Commissioners hear year-end reports

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

The Bourbon County Commission had a light agenda for its first meeting of 2017 as they discussed some end-of-year reports and conducted other routine business.

Southeast Regional Correctional Center Major Bobby Reed provided commissioners with a year-end report that included figures on bookings for 2016.

Reed said last year, the Fort Scott Police Department logged 272 inmates booked into the SEKRCC and the Bourbon County Sheriff's Office recorded 478 inmates booked into the facility in 2016. He said the FSPD is working with 20 officers and the BCSO has eight.

According to numbers Reed provided, there were 583 males and 168 females booked into the facility last year. The jail's average daily population for 2016 was 37 inmates.

Commissioner Barbara Albright asked Reed as to what he attributes the large number of arrests last year.

"Just being proactive," Reed said.

Commissioners also asked what types of cases made up the arrests.

"It's a wide range of domestics and drugs," Reed said. "We had a big increase in drugs last year. And I think in the next two to three years, we're going to see an increase in population at our facility."

"Those are sad statistics," Albright said.

Commissioners also looked at some numbers in documents County Counselor Justin Meeks provided on court cases in 2016. Meeks said there was a high number of Child In Need of Care cases and cases involving juveniles going through the court system last year.

"Anybody would be concerned with those numbers," Albright said.

Public Works Director Jim Harris also provided a year-end report to commissioners, which included figures on costs of crushing rock in 2016.

Harris said Jan. 18 has been set as the date by the Kansas Department of Transportation for bid letting for the county's Maple Road project. After the bid letting, KDOT will then have to review the bids.

The project has been in the works since the county learned in early 2015 it received a KDOT High Risk Rural Road grant to make improvements on Maple Road from 205th Street to the Fort Scott city limits, where the road becomes Humbolt Street. The county has an agreement with the city of Fort Scott to also make improvements on Humbolt Street to National Avenue.

In exchange for that work, in June 2015, the city agreed to pay the remaining costs of design and inspection fees for improvements to the entrance at the Fort Scott Industrial Park.

The Maple Road project includes resurfacing, widening, signage and center lines.

"It's been a long process," Commission Chairman Lynne Oharah said.

Harris told commissioners that next week, with incoming commissioners-elect Jeff Fischer and Nick Ruhl coming into office, he would like to present a 10-year forecast on county equipment. He said he and commissioners would likely conduct "a few work sessions" on the condition of county roads.

"I need direction from the new commission on road plans," Harris said. "I'm happy with 2016. These guys worked hard and got a lot of projects done. Of course, we're down some personnel."

The public works department's quarry expense report for 2016 shows a total cost of $558,481 for crushing rock last year, with a total tonnage of 164,472. The cost per ton for gravel in 2016 was $3.40.

Broken down, the expense report shows $39,066 for landowner lease payments, $46,698 for a crusher and screen plant payment, $7,494 for a generator payment, $46,770 and $23,987 for two John Deere loader payments, $53,737 for overburden removal, $171,091 for four blasts the county conducted, $17,140 for equipment repairs, $36,180 in fuel costs, $57,116 in costs for two employees, $33,280 in employee benefits, $5,136 for insurance costs, and $20,786 in miscellaneous costs.

Harris said the county is saving money, about $400,000, "crushing our own rock instead of buying it."

Other Tuesday business:

* Commissioners approved several resolutions: a resolution for a salary schedule for Bourbon County employees, which includes a 2 percent increase in the salary of the county appraiser; a resolution listing holidays and closed days for the county in 2017; a resolution for the waiver of generally accepted accounting principles; a resolution setting reimbursement for travel expenses for county employees at 53.5 cents per mile; and a resolution designating City State Bank, UMB Bank, Union State Bank, Landmark National Bank, and Citizens Bank as depositories for county funds, and The Fort Scott Tribune as the official county publication.

* Commissioners took no action following a 15-minute executive session with Meeks to discuss non-elected personnel.