A former maintenance worker’s photos of crumbling pipe insulation prompted a Kansas environmental official to walk the building. The early word, relayed by the county’s emergency manager, was that nothing looked like an immediate hazard as long as the material stays undisturbed. No samples have been taken, and the state is still reviewing.
Questions about asbestos in the Bourbon County Courthouse, raised publicly this week by a former maintenance worker who photographed deteriorating pipe insulation in the basement, led to a visit from a representative from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to the nearly century-old building. According to the county’s emergency manager, the representative said during the walkthrough that he did not see anything hazardous that had to be addressed right now, as long as the material is not disturbed. The representative is conferring with others at the agency and will get back to the county with more detail about what actions or precautions should be taken.
The courthouse was built in the 1930s, and asbestos is common in buildings of its era. None of the officials contacted for this story disputed that it is likely present. The question residents have been asking is a different one. Is it dangerous, and is anything being done about it?
Asbestos is generally most dangerous when it is crumbling or broken up and its fibers become airborne, where they can be breathed in. Whether the courthouse material is in fact asbestos, and whether it is releasing any fibers, has not been determined, because no samples have been collected and tested. A visual walkthrough cannot answer that on its own.
The issue was raised by William Jackson, who worked in the courthouse maintenance this spring. He said he found insulation and ceiling tiles he believed were asbestos deteriorating in the basement, with dust collecting on supplies and on workers’ desks, and that he could not find any asbestos records in the county’s maintenance files. He sent his supervisor a written request for permission to have the material tested.
Jackson said he sent the request Friday and was fired Saturday morning. He believes the two were connected and that he was let go for raising the concern. County officials declined to comment on his departure.
After Jackson’s photos circulated, Bourbon County Emergency Manager Lou Howard walked the building with a KDHE representative, who also had the photos that had been sent to the agency.
“He stated that at the time he looked, he did not see anything that was concerning,” Howard said. “They did not see anything that was hazardous right now that had to be addressed.”
“He did say that if there was active construction going on at the time, then it would be a concern. But nothing is being disturbed. Everything is as it should be.”
Lou Howard, Bourbon County Emergency Manager
Howard said she offered to walk the representative through the rest of the courthouse and that he said he did not need to, based on what he had already seen. She said in the past an area basement had been used as the county’s emergency operations center until other space became available. The review is not finished. The representative was passing the information and photos to a supervisor, and the county is waiting to hear what action it should take, which could include further testing.
Howard’s account is the most direct word so far on the courthouse. However, it was a visual walkthrough, not laboratory sampling. No material was collected and tested, and the representative did not view the entire building. Some residents have worried that deteriorating material in the basement could send fibers into the building’s heating and cooling system and on to other floors. The walkthrough did not include air sampling or an evaluation of that system, and the state’s guidance to the county is still pending.
The caution about disturbed material is also the heart of the original complaint. Jackson’s concern was that the insulation is already breaking down. Confirming whether that is releasing any asbestos fibers would require testing.
For now, the practical takeaway for residents and courthouse employees is limited but real. The early, visual look reported by the county found nothing requiring immediate action, the chief risk would come from disturbing the material, and a final determination from the state is still to come.
FortScott.biz will update this story when KDHE provides further guidance.
This is the third and final installment in a series on the future of Bourbon County healthcare that is being cross-published by BourbonCountyMonitor.com and FortScott.biz. The first part can be found here, and the second can be found here.
Fort Scott, KS – While Freeman Health Systems as an organization is from all appearances on strong financial footing, the Freeman Hospital Fort Scott operation has experienced a series of documented substantial financial blows since opening in September 2025.
The Delay
Freeman began hiring for the Fort Scott hospital in spring 2025, with an expected June 1 opening. But on May 27, Four States Homepage reported the opening had been pushed to September because interior renovation issues had delayed the state survey needed before the hospital could open.
At the time, Freeman Health System Rural Hospitals CEO Renee Denton said Freeman had already hired slightly more than half the staff needed to open the facility. One employee hired during that period told the Monitor that Freeman continued paying them throughout the delay.
Medicaid and Medicare Certification Delay
The opening delay was followed by another financial setback: a lengthy wait for certification to bill Medicare and Medicaid.
At an April 16 joint meeting of the Bourbon County and Fort Scott City commissions, County Commissioner Gregg Motley, former vice chairman of the Freeman Fort Scott board, said the hospital had been seeing most patients at no cost while awaiting certification. Motley said more than 70% of Freeman Fort Scott patients were covered by Medicare or Medicaid, and the hospital hoped to retroactively bill for much of that care.
At the May 7 ribbon-cutting, Freeman Fort Scott Chief Administrative Officer Anita Walden told the Monitor the approvals had come through, but collecting payment for the previous nine months would not be simple. Walden said some payers were allowing Freeman to backdate claims to its certification date, while others were not.
A memo Motley sent to the County Commission also said Freeman had expected another health care provider to shift its lab work to the Fort Scott hospital. Instead, the provider stayed with its existing lab vendor, creating what the memo described as a seven-figure hole in Freeman’s planned budget.
