Uniontown Ruritan welcomes Paint Creek Realty Owner Linda Wilson, during a ribbon cutting May 11. From left: Luke George, Ruriteen; Joe, Lawrence and Raymond George, Ruritan, Linda Wilson, Paint Creek Realty; Henry Homan and Mark Warren, Ruritan.
Paint Creek Realty owner Linda Wilson was welcomed to the community by Uniontown Ruritan on May 11.
Wilson specializes in agricultural listings and offers client support, financial assistance, market analysis, drone aerial photos, and has been in the business since 2005.
“The market is very strong at the present time,” she said. “We have a demand for sellers with a home on a small acreage outside city limits.”
Linda Wilson, Paint Creek Realty.Linda Wilson’s business card.
“My goal is helping dreams become reality,” Wilson said. “I want to give a very special thank you to all sellers and buyers for their support.”
Some of her properties for sale:
Imagination Station – 678 Maple Rd Uniontown – 40 Child Care Capacity.
Uniontown Car Wash & Storage – 111 3rd Street – 2 Bay Car Wash – 20 Unit Storage
Horseman Dream Property – 1000 N Main St. Mapleton – Home, Barn/6 Stalls. Arena, Acreage
Nice Large Victorian Home on 40 M/L Acres – Uniontown Area
Very Well Maintained 160 Acre Pasture/Ponds/Corral/Work Chute/Water Meter
142 Acre Ag Property, Possible 80 Ac to be Tilled/Balance Pasture
Totally Renovated Home in Uniontown – 2 Bed/1Bath
Nice Brick Home in Ft. Scott – Great Location. Updated Recently, 3 Bed/1 Bath
Awesome Ranch Home in Ft. Scott – Very Large Yard
14 Ac Home, Extra Large Shop, Several smaller buildings, On Pavement. Uniontown
Well Established Restaurant in Garnett, Tastefully Renovated – 5,880 Sq. Ft. Bldg in 2009 – Turn Key Operation, 125 Capacity Venue Facility, Area Catering in Place, Living Quarters
3:00-Special Meeting-Executive Session-Personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel
Justifications for Executive Session:
Personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel
Consultation with an attorney for the body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship
Matters relating to employer-employee negotiations whether or not in consultation with the representative(s) of the body or agency
Confidential data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts and individual proprietorships
Preliminary discussions relating to the acquisition of real property
Matters relating to the security of a public body or agency, public building or facility or the information system of a public body or agency, if the discussion of such matters at an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such public body, agency, building, facility or information system
The Bourbon County Commissioners will be gone to a meeting tomorrow so there will be no commission meeting on May 21. The next commission meeting will be May 28 starting at 9 a.m.
The newly remodeled facility that was donated to Bourbon County EMS by Mercy Hospital, located northeast of Community Health Center at 405 Woodland Hills on May 13, 2019.
The new Bourbon County Emergency Medical Services Station at Woodland Hills is nearly complete.
“A new sign will be coming,” EMS Director Robert Leisure, “It will be seen from the street out front, Woodland Hills.”
“Mercy Hospital donated the building,” Leisure said. “The city runs the day-to-day operations. The trucks and facility are owned by the county.”
Inside the station is housed four EMS vehicles.
“Two duty and two transfer trucks,” Leisure said. “Two ambulances are at the Fort Scott Fire Department (on National Avenue).”
Paramedic Mike Kreiger consults with Bourbon County EMS Director Robert Leisure in the new facilities day room.
There is a dayroom to “relax and get off our feet in between calls,” Paramedic Mike Krieger said.
EMT Katelyn Harper works at the reporting station in the new EMS facility, it is adjacent to the kitchen area.
There is one large room that the main office, day room and kitchen are located in.
The kitchen area of the Bourbon County EMS Station at 405 Woodland Hills. In the background is the hallway to the laundry, sleep rooms, bathrooms and the director’s office.There are separate bathroom facilities for male and female employees, complete with lockers and shower.Paramedic Mike Kreiger and EMT Aide Chris Reed in the EMS station dayroom in between calls.Each shift employee has a sleeping room at the EMS station.
