The Fort Scott City Commission will meet on Tuesday, December 8th, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. in the City Hall Commission Meeting Room at 123 S. Main Street, Fort Scott, Kansas to hold a work session to discuss Charter Ordinance No. 31 and the upcoming sales tax ballot vote. This meeting is open to the public, but no action will be taken.
The work session will also be available on the City’s YouTube channel.
The Design Review Board will meet on Tuesday, December 8th, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. in the City Hall Commission Meeting room at 123 S. Main Street, Fort Scott, Kansas. This meeting will be held to discuss a Certificate of Appropriateness for signage at 17 S. Main Street, and any others matters to be brought before the Board. This meeting is open to the public.
This meeting will be made available via the City’s you tube channel at City of Fort Scott.
TOPEKA –Governor Laura Kelly today announced that applications are now available for the Kansas Historical Society’s Kansas Rural Preservation grant program through the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. Earlier this year, the Kansas Historical Society received a $500,000 grant from the National Park Service’s Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants Program. Those funds are now being offered through this subgrant program to the owners of historic properties for repair and rehabilitation projects.
A complete program description, application information, and application link are available online at kshs.org/20430. The application deadline is midnight on March 1, 2021. Applications must be submitted online via the weblink above.
“The Kansas Historical Society has been actively working to preserve and share Kansas history for nearly 150 years,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “The Paul Bruhn grants will go a long way in ensuring historic properties across the state can get the upkeep and treatment they need, so we can continue to celebrate and learn about our rich history for generations to come.”
Applicants must own a property listed in the National Register of Historic Places individually or as a contributing property in a National Register-listed historic district or have their property determined eligible for listing before the grant application is submitted. Properties determined eligible must be listed officially to the National Register during the grant period. The property must be within a community with a population of less than 30,000 according to the 2010 U.S. Census and applicants must provide justification of their rural location as part of the application. Property owners may not be the State or federal governments.
Grantees can receive between $5,000 and $50,000. The grant reimburses 90 percent of eligible project activities up to the award amount and grant recipients shall provide 10 percent of the cost of eligible project activities as match.
All rehabilitation work must comply with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards & Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation. Eligible activities include professional services (architect and engineering fees) and projects involving the preservation, rehabilitation, or restoration of an eligible property. Repairs involving building components such as walls, doors, windows, chimneys, roofing, and foundations are eligible activities. Projects involving the preservation or restoration of non-building properties such as archeological sites, parks, cemeteries, bridges, and monuments are also eligible. Because this grant is supported by funding administered by the National Park Service, projects must follow federal project requirements including competitive selection of contractors and consultants. In addition, an easement will be placed on the property following the project completion.
Kansas Historical Society staff members will offer a free webinar with specifics for this program at 1 p.m. Thursday, December 17, 2020. Staff members will discuss the application process, approaches to writing the application, and answer questions about the program. Contact the Historic Preservation Office at 785-272-8681, ext. 240; or [email protected] to register for this workshop or to request additional information.
CDC Announces Shortened COVID-19 Quarantine Periods
Counties may opt in to similar guidance in Kansas
TOPEKA – In conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plan to reduce the quarantine period for those exposed to COVID-19, KDHE is issuing similar guidance in Kansas. Counties may choose to opt in to the shortened quarantine period, either 10 or 7 days with testing, or continue with the 14 days.
“KDHE continues to recommend the 14-day quarantine and monitoring after being exposed to COVID-19,” Dr. Lee Norman, KDHE Secretary, said. “The incubation for this disease is still 14 days. The guidance is being changed at a federal level to encourage more people to get tested and encourage better compliance with quarantines.”
With the shortened quarantine period there are two options, one with testing and one without, with both requiring the individual to be symptom-free. Due to high risk situations, those residents in long-term care and assisted facilities as well as offender populations in Kansas Department of Corrections prisons, are not eligible for shortened quarantine periods in any county.
Individuals should check with their local health departments regarding the quarantine recommendations specific to their county.
