FORT SCOTT — The Bourbon County Commission on Monday tabled a proposed rule that would bar county employees from using county property for personal purposes without the commission’s written approval, after commissioners raised questions about insurance and how it was written. The county treasurer told the board that seven payrolls since late August have not been posted to the county’s general ledger.
The commission met at Fort Scott City Hall, as it voted last week to do, so that early-voting equipment can stay in the county commission room. Chairman Gregg Motley presided, with Commissioners Joe Allen, David Beerbower and Mika Milburn-Kee. Commissioner Samuel Tran was absent.
Personal-use policy tabled
Milburn-Kee presented a draft amendment to the employee handbook. It says county-owned vehicles, equipment, machinery, tools, materials and other property are for official county business and may not be used for personal purposes, or lent to others for personal use, without prior written approval from the commission. No supervisor or department head could authorize an exception, and any approved use would have to be documented and tracked.
Allen said he has been talking with county employees and is still looking into the question, including insurance issues. He spoke: “Just last week we had a couple county employees pull over and help a lady change out her tire, and we used a couple of our tools to do that,” Allen said. “According to this policy, we can’t even do that. We can’t even be good people to citizens because it was county. So I’m not quite on board with the way this is written at this point.”
Motley said the county needs to understand the insurance and workers’ compensation exposure if an employee is hurt doing personal work in a county building.
“We need to err on the side of letting employees know we value them and giving them as many perks as we can… We need to be clear that this isn’t a problem with current management. This has been going on for decades,” he said. Beerbower suggested checking with KCAMP, the county’s insurance pool, and said that in talking with people in Allen County, including the city manager, he was told it was “always an unwritten perk,” but now is has become political. He said that from what he learned, small uses such as changing a headlight or tires are too minor to draw the IRS’s attention.
Milburn-Kee said she had asked KCAMP and was told anything personal is not covered. She moved to adopt the policy. No second was heard, and Motley tabled the item for a week so Allen could do more research.
The issue follows last week’s meeting, when Public Works employees spoke in support of their director and said county workers have long used the county garage for their own vehicles.
Treasurer: payrolls not on the books
County Treasurer Jennifer Hawkins addressed comments about payroll made at the previous meeting. “I’ve actually never done any payroll entries,” she said. “What I do is I reconcile what the clerk processes.”
Hawkins said all payrolls from Jan. 1 through Aug. 21 have been reconciled and posted to the general ledger, but none since then have been. “I can’t generate them an accurate report because we have seven payrolls that haven’t hit the general ledger,” she said of department heads asking for budget figures as it is now near year-end.
She said variances in HSA contributions, KPERS, and garnishments from the entire year are still unresolved and now fill four pages. “I’ll email it to all of you so that you know exactly where we’re sitting and why I’m here again saying this is a major issue,” she said.
“There needs to be a lot of checks and balances. I can’t do everything,” she said, describing her current work of reconciling both county bank accounts.
Motley said the planned CIC software fix “will not fix the payroll problems that we have.” He said he has sent Baker Tilly a list of every payroll with coding or balancing problems and asked for a quote to correct them, and that he had talked with Matt Lawn of Baker Tilly that day.
Hawkins also announced the county’s delayed tax sale will be held Dec. 1 at 11 a.m. at Memorial Hall instead of the courthouse lobby, because the law firm handling the sale expects more bidders than the courthouse can hold. Bidders must register for a bidding number at the treasurer’s office with a photo ID; registration is also available the day of the sale. The property list will be posted on the county website.
Bills and a possible double billing
The commission approved accounts payable of $78,932.08, along with the Hampton Inn, Holmtown and Nu Grille credit card charges it had pulled the week before. Milburn-Kee said those charges were made by the county’s former appraiser, not the new one. The board left out two United invoices of $1,219.15 each, which Milburn-Kee said were “darn near identical besides the person asking for it to be paid,” and said should be investigated.
Executive sessions
Beerbower moved a 20-minute executive session under the Kansas Open Meetings Act exception for secure computer systems, to discuss vulnerabilities in the Sheriff’s Department computer system found during a recent upgrade. Undersheriff Kevin Davidson and sheriff’s advisor Brian Murphy were included. The commission returned with no action. Later in the meeting, Milburn-Kee moved a five-minute executive session on the performance of non-elected personnel; the board again returned with no action.