There are four separate sleeping rooms for shift employees.
“The EMS schedule varies on which days are worked,” Leisure said. “But the goal is two 24 hour’s (shifts) per week or 48 hours per week.”
Laundry room facilities, with the dayroom/work station/kitchen area in the background.Three of the four EMS vehicles located at the Woodland Hills Station.
EMS Director Robert Leisure indicated the new ambulance service is doing well.
For an earlier feature on the service, click below:
Robert Leisure, Bourbon County Emergency Medical Services Director, 2019.
Robert Leisure was chosen as the new Bourbon County Emergency Services Director, with an official starting date of April 29.
“Robert has been a Paramedic/RN with the service for the past 23 years. Christi Keating had decided that she was no longer going to serve in the capacity of EMS Director earlier in the year,” Dave Bruner said.
EMT Katlyn Harper works at the reporting station at the new Bourbon County EMS facility at 405 Woodland Hills, northeast of the Community Health Center. Bourbon County EMS Director Robert Leisure fields a call in the background.
Bruner is a representative of the City of Fort Scott on a task force that was given the job of transitioning the services from Mercy Hospital. Keating was a representative of Mercy Hospital and there were also representatives from Bourbon County on the task force that was formed following the announcement of the closure of the hospital in October 2018.
“We opened the position up and Robert expressed interest as well as three other candidates,” Bruner said. “Robert was chosen to fill the EMS director position.”
“I was already a Mercy employee and transitioned over to county with the rest of the staff,” Leisure said. “I was asked and encouraged to step up and fill a void left by the late Danny Hall.”
Robert Leisure, Bourbon County Emergency Medical Services Director, 2019.
He has several decades experience in emergency services.
“I’ve been a Kansas paramedic for 23 years or since 1996,” he said. “Most of my EMS career was spent in this general area and mostly with Mercy.”
Leisure is a registered nurse with 16 years of experience with Mercy Hospital.
“Nearly all (nursing experiences)have come in the ER setting with the exception of a brief stint of flight nursing with Eagle Med,” he said.
Leisure believes he has a good mix of employees.
“I’m currently fully staffed with 10 full time and 15 part-time employees” Leisure said. “It’s a good mix of paramedic and EMT’s. Some with vast experience and some just getting started.”
Leisure is learning the director job with help and has been challenged and motivated by this new position in a good way, he said.
“My duties are very fluid to me right now as I’m learning the position which is a new position, with no predecessor to really follow,” he said. “I’m being helped greatly by both Christie Keating and Dave Bruner in this transition. Christie has an extensive background in management mostly inter-hospital. And Dave is very knowledgeable about the inner workings of governmental processes.”
His duties include: “ordering and maintaining medical supplies and medications, ensuring billing of the runs we do is done accurately and on time, ensuring compliance with all state policies and procedures for ambulance operations, configuring a schedule of work for staff that see’s all shifts are covered with two crews on a 24/7 basis,” he said.
In addition, “duties include quality assurance where run reports are reviewed to assure a certain level of care is maintained, hiring and maintaining a full staff, facilitating regular maintenance of the six ambulances, meeting with the medical director and reporting to both county and city commissions since the service is run by the city and owned by the county,” he said.
The partnership between the City of Fort Scott and the Bourbon County administration has worked well.
” I have nothing but great things to say about both commissions as they’ve worked together exceptionally,” Leisure said.
Bourbon County Ambulance Service has a station at 405 Woodland Hills, northeast of the Community Health Center building, and one at the Fort Scott Fire Department on National Avenue.
To view earlier stories on the Bourbon County Ambulance:
The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with all three Commissioners and the County Counselor present.
Nancy Van Etten was also present.
