ROLL CALL:
___ Jess Ervin ___ Danea Esslinger ___ Amber Kelly ___ Mary Pemberton ___ Bradley Stewart
Pond project – Don George, KDWPT –
CITIZENS REQUESTS
FINANCIAL REPORT
Charlene Bolinger – Financial reports
APPROVE CONSENT AGENDA
Motion by ____________, Second by _____________, Approved ________ to enter into executive session pursuant to non-elected personnel matters exception, KSA 4319(b)(1), in order to discuss job duties and review applications of non-elected personnel, the open meeting to resume at _______.
DEPARTMENT REPORTS
Superintendent: Bobby Rich
Water valve replacement –
Codes Enforcement:
Clerk Report: Sally Johnson
2023 Financial Audit
Councilman Ervin –
Councilwoman Esslinger –
Councilman Kelly –
Councilwoman Pemberton –
Councilman Stewart–
Mayor Jurgensen –
Pickleball court project –
Warehouse refurbishing –
ADJOURN Time ____________ Moved by ______________, 2nd ___________________, Approved ___________
Attachments:
The Special Council Meeting on February 27, 2024 at Uniontown City Hall, was called to order at 6:30PM by Mayor Jurgensen. Council members present were Jess Ervin, Danea Esslinger, Amber Kelly, Mary Pemberton, and Bradley Stewart. Also in attendance for all or part of the meeting was City Clerk Sally Johnson.
Motion by Ervin, Second by Stewart, Approved 5-0 to enter in to executive session pursuant to non-elected personnel matters exception, KSA 4319(b)(1), in order to discuss job duties, benefits, and employee handbook of non-elected personnel, the open meeting to resume at 7:00PM
Clerk Johnson included in session, open meeting resumed at 7:00.
Motion by Ervin, Second by Kelly, Approved 5-0 to extend executive session pursuant to non-elected personnel exception, KSA 4319(b)(1) in order to discuss job duties, benefits and employee handbook of non-elected personnel, the open meeting to resume at 7:35PM.
Johnson still included in session. Open meeting resumed at 7:35PM.
Motion by Pemberton, Second by Esslinger, Approved 5-0 to have Clerk Johnson post City Clerk position with appropriate publications and organizations
Motion by Ervin, Second by Esslinger, Approved 5-0 to amend Section 2.9.0 with the statement that full-time employees hires on or after March 1, 2024 will not be eligible for this benefit and add Section 2.11.0 Health Insurance Benefit effective for all new full-time hires on or after March 1, 2024
Moved by Ervin, Second by Kelly, Approved 5-0, to adjourn at 7:36PM
The Regular Council Meeting on February 13, 2024 at Uniontown City Hall, was called to order at 7:00PM by Mayor Jurgensen. Council members present were Jess Ervin, Danea Esslinger, Mary Pemberton, and Bradley Stewart. Also in attendance for all or part of the meeting were City Treasurer Charlene Bolinger, City Superintendent Bobby Rich and City Clerk Sally Johnson.
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS/PROJECTS
CITIZENS REQUEST
Clerk Johnson reported that Shane Kober requested speed bumps in front of his residence. After discussion, Council does not wish to put speed bumps on Sherman Street. Clerk was asked to advise him to followup with the Sheriff’s department for information on how to proceed.
