FORT SCOTT — Bourbon County Clerk Susan Walker announced her resignation at Monday night’s county commission meeting, closing 24 years of public service with a statement that moved from a routine election recap into a direct, sustained rebuke of the commission chairman.
Walker said her last day will be Aug. 31. She told commissioners the decision was made about a month ago, when she accepted another job, and that she and her staff stayed on to see the primary election through. Her staff will transfer out of the clerk’s office to another elected official’s office at the end of this week, she said, and Deputy Clerk Michael Hoyt will run the office until the Republican Party appoints a replacement. Hoyt served as clerk for the remainder of Monday’s meeting.
“For 24 years, I’ve had the honor and the burden of serving this community,” Walker said. “Today, I’m before you with a heavy heart but a clear conscience to announce that I will be stepping down from my position as county clerk effective 8-31.” (video, 1:03:53)
A direct address to the chairman
The sharpest portion of Walker’s statement was aimed at Chairman Samuel Tran, whom she addressed directly. (video, 1:07:35)
“Chairman, I’m addressing you directly because your behavior toward me has crossed every reasonable line,” she said. “You ignore me, you speak to me with open disrespect, and you make sexist comments that demean my position and my work. On top of that, you make underhanded public statements designed to make people think I’m doing something criminal when I am not.”
Walker said she had left her office “in order, in balance with the treasurer,” and said it was unfortunate she had to say so at all “because of the attempts for past and current elected officials to try to set me up for a crime, one I did not commit.” She characterized the situation as reflecting “incompetent leadership and a misunderstanding of how processes work.”
She also said that “two of you on this commission wanted to break me and ruin my reputation,” adding: “My response is, thank you for freeing me.”
Walker said the political climate of recent years had taken a toll on her and her staff, and that no public office “is worth the destruction of one’s peace and well-being.”
A warning about payroll and the county’s finances
Immediately before announcing her resignation, Walker delivered a detailed warning about county payroll. (video, 1:02:16)
Over the past eight months, she said, “each payroll cycle has produced issues that the treasurer and I have reported to the full commission. Yet the concerns have been consistently overlooked.” Reconciling items continue to accumulate, she said, and she would forward the details to each commissioner, to Baker Tilly and to the county’s auditor.
Without timely reconciliation and monthly benefit billings, Walker said, “many employees may either fail to receive funds in their HSA accounts or may need refunds for incorrect deductions.” She called the KPERS variances “extremely concerning,” warning that inaccurate wage reporting “can affect employees’ retirement records and contributions, creating long-term consequences.”
She recommended Baker Tilly handle all general-ledger interest entries for payroll going forward.
Walker, who said she was hired in 2021 to address financial deficiencies that had led to repeated failed audits, said county audits had been clean since 2022, but that a violation occurred in 2025 when the commission failed to pass an amended budget. Speaking, she said, as a citizen, she warned that “the future of Bourbon County rests in the hands of the current commission. If better fiscal decisions are not made, if discipline and foresight are not applied, the county will face serious trouble in the near future.”
Election recap and reported incidents
Before the resignation, Walker gave an extended account of the Aug. 4 primary. Every poll worker completed two hours of training, she said — more than in the past — and the county produced new role-specific guides because its training materials had not been updated in more than a decade.
She said she had requested the county to purchase updated poll pads capable of printing a check-in receipt showing the correct ballot style, party and precinct. The county currently relies on color-coded paper slips that a worker must match by hand, a process complicated this year by 90 different ballot styles in the primary. The general election will have about 30.
This is the first year that incident reports have been instituted at the election office. Four incident reports were filed by supervising judges, Walker said:
- One during early voting, resolved on site.
- Two at Community Christian Church, where voters were mistakenly issued ballots from a precinct other than their own.
- One in the Uniontown precinct, where the number of voters checked in did not match the number of ballots cast. Walker attributed that to poll pad problems and said a voter likely cast a ballot without receiving voter credit — “there is no way for us to go back and audit that.” She encouraged anyone who voted in Uniontown to check their voter history.
Voters issued the wrong ballot can request a replacement and spoil the first, Walker noted, but only before casting it. She said the incidents amounted to 99.999 percent accuracy against ballots cast, and thanked poll workers — many elderly or retired, working 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. for less than $200 — “for their continued service in the process, and hope they continue to volunteer despite the ridicule this year.”
S&P reviewing the county’s credit rating
Commissioner Gregg Motley reported on a conference call with S&P reviewing Bourbon County’s credit rating, saying low reserves, lack of a long-term plan, and the county’s recent non-clean audit triggered the review and that a downgrade is possible.