Courthouse asbestos report
Beerbower presented the Sept. 29 limited asbestos assessment of the courthouse by Apex Environmental, first reported last week. Of 10 bulk samples, asbestos was found in pipe insulation and pipe fittings in custodial and utility areas. Flooring and carpet sampled in the district court offices did not contain asbestos. The report recommends further evaluation of the boiler room and the elevator room if future work will affect them; the elevator modernization project began the week of Oct. 12.
Beerbower said the inspector told him the elevator company, which started work before the report was presented, knows what safeguards to take. He said air monitoring done after a former custodial employee raised concerns about fibers in the air came back clean, and that 108 W. Second St., where the courts are working during the elevator project, and the third floor now being renovated also tested clean. He said there are six known areas of asbestos and potential fiber release in the basement, and that he will put a request for proposals from abatement companies on a future agenda.
The commission approved Resolution 34-26, which assigns courthouse office space and gives maintenance the former IT offices; Milburn-Kee said maintenance had asked for the move and had already relocated. The board also approved Milburn-Kee’s motion to have Motley sign a KCAMP risk-avoidance grant application seeking $2,000 in reimbursement for the asbestos testing. Milburn-Kee said no one applied for the grant this year. Motley said he had given the grant to Bourbon County Emergency Manager Lou Howard, early in the year to apply for, that it was missed, and that she apologizes.
108 W. Second St. sale
Milburn-Kee left the room for discussion of a contract offer on 108 W. Second St., because she works for the real estate firm involved. The commission took no action.
Beerbower said the district court is using the building while the courthouse elevator is replaced and is expected out of the building around Nov. 20. He said he is concerned that work by a new owner could disrupt court proceedings, which are held virtually and depend on participants being able to hear. He noted the county had already dealt with a ceiling collapse in several rooms, cleanup by ServiceMaster and a tarp on the roof. Beerbower said the buyer has offered to let the courts stay past their expected return, with extensions if needed.
According to the offer letter and contract in the agenda packet, the buyer, who is also a real estate agent, offered $125,000 cash for the building as-is and estimates spending about $140,000 right away to make it usable. The agent’s letter says the commission was cut from 6% to 3% because the buyer waived a buyer’s fee, that closing is set for Oct. 30, and that the courts may stay in the building at no charge through Nov. 25.
The county’s real estate agent, Diann Tucker, told the board the buyer’s main concern is replacing the roof soon, since the county “just spent $7,000 on a tarp,” and that the title company needed a signed contract Tuesday to close Friday. Beerbower said he would contact the buyer and the courts. The commission scheduled a special meeting for noon Tuesday, Oct. 27, on the contract.
Transit letters of support
The commission approved letters of support for two public transportation grant applications.
Casey Brown, community engagement coordinator for SEK-CAP, and Scott Christiansen, transportation coordinator, said the agency’s Girard-based service has come to Bourbon County on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays since 2023. Christiansen said ridership was 1,023 in 2024 and 1,117 in 2025, with about 1,236 projected for 2026. The letter supports SEK-CAP’s 5311 grant, due at the end of November.
Becky Gray of Building Health Inc., which runs the Care Van program, said a KDOT grant pays 70% of operating costs and the rest must come from local sources. She said Medicaid transport income that helps cover that share fell from about $40,000 a month to about $4,000 after changes in how insurers broker those rides, and has since recovered to about $30,000 to $40,000. Gray said Care Van gave about 4,400 rides in Bourbon County last program year, about 3,600 to the general public and about 750 for medical transport, and could not fill about 400 more requests because its schedules were full. That application is due Nov. 18.
Other business
The commission also:
- approved the agenda as amended and the minutes of the Oct. 19 meeting; there was no public comment, and a scheduled update on security cameras was dropped;
- approved an end-of-contract letter on human resources services, with Motley authorized to sign it;
- heard from Milburn-Kee that well testing at the old and current wells is under way; after Public Works mowed the old well sites, some wells were found damaged and will be repoured;
- tabled a review of benefit contributions indefinitely; Milburn-Kee said the resolution creating a benefits committee has never been repealed and that the committee now being formed does not follow it;
- voted to join the Kansas Association of Counties; Motley said he did not believe the county was a member last year.
In commission comments, Allen thanked the county employees who stopped to help a stranded motorist last week. He said the county’s auction ended Monday with everything sold except some toilets that drew no bids, and a roller at the landfill that was never listed; the items can be relisted, and he asked to discuss it next week. Beerbower asked for a future discussion, as part of a purchasing policy, of the county buying from some local businesses but not others, especially family-owned ones.