Bourbon County Commission Minutes from June 4 and June 7

June 7, 2019                                                             Friday 9:30

The Bourbon County Commission met in open session for a special meeting to discuss the recent emergency declaration. Present for the meeting were Lynne Oharah and Jeff Fischer (by telephone) as well as the County Clerk.

Tammy Helm with the Fort Scott Tribune was also present.

Emergency Manager Will Wallis met with the Commissioners; Lynne made a motion to appoint Will Wallis as the coordinator for the disaster relief effort, Jeff seconded and the motion passed.

The meeting adjourned at 9:34 am.

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

06/11/2019, Approved Date

 

June 4, 2019                                                   Tuesday 9:00 am

The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with Commissioners Oharah and Fischer present, the County Counselor and the County Clerk present.

Tammy Helm with the Fort Scott Tribune and Jody Hoener were also present for a portion of the meeting.

Arnold Schofield met with the Commissioners, Jim Harris and Jerad Heckman; Arnold thanked Jody Hoener for working with Union Pacific to obtain the right-of-way for the trail. He also reported potholes on Jayhawk going east; Jim Harris said they will be back working on Jayhawk soon.

Jeremiah Hill met with the Commissioners (Steve Hill was also present for this meeting), Jim Harris and Jerad Heckman; he questioned if the Commissioners had made a decision regarding work to be done to Rocher, Marco and Justice Lane. Jeff discussed the hard surface road maintenance program information they had received, he suggested prioritizing roads to be overlaid based on traffic count and pavement rating. Jeff said he didn’t think it was all of the taxpayer’s responsibility to pave roads in the subdivision, but perhaps divide the costs among the neighbors in the subdivision. Lynne said they have to be careful regarding decisions on what to do with the roads, he said they have been warned that the County has paved too much in the past, the County has approximately 140 miles of paved roads. Jeremiah questioned 125th south of Mapleton, he presented pictures that suggested there wasn’t a base under this road, he said this road looks like Eagle did, he questioned if the work that has been done to 125th will last if there isn’t a base. Jeremiah asked when the potholes would be filled going east through Garland to the Stateline; Jim said this is on the list and said he receives direction from the Commissioners on where to work. Jim said the same staff does the overlaying that does the patching so the patching will stop once the overlaying starts. The wet weather that the County has had has delayed road maintenance. Jeremiah presented a picture of fence at the intersection east of the Diamond Church that had been burnt; Jim said his employees have been directed not to burn and said he would address this issue.

Ed & Beth Guss from the City of Redfield met with the Commissioners; Bourbon County had previously agreed to donate up to $2,000 worth of culvert to the City of Redfield, Ed presented a list of culverts needed for Redfield. Ed discussed sewer manholes on the south edge of Redfield; he said they are underwater and said the water doesn’t have anywhere to drain. Jim agreed to meet with them on June 6th to determine if the roads are city or county roads. Ed requested top soil for the ball field; Jim said the County did not have any top soil and suggested they contact someone else for this. Ed requested that the County cut the shoulders of the roads inside the Redfield city limits; the Commissioners said they would have to discuss this, but suggested they contact a contractor for this.

Lynne made a motion to go into a 15 minute executive session for personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel, Jeff seconded, motion passed, (the session included the Commissioners, Jim Harris, Jerad Heckman and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.

Nancy Van Etten and Mark McCoy arrived at the meeting.

Lynne asked that Jim contact Mark Stewart regarding Quail and 55th.

Jeff made a motion to approved the 2019 fireworks permits for Jake’s Fireworks at Wall & Goodlander, Jake’s Fireworks at 2322 S. Main, Crazy Debbie’s at 2500 S. Main & Hales Fireworks at 2409 S. Main, Lynne seconded, motion passed.

The Commissioners reviewed the received 2018 annual summaries from the townships, cemeteries, fire districts and watersheds; Jeff made a motion to approve the received 2018 annual summaries, Lynne seconded and the motion passed.

Lynne discussed the Noxious Weed building in Uniontown; he said the Commissioners previously discussed donating this building to the City of Uniontown to be used for their maintenance building, Lynne said he felt the Commissioners want to move forward with the donation; Justin said he would do a contract for this donation. The Commissioners plan to approve the contract for the donation on June 18th.

Mark McCoy met with the Commissioners, Jim Harris and Jerad Heckman; he questioned why Bourbon County had not participated in a disaster declaration due to the recent 15” or more of rain and storms that the County had received. Mark said he understood there was damage in the City of Fort Scott as well; the calculated cost (in the County and the Cities in Bourbon County) to return the existing roads to the condition prior to the damage from the heavy rains could possibly be eligible for assistance from the disaster recovery, he estimated the threshold to be $56,500. Mark said the money can be recoverable if a disaster relief is declared and accepted. Lynne said he had spoken to the City of Fort Scott and said they didn’t plan to declare a disaster; the City of Bronson had no damage to declare. Lynne made a motion to adopt Resolution 13-19; an emergency disaster declaration for Bourbon County, Jeff seconded the motion. Jim Harris said he would pull records of work done due to the storms. Jeff made a motion to give Lynne permission to contact the City of Fort Scott regarding the storm damage in Fort Scott, Lynne seconded the motion.

Lynne made a motion to go into a 20 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.

Lynne made a motion to go into a 7 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 and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.

At 12:16, Jeff made a motion to adjourn, Lynne seconded, motion passed.

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

06/11/2019, Approved Date

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