With the busiest of the tornado and storm season ahead, Bourbon County commissioners and attorney Justin Meeks discussed the need for tornado sirens in areas of the county during their meeting Tuesday.

Emergency Director Will Wallis informed the commission that the city of Fort Scott has nine sirens while other areas such as Bronson has two, Uniontown has two, and others such as Fulton and Mapleton have one in their areas. Other areas such as Redfield, Hiattville and likely Garland do not have sirens, as well as Lake Fort Scott.

“We live in a very volatile area when it comes to storms,” Meeks said.

After the death of John Scott in May of 2015, a memorial fund was set up in his honor to raise funding to purchase a tornado siren for the Lake Fort Scott area. About two-thirds of the needed $17,000 has been raised, and residents of the area asked if the county could provide the remaining approximate $5,000.

Because Lake Fort Scott and other areas such as Hiattville and Garland are unincorporated, they are unable to seek grants to pay for the sirens, such as other areas like Bronson, who recently paid for sirens with grants.

Commission Chairman Barbara Albright said the county has an opportunity to assist a community that has a safety issue, but Meeks pointed out that, by doing so, the county would be setting a precedent they would need to follow consistently in future years when requests come in.

Meeks said they could create a budget line item annually that could be used to help other communities in a similar way in future years, focusing on safety issues such as sirens as opposed to other projects that fit in the current, parks and recreation item.

“I have some mixed feelings about that,” commissioner Harold Coleman said, saying he does not like the idea that the rest of the county is helping pay for a tornado siren for one area.

With such a tight budget already, the commissioners decided not to commit to an action at the moment that would require a budget item of about $5,000 each year.

“Once you start down that road you have to be consistent,” Meeks said.

A number of families came to Fort Scott Saturday and Sunday for a round of the Southeast Kansas Little Britches Rodeo, with 85 young contestants vying for points to help them move closer to the national finals in Oklahoma later this year.

Both local and out of state participants between the ages of 5 and 18 years of age competed in three age groups—little wranglers and junior and senior boys and girls—in a total of 27 events such as bull riding, bronco riding, barrel racing, flag racing, team roping, goat tying and others.

Though overcast with some showers, the weather stayed clear enough for the event to be held outside at the Bourbon County Fairgrounds both days.

The mission statement of the SEKLBR states its intent is to “provide a safe, fair and rewarding rodeo opportunity for the youth in the SE Kansas region.”

Submitted by Sheriff Bill Martin, March 8

Sheriff William K. Martin of the Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office completed participation in the 109th session of the national Sheriffs’ Institute (NSI) held in Aurora, Col., Feb. 22-26. The NSI is the only national executive development program designed for sheriffs. This no-cost program is co-sponsored by the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) and the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA).

Sheriff Martin joined 20 other sheriffs from across the country for training on contemporary challenges facing America’s sheriffs today. In light of those challenges, the sheriffs explored the role of the local sheriff in providing effective leadership for the public good in such areas as public safety, criminal justice system policy, community relations and organization effectiveness and efficiency.

Hilary Burgess, NSA Manager of Training, said, “Sheriff Martin is a leader with vision for the Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office. It is an honor to have Sheriff Martin join the more than 2,700 graduates of the NSI since 1973.”

The NIC is a division of the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons. It is the primary federal source of technical assistance, training and information services for state and local corrections. NIC provides a wide variety of services to the nation’s jails, most of which are the responsibility of sheriffs.

The NSA is a non-profit professional association located in Alexandria, Va. NSA represents the nearly 3,100 elected sheriffs across the nation and has more than 20,000 members, including law enforcement professionals, state and federal government employees, concerned citizens, students and others. Since 1940, NSA has served as an information clearinghouse for law enforcement professionals. NSA also provides management training for sheriffs and their personnel in court security, crime victim services, domestic violence, homeland security initiatives, jail operations and traffic safety. Additionally, NSA administers the highly successful National Neighborhood Watch and Triad programs.

Law Enforcement Center

After a recent, public meeting raised questions concerning the law enforcement center project and the reason for added square footage, the commission met with representatives from the Sheriff’s Office and Emergency Director Will Wallis Tuesday to clarify the issue.

During the meeting last Thursday, architect Larry Goldberg said the reason for the added 2,000 square feet to the design was to make room for the Emergency Operations Center to be located onsite. County commissioners said they had not been informed of that detail.

Wallis explained Tuesday that the area is not the county’s EOC, which is located in the basement of the courthouse, but is an alternate location that could be used as a headquarters during an emergency or disaster. It will, however, serve as the Continuity of Operations (COOP) location, a national effort that ensures that individual departments and agencies continue to perform their services in any emergency.

Wallis and Sheriff Bill Martin both emphasized that this multi-purpose area—which will also be used for training and administrative purposes—has been in the jail plan since it was initiated, so does not account for the addition to the design.

Though Wallis said he hopes the area would never have to be used as an EOC, he said it is important to plan ahead and have an area large enough with sufficient resources for communication.

