October 15, 2019 Tuesday 9:00
The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with Commissioners Oharah and Fischer present. The County Counselor Justin Meeks and the County Clerk Kendell Mason were also present.
Jason Silvers with the Fort Scott Tribune, Nancy & Kerry Van Etten and Julie Saker each attended a portion of the Commission meeting.
Michael Hoyt met with the Commissioners to clarify his request from the last time he met with the Commissioners; he said he would like for the County to engage Emergency Manager Will Wallis to test or evaluate all EOP plans in place to see if there is room for improvement. Mr. Hoyt said the USD 234 plan fell apart in two areas on September 3, 2019 when there was an intruder; the 911 system and notifying the parents of students of the incident. Lynne Oharah said he had a conversation with Will Wallis and asked what the County’s responsibility was for those plans; Will said he was asked to critique USD 234’s plan, he said he did and felt it was a good plan. Mr. Hoyt said they had an event or incident and said there was no reason why the County leadership couldn’t take control and evaluate the plans. Lynne said he would discuss this with Will Wallis again.
Jim Harris and Jerad Heckman met with the Commissioners; Jim said they are mowing and crushing. He said they are making chips at the Beth Quarry. The County is making 1,400 tons of asphalt for the City of Fort Scott. He said they did a 23,000 ton blast. Jim Harris said they will be doing a snow drill this week.
Lynne said there are potholes at the north end of Devon that need filled and said a culvert may be needed; Jim said they would send the pothole patcher to the area.
Jeff made a motion that Kendell Mason send all department heads a memo asking that they watch and control their overtime since we are over budget in employee benefits (taxes and KPERS are based on compensation, and are elevated due to the extra overtime), Lynne seconded the motion. Jeff said we need to be good stewards of the taxpayer’s money and said if we don’t reduce expenses it will require a reduction in force.
Jeff discussed the work done on Ironwood and the collapsed culvert there; he said the County did an amazing job there; he complimented the work that Jared Lord did.
Jeff discussed Mr. Phillips property on Justin Lane; he said there is water running from a spring or from a runoff, Mr. Phillips asked that ditching be done there. Jim Harris said he would view the area.
Lynne reported that 125th & Osage going east and west needs gravel.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 5 minute executive session for confidential data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts and individual proprietorships, Jeff seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners Justin Meeks and Jody Hoener). No action was taken.
Bill Martin, Ben Cole, Bobby Reed and Leslie Herrin (who was videotaping the meeting) met with the Commissioners to discuss a bill the Sheriff’s department received from Noxious Weed. Bill said he had requested gravel (which they have not received) for an area on the north side of the Sheriff’s building. Bill said they received a $566 bill from Noxious Weed for chemical spraying done by the Sheriff’s building. Bill suggested that the bill be written off since the property belongs to the County. Jim Harris said Noxious Weed has to purchase the chemicals and said if Noxious Weed sprays at the Landfill then the Landfill pays for the chemicals. Jeff questioned how the bill for spraying is different than the bill for fuel delivered to the Law Enforcement Center for the generator; Bill said the fuel for the generator should be paid out of operations. Jim Harris said they mow the area, but do not send a bill for mowing. Lynne said they would discuss the bill for spraying with Nick Ruhl when he returns. Jim Harris said there is a $506 delinquent bill owed from the Law Enforcement Center to Road & Bridge for fuel that was delivered for the generator; however, it was later stated that the $506 bill had been paid.
Julie Saker briefly met with the Commissioners; she announced that she was planning to run for Sheriff in 2020.
Jody Hoener met with the Commissioners; she discussed the event center, she said she and Rod Markin had attended a work group meeting and did site visits. She said the next step is to do business (to see if there is a need for the facility) & resident surveys. Jody said she needed to put out a press release to businesses and residents to identify long term property tax goals. Jody said the average mill levy for Bourbon County is 180.77 (which is the 11th highest in the state of Kansas). Jody suggested adding value to help reduce the mill levy and to obtain a long term goal (by 2030) of an average mill levy of 158.61. Lynne made a motion to accept this goal, Jeff seconded and the motion passed. Jody said that Jim Keller and Steve Buerge had both made contributions towards having the market demand study done.
Jeff Fischer discussed the St. Martins Academy on Indian Road; he said he had met with Daniel Kerr, Mr. Kerr said they did not want regulations or restrictions, but asked that the County place school zone signs (without restricting or reducing the speed limit at this time). Jim Harris recommended 45 mph since this was the current speed limit in the area. Jeff said that St. Martins had constructed a bridge and pathway for the students to use to keep them from walking on Indian Road. Jeff made a motion to direct Jim Harris to install school zone & warning signs with a 45 mph speed limit, Lynne seconded and the motion passed.
William Laporte from Hidden Valley met with the Commissioners; he said they have received good service from the Sheriff’s department. He said recently the club house alarm had gone off, but it was a false alarm; he said he wanted to contact the Sheriff’s department to notify them of the false alarm so they didn’t make the trip to Hidden Valley, but said he had to call 911 to cancel the call, but said his 911 call went to Linn County. He questioned if it was true that only 2 deputies were on duty at one time and asked if it was too expensive to add more deputies; Lynne said the tax payers do not want their taxes to go up. Mr. Laporte asked about Yale Road; Lynne said it would eventually be paved.
