December 15, 2020 Tuesday 9:00 am
The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with all three Commissioners, the County Clerk and the County Counselor present.
Also present were the following: (some were present for a portion of the meeting, some were present for the entire meeting), Jason Silvers with the Fort Scott Tribune, Mr. & Mrs. Clinton Walker, Anne Dare and Michael Hoyt.
Eric Bailey and Dustin Hall with Road & Bridge met with the Commissioners; they are putting brine on some of the roads and hills today due to the anticipated weather coming.
Eric said he had a good meeting (regarding clean up and the roads) with the contractor installing fiber on the south side of 54 Highway.
Eric said some of their employees are getting updated CPR and 1st aid training for their MSHAW qualifications.
Eric said they needed to update the board members for the 5 year solid waste plan; Jeff made a motion to appoint Lynne Oharah, Clifton Beth, Jim Harris, Eric Bailey and Frank Young as the solid waste management committee, Clifton seconded and all approved.
Eric said they applied and should receive a grant from KCAMP for the purchase of a tarp for a hauling truck.
Eric said the hydraulic pumps are overheating on the dump trucks, he said they are taking a truck to Joplin for the installation of a new pump to test to see if this repairs the issue.
Eric said they are repairing a spindle on a tire on a grader.
Eric and Dustin discussed the motor on the rock crusher; they contacted Foley, Inland, Larry’s Diesel and CAT in Joplin for a quote, to date they have received a quote from Foley for $36,000 to replace the motor with a re-manned motor. They have contacted Murphy Tractor to discuss the cost of repairs vs. the trade in value of the crusher, (they don’t want to spend more in repairs then the crusher is worth), to discuss a possible crusher demonstration or to possibly rent a crusher.
Gregory Vahrenberg with Raymond James (on the telephone) met with the Commissioners to discuss the possible bond refinancing. Mr. Vahrenberg said with the current low interest rates it is a good opportunity to refinance the 2015 general obligation bonds, he said refinancing the years 2024-2035 can produce savings. He said the cost to refinance would be paid out of the proceeds. He said the current average interest rate is 3.23% and the estimated refinanced rate is 2.03% and if refinance could produce approximately $251,941 in savings. Lynne asked if they reviewed savings for refinancing other bonds, Mr. Vahrenberg said only refinancing the 2015 bonds produced savings; he hadn’t reviewed the sewer district bonds, but said he would. The approximate cost to refinance is 2% of the principal amount of the bonds. After discussion, Clifton made a motion to start the process to refinance the 2015 bond, Jeff seconded and all approved. If the County later decides to cancel the refinancing there will be no cost to the County.
Jody Hoener met with the Commissioners to discuss Spark; she said they have encountered some difficulties getting items purchased, she said the credit cards being used have limits and there have been barriers getting checks cut in off cycles. The Spark money has to be spent by the end of the year. Jody said they needed real-time numbers on what the balance is so that all of the money can be spent by the end of the year. There is a Spark meeting (between Greenbush, departments and others) on December 15th to discuss the balance and reconciling expenses.
Jeff made a motion to allow employees with unused vacation time as of 12/31/2020 to carry over the unused vacation time until 4/30/2021, Clifton seconded and all approved.
Register of Deeds Lora Holdridge met with the Commissioners to discuss longevity pay; she had concerns over employees that had left employment and come back to work getting longevity credit for the time the employee worked at the County before leaving. Lora said all of the elected officials had prior experience with the County before becoming elected. Jeff said elected officials aren’t eligible for the one-time longevity pay, but said if they became unelected and serve the County then their prior knowledge with the County should count towards longevity. Lora said she wasn’t asking for elected officials to get the longevity pay. Lora said if an employee comes back to work for the County then their longevity date should be the date they come back to work, not their original start date. She said their other benefits aren’t held and said their longevity (original hire date) shouldn’t be held either. Lora didn’t agree with the longevity calculation for a former Commissioner leaving and coming back as an employee.
Lynne made a motion to amend the agenda to discuss a pay matter, Jeff seconded and all approved. Lynne said pay raises had been given at times and said Lora had taken on extra work regarding road records back to the 1950’s, Lynne said he thought they should consider a pay scale to compensate for the extra work; Lora thanked him, but said she wasn’t here to discuss that issue.
Clifton made a motion to go into a 15 minute executive session for personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel to protect their privacy, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room, Jeff seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
Jeff made a motion to go into a 15 minute executive session for personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel to protect their privacy, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room, Clifton seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Eric Bailey). After the session, Jeff made a motion to fill the administrative clerk position for Road & Bridge, Clifton seconded and all approved.
On 12/8/2020, the Commissioners approved a bid from Schwab Eaton to do the bridge inspections; the Commissioners asked that yes be circled on that agreement for the low water crossings.
Jeff made a motion to go into a one hour executive session for confidential data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts and individual proprietorships, Clifton seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Jody Hoener, Shane Walker, Nedra Barr, Sharon Ross, Lindsay Madison, Josh Jones and Pete Allen (some were attending the meeting by Zoom). No action was taken.
Jeff made a motion to go into a 25 minute executive session for confidential data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts and individual proprietorships, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room, Clifton seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Justin Meeks and Jody Hoener). After the session, Lynne made a motion to give Clifton permission to meet with CHC, Clifton seconded and all approved.
Lynne made a motion to amend the agenda to discuss resolutions, Clifton seconded and all approved.
Jeff made a motion to adopt Resolution 30-20, a wage resolution effective 01/01/2021, increasing the wages for the position of major, captain and GIS coordinator, Clifton seconded and all approved.
Jeff made a motion to adopt Resolution 31-20, a resolution allowing unused 2020 vacation time to be carried over until April 30, 2021, Clifton seconded and all approved.
Lynne made a motion to not have a Commission meeting on December 29th or January 5th and to allow the Commission room to be used for early in-person voting, Jeff seconded and all approved.
Jeff made a motion to go into a 20 minute executive session confidential data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts and individual proprietorships, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room, Clifton seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Jody Hoener and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
At 1:00, Jeff made a motion to adjourn, Clifton seconded and all approved.
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS
(ss) Lynne Oharah, Chairman
(ss) Jeff Fischer, Commissioner
(ss) Clifton Beth, Commissioner
ATTEST:
Kendell Mason, Bourbon County Clerk
December 22, 2020, Approved Date
