The five county commissioners and several elected officials met in an executive session to change the county’s sick leave pool policy.
The board moved to accepted the recommendation of the elected officials regarding sick pool and will give instructions regarding that to Laura Krom.
Commissioner David Beerbower explained to those in attendance at the meeting that the commission has discovered that the current sick leave pool instructions in the policy manual will not work, which is why the other elected officials are crafting a recommendation for the board to amend the policy.
Old Business
Stronghold
Jason Rinker from Stronghold first addressed the comments he had made in the Feb. 9 commission meeting, regarding the letter from the Clerk, Treasurer and Register of Deeds offices about installing their own server, separate from the rest of the county and outside of Stronghold’s management.
At that time, the commission put forth a plan that included Stronghold conversing with CIC (provider of the county’s accounting software), which has not been set up yet.
“I still would strongly recommend to this commission that we have that joint call so we can get to the bottom of some of the issues we’ve been having,” he said. One of those issues is backups causing problems with the software. He said that those issues have not happened with any of their other clients. He was concerned that changing the intervals on the backups will not address the issue.
Commissioner Samuel Tran asked if the age of the operating systems on the county computers could be causing issues with the backups.
He also addressed ongoing security concerns that were mentioned in the previous meeting. He said that since that meeting, no one has reported any security concerns to Stronghold so they can be investigated and addressed.
Data protection was also discussed and no further information has been given to him.
Tran said he has had one complaint in the last two weeks of a missing email. He believes the email was recalled by the sender.
Stronghold rep said that they have been backing up data outside of the county’s Microsoft email system. He advised that county employees with missing emails contact Stronghold and start the process of tracking them down.
“Since I was here last, nothing that we talked about has been done, and I wanted to bring that to your attention,” he said.
Next he offered a project update. He said they are 80-85% complete with the project. Security architecture and clean up work have been completed, the firewall has been hardened and alerts are fully operational now. The Microsoft 360 security baseline has improved from 6% to 89%. The active directory cleanup has also been completed. New equipment is on sight and final deployment phase is underway.
Next, Stronghold will need to schedule some down time in the county to complete the final cut-overs on the network.
The commission then moved into executive session with Stronghold to update the new commissioners on the project they are doing for the county.
Baker Tilly – Ben Hart
Hart said he came to answer any of the commission’s questions
He gave an overview of their budget creating process. Baker Tilly will come in March and talk to the various county departments to see what their year was like in 2025, what revenue they are anticipating in 2026. BT will then report back to the commission the issues they have heard. They will then get the commission’s direction for the next budget.
Matt Lawn, former finance director for the City of Goddard, will be working with Hart on the Bourbon County budgeting process, along with the support staff at their Kansas City office.
BT will also provide a monthly report on the financial status of the county, to give the commission a more zoomed-out perspective on finances.
Hart says he wants the goals from the commission by the beginning of May.
Hart also explained that they start the budget creation with addressing what services the county wants to prioritize.
Lawn said that the budget is the county’s largest policy document, showing where its priorities are.
Milburn-Kee asked about having a line in the sand regarding raising the mill.
Hart said that discussion about goals includes discussion about boundaries.
Noise Resolution — County Attorney James Crux
Crux gave feedback on the proposed noise ordinance. He said it was that it was unclear if it’s a general nuisance statute or a more specific decibel rating violation, and needs clarification on whether the proximity is to a person or a property line.
There are no actual set noise levels in the resolution, but acceptable guidelines. “You can’t really have a per se violation on a general guideline,” he said.
He also said the guidelines for acceptable decibel levels are low. Regarding duration of sound, he said it’s unclear about how the duration affects the violation. Exemptions that include special events or festival are unclear.
He also said that the codes officer who enforces the code will need training in criminal and search and seizure law.
“This is one of those things that is outside of my statutory duties,” he said of prosecuting potential noise violations. He said he would have appreciated being asked if he would be willing to take on the task, and it may take more funding for his department to handle the complaints.
Commissioner Gregg Motley asked his opinion on a civil court action, rather than making a law to cause the noise to be criminal. Crux said he doesn’t practice civil law and cannot make a recommendation.