7-Day Quarantine (Testing and No Symptoms)
10-Day Quarantine (No Testing and No Symptoms)
KDHE recommends all exposed people should self-monitor for 14 days from exposure and contact healthcare provider if symptoms develop. The disease can still develop through day 14.
For questions in your community, please contact your local health department. For those contacts being monitored by the KDHE, the computer system is currently being transitioned to allow for the shortened time periods, so those participating with KDHE may continue to experience monitoring calls during the transition period.
EMPORIA – Deer hunters across Kansas can have deer they harvest during the 2020-2021 seasons tested for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) free of charge through the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT). KDWPT, in collaboration with the University of Missouri, is undertaking a research project to better understand where CWD is present in Kansas and how the disease spreads. As part of the research project, the cost of CWD testing will be covered for the next three years at a maximum of 450 samples per Deer Management Unit (DMU). Harvest location in the form of GPS coordinates, section Range-Township-Section number, or nearest intersection will be required to receive free testing.
“We’re excited to be able to cover the cost of CWD testing for hunters statewide for the next three years,” said Levi Jaster, KDWPT big game program coordinator. “Hunters will benefit immediately from cost-free test results, but they’ll also benefit long term from better information related to deer herd disease management as a result of this project.”
Hunters can benefit from cost-free CWD testing during the 2020-2021 seasons through one of several options listed below:
Manned voluntary sample collection stations will be offered at the following locations:
Country Junction
153 US 54
Toronto, KS 66777
Farmer’s Cooperative Association (parking lot)
515 E Maple St.
Columbus, KS 66725
Casey’s Gas Station
915 S. First St.
Hiawatha, KS 66434
Dara’s Fast Lane – Cenex
5321 Tuttle Creek Blvd.
Manhattan, KS 66502
BP Gas Station and Car Wash
2305 South Cedar St.
Ottawa, KS 66067
For more information on CWD in Kansas, visit https://ksoutdoors.com/Hunting/Big-Game-Information/Chronic-Wasting-Disease-CWD or www.cwdks.com.
The Kansas Historical Society is announcing that applications are now available for the Kansas Rural Preservation grant program. Earlier this year, the Kansas Historical Society received a $500,000 grant from the National Park Service’s Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants Program. Those funds are now being offered through this subgrant program to the owners of historic properties for repair and rehabilitation projects.
A complete program description, application information, and application link are available online at kshs.org/20430. The application deadline is midnight on March 1, 2021. Applications must be submitted online via the weblink above.
Applicants must own a property listed in the National Register of Historic Places individually or as a contributing property in a National Register-listed historic district or have their property determined eligible for listing before the grant application is submitted. Properties determined eligible must be listed officially to the National Register during the grant period. The property must be within a community with a population of less than 30,000 according to the 2010 U.S. Census and applicants must provide justification of their rural location as part of the application. Property owners may not be the state or federal governments.
Grantees can receive between $5,000 and $50,000. The grant reimburses 90% of eligible project activities up to the award amount and grant recipients shall provide 10% of the cost of eligible project activities as match.
All rehabilitation work must comply with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards & Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation. Eligible activities include professional services (architect and engineering fees) and projects involving the preservation, rehabilitation, or restoration of an eligible property. Repairs involving building components such as walls, doors, windows, chimneys, roofing, and foundations are eligible activities. Projects involving the preservation or restoration of non-building properties such as archeological sites, parks, cemeteries, bridges, and monuments are also eligible. Because this grant is supported by funding administered by the National Park Service, projects must follow federal project requirements including competitive selection of contractors and consultants. In addition, an easement will be placed on the property following the project completion.
Kansas Historical Society staff members will offer a free webinar with specifics for this program at 1 p.m. Thursday, December 17, 2020. Staff members will discuss the application process, approaches to writing the application, and answer questions about the program. Contact the Historic Preservation Office at 785-272-8681, ext. 240; or [email protected] to register for this workshop or to request additional information.
