March 2, 2021                                                           Tuesday 9:00 am

The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with all three Commissioners and the County Counselor present, the County Clerk was able to watch the meeting live on YouTube.  The meeting was held at the City of Fort Scott Commission room.

Also present were the following; (some were present for a portion of the meeting and some were present for the entire meeting), Jason Silvers with the Fort Scott Tribune, Jody Hoener, Susan Bancroft, Anne Dare, Nancy Van Etten, Mr. & Mrs. Clint Walker, Kim Simons, Michael Hoyt and Mark Mccoy.

Lynne made a motion to amend the agenda to allow Juliana to speak with the Commissioners (over the phone) regarding Apex energy, Clifton seconded and all approved.

Juliana told the Commissioners that the wind project is on track, she said they have secured the proper financial funding and they will begin building this year.  She told the Commissioners that WEC Energy Group had purchased Jayhawk Wind.  She said they would oversee the project and IEA would be the general contractor for the project.  She said a renewable power purchase agreement has been executed.  Jim Harris said he had read on the internet that the power they produce will be sent to Nebraska; Juliana said the energy will go onto the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) and the energy will flow to where the demand for it is needed.  Jim questioned if Evergy wasn’t a player anymore with the wind project; Juliana said that agreement had been mutually dissolved.  Lynne asked who the owner of the substation is for the project; Julian said the substation was an asset of Jayhawk so it is now owned by WEC.  There was a brief discussion over the recent controlled power outages due to the weather, Lynne said that outage was controlled by SPP.  Justin said the contracts for the windfarm are still valid.  Juliana said they would be starting doing grading the end of this month. She said Jeff Spangler is still a contact for this project.  Anne Dare discussed who owned the substation; she said Jeff Spangler told her it was owned by Evergy.  Juliana said there are two structures; the substation is all of the underground collection cabling that goes to the substation which then goes into the switchyard (the switchyard is owned by Evergy).  Anne Dare discussed the new weight restrictions of 20 ton from K47-K7; Lynne said the County has no control over the weight restriction on those State highways.  Apex/Jayhawk was not scheduled on the Commission agenda, Anne Dare was disappointed she didn’t know they were going to be speaking today, she asked the Commissioners when they learned they were speaking today; Lynne said he learned yesterday and Clifton said he learned today, Lynne said he received a call from Juliana and an email with the announcement of the selling to WEC.

The Commissioners signed culvert permits for Nick Leighty at 651 160^th St., Kyle Brown at 1163 250^th St. and Joyce Flanner at 2542 Locust Road.

Eric Bailey said the bridge crew is working in an area east of 215^th & Xavier.  He said they had finished a project on Maple near the Blythe ranch.

Eric reported damage to signs from an accident on 240^th; he said they are putting the signs back up. Eric said the rock crusher is now working and they are working 10 hour days to try and get caught up.  Eric said they are working with Buckley Powder to schedule a blast at the Beth Quarry (blast should be in 2-3 weeks).

Eric asked if the north door outside of the Public Works entrance could be unlocked during business hours so that customers could meet with the Public Works office, later in the meeting Jim Harris made a motion to unlock the north door of the Courthouse during business hours, Clifton seconded and all approved.

Eric said the County should receive approximately $5,700 from FEMA for the 2019 flood.  He said they are still working on this.

Clifton said he had been asked why the stop signs in front of the FSCC rodeo dorm had been placed there and asked if they were needed; Lynne said the signs were put up to control the speed in the area.

Clifton made a motion to go into a 6 minute executive session for KSA 75-4319(b)(1)to discuss personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel to protect their privacy to discuss employees seeking medical leave, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room at 9:38 am, Jim seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Eric Bailey and Susan Bancroft).  At 9:38, Lynne made a motion to come out of executive session and resume the normal meeting and said no action, Jim seconded and all approved.

The Commissioners discussed unlocking the east doors of the Courthouse; the request to unlock the doors was made because law enforcement had issues getting into the Courthouse on a recent call for help.  Lynne said he asked the person letting people in the Courthouse (taking temperatures and handing out masks) if they could control people entering if the doors were unlocked, their response was they couldn’t control them and they would come in without a mask if they chose to.  Lynne suggested working with the IT department to allow access by a key fob at the north, west and south entrance.   Clifton made a motion that he be allowed to meet with the Sheriff and Police department and he make a decision regarding the northeast door of the Courthouse and that he work with Shane on this issue, Jim seconded, Bobby suggested giving every employee a key fob, Susan suggested placing a lockbox with a keypad and a key inside the building to enter the building, all approved the motion.

Bobby Reed said the Sheriff asked the Commissioners to clarify the stop signs and the speed limit near the college rodeo dorms, he said going one direction on the bridge is 35 mph vs. going the opposite direction which is a different speed.