FINANCIAL REPORT
Treasurer Bolinger presented the January 2023 Treasurer’s Report. Beginning Checking Account Balance for all funds was $235,479.20, Receipts $85,918.56, Transfers Out $3,026.00, Expenditures $24,988.18, Checking Account Closing Balance $293,383.58. Bank Statement Balance $293,816.11, including Checking Account Interest of $54.56, Outstanding Deposits $0, Outstanding Checks $432.53, Reconciled Balance $293,383.58. Water Utilities Certificates of Deposit $37,083.20, Sewer Utilities Certificate of Deposit $21,153.58, Gas Utilities Certificates of Deposit $38,862.06, Total All Funds, including Certificates of Deposit $390,482.42. Year-to-Date Interest in Checking Acct is $54.56, and Utility CDs $0 for a Total Year-to-Date Interest of $54.56. Also included the status of the Projects Checking Account for the month of January 2023, Beginning Balance $0, Receipts $0, Expenditures $0, Ending Balance $0. January Transfers from Sewer Utility Fund to Sewer Revolving Loan $1,402.00; from Water Utility Fund to GO Water Bond & Interest $1,624.00 for Total Transfers of $3,026.00. Net Income for the month of January $57,904.38, Year-to-Date Net Income $57,904.38. Budget vs Actual Water Fund YTD Revenue $8,044.20 (6.5%), Expenditures $6,943.58 (4.3%); Sewer Fund YTD Revenue $2,715.90 (7.3%), Expenditures $2,136.25 (5.1%); Gas Fund YTD Revenue $17,162.10 (11.7%), Expenditures $10,531.03 (5.9%); General Fund YTD Revenue $52,382.78 (31.9%), Expenditures $8,403.32 (4.2%); and Special Highway YTD Revenue $1,987.58 (27.4%), Expenditures $0 (0%). The February 2024 payables to date in the amount of $36,872.84 were presented.
Clerk Johnson explained the new report for current payables and the difference between the two presented. She asked the council which report they preferred – Claims Report by Department, by Fund was chosen.
CONSENT AGENDA
Motion by Esslinger, Second by Ervin, Approved 4-0, to approve Consent Agenda as amended:
DEPARTMENT REPORTS
City Superintendent Rich had nothing to report.
Clerk Johnson reported several notifications of insurance renewal conditional provisions from EMC.
Website hosting price increase of $2.50/month.
Municipal Court Clerks conference is March 1, in Wichita. She will not attend this year.
CCMFOA Conference is March 20-22, in Manhattan. She will not attend this year.
CDL storm siren maintenance agreement should renew in March. She will have a new agreement for action at next meeting.
gWorks was used for accounts payable this month and end of month procedures will be done on gWorks. She has a training on Thursday for bank reconciliation, deposits, and reports. She will then get all deposits for the month entered, process penalties, and mail delinquent notices.
Bourbon County Job Fair is February 22. She asked is they wanted a booth to try to recruit a clerk and maintenance worker. Not at this time.
She did order a 2024 labor law poster.
COUNCIL REPORT
Councilman Ervin – wished to recognize Clerk Johnson and thank her for all her work in the software conversion.
Councilwoman Esslinger – absent
Councilwoman Kelly – nothing
Councilwoman Pemberton – nothing
Councilman Stewart – nothing
Mayor Jurgensen – the school contacted the City to see if they could stage rock on the right of way for the walking trail project. The rock is being hauled by the county. He told them yes. Superintendent Rich stated that there is a gas main just south of the sidewalk by the medical clinic. Mayor Jurgensen also asked Rich to get fescue and seed the ditches that were worked on Third St.
OLD BUSINESS
Rabies Clinic – tentatively scheduled for March 23, 1:30-3:00PM.
Mayor Jurgensen asked if the Council wanted to reskin the warehouse and put in the ramp and rollup doors to use as public works building. We will need to determine specs and request bids for the metal siding/roof, the ramp and rollup doors, and the installation.
NEW BUSINESS
Motion by Ervin, Second by Stewart, Approved 4-0 to enter in to executive session pursuant to non-elected personnel matters exception, KSA 4319(b)(1), in order to discuss job duties and benefits of non-elected personnel, the open meeting to resume at 8:47PM
Clerk Johnson called in at 8:22, open meeting resumed at 8:47.
Motion by Ervin, Second by Stewart, Approved 4-0 to call a special meeting on February 27, 2024, 6:30PM for the purpose of executive session pursuant to non-elected personnel exception, KSA 4319(b)(1) to discuss job duties, benefits and employee handbook of non-elected personnel.