Mary Newport, Robert Lefever and Ryan Linn met with the Commissioners; Mary was presented with a road closure petition and had concerns with the potential road closing at 260th between Deer and Cavalry Road. Her concerns were with fire safety and limiting access to farmed areas. She said it is a low frequency road with minimal maintenance, she said there currently is an electronic gate and a cable stretched across the road there. Ryan farms land in the area and was concerned about the access to the field. The Commissioners directed Jim Harris to survey the area and devise a plan to reopen the road.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 3 minute executive session for consultation with an attorney for the body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
Shane Walker, Lora Holdridge and Justin Meeks met with the Commissioners and Jim Harris to discuss roads in Bourbon County; Justin said that Lora had found roads that were County roads. Justin said that the County needs to adopt roads to maintain, he suggested looking at valuations and population. There was discussion over legal issues, developing a Matrix as well as the 1 cent sales tax for hard surface roads. Lora discussed subdivisions; she said if it is not platted it is not an addition. Shane discussed the reappraisal process in 1986 and said in 1998 due to the 911 addressing, the County adopted or named roads (the County named Marco Estates and Rocher Addition). Shane suggested if the County named it then the County should maintain it. Shane discussed issues with mapping; he explained how three other counties classify their roads. Jim Harris said he was concerned that we will have a plan, but not follow it. Lora said when a road gets closed the book should be updated; she reviewed the minutes from 1993 to 1977 for road closings and openings.
Don George with KDWP met with the Commissioners to discuss a 10 or 15 year contract with KDWP for Elm Creek. Lynne made a motion to accept and sign the contract for 10 years, (beginning in 2019), Jeff seconded and all approved.
Cathy Cooper with the Sixth Judicial District met with the Commissioners; she presented a grant for $464,356.96 to be used for KDOC juveniles. Nick made a motion to give Lynne permission to sign the document, Jeff seconded and all approved. Cathy presented a grant document for $305,409.41 to be used for the KDOC adult division; Nick made a motion for Lynne to sign the document, Jeff seconded and all approved. Cathy presented a grant for $147,484.61 to be used for adult behavioral health, (for care coordinator and substance abuse), Nick made a motion for Lynne to sign this, Jeff seconded and all approved and Lynne signed all of the grant documents.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 5 minute executive session for preliminary discussions relating to the acquisition of real property, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
Jim Harris presented a culvert application from Jerry Daylong for a culvert near 35th north of Bronson; Lynne made a motion to accept the application, Nick seconded and all approved.
Jim Harris presented a utility permit from Craw-Kan for two areas; one at 240th between Arrowhead & Birch and one on 250th on Arrowhead going north. Jeff made a motion to approve the permit, Nick seconded and all approved.
Jim Harris discussed an invitation by Murphy Tractor to Forsythe, Missouri for the Commissioners to attend an operator tour and demonstration of a crusher on May 7th; Lynne made a motion that the Commissioners attend this, Nick seconded and all approved.
Kevin Allen and Josh Jones met with the Commissioners; Kevin suggested having evening Commission meetings in Fort Scott.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 10 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). After the session, Lynne made a motion to appoint Gil Gregory as the Guardian Ad Litem for the Tax Sale, Jeff seconded and all approved.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 5 minute executive session for personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel, Jeff seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). After the session, Jeff made a motion for Justin to meet with the Hidden Valley Lake Director, Nick seconded and all approved.
At 11:58, Nick made a motion to break for lunch and reconvene at 1:30, Lynne seconded and all approved.
Carla Nemecek with the Southwind Extension District met with the Commissioners; she discussed and upcoming livestock judging trip to Scotland & Ireland. She said they are raising funds by selling stock in the livestock judging team, the stockholders will be invited to a shareholders meeting where students will present shareholders a presentation on the return on their investment.
Jeff made a motion to go into a 10 minute executive session to discuss personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel, Lynne seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
County Appraiser Clint Anderson met with the Commissioners; he said the 1st quarter sales seemed strong and said that may indicate that there is a potential for valuations to appreciate. Clint said he has an environmental meeting with Sugar Valley/Hidden Valley Lakes.
At 4:05, Jeff made a motion to adjourn and Lynne seconded.
The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with all three Commissioners, the County Counselor and the County Clerk present.
