February 23, 2021 Tuesday 9:00 am
The Bourbon County Commission met in open session at Fort Scott City Hall with all three Commissioners and the County Counselor present, the County Clerk was able to watch the meeting live on YouTube.
Also present were the following (some were present for a portion of the meeting and some were present for the entire meeting); Jason Silvers with the Fort Scott Tribune, Jody Hoener, Mr. & Mrs. Clint Walker, Anne Dare, Susan Bancroft and Steve Hill.
Lynne made a motion to amend the agenda to meet with Eric Bailey before approving the prior meeting minutes, Clifton seconded and all approved.
Eric Bailey presented a culvert application for Clifton Beth for a location at 2236 215th St, he said Clifton has the culvert and rock and wants the County to install the culvert; Jim Harris said to his knowledge they have never allowed this, after discussion, Jim made a motion to approve the application, Lynne seconded and all approved and signed the application.
Eric said they needed to place an order for culverts and said Bo’s 1 Stop bid was lower than Wellborn Sales; Clifton made a motion to approve the quote for $42,750 from Bo’s 1 Stop, Jim seconded and all approved the motion.
Eric said the crusher is now working again and will be crushing rock soon. They are finishing removing the overburden at the Beth Quarry. Eric said they took the Mack truck for hydraulic valve repairs to be made. He said they are testing the Sterling Truck for issues and are still waiting on quotes for repairs to the trailer that was recently involved in an accident.
Lynne made a motion to amend the agenda to move Jessie Walker up on the agenda, Clifton seconded and all approved. Jessie questioned the road closures the County has been discussing; he asked if the County would be having public meetings when doing the road closures and asked how the landowners would be notified, Lynne said the people involved would be notified by the County Clerk and said if there are any road closings/openings the Commission want to do they will go through the landowners and there will be public hearings. Jessie asked what type of input the Commissioners expected from the public, Lynne said there is a set procedure for road closings/openings and they will go through that procedure. Jessie questioned if closing roads would discourage others from coming to the area to build homes, Jim said if it’s a private road, they will close the road by following procedure. Jessie questioned if the Commissioners have the control over the amount of maintenance a road requires what is the point of closing the road. Justin Meeks said the issue they have been researching is whether a road is closed or not, Jessie questioned the County closing roads that they have been maintaining; Justin said it is not an issue of closing or opening a road, the issue is if they are already opened on closed roads. Justin said just because the County has been maintaining a road does not mean it is an open road. Justin said if a road was legally closed and a landowner wanted to open the road the landowner would have to petition to re-open the road. Justin said they have been reviewing Jessie’s road, but still don’t know if his road is an open or closed road.
Jim made a motion to amend the agenda to move the scheduled meeting with Hubert Thomas since Hubert was at the meeting, Clifton seconded and all approved. Hubert said he wanted to inform the Commissioners that the water district was installing a water meter at the Landfill. Hubert questioned if it was true that the County was going to hire an assistant to the road supervisor; Lynne said a motion was made in August of 2020 to hire both a public works director and an assistant. Hubert questioned if our County was so big we needed two people for this job. After a brief discussion Lynne made a motion to amend the agenda to allow for a 7 minute executive session for KSA 75-4319(b)(1)to discuss personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel to protect their privacy regarding a job performance issue, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room at 9:41, Jim seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Hubert Thomas, Susan Bancroft and Justin Meeks). Lynne made a motion to come out of executive session and resume the meeting, Clifton seconded and all approved.
Lynne had scheduled an executive session regarding non-elected personnel, but made a motion to replace the scheduled executive session with an open discussion regarding personnel and the economic development position, Clifton seconded and all approved. Lynne said it had been quite a journey since Jody Hoener was hired part time in 2018 for economic development. He said her first day on the job is when the hospital announced its closing, the County was then tasked with taking on the ambulance by March 1st and met that goal, he said other issues she has helped with were the windmills coming to Bourbon County, the Neighborhood Revitalization Program, grant funds, BWERK program and dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. Lynne said the County had moved economic development to BEDCO; he said BEDCO has a board that includes all cities in Bourbon County, the Chamber and the Commissioners. He said BEDCO has been going through a hiring process for the economic development position. Lynne said he felt it is a sad day since they are coming to an end of an era with the County Economic Development position. Lynne said Jody had done a lot for Bourbon County and presented her with a Certificate of Appreciation. Lynne said they were giving Jody a two week notice due to a reduction in force. Jody said she was excited to be at this point, she said she has applied for the BEDCO economic development position. Clifton told Jody she had done a phenomenal job.
Jody Hoener said she had been the contact regarding the ambulance service; she said Susan Bancroft will now be the contact person. She said the County needed a policy in place regarding taking payments for ambulance service. Lynne asked Susan to make a recommendation to the Commissioners next week regarding OMNI and the collection process.
The Commissioners reviewed and approved some vouchers for payment.
Lynne made a motion to amend the agenda for a 12 minute executive session for KSA 75-4319(b)(2) for consultation with an attorney for the body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship regarding possible litigation, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room at 10:05, Clifton seconded the motion and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). At 10:05, Lynne made a motion to come out of the executive session and resume the meeting, Clifton seconded and all approved.
Jim made a motion to amend the agenda to have a 10 minute executive session for KSA 75-4319(b)(1)to discuss personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel to protect their privacy, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room at 10:16, Clifton seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners). Lynne made a motion to come out of executive session and resume the meeting, Clifton seconded and all approved.
Justin Meeks said he had the Commissioners KOMA Zoom training scheduled for March 23rd at 10:30 during the Commission meeting.
Justin discussed the tax sale; he said once the petition is filed all of the back taxes would have to be paid on a property in order for someone to redeem their property. He said the Treasurer had collected over $300,000 in back taxes since the demand letters were sent.
Justin said he would be meeting with the Register of Deeds regarding a road vacation issue.
The Commissioners opened the meeting up for public comment; Anne Dare thanked the Commissioners for having an evening meeting last week and said she would appreciate the Commissioners doing this again.
Clifton thanked the City for allowing the County to use their Commission meeting to hold their Commission meeting since the County Commission room was being used for advance voting.
At 10:21 Clifton made a motion to adjourn, Jim seconded and all approved.
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS
(ss) Lynne Oharah, Chairman
(ss) Jim Harris, Commissioner
(ss) Clifton Beth, Commissioner
ATTEST:
Kendell Mason, Bourbon County Clerk
March 9, 2021, Approved Date