“They’re not happy with their current situation.”
In an interview with the Monitor, Motley said those losses, combined with the roughly $1.4 million in lost revenue from the unlicensed 10 beds and growing maintenance problems in the building owned by Kansas Renewal Institute (KRI), have left Freeman in an untenable position.
“They’re not happy with their current situation,” Motley said. “They’ve received financial blow after financial blow. It was extremely disappointing to them that they will not be operating those 10 beds. They were hiring based on that.” Motley called it a “big budget hole.”
The Legal Action
That legal action Motley is advocating for would invoke the “clawback” clause in the original donation agreement between the county and Legacy Healthcare Foundation — which now also applies to KRI — transferring the property back to the county.
Under that clause, the county’s only remedy if the building owners default is to take back the property plus a cash repayment that shrinks over time — $1 million in year one, $750,000 in years two through four, and $500,000 in year five. After that, the county can reclaim nothing.
Motley said that window closes in November 2027. He said the $10,000 in legal fees approved by the commission during the April 14 meeting will go toward getting a legal opinion on whether the county has a strong case for reclaiming the building, and whether it can be accomplished within a reasonable amount of time and cost.
According to Motley, state officials had Kansas City-based Polsinelli Law Firm review the donation agreement, and the firm concluded the agreement had been breached. Motley said Freeman’s attorneys agreed with Polsinelli’s assesment.
The Transfer
Motley said that the lynchpin to this plan is Freeman agreeing to take the building, including all maintenance responsibilities. Motley says the healthcare provider has shown interest in doing so, but the county will require a binding legal agreement with them before initiating legal action to reclaim the building.”The county does not want this [building],” Motley said. “Before we ever file a lawsuit, we have to have an ironclad agreement with Freeman that says we are going to take over the building and the full maintenance of it.”Motley, who was voted as the commission’s point-man for the process, said that Kansas City-based MSB Law has been engaged to provide the legal opinion for the county.
The Employees
When asked what happens to the roughly 150 employees of KRI if the county is able to reclaim the building and transfer it to Freeman, Motley says that Freeman has discussed opening an operation similar to KRI in the building.”Well, again, Freeman hasn’t committed anything, but they have a KRI-like operation in Southwest Missouri called Ozark Center. And their plan would be to open a facility similar to that, get licensed for the 10 beds,” Motley said.Motley said the fate of KRI’s employees has been at the forefront of his mind. He said he told Freeman he wouldn’t pursue the deal unless they were committed, and that he asked what would happen to the workers.
“Where do you think we would get any employees to do the operation? We would look hard at the existing employees,” Motley said Freeman responded.Motley said the human cost has weighed heavily on him. He said the employees’ fate is “a huge concern of mine,” and that he pushed to keep the discussions private specifically to shield the people he knows and loves that work there.
The Lesser of Two Evils
Motley framed the choice as the lesser of two bad options. “I have to put them at risk a little bit in order to consider the whole county here,” Motley said.”I think the worst thing that could happen is we do nothing. KRI closes, all those people are gone. They don’t have a Freeman to go to now. Pasadena Lending or Legacy forecloses on the building and now we (sic) got an empty building owned by an organization that we know is ill intended.”
For Motley, the priority is maintaining ER and hospital services in Bourbon County, and that inaction on the part of the county puts those in the greatest amount of danger.”Any path we take is going to be risk. Any path. What’s the path of least risk? It is a huge risk to do nothing,” Motley said. “You know, you have two entities losing significant money every month. And what’s Freeman’s affinity for Fort Scott apart from ‘we have a break-even operation’? There is none.”
The Future
Regardless of what legal opinion the county receives, the commission’s direction remains uncertain. The board has been frequently and publicly divided.
During the March 9 meeting, which was the first time the commission discussed the potential legal action behind closed doors, the vote to go into closed session was not unanimous, with Commissioner Mika Milburn-Kee casting the sole dissenting vote.The first public vote on the legal action came at the April 14 commission meeting. Milburn-Kee again cast the lone vote against going into the executive session that preceded it, which included Pam Lanier, Freeman Health System’s director of government relations; state Rep. Rick James; state Sen. Tim Shallenburger; Fort Scott City Manager Brad Matkin; and County Counselor Bob Johnson.
After returning to open session, the commission voted 3-2 to approve a motion from Motley allocating $10,000 for legal fees and title work. Motley, Commissioner Joe Allen and Commissioner David Beerbower voted in favor; Milburn-Kee and Commission Chairman Samuel Tran opposed.
During a recess that followed, Tran was recorded saying, “We should have this conversation before we threw 10 Gs onto this dumpster fire.”During the April 27 meeting, after an identical split vote affirming the vote on April 14 and Motley’s appointment as contact person, Tran again expressed apprehension with the legal action.”And I’m saying nay for the same reason that I said no the very first time, because I don’t think this should be our wheelhouse,” Tran saidPrior to another 3-2 split vote during the May 4 meeting confirming a short list of law firms for Motley to approach for the legal opinion , Milburn-Kee requested that the details of the legal action be discussed publicly.”Can we move this discussion to the public, please, so we can talk more freely about what we’re asking them to do because I don’t even know what we’re asking them to do,” Milburn-Kee said.