Commissioner Samuel Tran agreed that the county needs a plan for equipment maintenance and replacement. “We are so reactionary that it’s troubling,” he said of the way the county has handled the need to repair and replace items.
Commission recalls $179,000 backhoe purchase
Commissioners voted 4-1 — Commissioner David Beerbower dissenting — to recall a previously approved purchase of a new $179,000 Caterpillar backhoe for the transfer station and to direct Public Works to seek certified used alternatives. A separate motion by Beerbower to have the chairman sign the purchase contract died for lack of a second. (video, 2:04:53)
Chairman Tran reopened a purchase the board had already approved. “My question is real simple,” he said. “Why do we need to buy another backhoe and why does it have to be $179,000?”
Beerbower defended it: “One’s a loaner, and the other one has been worn down, and we’re going to just continue to pay nickel and dime on maintenance on it.” He then read the statement supporting the commission’s original motion to purchase a new backhoe.
Tran said he had spent ten minutes looking at Caterpillar’s own certified pre-owned listings online. “There are certified Caterpillar backhoes, … same size and everything,” he said. “They’re way under $179,000 with only like 200 hours, 400 hours. Why can’t we do something like that?” Later, as the debate wore on, he added: “While we’re sitting here talking, Fargo, North Dakota, $125,000, 242 hours.” He also asked how many local farmers or ranchers would buy new at the $179,000 price rather than “something used that’s good.”
Beerbower’s objection was procedural. “Point of order. We have already voted for this piece of equipment,” he said. “We had an opportunity that night that they presented two purchases of backhoe, used one on a new one. We voted. And there was plenty of opportunity then to say, well, hey, I would like to table it for a week.” He returned to it later: “We’re in the third week of purchasing the piece of equipment that we approved two weeks ago.”
Diane Ballou, who operates the equipment at the transfer station, told commissioners the dispute had outrun what she asked for. “All I was asking for was something to do my job with,” she said. “As far as being brand new, I don’t care what I have as long as I have something to work with that doesn’t break down every other day or that I have to sweat to death all day because I don’t have an air conditioner.”
Tran said the price, not the need, was the problem. “It looked great when it sat at the table and we talked about it, but when you start digging through the onion layers, I’m like, dude, we are spending 179 grand and it only works in one place,” he said. “At the very beginning, hey, here’s a shiny new object. Let’s go buy it. Oh, everybody, including me, we’re on board. … So sometimes the shiny things do distract us.”
Commissioner Joe Allen, who voted for the original purchase, said he had deferred to staff: “I was one that voted yes for it for $179,000 backhoe with limited knowledge of what they do because I trust them. That’s their job. That’s what we’ve hired them for.”
Beerbower pressed on what would replace it, and how. “So we’re recalling it to be able to have them seek another one, but we don’t know how we’re going to pay for it,” he said. Commissioner Gregg Motley, who said he voted against the purchase the first time, put it against the county’s finances. The original purchase agreement would have accrued interest through the first year’s deferred payment period. “I think we need to get them the equipment they need, but we need to do it in a more cost-effective way and in a way that we’re not paying a year’s worth of interest in order to carry it into the next budget year” — adding, “we don’t have reserves.”
A fight over who supervises courthouse maintenance
Beerbower asked the board to establish a position for a courthouse maintenance supervisor who reports directly to the commission, moving oversight away from the commission’s part-time executive assistant. The purpose, he said, was to “create a clear supervisory structure for the courthouse maintenance operation” and “provide direct accountability to the Board of County Commissioners.” (video, 2:50:40)
Allen’s first concern was the people already doing the work. “You already have two employees in that position, right? One and a half,” he said. “You’re opening this up to everybody in the county. Say somebody comes in, what do you do with your half or your one?” He pressed the point: “What do I do with that employee that’s been here, that’s been hired? I mean, I’m not going to throw him to the wind.”
Tran said the idea had merit but was premature. “I think it’s an idea that needs to be broached. I totally understand that,” he said. “I think we’re a little bit early. I think we need to take a look at the budget, make sure the budget’s finalized so we have the money.”
The exchange turned on how the present arrangement was decided in the first place. Beerbower said he did not recall the board approving it: “I don’t remember ever approving or ever hearing of that position getting the supervisor until it was already done.” He said the job description surfaced only afterward — “I’ve never seen that job description until after it was questioned, and then all of a sudden the job description shows up.”
Tran said it was settled during hiring, on the HR consultant’s advice: “I remember talking about it, and Dr. Cohen recommended that our executive assistant be the supervisor.” Commissioner Mika Milburn Kee said a record exists: “It’s been forwarded to you and the lawyer. … I went back and found it when all this started, the email.” Beerbower was unsatisfied — “So right now it’s just hearsay” — and asked her to produce it: “Show me. I’m being transparent here. If it’s in there and I did that, then by all means.”
