles particularly concerning retrofitting an older building for handicap access.
The work will be self funded and they are not seeking for outside investors. However, they are open to partnering with local businesses. For example if a local restaurant was interested in opening a location in the building once the attractions are running, they would prefer to partner with an existing business rather than opening up competition. Paul said, “The last thing we want to do is to step on anyone’s toes.”
The big difference between some of the other failures in this type of building is that we are going to be in the town and living in the building. This isn’t going to be an offsite project done remotely. ~ Paul Feeney
Paul is 43 years old and a veteran of the automotive industry in California. He said his goal is for the project to support itself. He and his wife are very excited to being part of a smaller community like Fort Scott.
Here are some photos of the middle school from the real estate site where it was offered for sale. These pictures are several years old, so there has probably been some deterioration.
The old Newman Young Clinic is now the Fort Scott Professional Building. It was purchased by David Gibson in 2006 and renovated to convert it from a medical facility to a multi tenant office building.
Current tenants include:
There are a number of “move-in-ready” suites. David said he offers three months of free rent for those suites with a 24 month lease agreement. He can also build out suites to a tenant’s specifications with longer term lease agreements.
The building features a Red Cross approved storm shelter, ADA compliant access, and both covered and uncovered parking. Tenants have access to a shared conference room and there is a larger meeting room available by the day that will seat up to 100 visitors.
The website has photos of a number of the suites and common areas. Leases include electricity, gas, water, and janitorial services for the common areas and common bathrooms. There are suites available that can accomodate everything from a small one person office to a 10,000 sq. foot business.
AT&T has recently installed 100 fiber optic cable lines into the building, so it is one of the few places in Fort Scott with pre-existing fiber. This alleviates the worries and hassle of getting fiber pulled to the building for companies that need data services provided by fiber.
The Fort Scott Professional Building pays a $500 referral fee to individuals or businesses who suggest a lead that ends up signing a lease. If you know of a business that is looking for space, give David Gibson a call at 856-669-8634 or email [email protected]. You can also contact the offic manager, Kim Reagan, at [email protected]
Terry Sercer will be presenting a report on October 17th to the KBI and Attorney General. Eventually there will be a report that will come to the county commissioners.
On August the 30th, the Bourbon County Attorney requested that the KBI and Attorney General investigate the allegations made against the Bourbon County Treasurer.
When asked if the report would have come back to the commissioners if everything looked clear, the commissioners said “no” because the KBI and the Attorney General is the one who will make the call as to whether anything criminal occurred. According to the commissioners at the meeting today, Terry Sercer was never going to present directly to the commission.
Dan Meara requested a 30 minute executive session for the tax foreclosure case with the commissioners, the County Treasurer (Susan Quick) and the County Attorney (Teri Johnson). Teri Johnson was in a hearing and unable to come. The commissioners were unclear if she could join once an executive session was started. Joanne Long (County Clerk) said that she could.
Questions were raised about the purpose of the executive session and whether or not it indicated that the county was facing a potential lawsuit related to the tax sale. Dan Meara said that the commissioners were allowed to talk to their lawyers (Mr. Meara is representing the county for the tax sale) privately as part of attorney/client privilege and the litigation was the tax sale–not a pending lawsuit against the county.
Executive sessions can only be held if they fall within an exception to the Kansas Open Meetings Act. Some of the exceptions used in the past have been discussion of the employment of non-elected officials, non-elected officials salaries, attorney/client privilege, lawsuit settlement and pending litigation. Tax sale issues were all discussed openly up to this point (to the best of my knowledge). In looking at previous meeting minutes, I cannot find an instance where an executive session was used to discuss tax sale matters. However, it could have been discussed under the umbrella of “attorney/client” privilege and the actual purpose not noted in the minutes.
At the last meeting Dan Meara attended, there were questions raised about what properties could be sold and whether properties not listed in the paper had actually begun the redemption period which must expire before they can be sold. Mr. Meara was going to look into these issues. If those topics are not addressed in an open forum, it seems likely that they were discussed as part of the executive session although it isn’t clear why an executive session would be necessary.
According to the Attorney General, the attorney/client exception to the Kansas Open Record Act (see 5 b of this pdf), only applies when the information is actually privileged. Privileged information is defined in KSA 60-426.