Sparky Schroeder met with the Commissioners and Jim Harris; he said the base on 230th is coming apart, Jim Harris said the asphalt came apart but said the base did not. Jim said they did a good job on the base of the road and said if it fails they will fix it. Mr. Schroeder said if it’s a blacktop issue, what are they doing to fix; Jim said it is unpredictable in what asphalt will do.
Mike & Judy Wilson met with the Commissioners regarding Unity & 75th Terrace; Mr. Wilson said the gravel had washed off of the road and said the road needs a crown or peak so that the water can run off. Jim Harris said they would view the road.
Justin Meeks reported that the City of Uniontown had accepted the real estate contract for the Noxious Weed building in Uniontown; he said he would discuss this at the next Commission meeting when Nick was present.
Lynne gave Justin Meeks permission to attend the KAC conference in November, Jeff seconded and the motion passed.
Justin Meeks discussed the tax sale and said that the tax sale is progressing; he said the publication for the tax sale cost $10,000.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 5 minute executive session for consultation with an attorney for the body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship, Jeff seconded the motion, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
At 11:23, Lynne made a motion to adjourn and Jeff seconded.
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS
Lynne Oharah, Chairman
Jeff Fischer, Commissioner
ATTEST:
Kendell Mason, Bourbon County Clerk
10/21/2019, Approved Date
October 8, 2019 Tuesday 9:00 am
The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with all three Commissioners, the County Counselor and the County Clerk present.
Tammy Helm with the Fort Scott Tribune was also present.
Rod Markin with Markin Consultants met with the Commissioners and Jody Hoener regarding a multi sport indoor arena in Bourbon County. Nancy and Kerry Van Etten were also present for this meeting. Markin Consultants specialize in multi sport indoor arenas. The first phase for Markin Consultants is to do a market demand analysis, look at possible sites, demographic trends, look at competitive factors, determine who would use the facility, talk to producers and promoters of events then develop a program or plan for the facility. Once phase one is complete, they would share this with the Commissioners to see if a complex is viable. Phase two is to do a market and financial feasibility study and look at the related economic impact. Phase one will cost $15,000 (this will take approximately 10-12 weeks) and phase two is $6,000. Mr. Markin said we need support from the local community. Jody Hoener felt the arena could help retain our population, businesses and help with sales tax. Mr. Markin discussed the fairground and the FSCC rodeo arena, he asked how those would be impacted if a multi sport arena was built; it was stated that they wouldn’t be affected since they are smaller and there’s no room for them to grow. Lynne suggested since Bourbon County was located at the crossroads of two highways and close to major cities this could possibly be a good option for our area.
Jim Harris met with the Commissioners; Jim discussed tires and the Landfill, he said he was going to reach out to other Landfills for options on disposing tires.
Jim said they were going to blast at the Beth Quarry this week and will then make asphalt chips. He said they are patching and hauling gravel around the County. Jim said he recommended to not lay anymore asphalt this year, he said the Sales Tax fund is done; Jim said they completed close to 18 lane miles of asphalt in 2019.
Nick made a motion to give Jim Harris permission to hire a replacement mower employee, Jeff seconded and all approved.
Jim said he met with Will Wallis; Will asked Jim for a burning station at the Landfill, Jim said he is getting the location ready.
Nick reported a plugged culvert on 145th North of 54 Highway.
Lynne asked Jim to look at an area between 85th & 95th and Xavier Road.
The Commissioners approved reclaiming the road to get some ditches, install culverts and cut tress (out of the County’s right of way) on the North side of KOA Campgrounds.
Jeff Fischer attended a renewable energy conference; he said wind and solar energy were discussed. Jeff suggested that Counties obtaining windmills should pay attention to roads; he said Allen County has approximately 60 windmills and are now doing the road restoration after the installation of the windmills. Transportation innovation was also discussed. Jeff will attend an APEX wind energy meeting on October 10th.
Jeff did a presentation about the Forward Kansas Visioning Transportation Futures meeting he attended; he said the meeting discussed many items and needs involving planning for future transportation. After his presentation, he questioned what the Commissioners should do differently to plan for future transportation.
The Commissioners briefly discussed the overtime to be paid on October 11th; for a two week period the Sheriff’s department had 199.00 hours, the Attorney’s department had 67.75 hours, the Correctional Center had 116.75 hours and Road and Bridge had 99.00 hours.
Lynne made a motion that the Commissioners approve Gold Mechanical to fix the HVAC system at the jail for $65,500, but want a contract to do the work and the contract needs a timeframe for completion and needs to have a guarantee that it will fix the problem, Nick seconded and all approved.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 5 minute executive session for personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Kendell Mason). After the session, Nick made a motion to authorize Kendell to replace a full time employee, Jeff seconded and all approved.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 10 minute executive session for consultation with an attorney for the body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
Jeff made a motion to go into a 5 minute executive session for personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Justin Meeks, Deb Schoenberger and Kendell Mason). No action was taken.
Jeff made a motion to give Lynne the authority to sign the Savvik Buying Group contract, Nick seconded and all approved.
At noon, Nick made a motion to adjourn for the day, Jeff seconded and all approved.
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS
Lynne Oharah, Chairman
Jeff Fischer, Commissioner
ATTEST: Nick Ruhl, Commissioner
Kendell Mason, Bourbon County Clerk
10/21/2019, Approved Date