Tran moved twice to control the room, at one point saying he would “gavel this time around because I see where this is going,” adding, “We’re going to have one person speak at a time.” Later: “You guys voted me to be chair. I need to be the chair.”
Beerbower eventually set the history aside. “For sake of argument, I’ll agree 100% right now that that’s what happened,” he said. “What I’m saying is that I now see that it was wrong. I now see that that position can’t manage that position and that the turmoil and stuff that is being faced daily in this courthouse, that we’re in need of a change.”
Tran pushed on pay, saying the duties as written described a job worth far more than an entry-level wage. Beerbower said his proposal addressed it: the hire would start at entry-level pay, then move to supervisor-level pay after a 90-day introductory period. Tran was unconvinced: “You’re asking this person to come in and run the building, David.”
Tran also raised nepotism, asking whether the candidate could “be related or tied to a sitting commissioner” and saying “there are people who are related that tried to get into the courthouse. … Nepotism is a thing in this county.” Beerbower responded: “We’re going to cut out the commissioners to be in charge of courthouse maintenance supervisor because we’re afraid that they might be related to somebody. That’s what you just said.”
Beerbower pulled the motion back — “I’m going to pull it back this week, and I’ll resubmit it” — while rejecting the argument for waiting: “But to say that we’re going to wait until after budget season, that’s what we said last year. We said last year we’re going to … after budget season … we’re going to do all these great things to … try to move Bourbon County forward and to put things in perspective and we haven’t done a thing.”
Tran pushed back saying that Beerbower was blaming himself and the rest of the commission for not doing their jobs and it would be advisable to take into account “all the drama” they’ve had to go through this year.
Also at the meeting
Sheriff Bill Martin asked to use jail inmate housing revenue to buy 12 replacement computers needed for KCJIS Windows 10/11 compliance by October, with quotes of roughly $14,465 from Stronghold and $14,544 from Advantage of Iola. Commissioners approved 5-0, leaving the vendor choice to the sheriff.
The Sheriff also suggested that the commission get an update from Stronghold on the project they’ve been doing for the county and determine where to obtain IT services going forward. Beerbower and Tran both said it had been some time since they received an update from Stronghold.
Commissioners heard opposition to a proposal to enroll county-owned land next to Oak Grove Cemetery — the old landfill site — in the state’s walk-in hunting program. Cemetery caretaker Phillip Pavey objected in person and the adjacent Cronemeyer family objected by letter, both citing existing trespassing problems. Justin Herbert of Kansas Wildlife and Parks described the one-year agreement, expected low usage, and signage plans.
Beerbower and Herbert both mentioned that when a parcel of land is enrolled in walk-in hunting, illegal usage drops off because the hunters that follow the rules are often quick to report those that break them. They want to be able to keep using the land for hunting without the disruptions of poachers.
“I would ask that we keep an open mind, we try it for a year, and Wildlife and Parks will do whatever we can to mitigate any concerns that come up to the best of our ability. And, I mean, I just ask that we give it a try and keep an open mind and go from there,” said Herbert.
He also mentioned that there should be new game wardens in the county this fall.
Commissioner Mika Milburn Kee raised long-overdue KDHE groundwater testing obligations at the closed landfill and won a motion authorizing her to draft a proposal directing Public Works to conduct the testing with KDHE present and to update deed covenants and restrictions.
EMS Director Hulsey presented ambulance rate comparisons with Allen, Anderson, Crawford and Neosho counties. Tran asked for a Medicare-versus-private-insurance breakdown, collection rates from Omni, and transfer and staffing-hour data.
Matt Lawn of Baker Tilly, the outside firm advising the county on its 2027 budget, reviewed the remaining budget timeline, adding a work session for Wednesday, Aug. 19 at 5:30 p.m., in addition to the regular August Monday meetings, with a public hearing expected Sept. 14, to be publicized by Sept. 4.
A work session was set for Wednesday, Aug. 12 at 5:30 p.m. with court personnel to discuss temporarily relocating court operations during the courthouse elevator modernization.
The county commission also received the current appraiser’s resignation. They discussed how to fill the position, including sharing appraisers with other counties. Milburn-Kee agreed to reach out and collect the needed information.
A 12-month extension of Dr. Cohen’s HR services contract, at $4,300 a month or about $51,600 a year, was tabled until next week after commissioners asked to review the document.
The commission approved accounts payable of $323,572.46 and, earlier in the meeting, entered a 15-minute executive session under KSA 75-4319(b)(1) on a non-elected personnel matter, returning without action.