January 28, 2020 9:00 am
The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with all three Commissioners the County Counselor and the County Clerk present.
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Clark, Mrs. Kellenberger, Nancy Van Etten, Barbara Peine, Mrs. Fowler, Kim Simons, Mary Pemberton, Michael Hoyt, Dr. Nichols, Darren Crays, Marla Koester, Anne Dare, Mike Wunderly and Kathaleen Gilliland were all present for a portion of the meeting. Tammy Helm with the Fort Scott Tribune was also present for the morning meeting and Jason Silvers was present for the afternoon meeting.
Jim Harris and Jerad Heckman met with the Commissioners; Jim said they are blasting at the Thomas Quarry today, they put brine on the roads due to the predicted weather coming, (Jim said that the brine cost $90 a truckload which is approximately 1/10th of the cost of chips, this truckload will cover approximately 10 miles). They are putting up signs up as well as side trimming. Jim said the wet weather has been hard on the county roads. Nick asked Jim to look at a culvert at 255th & Native Road. Jim reported they had placed gravel near Garland going south on State Line Road and had placed rock on Ivory Road.
The Commissioners asked Jim to view a road on the east side at the south end of the Fort Scott Lake.
The Commissioners discussed in March having a work session for road planning, no decision was made.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 10 minute executive session for personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Kendell Mason). After the session; Jeff made a motion to allow the County Clerk to hire a full time employee to replace an employee, Nick seconded and all approved.
Jeff made a motion to re-appoint Mark McCoy as a non-lawyer member to the Sixth Judicial Nominating Commission, Nick seconded and all approved.
Lynne said he needed to correct the 11:00 appointment on the agenda; he said it should’ve stated contracts instead of contractors.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 5 minute executive session for consultation with an attorney for the body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship, Jeff seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Clark met with the Commissioners to discuss fire districts; he said he talked to Don Banwart with Scott Township fire district, Mr. Banwart said that if they built a fire station at Fort Scott Lake it could take the fire insurance ratings there from a rating of 12 to a 6, which could save approximately 400 homes on their insurance. However, there was concern over taxes increasing to cover the cost of building a fire station; Mr. Clark asked if the Economic Development Director could review grants available to help build the fire station. Mr. Clark said he would attend the fire district meetings and the Lake advisory meetings to discuss building a fire station.
The Commissioners accepted bids for the repairs on the front east steps of the Courthouse; Jesse Milburn with JCM Restoration was present for the discussion. Mid Continental bid $82,169 and JCM Restoration, LLC bid $49,500. Both bid rates would be additional if the pavers were removed and the concrete under them had deteriorated. Jesse Milburn said he had $1 million worth of insurance (and would provide proof of this to the County Clerk); Justin Meeks said a bond wasn’t required since this isn’t new construction. Jeff made a motion to accept the bid from JCM Restoration for $49,500, Nick seconded and all approved.
Dave Bruner with EMS met with the Commissioners to discuss the contract for the EMS medical director; he said there was no increase in the contract price and said Dr. Burke was currently in this role. Lynne made a motion to accept Dr. Burke as the EMS medical director, Jeff seconded and all approved and Lynne signed the contract.
Michael Hoyt met with the Commissioners; he discussed his felony conviction in Arizona and said his records were expunged and now he could vote.
Michael Hoyt presented changes he wanted made to the January 7th minutes.
Barbara Peine questioned the reasons for executive sessions; Justin and the Commissioners explained the different reasons and what could be discussed during the sessions.
Jeff Fischer presented a power point with facts from the Kansas Corporation Commission discussing wind mills. Jeff is a board certified civil engineer. He said he is looking at data where wind mills currently are, when they were built and if there are any tax producing properties. The data showed where the electricity is produced and who owns the properties. Jeff said he has no knowledge of where the proposed windmills will be in Bourbon County. He discussed how Nextera designs the layout of the wind turbines. Jeff will email the presentation to those wanting it.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 20 minute executive session for preliminary discussions relating to the acquisition of real property, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Justin Meeks and Jody Hoener). No action was taken.
Lynne stated that due to recent developments with advertising and the conversations happening the Commissioners have to be careful on how they interact publicly to avoid litigation. He said they will not give personal opinions of the Commission regarding the windmill discussions.
