Commissioner Brandon Whisenhunt, District 1, resigned right after the opening prayer of the June 2 Bourbon County Commissioner meeting.
“It’s been a pleasure serving Bourbon County, but effective immediately, I’m resigning,” he said and left the meeting.
Commissioner David Beerbower said, “That’s unfortunate news. I don’t know what to say about it,” before moving on with the meeting.
County Clerk Susan Walker then read a statement saying she is “respectfully declining to perform the employee grievance process in the future due to continual interference in the most recent investigation I performed. I will share my findings with the county counselor and let him present them to the commission at a later date.”
Contractual Services for Municipalities
Commissioner Mika Milburn said she found Dr. Cohen in her search for help as a commissioner and asked him to talk to the commission about what his company does to serve counties and other municipalities.
Cohen has a consulting operation based in Kansas City that specializes in human resources. They serve several Kansas health departments, cities, counties, and ambulance districts as clients, and so are familiar with working with elected officials. They have submitted a proposal to Bourbon County to do HR systems work, including updating Bourbon County’s outdated job descriptions and policy manuals, as well as wage and salary development and implementing a performance appraisal process. As part of their services, they would assist in all investigations and examinations of allegations by employees or elected officials. They have an employee hotline for elected officials and employees to get real-time, effective guidance or recommendations. This is a step county personnel can take for assistance before choosing to call the Kansas Human Rights Commission. The company will also perform governance training and sexual harassment prevention training, reducing the county’s liability in the event of a case. Their objective is to protect the county and employees and to put would-be perpetrators on notice that sexual harassment won’t be tolerated. Cohen said his first priority is to protect the county and help it operate in a healthy way.
The proposal is for an all-inclusive fee. The county would be hiring a company, not an individual, with lots of experience in municipal settings.
“I think it’s really important that we do something, David. Take it very seriously, please,” said Milburn. She also said the fees Cohen’s company charges are “a fraction of what it would cost,” to hire a full time county HR person.
The commissioners put it on the agenda for the June 9 meeting.
Old Business
Department Updates
Susan Walker-Employee Benefits
Walker talked to the commissioners about raises given on May 27 that were “pretty significant” and impacts the budget, which she said requires some extensive discussion. The fund that the commissioners have charge of, which pays employee taxes will need to increase by at least $12,000 to finish the year, possibly more if the employees work overtime.
Sheriff Bill Martin and Officer Murphy, his advisor spoke to the commission about the situation. Murphy said his department lost two officers since the first of the year, and the current staffing shortage leaves money in payroll and benefits to cover the cost of the raises. He said there’s not a current need for a budget amendment.
He also said his department has lost 20 trained people, at a cost of $1 million dollars, over the last several years, because “we can’t pay enough…so we’ve got to get our starting wages up so we can get qualified people in the door.” The county needs to adjust to be somewhat comparable to other law enforcement in the region.
Past administration made a choice to use sales tax dollars to keep taxes down, said Walker, which affected the sheriff’s department as well as the rest of the county offices.
Commissioners decided to wait to see if a budget amendment would be needed in the future.
Brian Allen-Disaster Proclamation
Allen asked the commissioners to sign the disaster declaration from the storms of May 19. Road damage and other damages met the qualifying threshold. This will allow the county to submit it to the governor, so that if the governor declares a state of emergency, the county can benefit from it.
Allen also told the commission he wants to compile a list of those with safe spaces for tornado events so that first responders can use it to check on folks.
Eric Bailey – Public Works
The May 19 storm caused damage to several roads with washouts, as well as large trees down in the roads. Bailey encouraged county residents to let them know of roads that need his department’s attention.
Bailey said he’s been working with the motor grader operators on a plan to get the crowns back on the roads and lips to guide the water off the roads and into the ditches. This plan will take several weeks of dry weather to implement. Mowing has been delayed by water-filled ditches.
The Elm Creek Lake shelter houses and house have been roofed. Outhouses are under construction. Bailey gave credit to Todd Fox and his family, as well as county public works employees, for volunteering their time to work on the shelters.
Bailey said he had spoken with former commissioner Whisenhunt and Don George about applying for a grant for dam improvements at Elm Creek Lake. The phase two grant application is due June 16. He referenced suggestions of applying for a feasibility study to drain the lake and repair the valve box and the dam. The commissioners chose to wait for the safety study, which means they will probably miss the deadline of applying for the second phase of the grant this year.
A group called Kansa Bonanza is planning to come to Fort Scott this weekend. This group drives side-by-sides on the back roads, cleaning up trash. They have asked for a roll-off dumpster for the trash they will collect. The commission made a motion to approve that use.
Allen County landfill will shut down on days with high wind notifications, per the National Weather Service, because of the trash blowing away, which affects what Bourbon County will do with its trash.