Freeman’s Statement
In response to a request for comment regarding Freeman’s agreement with KRI and Freeman’s long-term viability in Fort Scott, Freeman Health System’s Media Relations Coordinator Kevin McClintock provided the following statement to the Monitor:
“As for KRI, we worked closely with their team to complete renovation of the hospital space, and we successfully passed licensure and life-safety surveys. Additionally, we look forward to working with KRI as we make necessary updates to the MRI suite. Freeman is not in a position to comment regarding KRI’s financial condition or ability to obtain licensure. Freeman Health System will continue to operate responsibly and make thoughtful decisions to ensure long-term sustainability while advancing access to care and remaining focused on meeting the healthcare needs of the rural communities we serve.”Because this reporting was expanded into a three-part series, the Monitor extended KRI an additional opportunity to comment. KRI did not respond before publication.
This is the second in a three-part series on the future of Bourbon County healthcare that is being cross-published by BourbonCountyMonitor.com and FortScott.biz. The first part can be found here.
Fort Scott, KS – Records reviewed by the Bourbon County Monitor show the confidential hospital memo that was posted in a local Facebook group on June 10 was obtained through a single open records request – one filed by former District 3 Commissioner Clifton Beth.It wasn’t the first time Beth had knowledge of nonpublic information regarding the county’s deliberations on the hospital. On March 9, before commissioners first met in executive session on possible legal action over the hospital, Beth called local residents — including a sitting county commissioner — and told them what the commission planned to discuss that night.
Beth was contacted for comment for this story and did not respond by publication time.
The Phone Calls
District 3 County Commissioner Joe Allen says he had never spoken with Beth until he returned a missed call from him at 4:03 p.m. on Monday, March 9 — nearly 90 minutes before that night’s county commission meeting was set to begin.
Allen said Beth told him that Commissioner Gregg Motley was trying to get the county to reclaim the hospital building, but that building owner KRI was in good standing, and urged Allen to call local ER Sales Tax Committee members Dr. Randy Nichols and Charles Gentry to confirm.
Allen said the conversation lasted about seven minutes and was largely one-sided, as he had no information to share with Beth.
At 4:40 p.m., former Bourbon County Review publisher JD Handly called Beth after receiving a request from Beth over Facebook to call him. Handley said it was the first time he had ever spoken to the former commissioner.
Handly said Beth told him Motley planned to call the commission into executive session that night to advocate for legal action to reclaim the hospital building — a move Beth said would mire the county in costly, extended litigation. Beth told Handly that KRI was paying its mortgage on time and that there was no justification for the county to consider reclaiming the building.Handly said the call lasted 19 minutes and 26 seconds, and left him greatly concerned.
At 5:06 p.m., Handly sent a private message to this reporter, Monitor editor Nick Graham. “You need to call me,” the message read, followed by his phone number.
Handly then said he called local citizen Anne Dare at 5:08 p.m., relaying what Beth had told him without identifying his source. Dare confirmed Handly’s account of the call to the Bourbon County Monitor.
At 6:04, this reporter called and spoke to an audibly alarmed Handly. As he had with Dare, Handly relayed what Beth had told him regarding the planned executive session.
The Facebook Messages
In a Kansas Open Meetings Act violation report Dare sent to the attorney general’s office on March 20, she reported the call from Handly as well as Facebook messages she had received from Beth starting at 12:38 p.m. on March 16. The message exchange between Dare and Beth, which was filed with the report, reads:BETH: “I don’t know if you are a Motley fan or not but I think the public needs to know that he is try to take the hospital building back which would be a very costly mistake”DARE: “I talk to Gregg but he doesn’t talk about that with me. I do have questions about how this would be good for the county but I’ve not had the opportunity to ask him.”BETH: “It would be a long drawn out court battle that would cost the county a lot as the contract has been fulfilled ie. We have an ER and the rumor that KRI isn’t paying there (sic) mortgage isn’t true because Legacy holds the mortgage and there (sic) attorney has told me that they haven’t missed a payment along with the fact that they have a sweetheart deal from legacy on repayment but the selfish side of me would love to see them try and fail again and spend lots of money on attorneys”
Facebook messages from Clifton Beth to Anne Dare on March 16, 2026, as filed with Dare’s Kansas Open Meetings Act complaint.
Dare told the Monitor that the report has since been closed by the Attorney General’s office, as they stated there was no way to conclusively prove that a commissioner had leaked the info to Beth.
The Paper Trail
When the memo surfaced in a local Facebook group on June 10, the local resident who posted it wrote that it had come from a citizen who obtained it through a request under the Kansas Open Records Act, or KORA.
To trace the memo’s path, the Monitor asked the county for every KORA request related to it. The county returned a single record: a request Beth filed on May 14.
Beth’s request asked for one thing: “Emails sent from Bourbon County Clerk on 3-7-26 to Bourbon County Commissioners: Sam Tran, Mika Milburn, David Beerbower, Joe Allen.”
