The Bourbon County Commission gained one new member this week, with another on the way. Citizens of Bourbon County had voted to change the county from a three-commissioner district to a five-commissioner one. In the fall of 2025, Greg Motley was elected to district 4 and Mika Milburn to district 5. Milburn was already serving as the old district 3 commissioner, which lead to an interesting situation.

 Oaths of Office

Prior to taking the oath of office to serve as commission of the new fifth district, Commission Mika Milburn officially resigned her position as commissioner of the third district of Bourbon County.

County Clerk Susan Walker administered the oath of office to Greg Motley as commissioner for district 4, and Mika Milburn for district 5.

Chair of the Bourbon County Republican party, Kaety Bowers thanked Motley for his willingness to serve and Milburn for her service in 2025. She then read an excerpt from President Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Man in the Arena” speech.

The Republican Party will appoint another commissioner to serve for district 3. Those who live in the district and want to serve in this way should contact Bowers.

Reorganization of Board

Appoint Chairman: 2025 Chair David Beerbower nominated Samuel Tran. Milburn seconded and the nomination passed, Tran abstaining.

Appoint Vice Chairman: Tran nominated Beerbower for vice-chair, Milburn seconded, nomination passed, Beerbower abstaining.

Tran took his position as chair of the board.

Board Memberships

After discussion the commissioners will serve as follows:

Beerbower serves on the SEK Mental Health and SEK Health Department boards.

Milburn serves on the Fair Board and Soil Conservation Board.

Motley will serve on the SEK Regional Planning Commission and the Juvenile Detention Center board.

Tran serves on the SEK Mental Health Board, Bourbon County Senior Citizens, and SEK Area on Aging.

When the new commissioner is appointed for district 3, he or she will take board positions as well.

Liaison Assignments

David Beerbower: Public Safety including EMS, Sheriff/Corrections, Emergency Management

Samuel Tran: Public Works

Mika Milburn: Courthouse

Greg Motley: Finance

Motley said his vision is to get the commission off to an early start and keep them on schedule regarding creating a budget for 2027. He said he would want to identify the county’s priorities via work sessions early in the year and then put numbers to them closer to the end of the year.

Motley pointed out that tying the county’s priorities to its budget helps keep continuity of purpose within the county.

Beerbower suggested putting the fifth commissioner onto an economic development and grant writing liaison possition.

Motley then suggested that he work on the grant writing and economic development and the courthouse liaison position get split into two parts, one to deal with the building and the departments it contains and the other to liaise with the vendors who serve the county.

Milburn said she isn’t clear how to divide those positions out right now.

Tran suggested they keep everything the same for now, adding economic development with the new commission.

Milburn formalized the decision with a motion and the motion carried.

Public Comments

Mark McCoy is the community emergency response team (CERT) leader in Bourbon County. He spoke with the commission about the importance of having an Emergency Manager in place. Reasons a manager is needed include: emergencies don’t happen on a shared schedule; preparedness is a full-time mindset, not an occasional task; liabilities and legal exposure; the manager has the ability to lead, guide, follow, and assist throughout the county. Disasters don’t wait. Volunteers need official plans and connections with entities facilitated by the Emergency Manager.

Beerbower said that the part-time position of Bourbon County Emergency Manager is posted on the county website.

County Clerk Susan Walker showed the commission the program HeyGov for making meeting agendas. She demonstrated it for the commission. It creates the minutes from the YouTube video as well as linking to the county’s website. The program allows the commissioners to work on the agenda without violating the Kansas Open Meetings Act (KOMA). It can also be used by other boards in the county such as the building commission. The cost is about $1,100 per year.The commission voted to purchase the program.

Old Business
Handbook Review

Beerbower said he received his copy of the revised handbook the day of the meeting at noon. Motley said he hadn’t received a copy yet.

Jennifer Hawkins, County Treasurer, spoke to the commission, expressing concerns with several parts of the handbook including the handling of complaints, who qualifies as full-time, definitions of longevity, vacation and leave policy, and dress code.

Tran said he wanted to have another work session before approving the handbook. Milburn said they received the changes everyone requested last week.

Sheriff Bill Martin joined the conversation, saying elected officials should have an opportunity to see the changes before the commission votes on the new handbook. He said that military leave and take-home cars aren’t addressed. He was concerned with the time crunch the commissioners put on the other elected officials regarding their feedback on the proposed new handbook.

Milburn said that the process of updating the handbook was started in 2022 and never completed.

Terry with EMS said that the department heads haven’t seen the updated copy yet.

Susan Walker, County Clerk, said that the department heads should be in on the discussion to make changes to the handbook. “Right now, I don’t feel like we have a voice,” she said.

Beerbower and Motley both said that a work session with the other elected officials and department heads seemed like a good idea.

Tran said that a meeting will not lead to a 100% consensus, as we don’t live in a perfect world. The handbook is intended to be a guide, but is not written in stone.

“You’re not going to get everything you want,” he said.

He then moved to have a special meeting to include elected officials and department heads on Jan. 13 at 4:30 with a 2 hour limit.

“It’s going to be better than what we had and we’re going to keep improving upon it,” said Tran of the upcoming new handbook.

New Business

Kansas Public Employees Retirement System

The commission appointed its executive assistant, Laura Krom, as the KPRS designated agent, with Mika Milburn as her alternate.

Kansas Department of Labor and Unemployment

Milburn said that the unemployment claims need to go to the HR department, Dr. Cohen, who will contact their department heads. This only applies to employees of the county working for the commission, not those working for other elected officials.

Disposition of Body K.S.A. 22a-215

Susan Walker, County Clerk, said that no next of kin could be found for an individual who died in Bourbon County last summer, so the county paid for the body’s cremation. Next of kin have since been found, but are on a fixed income and have asked for a waiver of the policy that they should pay cremation costs in order to recover the body.

The commission was in favor of waiving the fee.

November 2025 Financials

Susan Walker said she and the county treasurer have run into issues with past entries that were made in the county’s books. They will have a quarterly report ready at the end of Jan. The county’s audit is the last week of February.

Build Agenda for Following Meeting

Motley asked to plan to set work sessions for the budget and strategic planning in the first quarter of the year.

Milburn also asked to add a first quarter meeting with the City of Fort Scott.

Commission Comments

“I’m going to need each and every one of you to assist me as I chair the helm,” said Tran. He then thanked Beerbower for his work as chairman in 2025 and Milburn for her work on the commission as well. He welcomed Greg Motley aboard and adjourned the meeting.