Moved by Ervin, Second by Kelly, Approved 4-0, to adjourn at 8:48PM
Mary Louise Todd Beveridge, age 98, a former resident of Ft. Scott, Kansas, and more recently of Olathe, Kansas, passed away Friday, March 1, 2024, at her home in Olathe.
She was born February 19, 1926, at Pittsburg, Kansas, the daughter of Isaac H. Todd and Hallie Swett Todd. Mary was a graduate of Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, Ft. Scott Junior College and Pittsburg State University. She also did graduate work at the University of Kansas.
On graduating college, Mary was employed as society editor for the Ft. Scott Tribune. She later worked for USD #234 and then as assistant library director for Ft. Scott Community College. She retired in May of 1992 and moved to Olathe to be near her family.
Mary was a past member of the First Presbyterian Church of Ft. Scott where she served as an elder. She later became a member of the Village Presbyterian Church on Antioch in Overland Park, Kansas. She was also a member of the American Library Association, the Greek societies, Phi Alpha Theta and Delta Kappa Gamma, and the American Association of University Women. In earlier years in Ft. Scott, she had served as Vice-President of the Old Fort Historic Governing Board as well as the Bourbon County Historic Preservation Association. Following her retirement, she volunteered her time to the Olathe Public Library and the Harmony Public School of Overland Park.
Survivors include her son, John Beveridge of Overland Park, Kansas, a grandson Christopher D. Beveridge and wife, Moria and a great-grandson, Callan Beveridge all of Shawnee, Kansas.
Mary was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Melvin O. Beveridge who was Superintendent of Postal Operation in Ft. Scott for many years.
Graveside services will be held at the U. S. National Cemetery in Ft Scott at 11 a.m. on March 8, 2024. Memorials are suggested to the Ft. Scott Community College Endowment Association, the First Presbyterian Church of Ft. Scott, the Village Presbyterian Church on Antioch in Overland Park, Kansas or any organization supporting nature conservation and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, P.O. Box 347, Ft, Scott, KS 66701. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.
Lolita Dawn Mumbower, age 59, a resident of Devon, Kansas, passed away unexpectedly Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at her home. She was born March 16, 1964, in Ft. Scott, the daughter of Wayne Robinson and Rosalee Burch Robinson. Lolita married Delwin Mumbower on January 24, 1986, at Ft. Scott, Kansas. In earlier years, Lolita had worked as a waitress, but the majority of her life was spent making a home for her family. Lolita will be remembered for her friendly personality. She loved spending time in the coffee shop making new friends. She enjoyed doing many things; however, fishing was not one of them. She will be dearly missed by her family and those who loved her.
Survivors include her husband, Delwin, of the home; three children, Cody Mumbower (Mary) of Fulton, Kansas, Kara Mumbower of Devon, Kansas and Krista Wyatt (Shawn) of Ft. Scott and sixteen grandchildren, Madalynn, Mason, Miranda, Meredith, Molly, Marshall, Montgomery, Micah, Martin, Emilee, Elijah, Bradyn, Blayce, Bricyn, Blaetyn, and Paisley with another grandchild expected to arrive in August. Also surviving are two bonus grandchildren, Marla and Glynda. Lolita was preceded in death by her parents and an infant granddaughter, Kamrynn.
Pastor Randy Smith will conduct funeral services at 10:30 A.M. Tuesday, March 12th at the Cheney Witt Chapel. Burial will follow in the Centerville Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 5 to 7 P.M. Monday at the Cheney Witt Chapel. Memorials are suggested to Care to Share and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, P.O. Box 347, Ft. Scott, KS 66701. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.
Bourbon County Inter-Agency Coalition
General Membership Meeting Minutes
March 6, 2024
It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring who reaps a harvest in the Autumn.
The Farmer’s Market will be in the new community pavilion beginning this year; the pavilion was funded with a T-Mobile grant and other donations. Anyone can reserve the pavilion through the Fort Scott City offices. Farmers’ Market operates from the first week in May through the last week in October on Saturdays and Tuesdays.