Submitted by
Allyson Turvey
Tourism & Community Development Manager
City of Fort Scott
123 S. Main St.
Fort Scott, KS 66701
Office: 620-223-0550
Cell: 620-238-4919
Eric W. Bailey, became Bourbon County’s Public Works Director on Oct. 1. 2020, replacing Jim Harris, who retired and now serves as a Bourbon County Commissioner.
Baily’s duties are the public works budget, overseeing the daily operations of the road and bridge department to include rock crushing operations, the overlaying and maintenance of hard surface roads, maintenance of all county maintained gravel roads in Bourbon County, and oversite of the transfer station as well as the noxious weeds department.
He was the public works director for the City of Fort Scott for nine years. In total, he worked 20 years with the City of Fort Scott.
Bailey also served four years in Bourbon County Environmental Services Technician/Geographical Information Services.
He attended schools K-12 in USD 234, then earned an associate’s degree in Applied Science in Environmental Water Technologies from Fort Scott Community College, then a bachelors degree in Business Management from Friends University
His wife Malinda is the Director of Children’s Services for Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center, their daughter Kelcie is a junior at Kansas Wesleyan University studying Elementary Education and middle daughter Kiran is a senior at Fort Scott High School, and son Kaleb a sophomore at FSHS.
Bailey has been involved in the community as a member of Community Christian Church, a member of the Youth Activities Team, and coached numerous youth recreation league teams and travel teams.
“I am really enjoying the job so far and all of the people that I am working with daily,” he said. “Everyone has been very welcoming and I appreciate all of the support I have received.”
The Fort Scott Planning Commission will be meeting at 4:00 p.m. today, November 30th, 2020 at City Hall in the City Commission meeting room. There may be a majority of City Commissioners present, but NO City business will be conducted. The public is welcome to attend this event.
The regularly scheduled Bourbon County Inter-Agency Coalition membership meeting will be this Wednesday, December 2, at noon, in the Community Room at the High Rise Apartments, 315 Scott Avenue.
The agenda is as follows:
Bourbon County Inter-Agency Coalition
General Membership Meeting Agenda
December 2, 2020
“Be sure to wear your mask and social distance as much as possible,” Billie Jo Drake, facilitator of the group said. “Due to the rise in Covid cases in Bourbon County, I certainly understand if you do not wish to attend a face-to-face meeting. If you have any announcements that you need to share, be sure to send them to me prior to 9:00 a.m. on meeting day.”
CITY OF FORT SCOTT
SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING
A special meeting of the Fort Scott City Commission was held November 20th, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. in the City Commission Meeting Room, 123 S. Main Street, Fort Scott, Kansas.
ROLL CALL:
Commissioners Kevin Allen and Pete Allen, were present with President of the Commission Randy Nichols presiding. Lindsey Watts was absent.
AUDIENCE IN ATTENDANCE: Travis Shelton, Russell Lingerfelt, Dave Bruner, Nate Stansberry, Frank Halsey, Rachel Pruitt, and Susan Bancroft. Jeff Deane, City Attorney, and Jeff Hancock, Interim City Manager, appeared via Zoom.
CONSIDERATION:
Discussion on 10 N. National building and how to proceed
President of the Commission Nichols informed the Commission and audience that the purpose of the meeting is to discuss the deteriorating condition of the 10 N. National building and how to proceed. City Staff is here to report on the state of the building, finances, economic development interest in the building, and the process and procedure to go through to legally demolish the building.
Dave Bruner, Fire Chief, shared an engineering report from August 2019. This 2019 report states that the exterior of the building appears to be in sound structural condition with no noticeable settlement or cracking or deficiencies. All walls appear to be true and plumb. There are some minor locations where some tuckpointing would be necessary. Damage to the roof itself is very extensive and non-repairable. The first, second, and third floors have deteriorated to a point where they should be considered unsafe. They met this afternoon with John George. He shared photos of the building and roof today versus pictures from August 2019. The roof is in extremely bad shape compared to August 2019 and has collapsed now. Per John George, he still consideres the exterior of the building sound. There is collapse inside so in order to get a true determination of the inside, some demo proceedings would need to be started to look inside. They asked about the floor joints connected to the common walls. Apparently, there was a void space that was built between those in 1888 and those joists are set so if it would collapse, that was the way it was designed. There are little pockets in there. It is not secured to the common wall. Dave said that he went up in the ladder truck and removed some of the roofing material at the top.
