Monthly Archives: November 2020
Talking Tigers Compete at Louisburg
Fort Scott High School had one team competing at Louisburg on Saturday, November 21 and Trent Toth and Sam Deloney placed 8th in the novice division.
FSHS also had two teams at Bishop Miege, Thade Yates and Lillian Collins placed 2nd in the Open division, while Anna Laubenstein and David Jones were ranked 10th at Bishop Miege in the JV division.
Congratulations
Tigers!
Submitted by Angella Curran
Fort Scott High School
Speech Communications
Debate/Forensics
The Fort Scott Police Department Daily Reports Nov. 20-21
In God We Trust by Carolyn Tucker
Keys to the Kingdom – Carolyn Tucker
About 25 years ago, my husband built a treehouse for our kids that was fit for Robin Hood himself. He chose a big sturdy hedge tree and began to build the fortress, complete with a trap door, fireman‘s pole, and a basket on a rope to pull up and let down through an opening in the floor. Recently, our daughter and her girls were in the pasture and Lydia Mae and Felicity wanted to go up into the treehouse. Mariam agreed, so she got hammer, nails, and boards to add some steps to make the climb doable. Mariam went up first, and then from the top she instructed each little girl where to put their feet and hands as they made their climb. The girls had never done this before, and it was a little scary for them, but they trusted their Mommy to get them through it. And she did.
Without the help of their mother, who knew all the ins and outs of climbing that tree, Lydia Mae and Felicity could not have accomplished their desire. Their high level of trust was very obvious. I love this scripture, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths“ (Proverbs 3:5,6 MEV). This verse is not just something appropriate to write in a graduation card, it’s an everyday-all-your-life command to put into practice.
It’s a downward crash to the bottom of the tree if you think you don’t need God. Proverbs 3:7 NLT reads, “Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.“ Trusting in yourself is pretty worthless and leads to a miserable life; and unless you change your ways and begin to honor God, your afterlife will be way worse than your earth life.
“In God We Trust” is the official motto of the United States of America. It was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1956. The motto was first used on paper money in 1957. Back then, money was handled by most adults every day. I believe that printing this motto on our money was divinely inspired. In fact, the plastic cards should have “In God We Trust“ printed on them too! Sixty-three years ago, our Country’s leaders thought it was important for Americans to put their trust in God — and it still is.
God is absolutely trustworthy. You won’t find a better track record anywhere. Moses and the children of Israel came up to the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army breathing down their necks. God rolled up His sleeves and basically said, “Just watch Me work.” God is not looking at our beloved U.S.A. while wringing His hands and saying, “I don’t know how this is going to turn out.“ No, God’s Word is firm: “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. I make known the end from the beginning…I say, ’My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please’” (Isaiah 46:9,10 NIV). God knows the future before it even happens. Everything He plans will come to pass. He simply needs His children to trust Him with childlike faith.
I encourage you to stand firm and beef up your trust in God as the apostle Paul instructed pastor Timothy: “…We trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe” (1 Timothy 4:10 NKJV).
The Key: Quit trying to climb the tree by yourself, and ask for God’s help.
COVID-19 Trends In Counties With and Without A Mask Mandate
Trends in County-Level COVID-19 Incidence in Counties With and Without a Mask Mandate — Kansas, June 1–August 23, 2020
See the latest statitistics on mask wearing versus not wearing a mask, by clicking below
COVID-19 Cases Dropped in Kansas Counties with Mask Orders
CDC Report: COVID-19 cases dropped in Kansas Counties with mask orders, rose in others –
The Kansas City Star
As Kansas counties decide how to respond to Gov. Laura Kelly’s new statewide mask order, a new study shows counties that adopted the governor’s first mandate this summer experienced a drop in COVID-19 cases.
Among counties with an order, the 7-day rolling average of new cases dropped on average 6 percent in the month following the mandate. Meanwhile, cases in counties without a mask requirement saw on average a 100 percent increase.
The analysis — conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment — was published Friday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
“Kansas counties that had mask mandates in place appear to have mitigated the transmission of COVID-19, whereas counties that did not have mask mandates continued to experience increases in cases,” the study says.
The findings come as Kelly is emphasizing masks in the fight against the latest wave of COVID-19, which is filling hospitals across the state. Cases have surged to unprecedented levels in Kansas and are now translating into rising hospitalizations.
