A few weeks ago the Chairman of the Bourbon County Commission removed the public comments time from their weekly agenda. Last week, in further effort to limit citizens from attending meetings, they changed the commission meeting time from 5:30 pm on Monday to 9:00 am Thursday mornings.
I filled out the required form and was placed on today’s agenda. Yesterday morning, Chairman Harris removed me from the agenda so that I am not allowed to speak. Therefore, I have revised and expanded my comments as a “Letter to the Editor” because there is a lot of underhanded goings-on which are detrimental to the county & citizens, and I believe everyone needs to know some of the who/what/why/how.
It was pointed out by another citizen during the budget discussions, that four years ago this commission inherited a $1.235 million funds reserve. If they stay on budget for the remainder of this year, they will be leaving only $250,000 in reserve to the incoming new commission. That means they have spent every penny of tax revenue collected over the past 4 years, millions more in Covid money and all of the money received from the Jayhawk Wind donations (as well as making promises to give away future solar energy donations).
This commission has spent millions on various feasibility studies and by violating Kansas statutes, fraudulently donated a $19 million building, land worth at least several hundred thousand, and over $2 million in cash to a VentureCapital Flipper. They will leave the new commission a bare-bones budget, with higher debt payments as a result of reckless spending and almost no backup reserve in case of emergencies; which means they are setting the new incoming commission up for failure.
Last week USD-235, USD-234, and FSCC all signed donation agreements with Doral Renewables for the Tennyson Creek Solar project. These agreements give each school $225,000 per year for 10 years when this project comes to fruition.
According to the Senior Director of Development for Doral, they were “advised” to make their donation agreements directly with those schools and to give 30% to each and keep the other 10% to go to non-profit organizations. He also said those donations make up the entirety of the amount being given, there is nothing left for anyone or anything else.
Like most people, I agree with some of the energy project money going to our schools; in fact I have repeatedly requested that the money be allocated as normal property taxes. When I asked last December, both Commissioners Beth and Harris said given the chance, they would commit to using a good portion of the donations to lowering the County’s mill levy.
But they aren’t following through with this commitment.
Our County cannot afford to give the entire 10 years of donation exclusively to schools, especially to a district that is not even in the project or taxing area. The County has received 3 years’ worth of donation money from the wind project and all of that money has been used as “fun money” by the commission – not used for needed expenses or lowering taxes, rather it has gone for new spending on pet projects, so certain persons are viewed more favorably or other frivolous things.
What good is the alternative energy project’s donations if they aren’t used to lower our tax burden? If the $750,000 per year donation from Doral was distributed like taxes rather than given to the three schools, then U-235 would get $241,000 so slightly more than their direct agreement gives them; FSCC would get $140,000; the fire district would get $30,000; and $285,000 would go to the County, with small amounts for the library, township etc.
Speaking as someone living in the western part of the county, these donations are yet another slap in the face and a prime example of how county officials continue to ignore their duty to residents who live outside of Fort Scott.
A month or so ago a resident from Hidden Valley went before the commission and mentioned the lack of cell phone reception and the 35 to 45 minute response time for an ambulance. Both problems are true for much of the county, not just Hidden Valley.
Remember not long ago Commissioner Harris, who as former public works director should know as well as anyone how long it takes to drive to various regions of the county, demanded spending more than $40,000 as a grant match for a traffic study to put an overpass on Jayhawk Road; his reasoning was because if a train were on the track, it could take as much as 10 minutes for an ambulance to get to his house. But when asked, Commissioners Harris and Beth wouldn’t even consider stationing one of the County’s ambulances in Uniontown’s already prepared fire station to decrease response time to thousands of Bourbon County residents who live outside of Fort Scott.
Now we have several large scale solar and battery storage facilities planning to move into western Bourbon County. These projects will encompass 10,000 acres or more, surrounding Uniontown and very near to Bronson, Redfield, Devon and Mapleton – yet these communities which are directly affected by the projects will receive nothing from them, thanks again to one or two commissioners.
Meanwhile, U-234 which is totally outside the solar project area will receive $2.25 million if everything goes according to plan.
It has been said of these solar projects “A few will be inconvenienced for the benefit of many”. Let’s think about these inconveniences for just a moment. Imagine you live on what was a quiet gravel road but now that a solar project has started construction across the road: you have trucks going by 75-100 or more times a day leaving dust clouds in their wake, along with washboard and pothole-filled roads because commissioners won’t ask the developer (like every other county does) to maintain roads and they gave away the donated money, so the county can’t afford the extra maintenance; there is noise akin to jackhammers pounding rock up to 12 hrs/day for several months; then when that finally stops if you are lucky you may get a couple short months of quiet again before you have to listen to a sound like a million mosquitoes buzzing constantly for the rest of your life.
Not to mention the problems and worries about the Battery Energy Storage System, which are basically enormous lithium-ion batteries (you know, the kind you can’t take on airplanes because they cause fires unexpectedly), which are nearly impossible to extinguish; the utility solar industry’s policy is to “contain and let it burn”. Does Bourbon County have enough volunteer firefighters, equipment and water to contain a fire 24/7 for 2-3 weeks until the BESS burns itself out? I don’t think so.
Commissioners ask, “why are you so upset” and say “don’t worry, you’ll get used to it”, but will you really, because the inverter humming never goes away and you will be forever living beside an industrial facility rather than the tall grass, trees and nature that was the reason you chose to live in the most rural part of BB Co to begin with.
By giving away the donation, the County sold a false bill of goods as this solar project isn’t helping reduce your taxes or lower your mill levy as promised. It seems like it may be more accurate to describe these solar projects as “the inconvenience of a few for the benefit of even fewer”.
A reasonable person has to be wondering:
- Who advised Doral to make agreements directly with the schools and to give 30% to each with the remaining 10% for non-profit organizations and leave nothing for the County?
- Why has Vance Eden, whose family stands to make millions per year from their solar leases, been so heavily involved and instrumental in discussions with Doral on behalf of the Commission?
- Why was so much money given to a school district located entirely outside the project’s taxing district?
- Why is Vance Eden, superintendent at U-235, continuing to pursue a new welding shop building after taxpayers voted it down by a 2-1 margin, and why did the commission agree to give him an additional $200,000 for it – on top of the $2.25 million the district will get directly from Doral?
- Since the Tennyson Creek Solar project isn’t supposed to start until 2026, why was it so important that they get the schools to sign agreements before Oct 31st?
- Why has the Commission itself not had any discussions about the Doral contracts – or have some of them, just not during a commission meeting? Are their agreements less urgent than the agreements with the schools? Or maybe it was necessary for Doral to already have given the donation money away, so when they offer contracts to the County there will be nothing left just so Commissioners can say “we told you so”?
A lot of questions about one of the very shady dealings going on by a few people in our local government, three of whom will thankfully be gone come January. For this, I would like to extend a very sincere and heartfelt “Thank You” to voters in Districts 2 & 3 for recognizing the corruption, dysfunction, ineptitude and lack of respect & professionalism and voting OUT their two incumbent commissioners by a large margin.
I find it a shame that instead of exiting gracefully, these commissioners choose to spend their final months doing as much damage as possible to not just the incoming commission but to all county residents & to do it strictly for their own personal satisfaction or benefit.
Submitted by Mary Pemberton