October 13, 2020 Tuesday 9:00 am
The Bourbon County Commission met in open session with all three Commissioners, the County Counselor and the County Clerk present.
Also present were the following; (some were present for a portion of the meeting, so were present for the entire meeting), Jason Silvers with the Fort Scott Tribune, Mrs. & Mrs. Frank Miller, Michael Hoyt, Anne Dare and Mr. & Mrs. Clint Walker.
Road & Bridge director Eric Bailey met with the Commissioners; he reported they have been doing patching on Maple, Jayhawk and will be patching in the Northwest part of the County. They will be patching on Hackberry and on Maple between 155th & 165th. The trucks are hauling gravel. He said the sign crew will be working with the IT department taking pictures and documenting the sign data. Eric said that the east boat ramp at Elm Creek Lake is closed due to the water being low.
Eric said there is a side arm position open (the previous employee transferred to the sign department), he recommended filling the position. Jeff made a motion to fill the position, Clifton seconded and all approved. Jeff said the Commissioners would be happy to help facilitate a hiring team if needed.
Lynne gave Eric contact information for a person with possible property damage near Redfield and information for a previously requested culvert replacement for a culvert near Xavier and Zion. Eric said they installed five culverts and did 1 mile of ditching last week. Eric said they would be installing a culvert this week for Steven Foster in Hiattville. It was also reported that there were potholes needing repaired in Hiattville. Jeff questioned if CIC could monitor culvert installations; Eric said he wasn’t sure, but would ask.
Lynne reported that Commissioner Allen with the City of Fort Scott requested a tour of the County facilities; Lynne made a motion for him to be able to set up a tour of the County facilities with the City, Clifton seconded and all approved. Lynne asked Eric to work with FSCC to borrow a van for a day.
Eric reported they were getting close to doing a blast at the Shepherd Quarry.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 7 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, Eric Bailey and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
Jeff Fischer questioned if the road patches are holding up and questioned if the County was using the right mix recipe; Eric Bailey said they are considering having the company that sold them the machine do a demo for them so he can understand how the machine works and the right recipe.
Jeff discussed the leak at Elm Creek Lake; he suggested since the water level is low and they have access that maybe they should investigate the membrane there. Lynne made a motion to no longer lease the Elm Creek shelter until needed repairs are done, (there are rocks falling off of the shelter and there are trip hazards there), Jeff seconded and all approved.
Frank Miller asked Lynne Oharah and Justin Meeks if they had signed the COPS grant application or if they had approved of their signatures being on there, both said no; Justin said they did investigate this issue, but because of the way the grant was approved this is no longer an issue. Mr. Miller said if anyone else had done this they would have been put in the spotlight and said if they didn’t approve their signatures being on the application he would like something to be done about it.
Jody Hoener met with the Commissioners; she said she is working on the BWERKS project; she asked that a $33,000 voucher (for marketing and website) got paid. Clifton made a motion to allow Lynne to sign the voucher to be paid, Jeff seconded and all approved. Lynne asked that a special check be cut for this payment.
Jody said anther business (Bradley Feed and Cattle Services) had applied for the CDBG funds; Jeff made a motion to allow Lynne to sign this document, Clifton seconded and all approved and Lynne signed the document.
Lynne questioned if Perry’s Porkrinds were eligible for any grants; Jody said they had received Spark grant funds.
County Clerk, Kendell Mason asked if she could use the Commission room for advance voting beginning October 19th; the Commissioners agreed. Jeff made a motion to not have a Commission meeting until November 10th, unless an emergency meeting needed to be called, (if a special meeting is called, a location for the meeting will be determined at that time), Clifton seconded and all approved.
Susan Bancroft with the City of Fort Scott met with the Commissioners regarding the EMS. She compared the OMNI (ambulance billing company) revenue ambulance billing between 2019 & 2020; in 2019 the revenue was $820,167.58, 2020 to date is $646,106.06. She estimated 2020 to end with an ending cash balance of $322,575.63, she said if a new ambulance is purchased for $165,000 this would only leave a cash balance of $157,575.63 (which only leaves a 2 month cash reserve).
