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
The type 3 is a 15 passenger van chassis. Austin stated type 1 will be four-wheel drive, gasoline
and safety wise they are a longer wheel base. They’ve got a larger front-end to absorb more
impact if you were in an accident. The front end is a lot stronger and more durable to stand up to
gravel roads. Suspension on the type 1 truck will be upgraded to a liquid spring suspension; it
auto-levels and is much safer. They use these in RVs and commercial vehicles to make them
easier to handle. It makes for a smooth ride for the patient and safer ride. It will be four-wheel
drive which will make it much better; we’ve had to go out into pastures before to pick up the
patient. Also, will help in the winter time. The ease of maintenance on the type 1 trucks is a big
thing. We’ve talked with Tom who does our maintenance on all of our trucks and he would be
ecstatic to get them. Instead of the engine being mounted in between the cab of the truck and the
front. It would be all out front. Would be looking at less labor time for maintenance. If we get
these and do future remounts on those trucks it will be cheaper than the initial cost. The initial
cost will be more but, in the future, will be less. Life expectancy of these trucks are longer due
to upgraded suspension and everything. Jim asked how long before another remount would be
needed. Austin estimated at least 10 to 12 years. A remount is when they remove the box and
completely refurbish it; put everything new back in it. There is a savings of $25 to $50,000
savings by keeping your box. You take the refurbished box and mount it on a new chassis. We
have pricing for remounting two of our trucks, EMS 1 and EMS 3. One is a Chevrolet Duramax
with roughly 233,000 miles; the other is EMS 3. It’s a 60-power stroke which has a lot of
emission issues and is in the shop right now. Each of those with an upgraded power load cot
system we priced those in there because they are a lot safer; that is the industry standard now.
Kansas doesn’t regulate it but in Missouri any remounted box has to have that system.
You basically push the cot up and it locks in, you push a button and it loads the patient versus us
standing there having to lift the patient in. These prices are with that $42,000-$43,000 cot
system. The remount EMS 1 it would be $199,594.05. The remount of EMS 3 would be
$198,889.05. The third option is upgrading to a type 1 chassis. If we want to get into a type 1
chassis, we have to get rid of our boxes; our boxes structurally can’t mount on the truck chassis.
We have to sell our boxes to them $8,000 per truck and then would buy an Osage supply box that
they have bought back from another company making sure it is safe and structurally fine. They
would gut it, refurbish it and do the same thing they would do with our box and then it would be
mounted on the truck chassis. An F550 with a 73-gas four-wheel drive. That cost would be
$250,374.05. You are looking at roughly a $50 to $52,000 difference. However, looking at
longevity, safety and suspension and stuff like that I think it would be well worth it. In the future,
remounts would not be that expensive. Trace stated that with the Stryker power cot system is
going to have their price raised 9% by October. They said we could go ahead and order them
now and store them in the back building for the price that they have us locked in at. That would
save us approximately $8,000.00 by ordering two systems now. Trace said this is a lengthy
process. We would be looking at 2024 before we got the trucks. One of the reasons we went
with Osage is they’ve manufactured these trucks from the get go. They offer lifetime warranty
on their box. If we went with someone else that is cheaper, they would not offer the warranty.
They are a local company in Linn, Mo, about 3 to 3 ½ hours. That way if we do have any
trouble, they are close. We are asking for approval of two, or at least one, of the type 1. The
total for the two ambulances with the cot system included would be $500, 748.10. You don’t
pay for the ambulances until you receive them. We would be locking in the price now. Clifton
stated they would visit with Susan and find out if the funds are there.
Ashley presented a renewal cereal malt beverage permit for KC Mart. Clifton made a motion to
approve the license permit for KC Mart for cereal mart beverage. Jim seconded. All approved.
Susan presented a gas line contract for the Medical Building. A few months ago we signed a
contract with Hamlin and they basically do all of our bidding for us for gas contracts. Our
contract was up at the Medical Building, we were with Symmetry, but they have come back with
Clear Water Enterprises as being the lowest at this time. We are asking that you approve this
contract so we can move forward with getting a better price. Clifton made a motion to approve
the Clear Water Contract for the transportation of gas to the Medical Building. Jim seconded.
All approved.
Justin asked for a 30 minute for several things. Personal matters, contract negotiations and other
things that will be going on this week. It is attorney-client privilege. He requested Nelson
Blythe, even though he is not a commissioner yet, he has expertise in this area. Clifton made a
motion for 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, Justin Meeks, Susan Bancroft and Nelson Blythe returning here at 10:19am. Jim
seconded. All approved. Clifton made a motion to return to normal session in this room at
10:19am. Jim seconded. All approved.
Susan discussed Pilot Funds. We received our first distribution last April and we allocated all
those funds with about $100,000.00 left over. We have started allocating for this year but the
problem is our funding from the Jayhawk Wind will not come to us until December. We are
really a year behind. We had this set up as a separate fund but I would like to move it back to the
general fund and run everything through the general fund and put that as a department. Then you
can make your allocations and use the cash that is available in the general fund and then in
December when you get your distribution from them then that helps pay back what you have
allocated. We probably should have waited a year before we started making allocations but I
didn’t know how the contract read until this week. I wanted to let you know how I’m organizing
that and putting the funds together. I’m hoping to have a budget work session next week as I get
everything put together.
Shane Walker – CIO (Not present)
Public Comment: Michael Hoyt stated that Nelson Blythe will be able to jump right into the
budget and he needs to understand that he’s going to own it as much as you two do. He needs to
be involved and if he has any problems understanding Susan needs to help him.
Commission Comment: Clifton congratulated Nelson on his primary win. Ashley announced
Canvass is Thursday at 10am.
Clifton made a motion to allow myself and Chairman Harris to do the election canvassing on
Thursday at 10am. Open to the public. Jim seconded. All approved.
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS
(ss) Jim Harris, Chairman
(ss) Nelson Blythe, Commissioner
(ss) Clifton Beth, Commissioner
ATTEST:
Ashley Shelton, Bourbon County Clerk
August 16, 2022, Approved Date
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