This year the Farmers’ Market will be accepting SNAP benefits in support of local nutrition. SNAP dollars will only be able to be used for food and food related items. Through a grant, a person will be hired to manage the snap booth during the hours of the Farmers’ Market.
Venders can set up a booth for $5.00 each week. Potential venders need to contact Teri in order to be approved to have a booth. There are also fundraising opportunities through the Farmers’ Market organization. There are twenty-four planned booth spaces under the pavilion now, but that can be expanded to thirty-six if the need arises. There are many special events that will be scheduled in conjunction with the Farmers’ Market such as Breakfast on the Bricks, the Children’s Business Fair, K-State Research projects/programs, The National Historic Site, etc.
Saint Martin’s Academy is a Catholic boarding school for boys that combines classical academics with a practical work program on a sustainable farm. and is located southwest of Fort Scott.
It seems they have some athletes as well.
“We are the reigning Kansas State Rugby Champions, ” said school headmaster Daniel Kerr. ” Currently, we are ranked #9 in the country for all schools of any size according to the Goff Rugby Report.”
“To be a rugby player at St. Martin’s Academy is to be part of something larger than yourself,” said Coach John Prezzia. “It’s to be a band of brothers; a small group of young men united in the forge of intense battle amongst each other, where they are truly, ‘ironing sharpening iron’. This creates a bond amongst them that is so tight, that every one of them is completely willing to sacrifice all of himself for the sake of each brother next to him, and the team as a whole”
“This unity of purpose and toughness is how we continually punch above our weight, and with only 68 boys total enrolled at the school, we can compete with the very best teams in the country,” he said. “We have just been invited to the National Tournament…and are currently in the planning and fundraising phase. The boys have worked unbelievably hard to get to this level, and are incredibly excited to compete with the best.”
We got the invite last Tuesday, and when I announced it to the boys, they just about brought the house down with their hooting and hollering,” Prezzia said. “It was a pretty special way to kick off this journey to try and bring a Rugby National Title back to Fort Scott.”
“Rugby, a “barbarian’s sport played by gentlemen”, was invented in Rugby, England in 1823 when William Webb Ellis picked up a soccer ball and ran with it,” Kerr said. “It is the progenitor of American football. For example, the name ‘touchdown’ comes from the rule in rugby where you have to physically touch the ball down in the endzone for the score to count. Rugby combines the fluidity and continuous play of soccer with the physicality and roughness of American football. There are 15 players on the field and like soccer, they play both offense and defense as the ball changes possession. Like American football, the aim is to carry the ball across the opponents goal line and touch the ball down in the opponents end-zone or ‘try zone’. A ‘touchdown’ is called a ‘try’ in Rugby. A try is worth 5 points and the subsequent conversion kick is worth 2 points.”
Governor Kelly Updates Declaration of Drought Emergency, Warnings, and Watches for Kansas Counties
TOPEKA — Governor Laura Kelly has approved updated drought declarations for Kansas counties with Executive Order #24-01.
“While drought conditions have improved greatly in recent months, many counties continue to be negatively impacted by the decline in water supply or strains on water resources,” said Governor Laura Kelly. “I strongly encourage all Kansans to continue to conserve water as we head into the summer months.”
The drought declaration removed all 55 counties previously in emergency status and placed 15 counties into warning status and 62 into watch status. This action was recommended by Connie Owen, Director of the Kansas Water Office and Chair of the Governor’s Drought Response Team. While a majority of Kansas has seen significant relief from drought since August, central and southeast Kansas continue to be in Severe Drought.
“Counties in a watch status have conditions which indicate the probability of a water shortage is rising. It is important to monitor these conditions and be mindful of water usage in these counties,” said Owen. “The Governor’s Drought Response Team will continue to monitor the drought conditions across Kansas and make recommendations to Governor Kelly as conditions change.”