Tammy Helm with the Fort Scott Tribune and Nancy Van Etten were also present.
Jim Harris said they had postponed the blast at the Blake Quarry until next week due to the rain. Jim said his goal is to begin the asphalt season on May 20th. He said they are installing culverts and patching; Jim said once the overlaying season starts they will be done patching for a while due to staffing.
Jeff questioned using the milled portion of the roads as chips; Jim said it would cost $300,000 to adjust the asphalt plant to do this and said it wasn’t economical to do this.
Jim said KDOT has been using haul roads south of Fort Scott; KDOT will be doing repair work to the haul roads in the next few weeks.
Nick made a motion to go into a 10 minute executive session for personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel, Lynne seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Jim Harris, Jerad Heckman, Justin Meeks and Kendell Mason). No action was taken.
Nick made a motion to go into a 5 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, Justin Meeks, Jim Harris and Jerad Heckman). No action was taken.
Jody Hoener and Robert Uhler met with the Commissioners to discuss wellness; Jody said State Farm has a $25,000 grant available for safety, education or community development. Jody said she planned to apply for the grant to be used for the ABC Trail plan. She said June 5th is the deadline to apply and only 1,000 grant applications will be accepted. Those 1,000 will be narrowed down to 200 and then the community votes on the winning applicant. Jody asked if the County is awarded the grant if the County could be the fiscal agent for the grant money; Jeff made a motion to allow Bourbon County to be the fiscal agent if awarded the State Farm grant, Lynne seconded and all approved.
Jody said there will be a County department head meeting on May 9th; Nick and Lynne agreed to give Jeff permission to share data at the meeting regarding wages, and the benchmarking that has been done with other counties.
Jeff Fischer said the work at the Health Department is nearing completion; he said the sheetrock is finished, he said they are painting now.
Justin Meeks discussed the OMNI EMS billing; in April OMNI collected $70,905.13. The Commissioners originally hoped the ambulance would pay for itself, but the current amount collected does not support this. The Commissioners plan to budget money for future ambulance equipment expenses.
Bill Martin and Ben Cole met with the Commissioners, Jim Harris and Jerad Heckman regarding a stop sign that was recently placed at 218th & north National by Max’s Weigh Station. Bill said his request was not for a stop sign at this area, he said he was contracted by a citizen regarding a 30 mph speed limit sign going north and no sign going south (he said since it isn’t posted going south the speed limit would be 55mph since it is a County road). Bill said he discussed posting a speed limit sign there with Jim Harris, he said he later approached Jim Harris and Nick Ruhl regarding posting a 30 mph speed limit sign going south, (he said he did not request a stop sign). Lynne said that Jim’s request was for a speed limit sign; Lynne said a motion was originally made for a speed limit sign, but was cancelled and then a motion was made for a stop sign to slow traffic.
Lynne questioned the posted speed limit off of 54 Hwy going north on 125th verses the posted speed limit going south on 125th.
Larry Sharp with KCAMP met with the Commissioners and discussed services they offer and the usage report of these services for Bourbon County. KCAMP offers Attorney assist, Kansas legal based jail guidelines, KCAMP online University, on-site training and seminars, risk avoidance grants, roads scholar tuition reimbursement program and ThinkHR.
Jeff made a motion to adopt (and gave Lynne permission to sign) a proclamation declaring May 6th – May 12th, 2019 as National Nurses Week in Bourbon County, Nick seconded and all approved.
Justin Meeks met with the Commissioners, Jody Hoener, Jim Harris and Jerad Heckman to discuss an interlocal agreement between the City and the County regarding road work; Justin said the law allows this and said it would be a contract between the entities and would be an agreement to exchange services or equipment. Justin said they would like to have the ability to meet with city officials regarding this.
Lynne made a motion that all three Commissioners attend lunch with a Cat representative today, Nick seconded and all approved.
Jeff made a motion to go into a 17 minute executive session for consultation with an attorney for the body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
Jeff made a motion to go into a 10 minute executive session for personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 5 minute executive session for consultation with an attorney for the body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Justin Meeks and Kendell Mason). No action was taken.