The Democratic governor’s new order goes into effect on Nov. 25, with the delay designed to encourage counties to adopt their own mask orders. Counties will be allowed to keep their own orders once the statewide mandate goes into effect. Local leaders also have the option of opting out of the order, just as they did in July.
Kelly is also launching a public campaign to encourage mask use and other COVID-19 precautions and rolling out expanded testing across the state.
“I am committed to an all-of-the-above COVID mitigation strategy,” Kelly said Friday.
Read the full story here: https://www.kansascity.com/…/coro…/article247315954.html
Funding Available to Kansas Small Businesses
Governor Kelly Makes $38.5 Million of CARES ACT Funding Available to Kansas Small Businesses, Slow COVID-19 Spread
~ Funding will Support Hard-hit Businesses, Vaccine Distribution, Other Public Health Efforts~
TOPEKA – Today, Governor Laura Kelly announced that the State Finance Council unanimously approved the Kansas Office of Recovery recommendations to allocate $20 million to hard-hit businesses and $18.5 million for public health response efforts including vaccine administration and distribution. The $38.5 million is from the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) of the federal CARES Act.
“My administration is focused on keeping Kansans healthy and protecting our small businesses, this funding will help us do both,” Governor Kelly said. “We will distribute these funds quickly and efficiently to hard-hit communities and businesses across the state, which will bolster our efforts to protect Kansans and keep businesses and schools open.”
The $20 million of Business Resiliency and Workforce Support recommendations will include support for the following:
- Restaurants and Bars
- Large Venues
- Movie Theaters
- PPE manufacturing
- Private Colleges
The $18.5 million of Public Heath Response recommendations includes funding for the following:
- Support for Local Health departments
- Vaccine administration and distribution
- PPE for Nursing Homes
- Support for Safety Net Clinics
“These investments help keep businesses open and bolster our public health response all across Kansas,” Office of Recovery Executive Director Julie Lorenz said. “I want to thank Governor Kelly and the State Finance Council for helping us deliver these dollars as quickly as we can to Kansans that really need them.”
The allocations approved today were from funding recouped from other previously approved programs that were unable to utilize all their funding by the December 30 deadline. The Office of Recovery will present to State Finance Council again next month
Obituary of Minnie Wrenn
Minnie Ola Wrenn, age 90, a resident of Ft. Scott, Kansas, passed away Saturday, November 7, 2020, at the Medicalodge in Ft. Scott.
She was born September 11, 1930, in Mapleton, Kansas, the daughter of Clyde Marion Willard and Mildred G. Harris Willard. She married Woodrow Wilson Wrenn on August 2, 1946, in Mound City, Kansas.
Minnie enjoyed sewing, cooking, and doing upholstery work. She also loved spending time with her family. As one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, she wanted to share with people the hope and joy she had in serving Jehovah God.
Survivors include her four grandchildren, O’Leatha Wrenn, of the home in Ft. Scott, Jennifer Jackson and Gzamahna Wrenn, both of Pittsburg, Kansas and Jerry Love, of Kansas City, Missouri and three great-grandchildren, Yolanda Lovelady, Cameron and Trinity Wrenn. Also surviving is a sister, Mary Etta Willard, of Ft. Scott; several nieces and nephews including Shelba Williams and Vincent Willard who she helped raise and a host of other relatives and friends.
Her husband, Woodrow, preceded her in death on September 25, 1992. She was also preceded in death by a son, Woodrow W. Wrenn, Jr., two daughters, Regina Thompson Toson and Janet Leigh Wrenn who died in infancy; a grandson, Judge “Buddy” Thompson, a sister, Edith Hawkins and four brothers, Robert “Bobby”, Carl Eugene, and Melvin Willard and infant brother, James Willard.
There was cremation.
A celebration of life service may be held at a later date. Arrangements are under the direction of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, Ft. Scott, KS 66701. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.
Fort Scott’s Veterans Day Parade
Many thanks to all Post 25 Legion family members who participated in yesterday’s Fort Scott Veterans Day Parade.
Our guest of honor was WW2 George Warren of Uniontown. I believe that George is 96 and is still a live wire according to family and friends. George was a Naval Aviator who flew as a test pilot in Hawaii during the war. His job was to take reassembled bombers received from the States and take them for a spin.
My special thanks to Mike Hansen, Darrell Spencer and the others who assembled our float for the parade.
