BOURBON COUNTY COMMISSION
When approving the accounts payable, Commissioner Mika Milburn moved to change the listing for $54,542.03 called Commissioner’s Wages to be labeled as Walker Settlement, since that’s what it is.
Jennifer Hawkins, County Treasurer and Susan Walker, County Clerk, both explained that it cannot be changed because it’s already been processed and the name of the account the money is paid from is called Commissioner Wages.
“It’s run through accounts payable because you process payroll outside of accounts payable. So you would have to void it and reissued it,” said Walker.
Commissioner David Beerbower said he had received questions from constituents about the same item in the accounts payable.
“We make about $4,000 between the five of us in a pay period,” Beerbower said.
Commissioner Samuel Tran offered to clarify, saying that the payment is not commissioner’s wages, but a pay out of a settlement.
Public Comments
County Clerk Updates
Susan Walker read a statement to the board and the public. She welcomed a review of the claims made against herself and her office. She said she welcomes transparency and they will fix any clerical errors that are found.
“You will not find manipulation of numbers and you will not find my office illegally processing payments,” she said. The allegations of illegal activity are unfounded and serious, especially when made to law enforcement.
Walker went on to explain that she has documents and recordings pertinent to the allegations of the commission, but advised that they be heard in executive session.
Mike Wonderly
Wonderly said he does not believe cutting the commissioner’s pay is the right thing in light of all that is going on in the county. He offered respect to Beerbower for standing by his original position.
“Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that we don’t always need to go with the lowest bid,” he said. He said that the amount of time involved in serving as a county commissioner deserves adequate pay.
“I am concerned that reducing the pay of commissioners could discourage good candidates from running in the future,” he said.
Owensby
Owensby thanked the commissioners and other courthouse people for their patience. He thanked Motley for bringing forth the comprehensive audit plan, which will build public trust.
“Please keep up the honesty, the transparency, and the try,” he said.
He invited those who are critical of the commission to run for the office themselves.
Executive Session K.S.A. 75-4319 (b)(1)
Five commissioners and Laura Krom, 10 minutes, returned to session, no action.
Department Updates
Public works- hard surface road plan
Milburn expressed concern about the lack of a hard surface road plan this year, in light of the county’s 1% hard surface road tax.
She said the commission needs to offer Public Works Director Kenny Allen help and support since he is new to the position and no longer has a second in command who is familiar with the county.
Beerbower said that the previous Public Work Director brought his hard surface road plan to the commission for approval in late April of 2025.
Since the county was unable to complete most of last year’s hard surface road plan, Milburn suggested they start with that plan and modify it as needed for 2026.
Commissioner Gregg Motley said that the 1% tax represents the priorities for the county.
Tran said the county’s asphalt tank is not repairable, which has taken some months to find out. Thus the county can either purchase asphalt somewhere else or lay down chip and seal.
Motley and Commissioner Joe Allen said they would like to see last year’s hard surface roads plan.
They decided to schedule a work session with Kenny Allen.
Old Business
108 w 2nd listing
Beerbower moved to lower the selling price of 108 W. 2nd and adjacent property to $170,000. Motion carried unanimously.
Salary Resolution
Commissioner Joe Allen brought up some information he collected from six different counties similar to Bourbon County: Lynn, Allen, Neosho, Anderson, Cherokee and Labette counties all have three commissioners. They all offer their commissioners benefits and pay them in the range of $21,000 to $29,700 annually. They all have either the county clerk’s office or an HR department as support for the commission.
Allen said that if those counties chose to go to a five-member commission and split the pay among the five, it would be about $15,000 per year for each commissioner.
“I think that should be taken into consideration if we’re looking at changing salary for us here,” said Allen.
“Most five-person commissions are in bigger counties,” he said.
Allen said that he has received a lot of feedback from his constituents saying not to change the commissioner’s pay. Tran said that he has heard the same message from lots of people. Motley agreed that he had heard the same thing.
Tran read a resolution setting annual salaries for elected and appointed officials.
MIlburn moved to approve, Motley seconded.
Beerbower then read a statement going over the history of the move from three to five commissioners and maintaining his position.
Motion passed with four voting for it and Beerbower abstaining.
Forensic Audit POC
Tabled until Sheriff Bill Martin is available to discuss the issue.
New Business
KORA (Kansas Open Records Act)
Beerbower said it appears that there’s a war going on regarding who is responsible and how KORA requests are processed in the county.
He and Motley both said that KORA requests should be handled entirely by the clerk’s office, since that’s where all records are kept.
Requests for records not kept in the clerk’s office would be forwarded by the that office to the appropriate department.
Tran said that the commission’s administrative assistant is part time. He expressed concern about her getting inundated and keeping her from her primary duties.
“I understand the law says 72 hours, but she’s not the POC (Point of Contact) for KORA,” he said.
Beerbower pointed out that the taxpayers foot the bill for KORA requests.
Jennifer Hawkins, County Treasurer, said that the new Sunshine Law has changed the allowable charge on KORA requests and the county should rework it’s fee schedule accordingly.
She also said that all KORA requests do need to go through the clerk’s office because those requests themselves are “requestable” so the record of them needs to be with the clerk.
$26,000 Walker Settlement Invoice
Commission voted to allow Tran to sign it.
CODE Red with Louella Howard Emergency Manager
Code Red is the public emergency alert system the county has used historically. Howard asked to switch to Genesis Alert System. Code Red currently costs the county $11,577 annually, split with the City of Fort Scott.
A three year contract with Genesis would be $15,465 for the entire three years, and could also be split with the City of Fort Scott. The Emergency Management budget can cover it.
The motion to change carried, full cost to be covered by the county.
Future Agenda Topics
Tran said the commission needs to hold a work session for county goals. He asked each commissioner to come to the table with at least three goals. This would be both for the budget purposes and to focus the efforts of the commission.
Beerbower said they need to have a work session with the elected officials to collect information about who has access card readers and access cards and clean it up for the future.
They scheduled a hard surface road plan work session for 4:30 PM Monday, March 23.
Commissioner Comments
Gergg Motley attended the SEK RPC board meeting last week. Bourbon County’s one loan with them is now current.
Joe Allen gave kudos to the courthouse custodial staff, who helped him today.