The only email the clerk sent those four individuals on March 7 was the one distributing Motley’s memo for the upcoming March 9 executive session.
The records account for how Beth obtained the memo in May. They do not account for how he knew its contents, or how he knew about the commission’s plans for the March 9 executive session before the session was ever held.
Legacy Ties
Beth has had documented ties to the California-based Legacy Healthcare Foundation since shortly after it became involved in the county.
On Nov. 17, 2022, then-county commissioners Beth, Jim Harris and Nelson Blythe donated the Mercy Health Systems property, along with $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, to the Foundation on the condition that the funds be used for building and property maintenance, development of an acute care hospital, and several other specified expenses.
An April 7, 2023, invoice submitted to the county in accordance with the act shows that Legacy paid Osage Construction LLC — Beth’s construction company — $7,300 of those funds for roof repair work on the hospital building.
Beth is also the organizer and sole member on record of Moody Building LLC, which currently holds the deed to the historic Moody Building in downtown Fort Scott. However, in recent weeks city officials have gone on record identifying their primary contacts for the building as California-based Juan Banos and Troy Schell, Legacy Health Foundation’s president and chairman, respectively.
“Who Can He Hurt?”
In an interview with the Monitor, Motley said he did not understand what was driving the leaks.
“I. Don’t. Understand. The. Motive.” Motley said. “What’s Clifton’s motive? He can’t hurt the county case because that rests in the lease and the donation agreement.”
“Who can he hurt? KRI. That’s the only organization to get hurt here,” Motley said.
Motley said one of his primary reasons for trying to restrict the discussion of potential legal action to executive session was to protect KRI.
“Why did I try to do all this in executive session? To protect KRI,” Motley said. “I didn’t want their financial condition broadcast. I didn’t want to say that they are in default of a donation agreement and default of a lease broadcast until we had a plan of action.”
Motley said the county may receive a legal opinion that says that reclaiming the building is not feasible — which, he said, would render the leaks moot.
“We could get in front of an attorney and they say, ‘This is a hopeless case,'” Motley said. “That’s a possibility still. So if we do nothing now, this is out in the wind. Why? Why is it out in the wind? Of what benefit is that to anybody?”
The Monitor sent a request for comment to all seven individuals who had seen Motley’s memo – the commission, the County Clerk, and the County Counselor – asking if they had contacted Beth about the contents of the memo or the topic of the March 9 executive session.By publication time, only Motley, Allen and the County Clerk had responded. We will update this story if we receive further responses.
The public documents referenced in this article are linked below.
Bourbon County and four individuals have filed their formal response to former county IT director Shane Walker’s federal lawsuit, and the answer narrows what the case is actually about. On the basic sequence of events, the two sides now largely agree. What remains in dispute is why Shane Walker lost his county job — and whether the officials can be held legally responsible for it.
The defendants (the Board of County Commissioners plus Commissioners Sam Tran, Mika Milburn-Kee and David Beerbower, and contractor Dr. Steve Cohen) filed their answer June 23 in U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas (Document 13), represented by Andrew D. Holder of Fisher, Patterson, Sayler & Smith. They answered the complaint rather than moving to dismiss it, on a deadline the clerk had extended to that date. For the claims Shane Walker raised, see our earlier report: Federal Lawsuit Alleging Retaliation, Discrimination, and FMLA Violations.
The answer admits key dates and events in the timeline Walker laid out, even as it denies the bulk of his broader allegations. The county admits that he worked for the county from about December 15, 2005 until he left the payroll on or around July 9, 2025; that the commission’s vote to eliminate his position was unanimous and that the county outsourced the IT department; and that the elected Register of Deeds rehired him around November 17, 2025. It admits that Walker is married to Susan Walker, the current County Clerk and former CFO, and that he filed discrimination complaints with the Kansas Human Rights Commission in September 2024 and September 2025. It also admits the episode in which Commissioner Milburn-Kee asked for passwords, Walker and a coworker refused, and the coworker called police and was later fired.
The agreement stops at motive. Walker’s complaint casts the elimination of his job as retaliation for those discrimination complaints and for taking medical leave. The county’s answer reframes the same event as a layoff. The county repeatedly “denies that Plaintiff was ‘terminated,’” admitting only that he was “laid off,” and it states that any action it took “was not retaliatory, and would have occurred based on legitimate, lawful, and independent reasons regardless of Plaintiff’s protected conduct, if any.” The county also denies Walker’s allegations about how he was treated after he was rehired.
The word choice carries legal weight. Walker pairs the retaliation claims with a breach-of-contract count and a Kansas Wage Payment Act claim; by calling the move a layoff and arguing it “substantially performed” and later “modified” his employment agreement, the county contests whether any contract was broken or wages withheld.
Beyond the facts, the county’s answer also raises legal defenses that, if accepted, could dispose of parts of the case before a jury weighs the question of motive. The individual defendants assert qualified immunity against the federal civil-rights (Section 1983) claims. The county claims governmental immunity under the Kansas Tort Claims Act. And the answer asserts that punitive damages cannot be recovered against a municipality. On Shane Walker’s free-speech claims, the county invokes Garcetti v. Ceballos, arguing his speech was made as part of his official duties and is therefore not protected. In all, the answer lists 23 defenses and asks that the defendants be dismissed from the case.