Also, participating were three ALR Chapter 25 members who drove their bikes and brought along their grandchildren for the parade.
For those who would like to see the parade on video, check out the Chamber of Commerce’s Facebook posting at https://www.facebook.com/fortscottchamber/videos/704806887123939. Post 25 is at 13.50.
“A good time was had by all.”
Photos by Post 25 Commander Carl Jowers who also rode his trike in the parade.
Volunteer Veterans Shuttle Drivers Are Needed.
The Fort Scott Veterans shuttle has been suspended since the onset of the COVID 19 outbreak. This service provided our area Veterans reliable transportation to VA medical appointments in Kansas City, Leavenworth or Topeka. In addition to transporting our local Veterans, we also arranged to pick up Veterans in Pleasanton, Louisburg and Ottawa as there is a lack of public transportation to VA medical appointments in those areas for our Veterans as well.
Volunteer shuttle drivers are being recruited now so we can resume shuttle operations once the COVID restrictions are lifted. Drivers do not have to be Veterans, just someone willing to offer assistance to Veterans.
There is no financial impact on drivers. The shuttle, gas, liability insurance and vehicle are covered by the VA. Also, all Veterans needing appointments must be ambulatory and be able to enter and exit the shuttle without volunteer assistance.
Each volunteer driver is asked to commit two days a month driving Veterans to appointments. Most medical appointments are scheduled between 9 am and 3 pm. All volunteers must pass a VA driver physical in Topeka, which can be scheduled around your availability.
Please contact Shuttle Coordinator Carl Jowers at 620-215-1688 for more information on volunteering as a driver.
Bourbon County Agenda For Nov. 24
Agenda
Bourbon County Commission Room
1st Floor, County Courthouse
210 S. National Avenue
Fort Scott, KS 66701
Tuesdays starting at 9:00
Date: November 24, 2020
1st District-Lynne Oharah Minutes: Approved: _______________
2nd District-Jeff Fischer Corrected: _______________
3rd District-Clifton Beth Adjourned at: _______________
County Clerk-Kendell Mason
MEETING WILL BE HELD IN COMMISSION ROOM. ANYONE ATTENDING THE MEETING WILL BE REQUIRED TO WEAR A MASK PROVIDED BY THE COUNTY. MUST MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCING.
9:00 – 9:30 Eric Bailey, Road & Bridge
9:30 – 9:45 Greenbush, SPARK Funds
9:45 – 10:00 Employee Holiday Meal
10:00 – 10:15 Longevity Pay
10:15 – 10:30 Omni Lockbox
10:30 – 10:40 Clint Anderson, Executive Session, Personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel
10:45 – 11:00 USD 234, Ted Hessong & Fort Scott NEA – Public Health
Hancock’s Proposal To The City of Fort Scott
The community may wonder why the Fort Scott City Commission selected Managment Partner’s Jeff Hancock as the new interim city manager.
The city provided fortscott.biz with the contract made with Hancock. See the prior story https://fortscott.biz/news/city-signs-on-interim-city-manager
Under the scope of services section in the contract with Management Partners mention was made of a letter of proposal to the city on Nov. 10, 2020.
Fort Scott Human Resource Director Deb Needleman provided the proposal letter, below.
November 10, 2020
Deb Needleman, SPHR, IPMA-SCP
Director of Human Resources
City of Fort Scott
123 S. Main Street
Fort Scott, KS 66701
Dear Ms. Needleman:
Thank you for the opportunity to submit a proposal to provide interim city manager services to the City of Fort Scott. Management Partners has the expertise and skills necessary to provide this interim assistance and we would be pleased to do so. Before we tell you about our approach and the consultant we propose for this effort, we would like to share some brief information about our firm.
About Management Partners
Management Partners was founded in 1994 with a specific mission to help local government leaders improve their service to the public. We are a national consulting firm headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Management Partners has a well-established track record of helping public sector organizations throughout the United States, including all of the services provided by cities, counties, towns and special districts at the local level.
During our 26 years of service, we have earned a national reputation by delivering quality, actionable work products to our clients. We bring extensive experience to this project, along with first-hand knowledge of local government operations. We are distinguished by the fact that each team we assign is led and staffed by associates who have actual experience in direct public service and experience working together as a team. The work we do is not an academic exercise; it is grounded in the real world of customer service and accomplishment in the public sector. As a result, we have a bias for producing value-added work for each client that will be actionable and will be implemented.
