September 25, 2023 Monday, 5:30 p.m.
The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with all three Commissioners and the County Clerk present.
Mark McCoy, Emily Franks, Anne Dare, Kevin Davidson, Clint Walker, and Rachel Walker were present for some or all of the meeting.
Jim Harris opened the meeting with the flag salute followed by a prayer led by Mark McCoy.
Nelson made a motion to approve the consent agenda which includes approval of minutes from 9/18/23, approval of payroll totaling $338,719.44, and approval of accounts payable totaling $576,872.46. Jim seconded the motion, and all approved.
Clint Walker spoke of the recent passing of Bob Marshall and suggested the Commissioners lower the flag on Thursday to show respect for Mr. Marshall’s many years of service starting in the Marine Corps, serving the community and on various boards including FSCC, and his time as a Senator. Clint said Mr. Marshall would always talk to you no matter where you were and treated everybody with respect. Jim said they would take that into consideration.
Emily Franks, with Jarred, Gilmore, and Phillips, PA, presented the 2022 fiscal year audit. Emily went page by page explaining the information contained in the audit. Since the county spent more than $750,000 in federal funds there were federal requirements that they were obligated to follow to report and test for the single federal audit. Emily said the county has implemented changes and now reconciles and balances the accounts monthly to be in compliance which was an issue listed in prior audits.
Susan Walker requested a 10-minute executive session. Clifton made a motion to go into a 10-minute executive session under KSA 75-4319 (b)(1) to discuss personnel matters of individual nonelected personnel to protect their privacy to include all three Commissioners, Susan Walker, Jennifer Hawkins, and Justin Meeks and will return at 6:00. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved. Clifton made a motion to resume normal session at 6:00 with no action. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved.
Justin asked to amend the agenda for an executive session for attorney client privilege.
Clifton made a motion to amend the agenda to allow for an executive session for attorney client privilege. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved.
Clifton made a motion to go into a 5-minute executive session under KSA 75-4319 (b)(2) for consultation with an attorney for the public body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship to include all three Commissioners, and Justin Meeks and will return at 6:07. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved. Clifton made a motion to resume normal session at 6:07 with no action. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved.
The Commissioners discussed the health insurance benefits information that was presented last week while Nelson was out of town. Susan stated if they are going to leave the state pool they have to do so by October 1st. Jim asked if the opportunity to leave the state pool come up again next year and Susan said yes. Clifton said they will save more money in a year because we won’t have the penalty but they had a goal of having someone trained by now and $30,000-$40,000 would be burnt up quickly to hire a consultant to administer the plan. Clifton said personally he is in favor of leaving the state plan but it wouldn’t be much savings this year so we will probably have to keep what we have. Susan said the premiums for the state plan will not be changing next year. Nelson said it sounded like we don’t know enough to upset the apple cart with something as important as insurance. Clifton said the plan we would be going to is almost identical to what we have and after the penalty we would have approximately $58,000 in savings but we have no staff to administer at this point. Clifton said his goal would be to have the staff ready next year to administer. Jim said they have been talking of leaving the state plan for three years and asked why aren’t we ready after three years. Jim made a motion to leave the state employee health plan and go with a private carrier. Nelson seconded the motion with discussion. Nelson said our staff has indicated they can’t do it right now without hiring someone else and if we could do it without hiring someone else, he would be all for it. Clifton said we can point fingers but at the end of the day it would fall on Jennifer and Susan and in his opinion they have so much on their plate already they have been unable to do it. Clifton said it is not their fault why we are not ready. Jim said he is not blaming anybody but we should have done a better job in planning. Clifton said in his opinion they are doing everything they can in their power, we just had a good audit so thank you to Patty, Susan, and Jennifer. Clifton said the problems from they are dealing with from the past has kept them from other priorities that would benefit this county. Jim asked all in favor of his motion to leave the state employee health plan with the motion failing 1-2.
Eric Bailey, Public Works Director, said they lost a fence at the shop due to the windstorm over the weekend and there were several trees downed near the shop. Yale Road has been milled with only a one-foot strip left to be completed. Nelson said he heard about it all the way in South Korea. Eric said the company doing the work had a cancellation which is why the work was done on short notice. Eric said he has spoken to and emailed several residents in the area. Nelson said the concern of the residents is that we won’t get one mile of asphalt laid there next year. Eric said he can propose it and it is up to the Commissioners to make it happen during the hard surface road work session but he hopes to get to Eagle Road and one mile on Yale Road. Jim asked if it would be the east or west mile and Nelson said he would have to see what the residents want. Nelson asked when the work session would be for the hard surface roads and Eric said it is usually held in February or March. Nelson thanked Eric for responding to all the emails from the residents of Yale Road.
Justin Meeks asked for a 7-minute executive session for contracts. Clifton made a motion to go into a 10-minute executive session under KSA 75-4319 (b)(4) to discuss data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trust and individual proprietorships to include all three Commissioners, Eric Bailey, and Justin Meeks and will return at 6:32. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved. Nelson made a motion to resume normal session at 6:32 with action. Jim seconded the motion and all approved.
Nelson made a motion to allow the County Counselor to re-write the contract at Beth Quarry. Jim seconded the motion. Clifton abstained. The motion passed 2-1. Clifton stated he has no benefit from this as it is his mother’s land and contract. Jim said we ran out of room to do more blasts and that is why we have to do this.
Justin Meeks asked for a 20-minute executive session. Clifton made a motion to go into a 20-minute executive session under KSA 75-4319 (b)(2) for consultation with an attorney for the public body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship to include all three Commissioners, and Justin Meeks and will return at 6:55. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved. Clifton made a motion to resume normal session at 6:55 with no action. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved.
Clifton made a motion to go into executive session for 10 minutes under KSA 75-4319(b)(2) for consultation with an attorney for the public body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship and will return at 7:07. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved. The County Clerk asked who would be included in the executive session so Clifton made an amendment to the motion to go into executive session to include all three Commissioners and County Counselor Justin Meeks. Nelson seconded the motion stating the 10-minutes would end at 6:08 now and all approved. Nelson made a motion to resume normal session at 7:08 with no action. Clifton seconded the motion and all approved.
Clifton made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:08. Nelson seconded the motion and all approved.
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS
___________________, Chairman
___________________, Commissioner
ATTEST: ___________________, Commissioner
Jennifer Hawkins, Bourbon County Deputy Clerk
10-2-2023 Approved Date