The Bourbon County Commission spent most of its Monday, Aug. 3 meeting on the sheriff’s and corrections budget for 2027 — a review dominated by a looming radio-system upgrade with a price tag of about $3.2 million — and heard election workers ask for more room and more time ahead of the primary. Chairman Samuel Tran presided; Commissioner Mika Milburn-Kee was absent.
Sheriff’s budget review flags $3.2 million radio project
Budget consultant Matt Lawn walked the board through the sheriff’s and corrections budgets with Sheriff Bill Martin present, describing a roughly 2% increase in wages and contractual costs and a larger bump in commodities driven by about $14,000 in computer replacements through Stronghold.
The larger issue was the five-site P25 simulcast radio upgrade — about $3.2 million for the total system infrastructure including the City of Fort Scott and rural fire departments, with a county share of roughly $496,000. Lawn told the board a project with a 15-to-20-year service life is a capital item that should not be absorbed into the annual operating budget. Sheriff Martin said the feasibility findings from TUSA are due Aug. 17, to be followed by a request-for-proposals phase and a proposed third-phase service-contract requirement, “That system from day one should be operating as it was 15 years from now, should be operating the same way as it was the first day that it was installed.”
Martin also stressed what is at stake for deputies and for fire and EMS communications in getting a new radio communication system: “It’s public safety, and I want to make sure that my men and women, both local and county, go home to their families.”
Tran asked Lawn to prepare a sales-tax analysis, including compensating use tax, once the budget work wraps up. Commissioner Gregg Motley and Lawn both cautioned against leaning on sales tax rather than an industrial-revenue-bond or bond package. Lawn asked for one more short work session next week to tie up loose ends in the budget-making process.
Election workers ask for space and time
In public comment, Michael Hoyt, Debbie Schoenberger and Diane Keating each pressed the county for more space and more time for election-day operations, reporting more than 800 early voters and more than 90 ballot styles for the primary. Keating said the crunch of both time and space had her missing her granddaughter’s sheep show at the Linn County Fair.
EMS rates and collections
EMS Director Teri Hulsey presented three years of call-volume statistics and confirmed the current billing structure: a $650 base rate plus $19 per loaded mile. Tran asked her to find out what neighboring counties charge and whether raising the base rate — which insurance companies generally pay without dispute — would close the department’s collections shortfall. Hulsey agreed to come back with numbers.
Courts locked out of their own cameras
Tran said the board’s earlier vote to have Stronghold clean up the courthouse camera system had inadvertently kicked the courts off it, leaving court staff unable to view their own security cameras. The board voted unanimously to restore the courts’ access, working through Stronghold.
Backhoe purchase reopened
The landfill backhoe purchase approved July 27 — a CAT 420 at about $173,675 — was reopened after Tran proposed a two-machine alternative, a Takeuchi TL-12 skid steer plus a TB-260 mini-excavator, which he said could save roughly $38,777 and add tracked mobility. Landfill equipment operator Diane Ballou pushed back, saying a standard skid steer cannot reach over the transfer-station wall and that she cannot afford to be down to a single machine if one breaks. Skitch Allen shared his experience with the machines, and Tran said he would get lease and demo pricing from Kirby Smith of Kansas City by next week.
“I’m not going to direct them on how to do and what to do,” said Tran of his proposal. “I’m just offering an alternative to the process. That’s all I’m doing.”
Other business
Policies and procedures. Commissioner David Beerbower presented a draft county policies-and-procedures manual — prepared with AI assistance and marked “draft” — emphasizing that individual commissioners may not direct department heads, tour facilities unilaterally, or speak for the board without a vote. The board agreed to schedule a work session on it.
Space allocation. Requests involving the old dispatch room (county clerk for election equipment vs. sheriff’s evidence room) and the Register of Deeds’ request for Room 12 — complicated by an unsecured primary server rack in that room — were tabled for two weeks, along with Beerbower’s proposal to seek a grant writer to fund an architectural study of the annex and the courthouse first floor to maximize the space. Motley will informally contact Redfield, a grant-writing firm first.
S&P rating surveillance. Ben Hart briefed the board on a Standard & Poor’s rating-surveillance letter and will sit in on the analyst call scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. The purpose of the call is to answer questions regarding the county’s financial health, which affects the interest rate available for bonds the county may enter in to. “Any kind of movement within your credit rating, just like at home… if it goes up, your costs go down. If the credit rating goes down, your costs go up,” said Hart. He pointed out several things that the county is doing that should reflect well on its credit rating with S&P. He recommended the county adopt a fund-balance policy after budget season.
Landfill items. The KDWP walk-in hunting contract for the old landfill parcel moved toward signature, with Beerbower still researching options. Separately, a KDHE email surfaced flagging that the county has never filed a required restrictive covenant on the closed landfill, with a Sept. 30 deadline; the county attorney will take it up when he returns Aug. 17.
Elevator and backup court space. The courthouse elevator is running again after the OEM part arrived, but a longer outage is expected in October during construction. Beerbower and court staff will tour the federal courtroom at the post office building Thursday morning as possible backup court space.
Beerbower also proposed considering turning the county-owned building at 108 W. 2nd into commission space that could also function as a courtroom. The property has “very little economic value,” said Motley, and thus could be better used by the county as needed meeting, court, and office space.
Asbestos. Responding to a constituent concern about asbestos in the courthouse, the board voted to assign Motley to investigate the county’s EPA responsibilities and develop a plan.