Walker, represented by Wichita attorney Gaye B. Tibbets, has demanded a jury trial. The case is Walker v. Board of County Commissioners of Bourbon County, Kansas, et al., No. 6:26-cv-01057, before U.S. District Judge Daniel D. Crabtree. An answer is one side’s response; the complaint’s allegations and the county’s denials and defenses have not been tested in court. The county’s full answer is posted here.
The Fort Scott Farmers Market vendors are planning a party on July 4 at the Gathering Square Pavilion on North National Avenue.
The regular market vendors will be there to purchase from, but in addition, there will be added fun activities for the whole family.
“Since Independence Day falls on a Saturday this year, we wanted to make the most of a unique opportunity,” said Stephanie Carrell, secretary of the vendors. “The Farmers Market is already a place where people come together, so adding some patriotic fun felt like a natural fit.”
Join them to celebrate Independence Day with a morning of family-friendly activities and patriotic fun.
“Activities begin at 8:00 a.m. with the ‘Best Cookie of the Market’ Chocolate Chip Cookie Contest, where visitors can participate in a blind taste test and vote for their favorite cookie entry from participating market vendors. Voting will continue until 11:30 a.m., with the Cookie Champion announced at noon.”
All registrations for participating in certain events close on July 2. Find the event on Fort Scott Farmers Market Facebook page or enter at the link listed below.
“At 9:00 a.m., participants of all ages will compete in the Chomp Champion Watermelon Eating Contest, with multiple age divisions and trophies awarded in each group.”
“At 10:00 a.m., the Wheels of Glory Patriotic Parade will invite participants to decorate bikes, wagons, scooters, strollers, wheelchairs, and Power Wheels and show off their patriotic spirit. Spectators will vote to determine the crowd favorite.”
“We were thinking through the pavilion (for the parade). They can circle back along the sidewalk, then park in the center of the pavilion for voting,” she said.
“At 11:00 a.m., teams of up to four people will compete in the Know-It-All Cup Trivia Challenge, featuring questions about Fort Scott.”
“Registration for the scheduled events is free, and trophies and prizes will be awarded. Every participant will receive a prize,” she said.
“Visitors are encouraged to come enjoy the market, cheer on participants, sample cookies, and celebrate the Fourth of July with a morning of fun, friendly competition, and community spirit.”
Fort Scott Farmers Market Association contacts are
President: Lori Hueston and
Secretary: Stephanie Carrell
email: fortscottfarmersmarket@gmail.
call/text: 620-303-9878
Sign up for events here: https://forms.gle/
” We hope people will stop by to pick up fresh produce, local meats, sweet treats, and other handmade products for their holiday celebrations, enjoy the festivities, and spend some time visiting with friends and neighbors,” Carrell said. “Celebrating the Fourth of July is about more than fireworks—it’s about community, and we’re excited to give people another way to celebrate together.”
County Clerk Susan Walker’s routine June 15 request to use the commission room for early voting, election nights and election school touched off a heated exchange over a room that is at the center of a criminal case.
The commission room has doubled as election space for years: voting booths line the courthouse hallway while the room itself is used to check in voters and handle provisional ballots. It was that arrangement, on October 25, 2025, that put Commissioner Mika Milburn-Kee in legal jeopardy. Security-camera footage reviewed by FortScott.biz showed Milburn-Kee seated at the commission table, beside a stack of what the clerk said were unverified provisional ballots, reading a newspaper and waving to a voter while early voting was underway. Walker twice told her election law barred her from the polling area; Milburn-Kee objected that it was her office before moving out about twelve minutes later. In March 2026 the Kansas Attorney General charged her with two misdemeanors, including the polling-place “three-foot rule,” a count that would force her from office if she is convicted. Her jury trial is set to begin July 6, 2026, with a pre-trial conference June 26.
Against that backdrop, Milburn-Kee moved June 15 to deny Walker’s request to use the room, citing its many uses and noting it is the only workspace she has. Walker pushed back saying she has nowhere else, no budget to rent space, and the room is her most secure option. Chairman Samuel Tran disputed that it is “secure,” and the two talked over each other until Walker asked Tran “please don’t be disrespectful to me” and he replied that she was “coming to the table asking for a favor,” and finally telling her to “do what you have to do, madam.” Tran alluded to a past “issue” he didn’t want to “resurface.” Milburn-Kee’s motion failed. Milburn-Kee and Tran were the only ones who voted for it with the rest of the commission against. Commissioner Gregg Motley’s motion to grant Walker’s full request passed with Tran and Milburn-Kee voting against.
