These minutes were approved on February 15

February 8, 2022 Tuesday 9:00 a.m.

The Bourbon county commission met in open session in the presence of the three commissioners and the county clerk.

Clint Walker, Anne Dare, Matt Crystal, Matt Quick and Shane Walker were also present for part or all of the meeting.

Clifton made a motion to approve the minutes of previous meetings, seconded by Lynne. All approved.

Eric Bailey applied for culvert extension approval in 1973 60^and St, Bronson, KS. Lynne made a motion of concurrence. Clifton seconded. All approved.

Eric said from midnight Tuesday they had three trucks operating in three shifts 24 hours a day until Thursday. He thanked his crew.

Eric said they had a broken down truck. The driveshaft is out.

Eric said they received the permit to repair the dam at Elm Creek.

Eric discussed a situation where wire wrapped around the bulldozer at the landfill while working at C&D. He said a shield could be purchased for $18,000 and there would be money to earn.

Eric requested a work session for March 15^and afternoon in the committee room which will be open to the public.

Eric said the wind turbine project is coming to an end.

Mowing and snow removal offers for the medical building were discussed. Filed for 30 days.

Clifton proposed a KSA 75-4319(b)(6) executive session for the preliminary discussion of real estate acquisition for 10 minutes, including 3 commissioners, Susan Bancroft, Justin Meeks and Rob Harrington returning at 9:26. Lynne seconded. All approved. Clifton made a motion to return to the normal session with action at 9:26 a.m. Lynne seconded. All approved. Lynne introduced a motion to allow Clifton Beth to negotiate up to $125,000 to acquire real estate. Jim seconded. All approved.

Clifton introduced a motion for an executive session KSA 75-4319(b)(1) to discuss the personal matters of individual unelected staff to protect their privacy, including Dave Bruner, Susan Bancroft, Justin Meeks and 3 commissioners during 15 minutes returning to 9:44. . Lynne seconded. All approved. Clifton made a motion to return to the normal session at 9:44 a.m. with no action. Lynne seconded. All approved.

Susan Bancroft discussed the rental agreement with Ascension Via Christi for another year. Clifton moved a motion to allow President Harris to sign the lease extension with Ascension Via Christi. Lynne seconded. All approved.

Susan also discussed the state compensation agreement. We talked about this late last year about something at our landfill that gives us the ability, if someone doesn’t pay their bill, to send it to a collection agency. Working with the state, when someone files a tax return and if they get something back, they will take it off the tax return to pay the county.

Susan also reviewed that we’re coming to the end of 2021 and closing some of this information. I’m still working with the treasurer to clean up some accounts there. We would like to request transfers of certain funds. I would like to request that $20,000 be transferred from the assessor’s fund to their reserve fund. $20,000 from the election fund to the election reserve fund and $30,000 from the noxious weed fund to the noxious weed equipment fund. $20,000 from roads and bridges to the special road machinery fund and $50,000 from special bridges to special improvement of roads and bridges. The clerk’s office wishes to transfer $8,000 to the election reserve fund. $20,000 from the general reserve to the computer equipment reserve. Lynne presented a motion to approve the transfers as presented. Clifton seconded. All approved.

Susan states that the overall budget is correct. However, there are a few departments where we went over budget. The County Commission went over budget by $9,400. The county coroner for $7,700. The county attorney for $10,000. And the district court overspent by $43,000. However, in 2022, for the district court, we will reduce their budget by this amount. Part of it is just not understanding the budget law and the cash basis law. At our first department head meeting, we discussed this. We are looking to set up a purchase order system to help us at the end of the year. To ensure that we are spending in the correct year. The sheriff’s budget will exceed $5,000. We can show it as a budget violation or you can give me the authority to transfer this expense to the general fund to offset it. With the sheriff’s budget, we had projected a reprofile of $124,000 and they are going to start the year with a deficit of $69,000. So the actual cash carryover will only be about $60,000. They start with much less money than expected. This needs to be done somewhere throughout the year or you will continue to make the problem worse. I spoke with the sheriff at our first department heads meeting and we made some fixes at the end of the year, so it’s a little worse than expected. Lynne asked if this would be the only violation we will have. Susan said we would also have distribution violations that occur when there is excess sent to tax entities. There are nearly 50 funds operating in the negative and they will all be violations. I can not do anything about it. Clifton introduced a motion to move the $5,000 from the general fund to the sheriff’s budget and make an adjustment for the surplus the following year. Lynne seconded. All approved.

Anne Dare asks who does the distribution to taxing entities? Susan said the treasurer did. Anne asked if we had any problems every year. Susan said no. Anne asked about other violations that came up during the audit. Are these cleaned? Susan said they are slowly being cleaned up. Anne said the meeting at the hospital was great. She had hoped for more details. She asked about the county donating $2,000,000 to the hospital. Clifton said the $2,000,000 is in addition to the $800,000 that was donated for the audit. Clifton said this information was in the original cooperation agreement that was signed. Anne asked why the county had to give money? Clifton said he thought it was to show the county was as committed as they were. This will be the Bourbon County Community Hospital. Where does the money come from? Clifton said his opinion was Mercy’s donation and we have ARPA funds that total 2.3 million. Anne asked when they should pay the funds. Clifton said we can write them a check or make payments.

Clint Walker said Allen County subsidizes his hospital $1,000,000 a year. He also said the Road & Bridge team had done an amazing job putting whistles on 95^and Street and Old 54.

Lynne thanked Clifton for all the hard work with Noble Health to get the hospital up and running. Jim agreed with Lynne on all the hours Clifton spent. Clifton said Rob Harrington also played a big role in this. Clifton said the feasibility study isn’t 100% complete, but they’re advanced enough to know they can move forward. Anne Dare asks if there are any other community discussions/meetings. Clifton said he had no idea of ​​the timeline on this.

Jim Harris said he heard comments about the shortness of commission meetings. He said we have a very good agenda and we are moving forward and getting things done. It welcomes the public who get involved in the meetings. We represent the citizens of Bourbon County. Justin and Susan suggested maybe having a commission meeting in one of the county’s outlying towns every 4 months or so. Jim said he was open to that. Clifton said the meetings don’t have to be broadcast. It’s done out of courtesy. If we have a meeting in the county, it won’t be broadcast. Anne said she appreciates the momentum this commission has brought. I think that got everyone going. Eric does a phenomenal job, Ashley, bringing Susan and the sheriff. When I attend a meeting and only have to stay here for 45 minutes, I feel good for the rest of my day. Jim said we have a good group of stewards, Susan on board, Justin and Eric are doing a fantastic job with our elected officials and Rob Harrington is a team member. We have many good things to come. Susan said she got great cooperation. We have to change the way we do certain things.

Jim thanked Rob Harrington and others for their work on the hospital project.

Lora Holdridge would like blinds for the south windows due to computer glare. She’s going to bid for the blinds. Jim said she could pay from the general fund.

At 10:16 a.m., Clifton moved a motion to adjourn. Lynne seconded. All approved.

THE COUNCIL OF COMMISSIONERS

FROM BOURBON COUNTY, KANSAS

(unknown) Jim Harris, President

(ss) Lynne Oharah, curator

(ss) Clifton Beth, curator

ATTEST:

Ashley Shelton, Bourbon County Clerk

February 15, 2022, date of approval