Bobby previously met with the Commissioners to request that debris from the 4-H building roof be deposited at the Landfill for free; he clarified that the 4-H building is a 501c5, Justin said they are a not for profit organization.  Jim made a motion to allow the Fair Board to dump the roof debris from the 4-H building at no charge, Clifton seconded and all approved. Bobby will work with Eric Bailey on the dumping of the debris.  Clifton made a motion to allow Justin to work with the Fair Board (pro bono) to help them transfer from a 501c5 to a 501c3 if they want to, Jim seconded and all approved.

Justin Meeks told the Commissioners they had bids (Justin did not have the bids at the meeting) to make the restrooms A.D.A. compliant at the Drivers License building; Jim made a motion to accept the low bid to make the restrooms there A.D.A. compliant, Clifton seconded and all approved.

Justin said they are still moving forward with the tax sale.

Justin briefly discussed a Commissioner quorum and ways to avoid a KOMA violation.

Clifton made a motion to allow Jim Harris to visit a micro processing plant on March 12^th in Springhill, Lynne seconded and all approved.

Justin said they are still emailing between St. Martens academy and trying to figure out the paperwork on how they joined the sewer district.  Susan Bancroft said they are looking at putting a meter on their lift station and said no sewer district map exists.   Nancy Van Etten asked Justin if he was still working on an interlocal sewer district agreement; she said there still isn’t an agreement in place on what someone has to pay to connect to the district.  Susan said they are still working on this.  Nancy asked if the sewer district bonds had been refinance; Lynne said they are still working on refinancing them.

Anne Dare asked when the Courthouse front steps were going to be done; Lynne said they are still working on them, Justin said they were waiting for the weather to dry up to apply a needed product.

Anne told the Commissioners that masking is a mandate and not a law.  She asked what the status was regarding the meeting Will Wallis had with the Commissioners regarding the City of Uniontown’s higher gas prices due to the recent cold weather (Uniontown purchased gas in bulk for distribution to their customers and ran out of that gas, but will now be charged a higher rate from the supplier); Lynne said the City of Uniontown is going to discuss this at an upcoming meeting.

Clifton commented that Jayhawk wind is a multi-billion dollar company and said companies don’t let anyone know the decisions they are making until the decision is made.  He said the windfarm has no control over how the energy they produce is dispersed; he said their energy is added to the power pool.  Jim said he was disappointed that the energy wasn’t staying in this area.

Jim Harris suggested the Commissioners have a work session to discuss a larger rock crusher; this will be discussed again at a later date.  Susan said the City has a work session on Tuesday evenings and said this could be incorporated with their work session.

At 10:48, Clifton made a motion to adjourn, Jim seconded and all approved.

THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS

(ss) Lynne Oharah, Chairman

(ss) Jim Harris, Commissioner

(ss) Clifton Beth, Commissioner

ATTEST:

Kendell Mason, Bourbon County Clerk

March 9, 2021, Approved Date

February 23, 2021                                          Tuesday 9:00 am

The Bourbon County Commission met in open session at Fort Scott City Hall with all three Commissioners and the County Counselor present, the County Clerk was able to watch the meeting live on YouTube.

Also present were the following (some were present for a portion of the meeting and some were present for the entire meeting); Jason Silvers with the Fort Scott Tribune, Jody Hoener, Mr. &  Mrs. Clint Walker, Anne Dare, Susan Bancroft and Steve Hill.

Lynne made a motion to amend the agenda to meet with Eric Bailey before approving the prior meeting minutes, Clifton seconded and all approved.

Eric Bailey presented a culvert application for Clifton Beth for a location at 2236 215^th St, he said Clifton has the culvert and rock and wants the County to install the culvert; Jim Harris said to his knowledge they have never allowed this, after discussion, Jim made a motion to approve the application, Lynne seconded and all approved and signed the application.

Eric said they needed to place an order for culverts and said Bo’s 1 Stop bid was lower than Wellborn Sales; Clifton made a motion to approve the quote for $42,750 from Bo’s 1 Stop, Jim seconded and all approved the motion.

Eric said the crusher is now working again and will be crushing rock soon.  They are finishing removing the overburden at the Beth Quarry.  Eric said they took the Mack truck for hydraulic valve repairs to be made.  He said they are testing the Sterling Truck for issues and are still waiting on quotes for repairs to the trailer that was recently involved in an accident.