Motley also stated that collecting the fines from the corporation that owns the bitcoin mine may be impossible. Commission counsel Bob Johnson pointed out that it will take time to make change, whether they take the civil or criminal route.
Sewer — Bob Johnson
The county has entered an appearance in the civil case. Johnson has spoken with the primary complainer and the KDHE attorney, who said they would come down and assist in any testing that needs to be done.
“It’s moving forward,” Johnson said.
Tran asked questions about another citizen who called him with a complaint of sewage running off an uphill neighbor’s property onto his land.
Kevin Shafer was in attendance at the meeting. He said his ordeal has been ongoing for 5 years. Every year for the last five years, with the exception of 2024, he has tested his property where the runoff is and, “the E coli is hot.”
Shafer said he’s been asking the county to do a perk test for the last five years. The sanitation inspector has not inspected Shaefer’s neighbor, where the violation is taking place.
Previous commissioners have told him he should pursue civil action and that they won’t do a perk test because it would make other land in the county unsalable.
In the last five years Shafer has had to drain his pond due to the E Coli, per K-State’s recommendation. He also built a swell and lagoon to contain the runoff and send it into the ditch rather than into his pond.
“I’d like the source fixed. I’d like Bourbon County to require perk tests so that nobody else has to go through this issue,” said Shafer.
Public Comments
Mika Milburn-Kee on Elected Official Conduct
Referring to Tran’s comment about Secretary Susan Walker’s feelings, she said she understands his comment.
Joseph Smith- Notice of Pending Action
Smith said he is preparing to circulate a petition to recall the District 5 Commissioner, Mika Milburn-Kee. Per Kansas statute, the grounds from recall will be specifically set forth in the petition and given to the commissioner. A minimum of 147 electors who live in district 5 must sign the petition before the recall can commence.
Clint Walker
Walker said that regarding transparency from the county, there was no bidding for the jobs of payroll, HR, or audits. “I would appreciate if you do business locally,” said Walker.
“Every person’s feelings matter,” said Walker. “Know your people.”
Walker also thanked EMS for caring for his brother and getting him to the hospital when he was in an accident recently.
J.D. Handly
Brought back the commission’s salary. Handly said that during campaign time, they were told that the salary would not change with the addition of 2 new commissioners, but that the board of 5 would share the salary amounts formerly allotted to the board of 3.
“You gotta lead by example,” he said. “I want that promise kept. I want the salary completely done away with.”
Anne Dare
Read a statement that also brought up the “feelings” comment that Tran made. She said that kind of statement fosters a toxic environment.
“The optics aren’t good,” Dare said, using Tran’s own phrase.
She then called for the immediate resignations of Tran and Milburn-Kee and for Beerbower to step down as vice-chair.
New Business
Fire hydrant at Lake Fort Scott
Commissioner Gregg Motley said three different constituents have called about the hydrant. It was damaged by a driver a number of years ago and has not been replaced, resulting in increased home insurance premiums for those living in the area.
RWD 2 cannot afford to replace the hydrant at a cost of $3,200, but will meet the county half-way on the cost.
“We have no legal obligation to do that,” said Motley. He had no recommendations regarding what the county should do.
Beerbower said that the commission is to be looking out for the health, welfare, and safety of Bourbon County citizens.
Milburn-Kee asked how many other non-working hydrants are in the county that they many be asked to replace.
“It’s a public safety issue too,” said Motley.
Beerbower asked to table it for a week so he can do more research.
Executive session: Non-Elected personnel
Returned to session with action of allowing Commissioner Milburn-Kee to work with HR to accomplish what they discussed in the executive session.
Executive session: Attorney/Client
Returned to session with no action.
Beerbower asked questions about the NRP tax credit that he received from a constituent.
The commission voted to have the county appraiser come and explain the NRP process at a commission meeting in the future and the sewer issue.
Future Agenda Topics
- Fire hydrant at Lake Fort Scott
- Salary Resolution
- Noise Resolution
Commissioner Comments
Allen: Took employee recognition off the agenda because he wants to do some things differently, but he plans to get it back on there soon.
Other than a few logistical issues, there were no other commissioner comments.