The dispute turned on whether the clerk had a workable alternative. Tran proposed moving early voting to the courthouse’s main atrium and using County Appraiser Matt Quick’s office and conference room. Walker rejected that as neither secure nor convenient for her election judges, calling the commission room “the securest” space available; she said she has no other location and no budget to rent one. Milburn-Kee argued the room is needed for its “multi-use purpose,” she said it is her only workspace and that she comes in early and on weekends to set it up, and noted her motion would still lend Walker the county’s Public Works and maintenance crews to move and set up election equipment. Commissioner David Beerbower was skeptical, noting the county would not ask the appraiser or other courthouse officeholders to give up their offices: “I’m baffled.” Commissioner Joe Allen framed the conflict as narrow, “four Mondays, four meetings,” the handful of Monday commission meetings that fall within the voting window, which Walker said she had already worked around so the board could still meet.
The exchange begins around 1:20:43 in the June 15 meeting video.
Writer’s Note: I know what you’re thinking – “Nick, don’t you have your own website now?” Yes, yes I do, (check out bourboncountymonitor.com). However, the seed that grew into the Monitor started right here at fortscott.biz, with an article I wrote two years ago about…the hospital. More importantly, this is something I believe every Bourbon County citizen should be aware of, so as far as I’m concerned, the more eyeballs, the better.
This is the first in a two-part series that will be published on both sites.
FORT SCOTT, Kan. — An internal memo posted in a local Facebook group last week confirmed weeks of rumors that Bourbon County commissioners are considering legal action to reclaim the former Mercy Hospital building. Until now, commissioners have discussed the matter almost exclusively in executive session.
The memo, authored by Commissioner Gregg Motley, details financial difficulties for building owner Kansas Renewal Institute (KRI) and its primary tenant, Freeman Fort Scott Hospital. It warns that Freeman’s Fort Scott operations are under significant financial strain and face unsustainable losses unless the county implements a plan that involves taking legal action to reclaim the building from owners KRI and Legacy Health.
Several of the memo’s claims were corroborated by KRI CEO T.J. Denning at a “Capital Update Over Coffee” event hosted by the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce in late February, weeks before Motley wrote the memo.
Denning told attendees the state had cut KRI’s daily Medicaid reimbursement rate “from about $815 a day to $572,” leaving the organization “losing about $104,000 a month.”
“That’s a big shock to an organization,” he said.
Denning also described KRI’s difficulties getting a 10-bed license from the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services (KDADS), saying KRI had tried without success for a year and a half. At the time, he expressed hope of receiving the license within 90 days.
He also spoke about the building’s long history of maintenance issues, saying KRI had bought “a building that had lots of maintenance issues over the years” and was still contending with failing systems.
“We have boiler issues each and every day,” Denning said. “We have chillers that are falling apart with all these things that we put the money back into because I care about the community.”
In an interview with the Bourbon County Monitor, Motley expanded on the financial issues facing both KRI and Freeman, and why he believes legal action is the commission’s best hope of keeping ER and hospital services in Bourbon County.
Motley said he first learned of KRI’s financial problems at a Feb. 12 meeting of local leaders convened by KRI management to discuss recent difficulties and layoffs.
“(In) February, KRI called prominent citizens of Fort Scott, assembled a group, and assembled the key staff members of KRI,” Motley said. “The topic was KRI needs your help because we are having trouble with the state getting fully licensed…”
KRI management also outlined financial problems Denning would discuss publicly later that month, Motley said.
“They said, ‘We need you to get in touch with anybody you have contacts with and contact the state,’” Motley said.
In response, Motley contacted state Sen. Tim Shallenburger, a longtime friend. He said Shallenburger called back a few days later and told him, “You got problems there. I’m not sure that KRI will ever get fully licensed for the 10 beds.”
Motley said KRI’s inability to license the 10 beds has left both KRI and Freeman in an unsustainable position. He said KRI’s lease with Freeman called for KRI to pay Freeman about $120,000 a month — roughly $1.4 million a year — to manage the beds.
“You do an intake, and generally that’s precipitated by a crisis,” Motley said. “A lot of times, it’s a medical crisis. And so they had an arrangement, an agreement with Freeman to manage those 10 beds for them at a cost to KRI of $1.4 million a year.”
After consulting state agencies, Motley said, both Shallenburger and state Rep. Rick James believe KRI has “no chance” of getting the license, though they have not disclosed why. Without that revenue stream, Motley says Freeman Fort Scott’s chances of achieving financial sustainability are poor. Motley said Shallenburger’s assessment, combined with his own understanding of Freeman’s finances from his time as vice chairman of the hospital’s board, prompted him to ask how to keep Freeman in Fort Scott long term.
“$1.4 million is a big hole,” Motley said. “Having been on the board previously and knowing the numbers, it was, ‘Oh boy, this is bad.’ And then he looped me in with Freeman’s attorney.”
That attorney was Pamela Lanier, Freeman Health System’s Director of Government Relations. Motley said he learned from Lanier and other Freeman staff that the hospital had been dealing with roof leaks, HVAC failures and other maintenance problems disrupting operations.
“You can’t have a roof leak in a hospital,” Motley said. “The state will shut you down.”
Motley believes KRI’s difficulty maintaining the building is tied directly to their financial struggles, struggles that have been exacerbated by a large, high-interest mortgage on the building.
Motley’s concerns prompted him to pull all public records on the building’s sale at the Bourbon County Register of Deeds office. There, he found not one but two mortgage agreements.