Kevin said he received a call from Tina Lipe and she was concerned with the material being blown into the street.
Nate Stansberry, City Engineer, said that this building has been an ongoing saga. There were letters sent to the property owner back in 2016 to make repairs. He shared copies of the City ordinance regarding unsafe and dangerous structures. There is a 10 day period from the day the letter is received for the property owner to respond. There have been multiple letters sent hoping the owner would comply. The latest letter sent was in March of 2020 and they were told his resources were limited and he wanted to transfer ownership of the building to someone else. Another letter went out today giving the owner 10 days to respond. This will be on the December 1st, 2020 agenda to discuss this structure.
Kevin said that he talked to the owner today and he is willing to sign the building over.
Frank Halsey said that he was an interested party. Scott Johnson came to see him the other day but he was busy and couldn’t meet with him at that time. He looked at this building several years ago and looked to purchase it as a training center for Mid Continental. The roof had not collapsed yet, but they chose not to go that route. This summer the building was offered to him again, but he said no thanks. His fear is that it will be torn down and he doesn’t want to see that happen. He has spoke some to investors and at least three people are willing to invest with him. He does not want to own the building. Those that have invested an interest would be reimbursed eventually by a future owner. He doesn’t know if the City would want to put it in the LandBank or how that would proceed. He would like to take the structure down to a shell, and would like to see it actually collapse further.
Kevin asked Frank if he was still interested in the building.
Frank said yes. He still thinks they could get their money back.
Rachel Pruitt, Economic Development Director, said that this building has been on their radar for quite some time. The City would like to not have this building demolished. Frank talked about stabilizing it but not having long term ownership. The conditions of the building are preventing that currently. She did speak to some prospective owners this afternoon about the building and they did not say no. She said she would like the building to be put into the LandBank and she will continue to work with prospective owners to purchase this building.
Pete said that we have been four years talking about this building and it has just gotten worse.
Susan Bancroft said that if it was deeded over to the LandBank, there are some clear advantages. You get a clear title, versus a quick claim deed. The City would take over the building while it was being stabilized and take on that liability. If he did find some investors, that money could be ran through the LandBank and help stabilize that building. We do want to make sure we have an investor that is ready to go and that the City not sit on this property for years.
Kevin asked if the barricades were put back in front of the building.
Nate said that the barricades are back up.
Frank said that he will reach out to his investors.
President of the Commission, Randy Nichols, said that he felt this has been a positive meeting and we are now aware of the condition of the building, and the process to move forward.
ADJOURNMENT:
K. Allen moved to adjourn the meeting at 4:32 p.m. P. Allen seconded. All voted aye.
ADJOURNED MEETING AT 4:32 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Diane K. Clay, M.M.C.
City Clerk
CITY OF FORT SCOTT
SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING
A special meeting of the Fort Scott City Commission was held November 19th, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. in the City Commission Meeting Room, 123 S. Main Street, Fort Scott, Kansas.
ROLL CALL:
Commissioners Kevin Allen, Pete Allen, and Lindsey Watts were present with President of the Commission, Randy Nichols, presiding.
AUDIENCE IN ATTENDANCE: Travis Shelton, Ally Turvey, Janice Allen, Jason Pickert, Russell Lingerfelt, Rachel Pruitt, and Anne Rawlins. Jeff Deane, City Attorney, appeared via Zoom.
CONSIDERATION:
Accept resignation of JoLynne Mitchell
President of the Commission, Nichols, said that on behalf of the community, he wished to thank her for her dedication and service to this community. We should be grateful for her service to the City.