At 12:02, Lynne made a motion to adjourn so the Commissioners can attend lunch as well as travel to Forsythe Missouri to view a crusher, Nick seconded and all approved.
At right, Tammy Townsend, USD 235 teacher for 26 years, received recognition for her passion and hard work promoting reading skills within her classroom. Kansas Reading Roadmap Program Coordinator Delta Pollock, left, presented her the award.
Tammy Townsend Honored
Tammy Townsend was recently recognized for outstanding work promoting literacy skills at West Bourbon Elementary School, Uniontown.
As part of National Teacher Appreciation Week, May 6-10, the Kansas Reading Roadmap (KRR) honored a teacher at each of their 58 partner schools across the state. The KRR Outstanding Early Literacy Teacher award recognizes a teacher who contributes significantly to early literacy at their school. Teachers are the heart of the educational process.
KRR asked schools to nominate a teacher who has played a critical role in the school to help students succeed in reading. The 58 nominees were honored by KRR within their respective schools during National Teacher Appreciation Week. Those 58 nominees will be considered by KRR for the statewide Outstanding Early Literacy Teacher of the Year honor, to be awarded at the organization’s state conference in August.
“The Reading Roadmap works with teachers both during and after school,” said Andrew Hysell, KRR Director. “Teachers are essential to helping children read to their fullest capability. Kansas has great teachers, and we want to honor them for the work they do to promote literacy.”
Since 2013, KRR has worked with elementary schools and Boys & Girls Clubs across the state, aligning afterschool, summer and family engagement programs with school data. KRR seeks to ensure all students read at grade level upon entering the fourth grade. KRR is a partnership between local schools, the Kansas Technical Assistance System Network (TASN), and the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF).
Kansas Department of Transportation work on 69 Hwy. as seen from Eagle Road earlier in the expansion project.
The U.S.Hwy 69 expansion in Bourbon County is nearing completion.
“The four lanes should be completed within the next two to three weeks,” Priscilla Peterson, Public Affairs Manager, Southeast Kansas Department of Transportation said. “Although both north- and southbound traffic will be reduced to one lane to allow the contractor to finish work on the median and shoulders.”
It is projected that the four-lane section will be open to unrestricted traffic by mid to late June, she said.
“A ribbon cutting is in the works for late June, although we don’t yet have an exact date,” Peterson said.
The vote here sign sits in front of the north wing of the Bourbon County Courthouse, 210 S. National.
Those citizens who desire to serve their communities by serving in local government bodies must file at the Bourbon County Courthouse by June 3 and pay the filing fee or start a petition to get a certain amount of qualified votes to support you. The fees and petition votes vary per community.
The following information is provided by Bourbon County Clerk Kendell Mason.
NOTICE OF THE 2019 BOURBON COUNTY ELECTION AND POSITIONS UP FOR ELECTION
A petition signed by no less than 5 qualified electors of Fulton for Fulton.
(Fulton-all positions are 2 year terms.)
Filing deadline is noon June 3rd, 2019.
Filing location is with the Bourbon County Clerk, 210 S. National, Fort Scott, KS.
If more than 3 qualified candidates file for Mayor & more than 15 qualified candidates file for council then there will be a Primary on August 6, 2019.
Any person wishing to file for any office must be a qualified elector of the corresponding City or School District.
If filing by petition, the petition has to be turned in within 180 days after the first signature was collected, but not later than noon June 3rd, 2019.
The featured group for the Friday Night Free Concert is the St. Martin’s Academy vocal and instrumental ensemble.
The group has an eclectic repertoire of folk, classical and Christian music, said Ralph Carlson, event coordinator.
“The St. Martin’s Academy performed for us last fall and was a real hit with our audience,” Carlson said. “Instruments include guitars and a bagpipe. The show starts at 7 p.m., come early and bring your lawn chairs as seating is limited. In the event of foul weather, the show will be moved to the Common Grounds Coffee Shop.”