Lynne made a motion to amend the agenda to move Jessie Walker up on the agenda, Clifton seconded and all approved.  Jessie questioned the road closures the County has been discussing; he asked if the County would be having public meetings when doing the road closures and asked how the landowners would be notified, Lynne said the people involved would be notified by the County Clerk and said if there are any road closings/openings the Commission want to do they will go through the landowners and there will be public hearings.  Jessie asked what type of input the Commissioners expected from the public, Lynne said there is a set procedure for road closings/openings and they will go through that procedure.  Jessie questioned if closing roads would discourage others from coming to the area to build homes, Jim said if it’s a private road, they will close the road by following procedure.  Jessie questioned if the Commissioners have the control over the amount of maintenance a road requires what is the point of closing the road.  Justin Meeks said the issue they have been researching is whether a road is closed or not, Jessie questioned the County closing roads that they have been maintaining; Justin said it is not an issue of closing or opening a road, the issue is if they are already opened on closed roads.  Justin said just because the County has been maintaining a road does not mean it is an open road.  Justin said if a road was legally closed and a landowner wanted to open the road the landowner would have to petition to re-open the road.  Justin said they have been reviewing Jessie’s road, but still don’t know if his road is an open or closed road.

Jim made a motion to amend the agenda to move the scheduled meeting with Hubert Thomas since Hubert was at the meeting, Clifton seconded and all approved.  Hubert said he wanted to inform the Commissioners that the water district was installing a water meter at the Landfill.  Hubert questioned if it was true that the County was going to hire an assistant to the road supervisor; Lynne said a motion was made in August of 2020 to hire both a public works director and an assistant.  Hubert questioned if our County was so big we needed two people for this job.  After a brief discussion Lynne made a motion to amend the agenda to allow for a 7 minute executive session for KSA 75-4319(b)(1)to discuss personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel to protect their privacy regarding a job performance issue, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room at 9:41, Jim seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Hubert Thomas, Susan Bancroft and Justin Meeks).  Lynne made a motion to come out of executive session and resume the meeting, Clifton seconded and all approved.

Lynne had scheduled an executive session regarding non-elected personnel, but made a motion to replace the scheduled executive session with an open discussion regarding personnel and the economic development position, Clifton seconded and all approved.  Lynne said it had been quite a journey since Jody Hoener was hired part time in 2018 for economic development.  He said her first day on the job is when the hospital announced its closing, the County was then tasked with taking on the ambulance by March 1^st and met that goal, he said other issues she has helped with were the windmills coming to Bourbon County, the Neighborhood Revitalization Program, grant funds, BWERK program and dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.  Lynne said the County had moved economic development to BEDCO; he said BEDCO has a board that includes all cities in Bourbon County, the Chamber and the Commissioners.  He said BEDCO has been going through a hiring process for the economic development position.  Lynne said he felt it is a sad day since they are coming to an end of an era with the County Economic Development position. Lynne said Jody had done a lot for Bourbon County and presented her with a Certificate of Appreciation.  Lynne said they were giving Jody a two week notice due to a reduction in force.  Jody said she was excited to be at this point, she said she has applied for the BEDCO economic development position.  Clifton told Jody she had done a phenomenal job.

Jody Hoener said she had been the contact regarding the ambulance service; she said Susan Bancroft will now be the contact person.  She said the County needed a policy in place regarding taking payments for ambulance service.  Lynne asked Susan to make a recommendation to the Commissioners next week regarding OMNI and the collection process.

The Commissioners reviewed and approved some vouchers for payment.

Lynne made a motion to amend the agenda for a 12 minute executive session for KSA 75-4319(b)(2) for consultation with an attorney for the body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship regarding possible litigation, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room at 10:05, Clifton seconded the motion and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks).  At 10:05, Lynne made a motion to come out of the executive session and resume the meeting, Clifton seconded and all approved.

Jim made a motion to amend the agenda to have a 10 minute executive session for KSA 75-4319(b)(1)to discuss personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel to protect their privacy, the Commissioners will meet in another location and reconvene in the Commission room at 10:16, Clifton seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners).  Lynne made a motion to come out of executive session and resume the meeting, Clifton seconded and all approved.

Justin Meeks said he had the Commissioners KOMA Zoom training scheduled for March 23^rd at 10:30 during the Commission meeting.

Justin discussed the tax sale; he said once the petition is filed all of the back taxes would have to be paid on a property in order for someone to redeem their property.  He said the Treasurer had collected over $300,000 in back taxes since the demand letters were sent.

Justin said he would be meeting with the Register of Deeds regarding a road vacation issue.

The Commissioners opened the meeting up for public comment; Anne Dare thanked the Commissioners for having an evening meeting last week and said she would appreciate the Commissioners doing this again.

Clifton thanked the City for allowing the County to use their Commission meeting to hold their Commission meeting since the County Commission room was being used for advance voting.

At 10:21 Clifton made a motion to adjourn, Jim seconded and all approved.

THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS

(ss) Lynne Oharah, Chairman

(ss) Jim Harris, Commissioner

(ss) Clifton Beth, Commissioner

ATTEST:

Kendell Mason, Bourbon County Clerk

March 9, 2021, Approved Date