Fort Scott Biz

District 3 County Commissioner Joe Allen Sworn In

Amy Thorpe
The north wing, east side of the Bourbon County Courthouse.

Bourbon County Commission Meeting Agenda 02.02.26 Revised

Date: February 2, 2026 | Time: 5:30 PM

Meeting Opening

Oath of Office: Joe Allen was sworn in to his new position as commissioner of District 3.

Executive Sessions & Department Updates

Executive Sessions

The Commission will enter three private sessions under K.S.A. 75-4319 (b)(1) to discuss non-elected personnel matters.

  1. Session 1: Led by Greg Motley regarding specific personnel. 15 minutes. Returned with no action.

  2. Session 2: Led by Samuel Tran to protect the privacy of individual personnel. 20 minutes. Returned with action: Allow Tran to sign payroll change forms for the reviews discussed in the meeting. Approved.

  3. Session 3: Attorney Client Privilege. Called by David Beerbower. 10 minutes.  Returned to regular meeting with no action.

County Clerk Susan Walker addressed the commission regarding the need for the County Clerk, Treasurer, and Register of Deeds offices to change to a new independent mail server, managed by CrawKan.

“This change is needed due to decisions made regarding our technology system,” said Walker. “As well as several ongoing security concerns.”

Because each of the offices is separately elected and responsible to the citizens of Bourbon County, this is the most responsible path forward, Walker stated.

The new server is on order. New email addresses will be implemented in the next 7-10 days. It will be housed in the clerk’s office and the network system is already set up for an easy transition. It will be a separate network from the remainder of the county.

This change is necessary because all the offices have had several issues with CIC (Computer Information Concepts, the county’s accounting software provider) when doing entries throughout the day, causing duplicate and triplicate entries in their software. It will also ensure that their data is protected.

Walker said their biggest concern is that they were unable to issue accounts payable checks because of year-end issues that delayed payment almost a month, resulting in penalties to the county.

They contacted the county’s IT company, Stronghold, multiple times and were told that backups four times a day is their standard procedure. Walker also contacted the head of CIC, who told them that they weren’t getting the software updates they should have. She said they have asked numerous times for administrative access to their machines to do updates. When the access has been granted, it’s been temporary.

“This is the only way that we can get our updates timely and make sure that our data is secure,” she said.

Tran said he wished the conversation had come to the table so they could be sure all actions were necessary. He asked if she had gotten a second opinion on the need for a new server.

She said that neither she nor the County Treasurer nor the Register of Deeds trust Stronghold. They do trust CrawKan and RTS.

Tran said that without one entity having control of all the county’s IT, which oversees it “from the 30 thousand foot level,” there’s a lack of safeguards.

Walker said that she was not consulted about the use of Stronghold as the county’s IT department.

“I seriously think this is an ill advised move,” said Tran.

Regarding paying the invoice for the server, Tran said he had serous reservations.

He went on to say that he has personally called Stronghold on numerous occasions on behalf of county officials who had issues. Those officials and some county employees don’t understand the concept of a help desk being there to help you, not fix it for you.

“That’s how the industry is,” said Tran.

Sheriff Bill Martin said they’ve had several issues and he has asked his employees to start documenting them. Most recently, he couldn’t update the software the county uses for accident reports.

He asked Stronghold for administrative rights to his equipment, but they were unable to help him and told him it was an internal problem.

“I would have to agree with Mrs. Walker” about the issues, he said.

Tran said he wished he had heard about these problems earlier so the commission could address it.

“Having one IT department keeps us safe,” said Tran.

Martin reiterated his position that he doesn’t want Stronghold to continue to have the county’s IT contract once the project it is working on for the county is completed.

Tran predicted budget creep would be inevitable in a county with multiple separate servers and no overarching IT department.

Accounts payable were approved, including the new server for the Clerk, Treasurer, and Register of Deeds offices.

Citizen Comments:

Clay Walker: This county commission didn’t even honor a guy that retired after more than 20 years of service. “We need more transparency,” he said. “I don’t see this county taking care of their employees. I’m sorry,” he said as he left the table.

Dereck Ranes came to talk about the noise issue and find out where the county is at in addressing it.

Commissioner David Beerbower responded by saying that he inquired about how to gather evidence and they are looking into who they are going to assign that to and what equipment they will use. He said he would work on it the next day.