Susan Bancroft said that St. Marten’s academy had hooked into the sewer before the sewer hookup fee had been established and another resident had started connecting to the sewer before the fee had been established; she felt they shouldn’t be charged the hook up fee since that came after they had started connecting. Justin Meeks said the sewer agreement lacked protocols and procedures, Lynne said they would discuss this on November 10th.
Robert Leisure and Dave Bruner with EMS met with the Commissioners; Robert reported they had 241 calls for service in September of 2020. He discussed the mileage on the ambulances. They presented bids for a new ambulance; Osage bid $177,328, Willcoach bid $165,683 and ARV bid $172,407. Jeff made a motion to accept the bid from Willcoach, Clifton seconded and all approved. Jeff made a motion to give Lynne permission to sign the purchase agreement, Clifton seconded and all approved and Lynne signed the agreement. The Commissioners questioned if EMS wanted a 6 or 7 truck ambulance fleet; Robert said they have housing issues for the 7th truck, Jeff said they have 6 months to decide this since it will take about that long to get the new ambulance. Jeff Fischer suggested having an Interlocal agreement with FSCC regarding having EMS training and providing the training in exchange for a commitment to work for the Bourbon County EMS. Robert suggested that the County get credentialed for Missouri Medicaid; Lynne asked that he coordinate this with Jody Hoener. Robert said that OMNI recommended that Bourbon County get a lockbox for a monthly fee, he had an application for this. Dave Bruner said this was an option for the County, but said the County didn’t choose this option when they did the contract with OMNI.
Jeff made a motion to accommodate Nick Graham on the agenda to speak and Clifton seconded the motion. Nick said he was running a write-in/sticker-in campaign for County Clerk; he said there was a post on the Republican party’s Facebook page discussing the stickers being placed on ballots, the post also said that said the County Clerk said ripped ballots would not be counted (Kendell later separately addressed Lynne and Jeff and told them that she did not say this), the poster of this post later removed the post and apologized for the post. Nick read an email that the County Clerk sent him regarding the concerns for stickers being placed on ballots by him or another candidate, this email described what happened in the past when a sticker was placed through the machine, the machine immediately jammed and wouldn’t take any more ballots, the machine had to be replaced with one that would take ballots and the machine was later repaired. The County can adopt an ordinance preventing the stickers on the ballots, but according to the SOS office Bourbon County has not. Nick said the Commissioners have the final decision regarding stickers on ballots and said he had stickers being mailed to voters; Jeff said he wasn’t aware of any ordinance prohibiting or allowing stickers and said he had no concerns with the stickers and didn’t feel it was appropriate to change the rules during election.
Bill Martin met with the Commissioners regarding the CESF grant (most of this grant will be used for PPE); bill said the SPARK money has to be spent prior to spending the CESF grant money, (William Wallis said the Spark money they received should be spent in a month). Bill said the CESF expenses will initially be paid out of his budget and then he will voucher the State for reimbursement. Lynne made a motion to allow one of the Commissioners sign a payment voucher that is more than $2,500, Jeff seconded and all approved.
Lynne made a motion to go into a 15 minute executive session for preliminary discussions relating to the acquisition of real property, Clifton seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners, Justin Meeks and Shane Walker). After the session, Lynne made a motion to allow Justin Meeks and Shane Walker negotiate for a possible contract, 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, Jeff seconded and all approved, (the session included the Commissioners and Justin Meeks). No action was taken.
At 11:03, Clifton made a motion to adjourn, Jeff seconded and all approved.
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OF BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS
(ss) Lynne Oharah, Chairman
(ss) Jeff Fischer, Commissioner
(ss) Clifton Beth, Commissioner
ATTEST:
Kendell Mason, Bourbon County Clerk
November 10, 2020, Approved Date