K. Allen moved to accept the resignation of JoLynne Mitchell. L. Watts seconded. All voted aye.
APPROVED TO ACCEPT THE RESIGNATION OF JOLYNNE MITCHELL.
K. Allen also said that he wished to thank JoLynne for her dedication and service to this community.
Discussion on process to fill the open position
R. Nichols said that our current ordinance gives us 10 days to act on the replacement on this position or at the next regularly scheduled City Commission meeting after the occurrence of the vacancy. In the past, it appeared either a nomination was readily available or letters of interest were taken for this open position.
Jeff Hancock, Interim City Manager, said that the Commission needs to decide to advertise and accept letters of interest and vote at the next meeting. If they decide to do this, you may need to consider moving your next meeting up to 2:00 p.m. or 3:00 p.m.
P. Allen said that the next regularly scheduled meeting is outside of the 10 days.
Jeff Deane said that the ordinance does state 10 days. You can decide on a different amount of time. This ordinance was passed in 2005.
K. Allen said that when he was City Commissioner years ago, Bill Brittain was elected to the County Commission. He ended up resigning as City Commissioner to take that position. Kevin invited Barbara Wood to take his position. She decided to and fulfilled his position. That is why he proposed the Charter Ordinance to offer the position to the next person who was in line from the election results.
L. Watts said that Charter Ordinance was not passed by the Commission.
K. Allen said that he felt it was the right thing to do. He said that the next person in line from the last election was Deb McCoy.
R. Nichols said that he felt opposite of his opinion. This is not the proper way to fill this position. She was not elected by the people and this is not the will of the people.
L. Watts said that she also disagreed with this. By taking letters of interest, it gives the opportunity to anyone in the City limits to apply for this position. This does not take away anyone’s opportunity to apply.
K. Allen made a motion to ask Deb McCoy to fill this open position. P. Allen seconded. K. Allen and P. Allen voted aye. L. Watts and R. Nichols voted no. No further votes were called or cast, and the motion failed 2-2.
K. Allen asked what to do in a tie situation.
Jeff Deane said that the City Attorney is the deciding factor. He said that he will encourage the Commission to force someone who is acceptable to at least three of them. He hopes that at least three if not four, will find someone acceptable for this position. He does not want his hand forced to have to break a tie.
P. Allen said that is what he expected – a 2-2 vote. He would like the City Commission to take Jeff Deane’s advice and work together to find a person that three out of four of them can live with. All of them have different opinions. The Commission has to select a person that at least three of them can agree on. He recommended changing the date to December 1st. Leaving their decision to a 2-2 vote is not fair to the Commission, the City Attorney, or to the citizens. Pete said that each of them can even list names of people they want to recommend for this position.
L. Watts said that each of them should reach out to individuals as well as accepting letters of interest. She also stated that she does not think that by voting no, that Deb McCoy should not submit a letter of interest and she should if this is something that she wants.
Discussion was held on dates that a meeting could be held to review letters of interest and submitted names, as well as select a person and instantly expect them to attend a meeting that same evening.
L. Watts moved to approve to accept letters of interest to be received by 12:00 p.m. on November 30th, 2020. Also, submitted names by the City Commissioners for the open position that they recommend will be reviewed. It was also moved to meet on Monday, November 30th, 2020 at 6:15 p.m. to go over the submitted names. P. Allen seconded. P. Allen, L. Watts, and R. Nichols voted aye. K. Allen voted no. Motion carried 3-1.
approved to accept letters of interest to be received by 12:00 p.m. on November 30th, 2020. Also, submitted names by the City Commissioners for the open position that they recommend will be reviewed. It was also moved to meet on Monday, November 30th, 2020, at 6:15 p.m. to go over the submitted names.
ADJOURNMENT:
L. Watts moved to adjourn the meeting at 10:40 a.m. P. Allen seconded. All voted aye.
ADJOURNED MEETING AT 10:40 A.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Diane K. Clay, M.M.C.
City Clerk
