April 5, 2022 Tuesday at 6 pm
The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with Commissioner Harris,
Commissioner Oharah and the County Clerk. They were present for the entire meeting.
Commissioner Beth was present for a portion of the meeting.
Also present for the meeting were, (some were present for a portion of the meeting, some were
present for the entire meeting) Matt Quick, Susan Bancroft, Justin Meeks, Deanne Weir,
Charlotte Ernest, Debra Matt, Earl Capp, Vicki Capp, Kim LaPorte, David Scharenberg, Dan
Laughlin, Steven Hall, Jan Laughlin, Ronald Burton, Jarad Lord, Donald Coffman, Clint Walker,
Mike Hueston, Alyssa Firley, William Peters, Nadine Leach, Butch Leach, Fred Larson,
Woodrow Brown, and Brandon Whisenhunt.
Jim thanked everyone for coming.
Lynne made a motion to approve the previous weeks minutes as well as the work session. Jim
seconded. Jim and Lynne approved.
Eric Bailey presented a permit for Josh Query at 2504 Limestone Rd for an entry culvert. Lynne
made a motion to approve the permit. Jim seconded. Jim and Lynne approved.
Eric reported that they were able to get Elm Creek burned. He said that they have started
crushing at Thomas Quarry. Eric said that Schwab Eaton had been in town looking at the low
water crossings and are finishing up and they should have that report back in about a month. Eric
asked the commissioners if they were still planning to have a hard surface meeting next week.
They all agreed that they wanted to have a meeting next week following the regular commission
meeting. Eric reported that IEA is finishing up on the punch list regarding the windmill project
and should be turning the roads back over soon.
Hay bids were opened. Jim made a motion to approve the highest bid for each property which are
as follows:
Elm Creek – Joe Tirri $3357.00
Native Road – Steve Sinn $251.00
Tower – Steve Sinn $25.00
Lynne seconded. Jim and Lynne approved.
Lynne Made a motion to go into executive session under 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, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in this room and
will be for 7 minutes returning at 6:18 pm and will include Commissioners Harris and Oharah
(Commissioner Beth was not present) and Justin Meeks. Jim seconded and Jim and Lynne
approved.
Lynne made a motion to return to normal session at 6:18 pm with no action. Jim seconded. Jim
and Lynne approved.
Lynne Made a motion to go into executive session under KSA 75-4319(b)(4) to discuss data
relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts and individual
proprietorships, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in this room at
6:26 pm. Included will be Commissioners Harris and Oharah (Commissioner Beth was not
present), Justin Meeks, and Susan Bancroft. Jim seconded. Jim and Lynne approved.
Lynne made a motion to resume normal session at 6:26 pm with action. Jim seconded. Jim and
Lynne approved. Lynne made a motion to allow Justin Meeks and Susan Bancroft to work
together on a partnership regarding Elm Creek. Jim seconded. Jim and Lynne approved.
Lynne made a motion to go into executive session under 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 this room at 6:34 pm. The session
will be for 5 minutes and include Commissioners Harris and Oharah (Commissioner Beth was
not present) Justin Meeks and Susan Bancroft. Jim seconded. Jim and Lynne approved.
Lynne made a motion to resume normal session at 6:34 pm. Jim seconded. Jim and Lynne
approved.
Commissioner Beth joined the meeting.
Justin said that they are asking the commissioners to change the title for Shane Walker to Chief
Information Officer and Susan Bancroft to Chief Financial Officer. He said there is no change in
pay, only the title, and it is to encompass all of their job titles into one. Jim made a motion to
change Shane Walkers title to Chief Information Officer and Susan Bancroft to Chief Financial
Officer. Clifton seconded. All approved.
Susan Bancroft said that she has a letter from I AM REHAB requesting to renew their contract
for another year which would take it through May of 2023. Clifton asked when the contract for
Via Christi renews. Susan said she believed that it was in August. Lynne made a motion to renew
the contract for I AM REHAB for another year. Clifton seconded. All approved.
Susan said that they need to elect one of the commissioners as a voting delegate for the KAC.
She said that they are wanting to add an HR group to the organization and one of them would
need to complete to voting form. Clifton made a motion to allow Jim as the voting delegate for
KAC. Lynne seconded. All approved.
Susan said that based on the appraisal of the medical building done during the feasibility study,
that it appraised for much more than they anticipated and that the amount of insurance needs to
be increased to at least $7 million in coverage on the building itself. Clifton made a motion to
increase the amount of coverage on the medical building to $7 million. Lynne seconded. All
approved.
Susan asked if they would be interested in doing a joint KOMA training with the City of Fort
Scott. Clifton said that he and Lynne had already been through the training and are not interested
in doing it again at this time. Jim said he would possibly participate depending on his schedule.
Public Comment:
Vicki Capp asked what the plan is for Yale Road? Are they going to fix it and repave it or turn it
into gravel and leave it gravel? Eric said that the base on Yale Road is failing and it would have
to be taken back to gravel and the base needs to be rebuilt before it would be able to be repaved.
That is the plan for it, but at this time, nothing has been decided and they are having a meeting
next week to address the plan for hard surface roads. Vicki asked if the one cent sales tax was
still in place to help maintain the road? Susan said that it is still in place but is for all roads. Jim
explained that when the sales tax was passed that it was enough to maintain what was already
paved. Then they added more miles of paved roads and it is hard to keep up with it all and find
money to maintain it all. There are roads in every part of the county that need attention. David
Scharenberg asked if all three of the commissioners supported repaving Yale Road. Lynne said
that has always been his plan was to repave it. Jim said that each district should see 1/3 of the
sales tax money and he would support what Lynne wanted to do with the 1/3 he receives for his
district. Clifton said he had roads in his district that are bad too and need repaired and they would
do the best they could with what they have. There was more discussion regarding the road
conditions in the northwestern part of the county.
Ronald Burton asked about the county helping with Union Street on the edge of Mapleton. Justin
said they cannot do that because it is the city limits and that would be competing with the private
sector. He asked if he could close it to through traffic when it gets too bad? Justin said yes since
it was in the city limits. He asked if he annexed it out of the city then would the county maintain
it? Justin answered that then it would be a county road and they would be responsible for
maintaining it.
Mike Hueston asked if the commission could recap the presentation that was given by Nobel
since they were unable to attend that meeting. Clifton talked about the highlights of the
information given by Noble. Hueston asked about the condition of the ambulance wearing out
and need replaced. Clifton said that this something they will have to evaluate and get a plan in
place. He said that the county has purchased one new ambulance but the others were given by
Mercy and they cannot give them or sell them for a certain timeframe.
Commissioners Comments:
Lynne said that they are working on getting a cell tower up in that area and getting internet for
everyone in that area. He said that he wanted to keep taxes the same and not have to increase
them. He thanked everyone for coming.
Clifton thanked everyone for coming to the meeting.
Jim thanked everyone for coming and was glad they had a good turnout. He said that they are
planning to keep having meetings at outside locations and since they had a good turnout would
be back at Mapleton again. He said that they are going to work hard to keep taxes from raising.
Clifton made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Lynne seconded. All approved.
Meeting adjourned at 7:33 pm
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS
(ss) Jim Harris, Chairman
(ss) Lynne Oharah, Commissioner
(ss) Clifton Beth, Commissioner