February 22, 2022 Tuesday 9:00 am
The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with all three Commissioners and the County Clerk present.
Ann Dare, Matt Crystal and Bill Martin were present for a part or all of the meeting.
Clifton made a motion to approve the previous meetings minutes. Lynne seconded. All approved.
Eric Bailey presented a permit for culvert extension that was completed for Russell Felt at 2431 Jayhawk. All commissioners signed.
The bridge at 130th & Birch has the outer stringer in place and welded. Concrete decking is put back in and now we’re working on getting guard rail back up.
Eric stated they are calling for storms again this week. Material wise we are holding up. We got truck 145 back last week. We are on our way to get truck 146 so we’ll have 5 trucks to work with. Eric stated that we lost a previous employee over the weekend. There will be several of us attending the funeral tomorrow just to let you know. Landfill will stay open.Eric stated he met with Jeff Spangler last Tuesday after commission meeting and we went around and looked at some areas that IA is continuing to work on. They are doing a good job and will be doing a final punch list soon.
Clifton stated he received a request for sidearm mower on the county road going east of Oakgrove Cemetery. Eric stated they would take care of it.
Jim made a motion to sign a cereal malt beverage permit for 946 Hwy 69. Lynne seconded. All approved.
Ashley Shelton stated the Clerk’s office adds special assessments. We have requests to remove special assessments (mowing, demo, clean up, etc.) from the city asking us to remove them. The assessment requests are sent once a year to be added. Once assessment removal requests are received, the chairman approves and the process is handled by the Clerk’s office, then passed on to the Treasurer’s for finalizing.
Justin Meeks reported work is being done to prepare for the next sales tax. Demand letters will be going out soon for the sale in September.
Justin also reported that he has received revised contracts from Noble Health that he will be discussing with the Chairman.
Jim stated that in the past Justin mentioned about the county working with private investors at Elm Creek. Is that still something we’re looking at? Justin stated that five or six years ago we were approached by some people who were very interested in running an Airbnb or fixing up the cabins out there and having a private partnership. With money as tight as it is I think it is a very good idea to have that happen. It would be simple contracts. Some of the cabins have repair needs. Justin will check and see if the private investor is still interested. Clifton stated this would have to be a bid out process to do this.
Ashley Shelton wanted to discuss closing due to inclement weather. Ashley has a call-tree to all department heads and they in turn notify their employees. The clerk’s office is the switchboard for the building. We need to know if a department is closed so that as we receive calls that information can be passed along. We notify the radio station and we put posting on Facebook.
Susan stated that we have heard back from the state and they don’t like the contract that we had with the appraiser. We have fixed that and we’ve done a new resolution to comply with their format. In 2025 the resolution will need to be renewed again. We need to get this sent to the state as soon as possible. Clifton made a motion to accept the amended resolution for the appraiser’s contract (32-21). Lynne seconded. All approved.
Susan stated that has been working very closely with the Treasurer and Clerk’s office on various things. One of the things we’ve identified in the treasurer’s office is that it is difficult for Patty to not have a lot of interruptions where she is currently at. We have the control room right off of her office and we are asking that she be allowed to move into that area and that would allow her privacy and be able to concentrate a little better with less interruptions. Commissioners approved.
Susan stated that when going over the financial reports over the weekend there are a few entries that need to be corrected. I’m going to make those and we should have final reports next week. Patty and I are working on those.
Public Comment: Anne Dare asked for justification for a new parking lot. Justin stated it is the property owned by the land bank that is just west of the DMV building. The building currently includes Driver’s License Office, Probation Office and Spyder. The CEO of Spyder made a presentation to the city of Fort Scott and they are on rapid growth mode. They have a lot of room to grow. Susan stated that the property has to be advertised for 30 days. The grant that we are applying for is due February 28th contingent on us getting the property. Justin stated there is a dilapidated house that needs to be torn down. We are also looking at some basketball goals to be used by neighborhood children when not being used for a parking lot. Susan stated that only cost to us would be if there is a clearing title. Justin stated if there is a title issue he can take care of it. Anne followed up with asking why it is our place to provide parking for Spyder. Justin stated that this building is our incubator. Susan stated that the grant we are applying for we have to identify the businesses that are in there now and that grant is specific for expansion of business and that’s why they were named in our conversation. Susan stated the project is estimated at $150,000. for the project. That is only if the grant comes through. Anne stated that with ESSR funds the school district will receive $6,000,000 – $7,000,000 dollars that USD is going to receive on their own. I’m encouraging you all to be as fiscally responsible as you can with ARPA, Spark, etc. funds when these other entities come and ask the county for more funds. Susan stated that the Spark funds were the first funds released for Covid and then later on we had all these other funds that came out. At the time, when it happened, it was really to mitigate safe environments like the college used a lot of their funding to create dorm space to isolate. The school districts were spent more on masks and extra janitorial services. I think the intent of those Spark funds were used correctly at the time it happened because it was the only thing available. We haven’t had any requests from the educational facilities today for any of the funding the county is receiving.
Elected Official Comment: No Comment.
Five minute break was requested.
Commission Comments: Lynne commented on closing the courthouse due to inclement weather. Sometimes it’s justified to be closed. When you look at the overall scope of who has to show up to work. The biggest part of our workforce is going to be here and we’re going to pay time and a half. I do think it is a great idea that if the department heads don’t think we can make it in that’s the way we should go. Safety first for the families. Jim stated each department head should be in charge of their department. Clifton stated that weather can be different across the county. Bill Martin stated he agreed that it should be up to the department heads for their departments to be open. He asked if a person doesn’t come in how are they paid? They can take vacation time. Bill stated that it is not figured in his budget for snow days and paying time and a half. Asked that that be looked at when planning budgets. Jim plans to allow each department head to decide whether to be here or not. The courthouse will be open unless Eric states that no one should be out on the roads.
Clifton suggested having an evening commission meeting. It was determined the commission meeting for Tuesday, March 8, will be at the Community Building in Uniontown at 6:00pm. The meeting will not be available via YouTube.
At 9:59am, Clifton made a motion to adjourn. Lynne seconded. All approved.
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS
(ss) Jim Harris, Chairman
(ss) Lynne Oharah, Commissioner
(ss) Clifton Beth, Commissioner
ATTEST:
Ashley Shelton, Bourbon County Clerk
March 1, 2022, Approved Date