Justin Meeks resigned as Bourbon County Attorney on November 22, 2017, with an official last day January 2.
He has been doing both that job and the Bourbon County Counselor position since February 2015.
“Nobody can do both job functions,” Meeks said. “Because of the amount of time needed. I wanted to do an A+ but couldn’t, with the hours involved.”
His focus now is administrative law.
Meeks will be giving the county legal advice about contracts, acquisition, and human resources, he said.
An example is research on issues that come to the commission. “They (the Bourbon County Commission) have had me do a lot of research on fire districts,” he said.
“My goal is not to get the commissioners sued,” Meeks said with a laugh.
Meeks vacated his county attorney office Tuesday. He will be working out of the second floor of the courthouse.
The required hours for the counselor position is 25 per week. But “I’ve always worked more than the expected hours,” he said.
For this position, he will be paid $64,000 a year.
“That works out to be $48 per billable hours,” he said.
Meeks said nearby Allen County has a part-time county attorney that makes $70,000, a part-time assistant county attorney that makes somewhere in the “upper $50,000s.” And also a county counselor that makes $58,000.
The Bourbon County Attorney position is $50,230, he said, with 35 hours required per week.
Meeks said he is “excited” about the counselor position focus.
“There is a lot of good things going on in Bourbon County,” he said. “The airport expansion, (on that project) the city and county will be working together. There are two bridges to replace in the county. There is exciting economic development in the county.”
Additionally, “I hope the county will be a part of reducing the overall tax liability for the county,” he said.
Meeks is a 1992 Fort Scott High School graduate, a 1994 Fort Scott Community College graduate, a 1996 Lindenwood University (St. Charles, MO) graduate with a BA in education. He then earned a Master’s in Business Administration in 1998 and then graduated from Washburn University in 2001 with a law degree. He was in private practice from 2003 to 2014.
“I’ve been back to Fort Scott since November 2005,” Meeks said. “I have a three-year-old son. He is the joy of my life. I plan on living in Fort Scott the rest of my life and raising my son with whom I share joint custody.”
“I hope the next county attorney takes the job as serious as I have the last three years,” he said. “I am looking forward to being able to serve in one job function.”
New County Attorney Chosen Tonight
The next county attorney will be chosen tonight by the Bourbon County Republican Party at their convention at the Fort Scott Livestock Market.
The Republican Party Chairman Randall Readinger passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in late December.
Gayle Sackett, who was vice-chairman, will lead the convention.
Because of Readinger’s death, the convention was postponed a few days past Meeks last day of January 2.
Following the appointment of a new county attorney, that person will “have to run in the next election,” in November, Meeks said.