“I’d like to file a complaint every day until something gets addressed,” said Ranes.

Department Reports

Milburn-Kee read a letter to the commission from their administrative assistant requesting permission to put the county’s health insurance payments on auto-withdrawl to minimize manual paperwork and the possibility of missing a payment, which nearly happened in January.

Commissioner Greg Motley looked at the paper work and said that someone on the county’s signature card with ACH authority would have to fill out the form for Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

Susan Walker again addressed the commission, saying that on Jan. 1 everything was handed over to the new administrative assistant. She offered multiple times to walk her through everything and gave her the files and other information she needed to do her job, offering to go over it with her.

“When I handed that off, I just assumed they were being done,” said Walker. There are several things that are late. Walker said she passes those notices on to the administrative assistant as soon as she gets them.

“I do not feel like the ACH is the best approach for us because of how our system is set up,” said Walker. She wouldn’t know when it’s being withdrawn to have the Treasurer transfer the money into the account in time. The money doesn’t go into the account until it’s time to pay the bills.

“There are things hitting our bank account that we cannot say what they are for,” she said. “The communication [with the administrative assistant] is very much lacking.”

Milburn-Kee moved they allow the ACH. Tran seconded. Motley said they need a procedure in place to notify the clerk with the amount and exact date of withdrawl in order for the ACH to be workable.

Milburn-Kee rescinded her motion. She then made a motion for an executive session for non-elected personnel. Motion carried, Motley and Allen voting against. They returned with action.

Tran moved to pay Blue Cross Blue Shield through an ACH and ask the clerk to provide a list of potential bills that the administrative assistant would be responsible for. Motley reminded Tran of the need to give the clerk notice ahead of the bill. The motion was amended to have the clerk notified 5 days in advance of the ACH withdrawl with the exact amount being withdrawn.

Motion carried.

The commission voted to make a number of adjustments to various department budgets to close out the 2025 financial year.

Walker said she had yet to receive inventory for what the commission is responsible for. She gave a partial report and asked for a commissioner to do inventory for the commission, including the  emergency management, IT, the commission proper and the executive assistant.

Walker also requested that custodial services to her offices be resumed. She wants keyfob access limited to her employees but not the custodial staff.

Tran asked how much security is required for her election equipment and they discussed it.

She also addressed the job description of the administrative assistant which includes taking minutes of the Commission, reminding them of the state statutes requiring the County Clerk to take the minutes.

Walker also brought up several issues with communication between the board’s administrative assistant and her office.

She also brought up a memorandum that was reported on Fort Scott.biz as having gone out to all the county employees. She said it didn’t go to her office or anyone else housed in the courthouse.

There was then some finger-pointing among the commissioners as to where the memorandum originated with no conclusion.

She then read some minutes from March 29, 2022 saying that elected officials are exempt from following the handbook if they so choose. She also went over records of previous commission meetings where front-loading sick leave was approved, prior to the handbook being updated.

Walker says that the amount of sick leave listed for employees now under the new system begun Jan. 9 is incorrect. She also says several employees have come to her because their sick leave and vacation hours are not right. She then asked that there be, “some cooperation” to have someone from payroll come in and go over it with her.

Finally, Walker presented a letter to the commission from Lora Holdridge, apologizing for her behavior in the last meeting.

Old Business

Milburn-Kee said she talked to KCamp and got an example handbook with updated legally correct languages.

The commission is awaiting a return of the updates in the handbook from the HR department.

This will be budget focused planning. He started with the statutes that govern the commission and working to define the commission’s goals and a commission calendar with all their deadlines in one place.

They set a date for a work session for Feb. 12 at 6 PM.

The commission scheduled a special meeting to interview applicants for the position of Emergency Manager right before the Feb. 12 work session.

County Attorney Bob Johnson said he spoke with KDHE and the neighbor to the property in violation. KDHE will come out to reinspect and if it’s not fixed, they will file the appropriate action.

Tran began by stating that it has been said numerous times that we do not direct public officials and their employees. Tran said his issue is that the commission pays employee benefits for employees hired by those department heads. He asked that the department heads and elected officials notify the board when they hire someone so they can watch the budget.

Milburn-Kee suggested making employee benefits a part of each department’s own budget rather than the having benefits paid by the county.

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