Before the end of the executive session, Teri Johnson joined the commissioners, Susan Quick, and Dan Meara.
After the 30 minutes were up, Dean West spoke with the commission for a few minutes and then they went back into executive session for another 30 minutes. I had to leave before the meeting was opened up again.
Said that 12% of his social security was going toward property taxes for his small house. He doesn’t want to have to sell his house and move into a nursing home. Joanne Long said that there had been some people trying to get tax rates locked in for senior citizens, but that law has not passed yet.
Pam Franklin expressed concern that where the grinder pump was placed at her place at the lake would flood. She didn’t want to have to replace a $1,500 pump every spring. Jingles Endicott said the pumps are submersible and it wouldn’t hurt them to be under water and would use a lot of electricity. Pam Franklin was concerned that they would be pumping water out of the lake.
Jingles said that they talked to the company that was putting the pumps and they are going to move their pump.
At 12 noon on Friday October 7th, YPL will be having their monthly lunch at the Lyon’s Mansion. The cost is $6. Dave Martin and Macy Cullison from the City of Fort Scott will be talking about economic development and Frank Halsey will be tell about the new trails system in Gunn Park.
This post contains notes from the city commission meeting on October 4th, 2011.
Jody Brillhart was recognized for her work with the community garden project. Dave Martin spoke very highly of her work on that project and presented her with a certificate from the city.
A citizen asked the commission for help with parking around the 900 block of Main near the high-school stadium. He is handicapped and cannot get a parking spot near his house when there is a football game. The police told him to park in the back of his house, but other people were parking there.
Mayor Adams asked the police chief if the individual could have the cars parked behind his house towed. The police chief said that if it was on his property the police could not have it towed, but it could be towed at the homeowners expense. The individual said that he was concerned that someone would damage his car if he had theirs towed. The commission asked if it was legal to put a handicap parking put in front of his house, but Mr. Martin cautioned against putting handicapped signs up in public parking areas. He was also pointed out that anyone with a handicap sticker could park in the space, so it might not necessarily help the individual get to his house.
A retired couple moved from California to 400/500 block of Eddy had concerns about the security in that area. There was a robbery of a woman who lives alone and a suspicious fire. They feel like they are losing their neighborhood and that there isn’t enough of a police presence. They wanted to know what they can do to help keep the area safe. They were also concerned about the junk left in the alleys for 6 to 7 months.
Another individual said his car was stolen and burned last year after calling the police on the disturbances from 419 Eddy and he recently had another $10,000 of damage to his property in a similar situation. He said he has called the police “a bazillion times” but he felt the police were tired of hearing from him. He said he called the police about a drug deal last Thursday, but they officer never came. He felt the police are scared of the people in that area. He feels that they aren’t catching anyone because they don’t spend any time there and because they don’t do any “detectiving” at night when the crimes are being committed.
He also said that people drive way to fast. He is thankful for the potholes on the street because it slows people down.
He didn’t think anyone would want to join any type of neighborhood watch program because they are afraid of retaliation. He wants to see people arrested instead of just talking about it. He invited the commission to come over, sit at his house and watch what is going on.
One individual in the neighborhood not at the meeting bought a gun and put up a sign on his garage saying that he will shoot if anyone gets on his property.
Mother to Mother needed a different location and temporarily relocated to Memorial Hall. Dave Martin asked the commission if the area they are using could be leased to them on a more permanent basis for $100 per month going forward.
The ministry has been in Bourbon county for 13 years and serves a lot of single mothers, grandparents and other people who are having trouble raising their children. They were located in two units in Cameron Heights until HUD asked them to switch to a single unit, but it wasn’t big enough. They clothe 38 to 40 kids with school clothes every year. They also give out a lot of detergent and cleaning supplies. Last year they gave out over 20,000 diapers. Normally they get FEMA funds for diapers, but it wasn’t available this year because of the census.
The mayor is concerned that allowing people to use Memorial Hall is a dangerous precedence and pointed out that the city moved out of there because the cost of utilities are so high ($50,000 to heat per year). He wants to get the boiler shutdown and would prefer to have Mothers to Mothers located in a different location. Right now there are still some city employees there (codes department), but that will change in the near future. He was also concerned that opening it up for one non-profit will mean it must be available for any non-profit.
