July 26, 2022 Tuesday 9:00 am
The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with two Commissioners (Clifton
Beth and Jim Harris) and the County Clerk present.
Clint and Rachel Walker, Matt Quick, Brian Wade, Keni Stark, Susan Bancroft, Shane
Walker, Jason Silvers, and Josh Jones were present for some or all of the meeting.
Clifton made a motion to amend the agenda. Move the approval of minutes to the
next meeting. Jim seconded. All approved.
Eric gave handouts from the LRSP meeting last week. That will give you an idea of
what was discussed in the meeting. Once we are done with the study that will give us
the opportunity to apply for several grants to make our roads safer. We have
completed asphalt at Hiatville and are now working on 55th and Yellowstone. We had
a rain delay today. Had a little breakdown with the roller last week and tried to
overnite some parts. They were supposed to be here Thursday and they got here
Monday. We are up and running again. We blasted at Blake Quarry last week 50,732
tons. They had about 12 or 15 holes and they didn’t have enough powder so they will
come back for those. The 2007 F750 that we bought we picked up this week. Has
28,000 actual miles mint condition. Very nice used truck. Four mowers are mowing
roadside and the sidearm mower. If we use the sidearm mower it is because the trees
are out in the road and it’s hitting our vehicles. We’ve had some complaints about us
cutting the trees but it is a safety issue. We replaced the three culverts on 225th and
are ready to do the asphalt when we get there. Jim stated that he worked the
Republican booth at the fair and had several people thank him for buying a bigger
crusher and making an attempt to take better care of our roads. Clifton made a
motion for an executive session KSA 75-4319(b)(2) for consultation with an attorney
for the public body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-
client relationship including 2 commissioners, Eric Bailey, Justin Meeks, and Susan
Bancroft for possible litigation for 7 minutes at 6:15pm. Clifton made a motion to
return to normal session at 6:15pm with no action. Jim seconded. All approved.
Jim made a motion for executive session KSA 75-4319(b)(4) to discuss data relating to
financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trust, and individual
proprietorships including 2 commissioners, Justin Meeks, Shane Walker, and Susan
Bancroft for 10 minutes returning at 6:25pm. Clifton seconded. All approved.
Clifton made a motion to return to normal session with no action. Jim seconded. All
approved.
Justin Meeks requested an executive session. Clifton made a motion for executive
session KSA 75-4319(b)(1) to discuss personnel matters of individual nonelected
personnel to protect their privacy including 2 commissioners, Justin Meeks and Susan
Bancroft for job performance for 10 minutes returning at 6:38pm. Clifton made a
motion to return to normal session with no action. Jim seconded. All approved.

Shane Walker stated he has a letter that needs Chairman signature stating that we
pay dispatch and we give them all the 911 funds and there are some duplicate
services. This will alleviate that and save us money. Clifton made a motion to allow
Chairman Harris to sign the dispatch operation responsibility agreement with the city.
Jim seconded. All approved.
Public comment: Brian Wade stated he reached out to Eric last week to see if he
could get a traffic counter out in front of his house. I would like it set up to run from
now till after September 20th. Hoping he can get it out in the next couple of weeks. I
put in a KORA request because Mr. Martin on his budget request stated that he had an
8 pound meth seizure in Bourbon County. The county attorney and Bill sent me
something it’s a couple of Hispanics on a kilogram of hallucinogenic drugs which a
kilogram is 2.20462262185 of a pound. That’s not 8 pounds. So, why the fuzzy
numbers? Where did it happen? I would like to know where it happened. Also, on a
KORA request I requested information on ammunition. What he used for ammunition.
I got the receipts on that, there is a lot of money. I called Ron Gray and asked him
what did you guys use. He stated he learned from the guy before him and we didn’t
spend much money. He stated usually a box of shells to practice and a box to qualify.
The budget that Bill has for bullets is $11,640. That’s a chunk of money. I called
Travis Shelton and asked him what is your budget for shells and he said $10,000.
Travis said we pay for lights, repairs and bullets out of it. One thing I do question is
223 rounds. Thirteen thousand two hundred rounds of 223’s. That seems like a huge
number of rifle rounds. The other one is 8 and 12 gauge shot gun shells. That sounds
like we’re going dove hunting or maybe shooting some trap with 8’s. You would think
law enforcement would use slugs or double ott buck which he has very small quantity
of slugs. We got a county trap shoot? Jim stated that Bill would need to be present
and answer to that. Kevin Stark stated he has some land on the state line in Bourbon
County and the exact same land in Vernon County. My property taxes in Bourbon
County was 4 years ago was $14.00 per acre and in Vernon County it is $1.40. Tillable
ground is much higher than pasture land. It seems like we are little bit out of sync
with our neighbors. I just ask that you watch expenditures and try to keep spending
down. Cost for putting in a crop per acre is around $650. On top of that risk we have
higher property taxes. It puts us at a disadvantage. Jim stated that when comparing
to Vernon County, look at their roads compared to ours. Kevin asked the
commissioners to watch their expenditures as much as possible.
Commissioner comments: Clifton stated that Susan’s presentation from a couple of
weeks ago (may be viewed on the county website) is very telling as to why we are
where we are. You can’t compare our county to our surrounding counties. Clifton
stated there would be no meeting next week due to election. Get out and vote.
Clifton made a motion to adjourn at 7:08pm. Jim seconded. All approved.
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS