June 16, 2020 Tuesday 9:00 am
The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with all three Commissioners and the County Clerk present.
Also present for the meeting (some were present for only a portion, others were present for all of the meeting) were Tammy Helm with the Fort Scott Tribune, Stephen Plaster, Anne Dare, Clint and Rachel Walker, Michael Hoyt, Mark McCoy and Jody Hoener.
Stephen Plaster requested road work to be done between 412-422 127th St Terrace in Hiattville; Lynne gave the request to Jim Harris. Lynne said the County is responsible for road work in unincorporated towns.
Jeff Fischer questioned signs posted east of Arrowhead Road stating that Bourbon County maintenance ends here; Jim Harris said Crawford County maintains the road to the South of this area. Jeff said he noticed near Hepler where some signs had been removed and others put up; Jim said the signs could have been stolen or this could be located in another County.
Jim Harris reported they are patching on 215th south of Indian Road. Jim recommended 2” of asphalt on the Lake road. Jeff complimented the patching work done on the Jefferson Highway; Jim said there may be some areas there that could be a good candidate for chip and seal. Jim said with the cost of oil it might be more feasible to do overlaying verses patching. Lynne said they need to be cautious with the Road & Bridge budget, he said $220,000 (to cover the cost of a reporting error in 2019) will come out of their budget before they start; Jim said his focus will be the Lake road and the Landfill road. Jim said they are replacing driveway culverts on the Lake road, he said the base of the road looks good, he said they will have to remove the broken asphalt, patch and put 2” on top of that. He said they are working on the west ditch on the Landfill road. Today they are priming the north lane of Native road (near KOA) with MC30 oil; Nick said KOA has been notified that they will be putting oil down on the road. Jim said that the sales tax revenue wasn’t down as much as he had expected it to be.
They are getting ready to blast at the Blake Quarry; Jim suggested that in the future someone should blast the layer of shale there since there was 35’ of good rock below the shale.
Jeff questioned where the windfarm was getting its aggregates at; Jim said he didn’t know, but said someone could ask them. Jeff said in the past KDOT was supposed to pay a percentage to Bourbon County for using County roads; Jim said he had asked about this, but hadn’t gotten an answer. Jim recommended that they have the County Counselor write a letter to KDOT concerning this.
Nick reported that the “no shooting” signs placed on Slick Rock road were gone, Nick told Jim to put more back up. Nick said the County could put up a fence with a locked gate on the County right-of-way there. Nick said he would talk to the County Counselor regarding writing a letter to the landowners there.
Jeff asked Jim if he had the biannual bridge report from Schwab Eaton; Jim said he didn’t have the report yet.
Kendell Mason provided the Commissioners with the estimated assessed valuation information as of July 1, 2020; the total estimated for the County is 110,452,005 compared to the final assessed valuation from November 1, 2019 of 107,698,260. This total will be used when calculating the County’s 2021 budget.
Economic Development Director Jody Hoener met with the Commissioners; she said she had met with Susan Bancroft with the City of Fort Scott and offered her assistance to them regarding the CDBG Grant, she said in different counties the cities and counties work together on the grant. She said the City suggested they include that their taxes are current in the point system used in awarding of the grant money to the various recipients’. Jody said the County and the City of Fort Scott were awarded $132,000 of CDBG grant funds each. Jody said there were over 100 applications for the CDBG Grant and 66 of them received a grant. The Commissioners appreciated Jody applying for the grant money. Jody said she would meet with the Commissioners on June 23rd so they could do a formal vote to approve the process. Jody said the application will be online for businesses to apply for a portion of the grant money, she said they couldn’t use the grant funds for something they had already received grant funds for. Lynne said the CDBG Grant would be administered through the SEKRPC.
Lora Holdridge met to present the Register of Deeds 2021 budget. She requested a total of $80,723. She was awarded $77,747 for her 2020 budget and said the difference in the amount she requested was for a raise for her office deputy.
The tax sale was briefly discussed; Jeff said it was agreed upon to delay having a tax sale due to COVID-19 and the uncertainty of the pandemic.