Dave Martin asked the commission if the goal is to shut down Memorial Hall and pointed out that it will deteriorate over time if left empty. If someone is going to need be in the building it might as well be an organization like Mother to Mother.
The mayor is concerned that as the federal government shuts down other services, the city is going to be faced with more and more organizations looking for a space. He would like to see the building shut down, but it appears that there are number of other things the building is currently being used for including genealogy, records storage and the country music show.
The commission voted to table the discussion for now and plan to have a work session to look at the options and repercussions in more detail.
The codes inspector said the building has been a problem for quite a while. He said it had gone through the condemnation process and after that was completed it caught on fire. He recommends that the city go ahead and demolish the structure. The decision had been previously tabled, but they voted to go ahead and demolish it. They will get bids on having it removed.
The police chief checked with 16 other cities who allow golf carts on the city streets and none of them had any types of accidents. The ordinance being proposed requires registration of carts to be driven on the road. Several commissioners said that people had told them they didn’t want to see golf carts on the street.
Nothing was decided as this was the first reading.
There was a first reading of an ordinance that would increase the penalties for late payments from 5% to 10%.
The account’s payable clerk has moved to the golf course. Dave Martin wants to promote Brent Crays to the director Community Development. The ordinance wasn’t passed out at the meeting, but it appears to deal with the raises and salaries of city workers.
The ordinance was passed.
The ordinance will amend the budget to publish the ordinance that will allow the city to spend some money on road engineering.
In April, the citizens of Fort Scott approved a .5% sales tax increase to fund a $3.9 million project including a new pool and an addition to Buck Run. The plan was to shut down the pool at the end of the 2011 season have the new one ready to go by Memorial Day in 2012.
If you go by the pool you’ll see that the slides are gone and the roof has been removed from the pool house, but other than that there doesn’t seem to be much going on.
Actually there is quite a bit going on behind the scenes. The slides and other equipment have been donated to the city of Joplin. There has been a bid accepted on the construction and the current effort is going into getting the bonds written and issued for the funding.
While there isn’t a firm start date, things are proceeding as expected and the City says the pool should open in 2012 as planned.
Here are some notes from today’s commission meeting.
Terry Sercer has yet to provide the commissioners with a timeline for when the audit and report will be completed. The commission wasn’t clear if the report would come to them or go to the county attorney or the attorney general. Jingles Endicott will contact Mr. Sercer and have an update on the timeline for Friday’s meeting.
Susan Porter (former employee in the treasurer’s office) said she believed that some of the taxes that were left off of the previous sale went all the pay back to 2004 and that some of those properties were not ever submitted to the abstract office so they never got to the point where the county commission could decided whether or not they were to be put on the tax sale.
The commission was asked if properties that were left out of the paper actually had the redemption start date triggered. They said they had not heard back from Dan Meara regarding the issue of whether or not payment plan properties can be sold. (more info on this issue)
Evidently last Friday someone was at the commission meeting who was five years delinquent and was wondering how many years he would need to pay in order to keep his property off the tax sale. Terri Johnson (County Attorney) is still checking into whether or not the property could be partially redeemed or not. She has asked the treasurer for a copy of the newspaper publications for the previous years to see if this particular property was listed or not.
Gene Cowen asked why the payment plan contracts were not signed. Jingles Endicott explained that the contract didn’t allow the property owner to do anything different than they could have done without the payment plan so whether they were signed or not didn’t really matter.
Curtis O’Dell had some questions about vicious dogs in the county. He said has had problems with his neighborhood pit bulls attacking his family. He said that the sheriff’s department has been out there 5 or 6 times.
Harold Coleman said there is a vicious dog ordinance, but no leash laws in the county. He said you aren’t allowed to have a pit bull in Bourbon County, but it is very difficult to say whether or not a dog is a pit bull. He said that anyone who is bit needs to make a complaint. Curtis said there had been a complaint, but it was thrown out of court.
Commissioner Coleman said Mr. O’Dell should take the signed documentation of times the dogs have bit or chased people to the sheriff’s department.