Mary Pemberton met with the Commissioners; she said she had emailed the Commissioners documents, but the Commissioners had not received them. She provided paper copies of her documents and asked that they review and consider the documents. The documents included a contribution agreement between Apex and Neosho County, a Neosho County decommissioning agreement, a road use and maintenance agreement for Neosho County, the Neosho County agreement regarding wind project and transmission facilities – (including setbacks), Linn County zoning regulations as well as a non-binding resolution from Allen County informing the citizens where they intend on directing the money received from the PILOT payments. She asked if the Commissioners had met or would meet with Crawford County regarding the windmills; Jeff said they have had no formal discussion with the Crawford County Commission.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 10 minute executive session for matters relating to the security of a public body or agency, public building or facility or the information system of a public body or agency, if the discussion of such matters at an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such public body, agency, building, facility or information system, (courthouse security), Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
At 12:03, Lynne made a motion to break for lunch and reconvene at 1:30, Nick seconded and all approved.
Barbara Peine met with the Commissioners to discuss the proposed wind farm. She discussed a letter that Jim Keller had put in the Tribune regarding the wind farms; she said that she and her husband felt that a portion of the letter was threatening and said they can understand now why the Commissioners do not want to put a stop to the wind farms. She questioned if any of the Commissioners owned land where the wind farms are being located; all Commissioners said no. She discussed the minutes from December 15, 2016 where Justin Meeks stated that if a feedlot or someone wanted to lease land for hunting or a wind farm they could do this since Bourbon County wasn’t zoned. She asked that the Commissioners put a stop to the wind farms and represent the majority rather than the minority.
Mike Wunderly met with the Commissioners to discuss wind farms; he presented data from Oklahoma and their experience with wind farms.
Kim Simons met with the Commissioners to discuss wind farms; she said since turbines have been going up for years, Bourbon County could learn from this and not make the same mistakes. She discussed the shortage of electricity in Texas where there are numerous wind farms; she discussed the decommissioning of wind farms in Europe,
and she discussed the Grain Belt Express. Mrs. Simons asked the Commissioners how long they had known that the wind farms might be coming here; Jeff said prior to being elected he attended a Commission meeting where wind farms were discussed. She felt it should have been put publicly sooner that the wind farms might be coming. Justin said it was discussed in open Commission meetings in 2016. She asked that in the future anything that is so important be put out in the public better. She questioned why spot zoning wouldn’t work; Jeff repeated what John George previously told the Commission – Mr. George had said he had never seen zoning done well in rural areas. Jeff said enforcing zoning would require employees, supplies, vehicles, etc. He discussed what could be required and fees charged for residents wanting to build in an area with zoning. He said zoning comes at a cost.
Anne Dare met with the Commissioners to discuss the wind farms; she asked why the Commission didn’t have community input on zoning. She said a simple search would allow them to see the pros and cons of wind farms. She discussed the 30 rate increases in 10 years for Westar in Wichita. The plans to add on to the transmission grid with the construction of the Grain Belt Express. She asked if anyone had contacted the KDWP to know if the turbines will interfere with migratory birds or bats. She discussed the possible airport expansion and how if wind farms are closer to Fort Scott would the wind wake effect the small aircraft that land there. She said she had read several reports across the country that property values have been hurt; she said when that happens would they guarantee that our property taxes won’t go up. She discussed the reports where people experience health issues from wind farms. She said the Commissioners have the responsibility to fight for the best road use agreement, best PILOT payments they can get and asked if they would be willing to investigate the implementation of conditional use or special use permits. She discussed the cost to decommission the wind farms.
Jeff made a motion to go into a 7 minute executive session for matters relating to the security of a public body or agency, public building or facility or the information system of a public body or agency, if the discussion of such matters at an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such public body, agency, building, facility or information system, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Judge Ward and Rhonda Cole). No action was taken.
Jeff made a motion to go into a 5 minute executive session for matters relating to the security of a public body or agency, public building or facility or the information system of a public body or agency, if the discussion of such matters at an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such public body, agency, building, facility or information system, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners). No action was taken.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 5 minute executive session for matters relating to the security of a public body or agency, public building or facility or the information system of a public body or agency, if the discussion of such matters at an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such public body, agency, building, facility or information system, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
The Courthouse elevator will need maintenance which will take approximately one week to complete (the elevator will be out of service for one week); Judge Ward said they will look at their schedule and keep a docket empty for one week to allow for the maintenance. The tentative week for repairs is March 23-March 27.
Lynne made a motion to allow Judge Ward to hire a courthouse security officer, Jeff seconded and all approved.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 5 minute executive session for consultation with an attorney for the body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
Jeff made a motion to go into a 10 minute executive session for consultation with an attorney for the body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship, Nick seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
Ralph Carlson briefly met with the Commissioners to discuss the airport runway expansion.
At 4:31, Nick made a motion to adjourn, Lynne seconded and all approved.
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS
(ss) Lynne Oharah, Chairman
(ss) Jeff Fischer, Commissioner
(ss) Nick Ruhl, Commissioner
ATTEST:
Kendell Mason, Bourbon County Clerk
February 4, 2020, Approved Date