Susan Bancroft, the finance director with the City of Fort Scott met with the Commissioners regarding the airport expansion; she said the FAA had requested that the language be changed regarding the closure of Indian Road for the airport expansion, she said adopting the resolution she presented would not hold the County to anything, but rather would show that the City and the County were working together. Jeff said the condition of closing the road is that there is the existence of a hard surface road prior to the closure; Jeff said this wasn’t in the resolution presented, but wanted it in the resolution. Susan said that the FAA wanted the wording of the existence of a hard surface road removed from the original resolution. Lynne said there is s procedure that would have to be followed to consider closing the road; he said there is a “claim period” for people affected by the road closure. Nick made a motion to approve resolution 19-20, Lynne seconded and all approved. The resolution is as follows: A RESOLUTION REGARDING INDIAN ROAD IN THE VICINITY OF THE FORT SCOTT MUNICIPAL AIRPORT:
WHEREAS, the Fort Scott Municipal Airport is essential to the economic development of the county, providing the gateway to the nation’s air transportation system; and
WHEREAS, many local businesses rely on the airport to increase their productivity and provide deliveries of goods and personnel in a more timely manner; and
WHEREAS, a runway extension is planned that will increase aircraft capacity by allowing heavier loads on each aircraft and could increase aircraft traffic by 40 percent and fuel sales by 500 percent; and
WHEREAS, a longer runway will provide economic benefits to the region and reduce the potential tax burden on the citizens; and
WHEREAS, it will be necessary to close a portion of Indian Road when the time comes for the construction of the runway extension; and
WHEREAS, the road will not be vacated prior to the letting of the airport expansion construction contract.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the County Commission of Bourbon County, Kansas that the portion of Indian Road needed for the runway extension will be closed and the County will go through the procedures to close the road when the time comes for the work to actually be done on the runway and the runway construction project has received grant funds necessary for the design of this construction.
Michael Hoyt questioned the length of the expansion; Lynne said the preliminary plans show 1,000’ added to the current runway expansion. Lynne said they looked at three different plans for re-routing traffic and the one they have discussed goes north to south to Hackberry then west on Hackberry.
Appraiser Clint Anderson met with the Commissioners; he said he had two bids for a new vehicle from Briggs Automotive; Briggs bid $24,349 for a 2020 Jeep Compass and $28,103 for a 2020 Toyota RAV 4. Clint said the Jeep didn’t handle well on the gravel and said it didn’t have enough power for what they needed it for. He said the RAV 4 had enough power and handled well. He said they didn’t have a RAV 4 in stock with what they needed on the vehicle, but are looking for one with what they need. Clint has $42,000 saved in his equipment reserve account; this will cover the cost of the vehicle without having to finance the vehicle. Clint said he could use the current truck they have for his in-town work and the current Jeep they have will be used for the environmental jobs. Jeff made a motion to authorize spending up to $30,000 for a 2020 RAV 4, Nick seconded and all approved.
Emergency Manager William Wallis presented his 2021 budgets; for his Emergency Management Performance Grant he requested $17,000 (this money is from a grant and is not from a levied amount), he uses this money for training exercises and also used it for the upgrades done to the building that houses his office. He said the County’s portion of Code Red will be paid out of this account in 2021. For his 2021 Emergency Preparedness budget he requested $57,739, his 2020 approved budget for this is $60,039.
William Wallis briefly discussed COVID-19; he said the County would be reimbursed for a lot of expenses related to the pandemic. He said Bill Martin had applied for a $100,000 grant for the reimbursement of the PPE needed due to COVID-19. Will said people shouldn’t let their guard down with COVID-19, he said he was concerned that there would be another outbreak that will be worse than the first outbreak.
Jeff made a motion to go into a 10 minute executive session for confidential data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts and individual proprietorships, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Mark McCoy). No action was taken.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 10 minute executive session for confidential data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts and individual proprietorships, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Mark McCoy). No action was taken.
Nick made a motion for the County to donate $500 to the Elks for their fireworks display, Jeff seconded and all approved.
Lynne read the overtime hours to be paid out on June 19, 2020; the Sheriff’s office had 78 hours, the Jail had 105 hours, Road & Bridge had 4 hours, the Treasurer’s office had 9.75 hours, the Attorney’s office had 17 hours and the General department had 6.25 hours.
Lynne made a motion to keep the Commissioners budget the same in 2021 as was awarded in 2020, Jeff seconded and all approved. Lynne said this Commission didn’t charge mileage and is cautious when it comes to spending money.
Michael Hoyt questioned who was getting the better deal regarding the Interlocal agreement between the City and the County; the City is supplying the staff for the EMS and the County is supplying aggregate to the city. Lynne said the agreement is dollar for dollar. Currently the County receives reimbursement for EMS services and the County writes checks to the City for EMS services. Jeff said Linn County contracts out their ambulance service without any reimbursement; Bourbon County chose to model Allen County regarding the ambulance service. Clint Walker said the 911 call center in Allen County was funded by grant money.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 7 minute executive session for confidential data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts and individual proprietorships, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Mark McCoy). No action was taken.
The meeting adjourned at 11:42.
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS
(ss) Lynne Oharah, Chairman
(ss) Jeff Fischer, Commissioner
(ss) Nick Ruhl, Commissioner
ATTEST:
Kendell Mason, Bourbon County Clerk
June 23, 2020, Approved Date
The following is information provided on the Bourbon County Kansas website.