The first, dated Dec. 20, 2024, was a mortgage for Lots 1 and 2 of the former Mercy Hospital property between Kansas RE Investment Group, representing KRI, and California-based Legacy Health LLC, which shares leadership with the Legacy Healthcare Foundation.
The entire former Mercy Hospital property, along with $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, was donated to Legacy Healthcare Foundation on Nov. 17, 2022, by then-county commissioners Clifton Beth, Jim Harris and Nelson Blythe.
The second agreement, dated Dec. 27, 2024, shows Legacy Health LLC then “flipped” the $2.5 million mortgage with KRI to a California-based company called Pasadena Private Lending.
“Legacy immediately turned around and I would say monetized it. They sold that mortgage, that two and a half million dollar mortgage to Pasadena Private Lending, which is a private equity firm out of California,” Motley said.
In the financial industry, such transactions are often done for cash, Motley said, with the buyer accepting a smaller principal in exchange for a higher interest rate.
“Oftentimes those mortgages are sold at a discount,” he said. “Let’s say the mortgage is $2.5 million and the rate was 5%. They’ll discount it to $2 million and you make the same payments, so the yield goes to 13%.”
After reviewing the documents, Motley said he met with Denning, who told him KRI was making payments on the Pasadena mortgage at a 13% interest rate and had paid Legacy $8.5 million in total for the building — though he did not account for the additional $6 million.
No public records account for the additional $6 million, but Legacy Health Foundation’s 2024 IRS filing reports the building was transferred for $7.5 million — leaving a $1 million gap between the purported purchase price and what was reported to the IRS.
What he did not anticipate was that the memo’s contents would be shared with private citizens — including a former elected official with public ties to Legacy Health — before the March 9 meeting even began.
Part 2 will be published on Monday on the Bourbon County Monitor, and Tuesday on FortScott.biz
KRI management was contacted for comment on this series, but did not respond before publication.
Legacy Health management and legal counsel was contacted for comment on this series, but did not respond before publication.
Freeman Health Systems was contacted for this series, and sent a statement that will be included in Part 2.
The public documents referenced in this article are linked below.
Several new recreational activities are being offered by Buck Run Community Center this summer: an outdoor fitness court, an inaugural Independence Day Run, and a new fitness trainer added to the team.
New Outdoor Fitness Center
“The new outdoor Buck Run Fitness Court is open,” said Lucas Kelley, Recreation Director and Buck Run Community Center Manager.
The new space is free to the public and accessible to people of all ages and levels of expertise, Kelley said.
“It was paid for by multiple organizations: Fort Scott Recreation, City of Fort Scott, a grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, and the Fort Scott Area Community Foundation.”
“We wanted to provide another option to the citizens to enjoy the fresh air and stay active in our community! We will also utilize the studio space on the south side to teach classes when the weather is enjoyable.”
#FortScottRec #BuckRunCommunityCenter #OutdoorFitnessCourt #HealthyCommunity #GetActiveFortScott
The center is offering a first-ever 5K run on the day the community is celebrating Independence Day, June 27.
District 4 Commissioner Gregg Motley says the county is pursuing enforcement of a safeguard in the 2022 donation, not seizing a building for Freeman.
Bourbon County has engaged an attorney to determine whether it can unwind its 2022 donation of the former Mercy Hospital building, a step Commissioner Gregg Motley says is about one thing: whether or not the county will still have a hospital in the future.
“The status quo threatens the long-term health care of Bourbon County,” Motley said. “What we need to do is do everything we can to ensure that we have health care in Bourbon County long term.”
Motley, a retired banker seated in January, spoke with FortScott.biz on June 11 after a portion of a memo he wrote for an executive session was posted to a Facebook group. He rejected the spreading claim that the county is taking Kansas Renewal Institute’s (KRI) building to benefit Freeman Health System: the county “does not want to own that building,” and Freeman “is not behind” it.
The “clawback” is not a legal loophole; it is the remedy the county wrote into the donation itself. Effective Nov. 17, 2022, the agreement gave the former Mercy property and $2 million to Legacy Healthcare Foundation, a California nonprofit. The $2 million could be used only for building maintenance, “development of an Acute Care Hospital and ancillary services,” and reduced rent for community-benefit tenants — the county’s way of tying the gift to keeping health care on the site.
The agreement also set out what happens if the recipient breaks the deal: its “sole and exclusive remedy” is that the property returns to the county, along with a sliding-scale refund — $1 million if the deal is unwound in the first year of operation, $750,000 in years two through four, $500,000 by the fifth. After five years, the county has no remedy at all.
That five-year window — which Motley says closes in November 2027 — is the source of his urgency. The clause exists so that if the recipient fails to deliver, Bourbon County gets the building back instead of watching it slide toward foreclosure or wind up owned by a mortgage company. The claim rests on both Legacy and KRI being in default under the donation agreement and the lease, Motley said.
