August 9, 2022 Tuesday 9:00 am
The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with two Commissioners (Jim Harris and
Clifton Beth) and the County Clerk present.
Susan Bancroft, Michael Hoyt, Teri Hulsey, Trace V. Evans, Austin Bahr, Alvin Metcalf, Kevin
Davidson, Bill Martin, Jason E Silvers, Mark McCoy, Matt Quick and Brian Allen were present
for some or all of the meeting.
Clifton made a motion to approve meeting minutes from July 18th, July 26th and July 29th. Jim
seconded. All approved.
Eric Bailey stated that the asphalting on 55th to Yellowstone to Zinc is finished. We are now up
on Maple 45th and Native area west of Uniontown. We are working on base coat and then we’ll
put the leveling coat on. Update on compost permit. I got an e-mail from Emery and he said I
received no comments regarding the addition of the compost facility so he is going to begin the
processing the application to go through concurrence to get signed permit which requires 8
signatures plus the signed permit. If he forgets to update me on the signature process, he said to
feel free to contact him. That tells me we are going to be a little while yet. Prairie Pathways
have been in touch with me regarding signs. You approved the signs going west and now they
are ready for the signs going east. Clifton made a motion for sign placement. Jim seconded. All
approved. Eric provided an updated map of roadside mowing and an update of where they are
with that. Eric stated between Tomahawk 205th and 185th have done some crossroad tubes and
are working on some ditching. Kansas west of Hwy 3 is the same thing with crossroad tubes,
one entry tube and ditching there as well. The stop sign at 240th & Jayhawk has been replaced.
Jim thanked Eric for including him in on the meeting with Van Keppel Equipment we are on our
way to a new engine for our paver at a very reduced cost. Jim asked Eric what his thoughts were
on a belly dump. Jim stated that when you’re asphalting, you’re not hauling any gravel. We’ve
been lucky but if we get into a wet winter, we’re in trouble. Eric said he had no problem with
buying another belly dump but wanted to set down with Susan and see where we are with the
budget. Fuel has been very hard on us this year with the fluctuating prices. Clifton said that he
was in Crawford County on gravel roads recently and our roads are no better but no worse. Our
roads are as good or better than the roads I was on.
Bill Martin stated a couple of weeks ago there was an individual questioning the investigation in
regards to some drugs that were seized and questioning the ability. I’ve invited Deputy Metcalf
and Kevin Davidson that are the drug detectives for the sheriff’s office and they will explain how
this process works. Kevin Davidson said he was here to clear up the fuzzy number’s
information. We’ve brought documentation to clear up the fuzzy numbers. I have the KSOR
(Kansas Offense Report). This report is open to public record. At the bottom it lists the property
that was seized. You can verify that there was 8.4 pounds enlisted in the property. The second is
the compliant information on the case. I brought a copy of the Kansas Statutes where it can be
verified through KSA statutes. The charging and what it’s for and quantities for charges listed.
The incident originated just inside the Bourbon County line approximately a mile inside of
Bourbon County it did end inside the city limits of Fort Scott. I can’t go into much more detail
than that. As far as official weight on any drug seizure, it’s not official until the KBI weighs it.

Anything and everything are presumptive positive until it is verified through the KBI. Any drug
seizure falls under that. We weigh it here, but KBI gives the official testified weight. They also
give the final say on whether it’s meth, marijuana, we send it as a white crystal substance, clear
liquid or green leafy substance. We don’t pretend to be chemist or botanists. Kevin stated that it
is very frustrating to be perceived as slandering when it’s said a certain department has fuzzy
numbers when you don’t know how the department operates. Jim thanked them for coming
forward and answering questions and taking care of the KORA request. Kevin stated that
Deputy Trim will be here next week to address the ammunition concerns.
Bobby Reed stated no promises but I’m hoping by the end of the month all of our Bourbon
County inmates will be back in Bourbon County. We’ve hired some people; a couple back. We
will lose another one soon. He’s been with me for 2 ½ years. If we keep on the same track that
we’re on we should be pretty good employee-wise; have everybody trained and get the inmates
back.
Teri Hulsey, Director of EMS gave an update. July call activity we had 210 calls for service; 78
were 911 transports; 7 to other ER’s (going directly from the scene to other ER’s); two were
flown from the scene; 35 transfers that went straight to Pittsburg from our ER here; 21 transfers
went to other facilities; 55 dry runs (12 were cancelled prior to arrival on scene). At this point
for this month, we’ve already had 56 calls. If things continue, we are on point to have 200+ this
month. We made an update and change to our transfer policy. At this point, we are not taking
any non-emergent transfers after the hours of 0300 to 0700. We will only be taking stat transfers
during those hours. I have updated the policy and Dr. Burke, our Medical Director, signed off on
it. If it is a true stat transfer, they need to be contacting flight services. I and Jon Lowery have
offered, if they are busy, we will contact flight services for them. If flight services are grounded
due to weather or pilot out of hours, we will take the transfers. At this time, I want to introduce
you to Trace Evans and Austin Bahr. They recently graduated Paramedic school and have
passed their test and are now operating as Paramedics. They’ve also been in touch and been
working closely with Osage and they are going to discuss with the possible remount of two of
our trucks. Austin stated that a lot of people don’t know the difference between EMT and
Paramedic. EMT is a basic level providing basic life support. ALS is advanced life support.
More of a level of an RN. We can actually bridge to RN back and forth. We can hand off to a
nurse and receive from a nurse. It’s a great asset to the community and hope to do a good job for
you. Clifton expanded on the paramedics. I am a nurse. EMT’s are great, but Paramedics are
better; they can literally save your life. More so than probably most RN’s to be honest. Austin
stated that we are only as good as our equipment. We have two ambulances that are getting up in
miles; less reliability. One of them has been in the shop 3 times already this month. Three times
in approximately a week. What we are looking at are remounts. You can get a remount which is
where they take the box and refurbish and put it on a new chassis. New engine, new frame and
get more life out of your box. Some boxes can be remounted 4 or 5 times depending on taking
care of it. We take very good care of our boxes. The guy from Osage that has come and talked
with us has expressed that as well. They give you a kick back from that. Susan stated that
approval from one remount was made previously. I told them it is good for us to discuss it and
we’ll see if the funding is available through ARPA funds. Trace stated that they did approve one
but that bid is outdated. They only last around 30 days. Austin stated they are looking at three
possible options. One is upgrading from a type 3 chassis to a type 1 chassis. Trace stated the