The firm is staffed with about 100 professionals who are experienced public service managers as well as qualified management consultants. This group includes generalists as well as subject-matter experts. Our consultants have years of experience working in all aspects of local government management and have built a track record of extraordinary quality service for our clients.
The firm has extensive experience helping improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of local government services. We have completed organizational staffing and improvement projects in virtually every type of local government service, including reviews of entire governments as well as selected studies of individual departments and functional activities.
Management Partners’ services include everything required to support a local government leader, elected or appointed. Our full range of services includes the following:
- Organizational Analysis and Performance Audits – Also called efficiency studies and organizational reviews, identifies improvements to an operation’s efficiency and effectiveness.
- Performance Management – Encompasses a wide range of management tools that can be and often are developed independently of one another, including performance management and measurement, process management, performance budgeting, employee performance evaluation and strategic and process benchmarking.
- Process Improvement – Examines the processes by which customers are served, an important technique for developing a program for operations improvement, including process mapping.
- Strategic and Business Planning – Can be an important tool for focusing the efforts of an organization and fostering communication between leaders, staff and important stakeholder groups.
- Financial Planning, Budgeting and Analysis – Assists clients in analyzing their finances and planning for the effective and efficient use of taxpayer or customer dollars.
- Organizational Development and Training – Helps clients develop organizational capacity, a key to developing high performance organizations. Services include executive coaching, customer service training, employee and customer surveys and conflict management workshops.
- Sharing and Consolidation of Services – Offers a more efficient way to provide services, particularly on a regional basis. Options range from the complete integration of previously separate jurisdictions to sharing or consolidating the management of individually delivered services and operations.
- Interim Management – Assists government leaders by providing executive staff during transitional periods. Rather than just “treading water,” our approach to interim management combines continuation services along with organizational effectiveness analysis to provide a solid foundation for a new permanent employee.
- Executive Recruitment – Identifies top candidates for chief executive officer positions and department director level jobs in local governments.
We offer a balance of perspectives with a practitioner’s bias and a proven track record of successful consulting engagements. This experience gives us a sensitivity that produces positive outcomes. Each of our projects is individually tailored to the unique needs of the client. We have a deep understanding of the service environment of local government and we are proud to say that as a result of our quality work, many of our clients ask us to complete subsequent assignments.
Understanding of the Engagement
We understand you have need for interim city manager services, and possible help recruiting a new permanent city manager. One of our consultants, J. Jeff Hancock, is based in Missouri. He has many years of experience as a city manager/administrator in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. We are proposing that Jeff would provide the interim services and assist with recruitment, if desired. He could begin providing interim services to the City in November on a date to be mutually determined. He is available to serve in this capacity for approximately four months. His brief qualifications are attached.
Jeff would work for and at the direction of Management Partners, while providing the full city manager service you need on an interim basis. Management Partners will provide all insurance, training, and administrative support (including company equipment) as necessary during the assignment. Our commitment is to provide continuous and seamless management services to you during this transition period.
Management Partners will provide interim management consulting services on a monthly basis at a cost of $6,000 per month inclusive of all expenses In addition to Jeff Hancock, Management Partners has other consultants available to provide assistance to Fort Scott, as needed and requested.
We are enclosing a draft contract for your review, and await further direction from you.
We appreciate the opportunity to be of assistance to Fort Scott. Please feel free to contact either myself at 805-320-1702 if you have any questions about this proposal.
Sincerely,
Andrew S. Belknap
Senior Vice President
Attachment
J. Jeff Hancock, Special Advisor
- Professional manager with 45-year local government career that includes serving as city manager/administrator in seven different cities.
- Has also served as interim city administrator, assistant city manager, budget officer and manager of economic development; cities served range from 7,700 to 495,000, mostly in Missouri
- Functions supervised include financial management, human resources, marketing, strategic planning, economic development, airport construction and management, capital improvements, fire, parks and recreation, community services to meet the delivery goals of efficient and effective service.
- Active leadership in community and regional economic development efforts.
- Life member of ICMA and Missouri City Management Association; former president of MCMA and Central Missouri Development Corporation and board member of the Missouri Municipal League; active in Lake of the Ozarks Council of Governments, Lake of the Ozarks Regional Economic Development Council, Johnson County Economic Development Corporation.
- Recognized with the 2009 Missouri Municipal League’s Innovation Award and the 2005 Missouri City Manager Award.