No full hospital has operated there since Mercy Hospital Fort Scott closed in December 2018. Legacy sold the building to KRI, a mental-health treatment center for children and adults, which took ownership in December 2024 and renovated it. Joplin-based Freeman opened a 10-bed hospital and emergency department there in 2025.
Much of his information, Motley said, came from a February briefing where KRI told the Fort Scott city manager, chamber president and others they could share what they heard. By that account and his own research, he said, KRI is losing six figures a month; it paid $8.5 million for the building, and the state has cut its daily reimbursement 34%, issued only a provisional license and so far denied its property-tax exemption request.
“It’s really the Mercy situation all over again,” Motley said. “We just bleed them to death and they leave.” If nothing changes, he said, the county is “likely to lose Freeman in four years,” when a five-year healthcare sales tax and the KRI–Freeman lease expire.
The lease had Freeman staffing 10 inpatient beds on KRI’s side for about $120,000 a month, but the state has refused to license the beds and KRI is in default, Motley said. “That is a big hole in the Freeman budget.”
Those missing payments compound other setbacks, Motley said: a subcontractor delayed Freeman’s opening to September, a collapsed lab deal left a seven-figure hole, and it could not bill Medicare or Medicaid until late February — months “virtually without patient revenue.” Persistent roof leaks and HVAC failures, he said, violate both the lease and the donation agreement.
Motley also questioned the financing. KRI says it paid $8.5 million, but Legacy’s IRS Form 990s report $7.5 million — “a million dollars unaccounted for,” he said. Legacy sold a $2.5 million KRI mortgage to Pasadena Lending at 13% interest, well above market. “Risk and rate are conjoined,” Motley said. “A high rate means high risk.”
If KRI fails, the building could revert to Legacy or Pasadena Lending through foreclosure, he said — leaving the county “right back where we started.”
The concern did not start with the commission, Motley said: state and elected officials sought his assessment, and hired Kansas City’s Polsinelli law firm at the state’s own expense. Polsinelli, the state and Freeman all agree the agreement was violated in several provisions, he said, and officials are “dubious” KRI will ever be fully licensed.
Motley’s premise is that KRI cannot sustain the operation on its own, a conclusion he draws from KRI’s own disclosures of mounting losses, its provisional state license, and the state’s refusal to license its 10 beds. If KRI cannot continue, he said, the question is who keeps the same kind of children’s behavioral-health care going on the site.
His answer is Freeman, whose Ozark Center runs behavioral health across the state line in Missouri. Freeman believes it can do what KRI could not — win full licensing and get the 10 beds approved. They could continue the operation, likely hiring many of KRI’s staff, he said. That would put Freeman in KRI’s place as operator; KRI reported 110 employees in 2024, and its five investors, from California, Colorado and the Midwest, pay what Motley said KRI itself describes as “California wages in southeast Kansas,” above local rates.
Those above-market wages, Motley suggested, also help explain some of the opposition to enforcing the terms of the donation agreement. He acknowledged a tension between residents focused on the county’s long-term health care and some who benefit from KRI’s higher pay and would like to see the operation continue as long as possible. “This is why … I’m not their best friend right now,” he said.
“I have a lot of friends and people I dearly love who work at KRI, and I don’t want to see them harmed,” Motley said. “But my number one priority is that we have health care in Bourbon County for the next 50 years.”
The commission voted 3-2 to explore legal action — Motley, Joe Allen and David Beerbower in favor, Mika Milburn-Kee and Samuel Tran opposed, Motley said. An initial $10,000, overseen by Motley and county counselor Bob Johnson, funds a review of the claim’s viability and title work on the property.
Delay is costly, he said: the reversion window closes in November 2027, the refund the county could recover shrinks each year, and Freeman’s losses deepen. If the case looks winnable, the first step would be a new donation agreement with Freeman to keep both the hospital and the children’s services running. Other possible fixes could also help without any clawback: Freeman misses new rural-health reimbursement enhancements because it was not open in 2020, and the state could restore KRI’s rate or license the beds, he said.
Motley said he resigned from Freeman’s board in December, before taking office, as required by Freeman’s conflict-of-interest policy. “I’ve never taken a nickel from Freeman,” he said. “The board positions were unpaid. I have a Freeman t-shirt, but I paid for it.” He is simply applying “45 years of financial experience in accounting,” he said.
The matter began in executive session to protect KRI, not to hide it, he said. “My hope originally was that we could get to this point in executive session, without disclosures, and protect KRI and everyone else involved until we knew,” he said. “But that didn’t work out.”
He said he does not know who leaked the memo, noting only that someone outside the commission had information about what happened in the closed session.
Motley urged residents with questions to contact him directly, at 620-215-7125, rather than rely on social media. The next step is the attorney’s opinion on whether the county can realistically reclaim the building “to try to make sure it gets in the hands of someone that’s on better financial footing” — and keep a hospital here for decades to come.
Reporting note: This article is based on a June 11, 2026 interview with Commissioner Gregg Motley. Building history and donation terms come from prior FortScott.biz reporting and county records. Characterizations of the finances, licensing, lease and legal views are Motley’s account; KRI, Legacy Healthcare Foundation and Freeman Health System were not interviewed and may differ.