Martin said in the meantime it would still be put to use such as for in-service training that is required annually, allowing deputies to complete the training locally instead of travelling.

But while Wallis said they would like to stick to their original plan of including the multi-purpose area, he said if the budget does not allow it than, “so be it.”

Commission chairman Barbara Albright said she wanted to make sure voters know they are getting what they voted for in the project.

“We’re trying to be as open and transparent as possible on the project,” Albright said.

Budget

The commissioners also wrapped up the 2015 budget with Certified Public Accountant Terry Sercer, who explained their funds will likely be tight entering the new fiscal year, with little left over for reserves.

However, Sercer said most of the county departments came in below budget for the 2015 fiscal year, leaving enough for the carryover the commission had already budgeted for in 2016, allowing them to not start the year off in the negative.

Sercer said the audit on the county will be complete by late April or early May, and encouraged the commissioners to begin looking at the next annual budget right away so they can plan ahead for any expected expenditures.

The commissioners said they do face an upcoming expense in fiscal year 2017 because of a new law requiring the county provide security. With the budget so tight, the county could face a decision to raise taxes or adjust the cost of living.

County treasurer Rhonda Dunn also requested that reserves be put in place for the appraiser’s and election funds in preparation for upcoming expenses to purchase new equipment and a vehicle.

Both the Democratic and Republican caucuses held Saturday had good turnouts from Bourbon County as residents participated in choosing their preferred presidential candidates for the general election in November.

Registered Democratic voters of Bourbon County were divided between different locations according to which state senate district they lived in. District 13, the southern portion of Bourbon County, caucused in Cherokee and had a total of 684 voters, with 456 voting for candidate Bernie Sanders while the remaining 228 voted for Hillary Clinton.

Those local results coincided with the rest of the state, with Sanders winning with almost 68 percent of the votes, receiving 23 delegates.

The Republican voters also turned out Saturday to vote in conjunction with Linn County at the Linn County fairgrounds.

Rhonda Dunn, vice chairman of the Bourbon County Republicans said the two counties combined turned in about 350 ballots during the 2012 caucus, but this year Bourbon County alone had 351 votes while the location had a total of 846 ballots cast. Because of the large turnout, the location ran out of ballots and had to use index cards instead.

Ted Cruz received the majority of Bourbon County votes at 187, and would go on to win the state with 48 percent. Donald Trump received 87 votes, Marco Rubio 43 and candidate John Kasich 33 votes.

During a special meeting called by the Bourbon County Commission Thursday morning, architect Larry Goldberg fielded questions concerning the jail project and eased concerns about surpassing the budgeted amount of $6.85 million.

“There have been questions surfacing around our community,” commission chairperson Barbara Albright said, assuring county residents they need not worry about having to pay more for the project. “Our intent is for the jail to be completed at the amount we voted on.”

Goldberg, president of Goldberg Group Architects, explained that initially they are the bearers of bad news when it comes to projects such as the Law Enforcement Center of Bourbon County. Early in the design process, Goldberg said their estimates are very conservative. But as designs are finalized and bids are accepted, those estimates come down.

“I have a duty to tell you all the bad news,” Goldberg said. “When you start a project, you’re always looking at your highest, most conservative estimate.”

Currently, that estimate is more than $600,000 over the budgeted amount approved by voters. But Goldberg assured those at the meeting that if the project is still over budget when the plans and contractors are finalized, then they will modify the plans to ensure that the project remains within budget.

Some of the reasons it has come in above budget so far is due to a shortage of skilled labor available because of other large projects occurring in the Midwest, leading to fewer and higher bids, and a rise in the cost of steel from $2,100 per ton to about $3,500 a ton.

Goldberg said they have seen that price level out some and they hope the other projects will near completion before the local jail project begins, helping bring down the cost further.

The price also went up when the architects added 2,000 square feet so the jail would not just house the Sheriff’s department, but provide space for an emergency operations center that could serve as a secure control center for the community in a time of disaster or emergency. The area would also be used as an added squad room and training area.

The commissioners said they had not been aware that was the reason for the added square feet and said they would revisit the plan to make sure they believe it is necessary.

Other questions answered included why the sheriff’s office had to be moved into the new facility at all. Goldberg explained that is required by law in smaller jurisdictions. He also explained to questioners that his own company’s payments are included in the $6.85 million budget and will not go beyond that.

The high price to purchase the property was also discussed, with Goldberg saying they had estimated $150,000 for the purchase of land but it ended up costing $200,000. But with deals for other areas of land falling through, few options had remained to the commissioners as the project was delayed.

The county will be responsible for removing existing structures from the property, but the commissioners also pointed out that some utilities are already available on the property because it had been a commercial area. Just this past week the results of an environmental test also came back clean, continuing to clear the path to construction.

Another issue raised concerned whether the Sheriff’s Department would have to hire further personnel to cover the transport of prisoners, but members of the department said the project was planned with the current number of personnel in mind and said they should not have to hire any others.

With designs likely taking another couple months to be finalized and bids having to be accepted, construction is scheduled to begin in July if all goes well, with the project being completed approximately 13 months later.