Lynne Oharah’s concern about the county declaring Unique Road open was the first item of business the commission handled after opening its meeting with regular county business.
Oharah wants the portion of Unique Road that adjoins his land to be declared open by the commission. He says that the procedures for closing a road, per KSA68102 or 102a are “very specific on how roads are closed,” and that the road portion he is concerned about has not been officially closed by the county.
He wanted to address an issue he said should be uniform throughout the county. He mentioned three roads (Quail and two sections of Unity) that the county stopped maintaining during his tenure as commissioner. He says they were arbitrarily closed and had their signage removed.
“You can’t do that. That’s not in the KSAs,” he said.
He referred to a certified survey from 1973, which he provided to the county commissioners, saying that the pins on the survey denote there is a 40 foot right of way between the two fences, which is the county road Unique.
“I don’t care what GIS shows. The pins don’t lie,” said Oharah.
He wants the county to direct the clerk to update its records, as the county is responsible for providing an accurate map of the county to the state. He said the title company would not accept the survey without the county also declaring the road to be open.
He says there is a discrepancy between the 2011 map and the 2012 map, which is what the public works director at that time “ran with.”
Beerbower said that because Oharah’s neighbor had his lawyer contact the county’s counselor, they couldn’t discuss the matter in an open meeting.
“Part of that land is mine, so I am requesting — I am not represented by legal counsel — I’m requesting that my portion of this road be opened,” said Oharah.
“Time is of the essence. Because I’m down to the wire,” said Oharah, referring to his efforts to sell some of his land.
He said that the commission didn’t need legal counsel to make a decision.
“We’re going to seek advice before we proceed any further,” said Beerbower, referring to the fact that they were dealing with the actions of past commissioners.
Oharah asked the commission to consider holding a special meeting if something were to happen that would jeopardize the sale of his land.
Tri-Valley – Bill Fiscus
Fiscus thanked the county for its support of Tri-Valley over the years. At the last meeting they spoke of a missed payment for Tri-Valley from 2024 for $13,750. The current agreement is for $55,000. They have also requested $55,000 in 2026.
He asked if they would receive that missed payment and how will it affect the 2025 and 2026 allocations.
County Clerk Susan Walker said the carryover from the missed payment was taken out of the budget in the last county commissioner meeting. She said a normal levy for Tri-County is 0.3 and the county is now levying 0.26.
The commission opted to discuss it during budget discussions later in the meeting.
Derek Raines
Raines spoke of the problems his family is having with EvoTech, a bitcoin company, which put in natural gas generators 172 yards from his house about 18 months ago. They run the generators continuously, 24/7. Inside the house, it’s 59-61 decibels, 54 dB in the back porch, and 73-74 on the front deck. He said the hum is constant in the house and they cannot open the windows.
The Raines had lived in their home for five years before EvoTech moved in and started running their generators.
Raines said he contacted the undersheriff who guided him to McCloud, in Jefferson County, KS. He then spoke to Doug Walbridge, who offered his assistance to the Bourbon County Commission to get this issue regulated.
“It’s just overbearing. We moved to the country from town for the peace and quiet,” he said. It’s bringing their property value down.
He said his parents can hear it 2 miles away.
He offered to get a petition signed or whatever else might help.
“It’s messing up our little piece of heaven,” he said.
He said he spoke to his state representative today as well, and plans to speak to KDHE also.
He mentioned that he pays more taxes to the county than EvoTech.
Tran asked what would need to happen to make it work for the neighborhood. Raines said it needs to be made so they can’t hear it.
Beerbower said the commission was looking into all the options and would keep working on the problem.
Sheriff Bill Martin & Ben Hart
Enterprise Fleet Management – Kenneth Olsen
Olsen represents Enterprise Fleet Management, which is working on an allocation for Chevy Tahoe police vehicles to replace vehicles in the sheriff’s current fleet.
Commissioner Mika Milburn asked how it would affect the 2026 budget. Olsen said they have a five-year plan to replace all the sheriff’s department vehicles for an average of $163,000 per year.
The funding for the new vehicles would come from the jail sales tax. Walker handed out a budget spreadsheet showing how the sheriff’s department budget would work.
Beerbower was in favor of adopting the leasing plan from Enterprise.
Tran expressed concern about the issue of balancing budget creep with the need to provide the sheriff’s department with reliable equipment.
Olsen said his company wants to create a partnership with the county. The county isn’t locked into the five-year plan Enterprise has proposed, but a flexible relationship bringing good data to the county to help them make wise decisions about vehicles going forward.
“This is a hard pill to swallow, but this is a pill we are going to have to swallow,” said Tran. He also asked that Ben and County Counselor Bob Johnson look over any contract before the county signs it to be sure there’s no fine print that will cause the county problems going forward.
Olsen also asked about getting a contract to work with the Public Works department, as his team prefers to have two departments involved. He said their vehicles’ average age is 2008.
Public Comments for Items Not on The Agenda
Susan Walker, County Clerk, corrected a statement she made at the previous meeting that commissioners must make $5,000. That’s not by statute, but a necessity to qualify for KPRS.
She also wanted to respond to comments Milburn made that Walker felt were directed at her. She was getting $6,500 to administer the county’s payroll, but that job is being transferred to an outside company, PayEntry.
Walker also said that the clerk’s office never handled HR issues, just activities and job descriptions. Bourbon County was lacking an HR department to handle disciplinary issues. She welcomes having someone from outside the county handle those issues. In the past, those issues were handled by the commission and the county counselor as the de facto administrators. “That was not something that was handled in the clerk’s office,” she stated.
“To say that I was the one directing the budget and the budget decisions is a misstatement,” she said, referring to Milburn’s commissioner comments in the last regular meeting.
The county had been paying her $3,500 to enter the budget numbers given her by department heads into the county’s budget document. The auditor offered to do it for $6,500.
Walker also expressed concern about PayEntry. There are several factors she was hesitant about in the process, and wasn’t consulted or allowed to ask questions during the meeting when it was discussed.
The kickoff meeting to transfer payroll to PayEntry was last week. One county employee took a whole day taking screen shots to give them data that could not be pulled from the system. PayEntry will charge $40 per pay period for those employees that are asking for paper checks. The county can require them to take pay cards or direct deposits instead.
PayEntry will only support child support garnishments, but there are other garnishments that the county will have process.
There are several exceptions to the rules that must be set up including grants that are used to make some parts of payroll.
Oct. 3rd is not a reasonable timeframe to be able to start up.
“What I have essentially come down to is: What we are doing, is we are paying a company to cut payroll checks and file federal and state taxes for us and that’s probably the easiest process for us to do,” she concluded. Her office will still have to do the benefit reconciliations, which is the most challenging part of the county’s payroll process. If she had been involved in this process from the beginning, the county might not be in this situation.
Milburn replied by saying that her comments were “a complication of a lot of things that needed addressed.”