February 4, 2020 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, Julie Saker and Michael Hoyt were also present for a portion of the meeting.
Jim Harris, Jerad Heckman and Shane Walker met with the Commissioners to discuss a road at 75th & Victory Road; Shane said the KDOT map shows it as unimproved, dirt, unmaintained road. The Commissioners said they need to look at the deed to see if there is a right of way there.
Richard Womelsdorf met with the Commissioners to discuss whether a road at 115th & Tomahawk was an open or closed road; they said they would have to look at the deed to determine if there was a right of way there as well.
Jim Harris met with the Commissioners to discuss a 1998 New Holland Tractor with a blown motor; he said R&R would give the County $7,500 for it as is or it could be used as a trade in on a new tractor. Nick made a motion for Jim to get bids for a new tractor using the 1998 New Holland as a trade in, Jeff seconded and all approved.
Jeff Fischer discussed a map that Coffey County uses regarding their pavement management program; he felt a map similar to this could be beneficial to Bourbon County.
Jeff said that Larry Shead had asked for an update regarding 250th & Deer Road; Jim said there wasn’t enough room to install the recommending culverts. Jeff asked that Jim provide him with the hydraulic study of the area.
Lynne discussed trees being trimmed at 145th & Jayhawk; Jerad Heckman said a power company was doing work there not the County.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 15 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, Jody Hoener, Justin Meeks and City of Fort Scott employees Robert Uhler and Susan Bancroft). No action was taken.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 15 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, Jody Hoener, Justin Meeks and City of Fort Scott employees Robert Uhler and Susan Bancroft). No action was taken.
Jeff Fischer read an article provided to him from the Iola Newspaper discussing the wind farms in Allen County and mechanics liens between the contractor and subcontractors. The PILOT program for Allen County is $250,000 which is equal to 1,250 per megawatt). The size of the wind farm field in Allen County is the same as Bourbon County.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 10 minute executive session for personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Justin Meeks and Shane Walker). No action was taken.
Greg Schick met with the Commissioners to discuss the upcoming tax sale on February 14th and the Land Bank; Jeff said he is on the Land Bank board and there was a meeting at 5 pm tonight. There was a discussion over the tax sale list; Mr. Schick said the Treasurer told him there would be additional interest and fees charged that isn’t on the list; Justin said there would be additional interest that continues to accrue daily. Mr. Schick said in the past he had bought several properties from the tax sales. Justin discussed the Land Bank; he said properties out in the County will not go into the Land Bank and said the Land Bank can choose what tax sale properties (located in the City of Fort Scott) it wants. Justin discussed the title company’s policy saying that if they don’t get personal service, then they may not get title insurance for 15 years; he said this created a market of properties that couldn’t get title insurance. He said he wasn’t responsible for a clear title to the properties. Justin said the Commissioners goal is to get the properties back on the tax roll. Currently there are no properties in the Land Bank.
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, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
At 12:13, Nick made a motion to break for lunch and reconvene at 1:30, Lynne seconded and all approved.
Jeff Fischer gave a presentation, present for this discussion were Paulette Albright, Kim Simons, Lynn Robinson, David Snow, Janice Bailey, Mary Pemberton, Nancy Van Etten, Mike Wunderly, Reitha Clark, Barbara Sevart, Anne Dare, Michael Hoyt, Mark McCoy, Brent Smith and Tim Emmerson. In the presentation, Jeff discussed calculating an effective tax rate, he discussed Coffey County and how a large portion of their taxes are paid by the utility companies. He compared other Counties value and what portion of their value is made up by utilities. Appraiser Clint Anderson discussed how land value is calculated. Jeff compared the higher mill rates in Bourbon County verses other neighboring counties. The goal for Bourbon County is to lower the tax rate; this can be done by adding valuation.
Tim Emmerson said he had lived here for 46 years; he said he is against windmills and said he would hate to think the whole atmosphere could change with the windmills. He said he believes in economic development, but said the windmills won’t bring people here but felt people will move away. He said Wyoming is building a landfill to bury the windmill blades. He felt Bourbon County needed zoning and restrictions for when businesses want to locate here to protect the landowners here.
Kim Simons said she had taken a tour of a wind farm in Allen County; she said she had met landowners that have wind farms on their property. She said their property had the following liens (between the property owner and businesses) on them… $5.3 million for a crane company, $1.8 million for a rock quarry, a lien from a lube company and another lien coming from another crane company. She said this landowner had not received their lease payment yet. She said she thought the Commissioners needed to listen to the ones that want the windmills, but also listen to the ones that will have to live around them, Jeff Fischer said he agreed. Justin Meeks said if anyone has any legal questions they should seek legal counsel.
Mary Pemberton had previously presented contracts used in Neosho County regarding the wind farms, she asked if the Commissioners had reviewed them; Jeff said they are being used to help with the wind farm negotiations for Bourbon County.
Mike Wunderly said he didn’t care what the leases said, but was concerned about what the wind farms could do to the rest of Bourbon County.
Emergency Manager Will Wallis met with the Commissioners to discuss the 2019 Coronavirus; he recently had a meeting with KDHE regarding the virus. According to KDHE people who have been diagnosed have reported symptoms that may appear in as few as 2 or 14 days after the exposure to the virus. Currently there are no vaccines available to prevent the infection nor are there any medications approved for the virus. Most people with mild coronavirus will recover on their own by drinking plenty of fluids, resting and taking pain and fever medications; however some will develop pneumonia and require medical care or hospitalization. Will said if the virus comes here, they would need to quarantine and isolate the patients. Will suggested using Mercy Hospital as a place to isolate them and asked that the Commissioners start a conversation with Mercy representatives regarding using the hospital. Will said he needed to put together a plan and do a cost analysis to operate the facility if needed.
Justin Meeks informed the Commissioners that there would be property at Hidden Valley Lake included in a tax sale in the future.
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, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Justin Meeks and Shane Walker). No action was taken.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 15 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, Justin Meeks and Shane Walker). No action was taken.
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, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Justin Meeks and Shane Walker). No action was taken.
At 4:22, Nick made a motion to adjourn, Jeff seconded and all approved.
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS
(ss) Lynne Oharah, Chairman
(ss) Jeff Fischer, Commissioner
(ss) Nick Ruhl, Commissioner
ATTEST:
Kendell Mason, Bourbon County Clerk