This Executive Order shall remain in effect for those counties identified until rescinded by an Executive Order ending the declaration or revising the drought stage status of the affected counties.
Effective immediately, Executive Order #24-01:
The Governor’s Drought Response Team will continue to watch the situation closely and work to minimize the negative drought-induced effects on Kansans.
For more detailed information about current conditions, visit the Climate and Drought webpage on the Kansas Water Office website at kwo.ks.gov.
County Drought Stage Declarations:
Drought Emergency:
Drought Warning: Chautauqua, Clay, Dickinson, Elk, Graham, Harvey, Jewell, McPherson, Mitchell, Montgomery, Osborne, Ottawa, Reno, Rice, Rooks, Wilson.
Drought Watch: Allen, Anderson, Atchison, Barton, Bourbon, Brown, Butler, Chase, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Cloud, Coffey, Cowley, Crawford, Decatur, Doniphan, Douglas, Ellis, Ellsworth, Franklin, Geary, Gove, Greenwood, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Kingman, Labette, Lane, Leavenworth, Lincoln, Linn, Lyon, Marion, Marshall, Miami, Morris, Nemaha, Neosho, Ness, Norton, Osage, Phillips, Pottawatomie, Pratt, Rawlins, Republic, Riley, Russell, Saline, Sedgwick, Shawnee, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith, Stafford, Thomas, Trego, Wabaunsee, Washington, Woodson, Wyandotte.
“TikTok deceived parents by saying that the app was safe and age appropriate. In reality, the app has promoted filth, profanity, sexual content, and alcohol and drugs to Kansas kids. Even worse, it has used coercive algorithms that spike dopamine, keep kids on the app as long as possible, and facilitate downward mental health spirals. Kansas parents deserve the truth about the harm the app causes to young users, and Kansas kids should be protected,” Kobach said.
The lawsuit alleges that TikTok knew its app was not safe for kids when it released the app in 2017. Additionally, the company misleads parents by marketing its app as age appropriate for children 12 and older. Despite its assertions, TikTok hawks significant amounts of profanity and crude humor, sexual content and nudity, alcohol, tobacco and drug usage, and mature and suggestive themes.
“Parents and caregivers believe their children are protected from images of intense sexual content, illicit drug use, and videos encouraging vaping and tobacco use, because TikTok deceives parents into believing the company hides this content from children. In reality, this company created an app intentionally to hook Kansas children onto their salacious, dangerous, and damaging content at the price of those children’s mental health. This damage will echo far into the future of our state, and TikTok must answer for its actions,” said Deputy Attorney General Fran Oleen.
According to the petition, TikTok offers “restricted mode” and “family pairing” tools to keep Kansas children safe, but the tools are ineffective. The suit also alleges that TikTok negatively impacts the mental health of Kansas youth.
“Kids in Kansas have been bombarded with problematic TikTok videos while lost in the addictive grip of TikTok’s auto scroll that affects not only their attention spans, but their mental health. Youth in Kansas frequently find themselves in an infinite hole of TikTok videos that tell them they are not good enough or attractive enough. These videos are often paired with advice on how to evade parents’ detection of eating disorders,” said Assistant Attorney General Sarah Dietz. “TikTok has misrepresented itself as safe, while it purposefully addicted minors and wreaked havoc on their mental health. Even when parents and caregivers try to create a safe environment for their children by using parental controls, they are deceived by TikTok’s false representations that the parental controls are effective.”
The Office of the Kansas Attorney General is alleging multiple violations of the Kansas Consumer Protection Act. Specifically, the state seeks civil penalties of $10,000 per violation and enhanced civil penalties of $20,000 for deceptive and unconscionable acts against protected consumers.
Oleen and Dietz of the Office of the Kansas Attorney General, along with Special Assistant Attorneys General David Thompson, Brian Barnes, Megan Wold, and Athie Livas of Cooper & Kirk, PLLC, represent the state of Kansas in the suit.
Read the petition here.
