Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Administration topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bourbon County Commission approves year‑end reallocations, hires county counselor, and adopts pay changes
Summary
At its Jan. 27 meeting the Bourbon County Commission approved end‑of‑year reallocations to avoid budget violations, voted to hire a county counselor, authorized ambulance bid solicitations, signed administrative reports, set district legal descriptions and approved a salary adjustment for the sheriff and an EMS pay increase.
The Bourbon County Commission on Jan. 27 approved a series of administrative motions including end‑of‑year budget reallocations, the hiring of a county counselor, permission to solicit bids for new ambulances and an increase to the sheriff’s pay and the EMS director’s pay.
The actions were taken as a package of routine and administrative business following public comment and staff presentations. Commissioners voted to move specific expenses into the general fund to correct posting errors in the prior fiscal year and to authorize follow‑up personnel and procurement steps discussed in executive session and open session.
Among the formal actions, the commission approved reallocating $52,325.45 from the public safety fund and $4,500 from the appraiser’s fund into the general fund to prevent budget violations caused by accounts payable that did not post fully at year‑end. County staff explained the cash was available but the budget authority had not been recorded, and the reallocation was necessary to comply with Kansas budget law.
The commission voted to hire ‘‘Bob Johnson from Iowa’’ as the county counselor after discussion held in open session and executive session. Commissioners also authorized Terry Hall, the county’s EMS director, to solicit bids for replacement ambulances; staff said new ambulances currently take three to five years to build and the county wanted pricing information sooner.
Officials signed the noxious weeds financial report and the county’s weed management plan for submission to the state, and they signed a resolution that sets legal descriptions for the county’s five commissioner districts; elections staff said district maps and voter notices will be mailed when finalized. The commission also accepted a list of board and advisory appointments for county representation, including juvenile detention, fair board, soil conservation and health department seats.
On personnel pay, the commission approved a motion to set the sheriff’s salary at $75,000 and to give the EMS director a $5,000 raise; commissioners said a comprehensive updated salary schedule will be returned for approval next week.
Votes on each motion were recorded by voice and confirmed in open session. Where roll‑call style votes were not recorded in the transcript, the meeting record shows commissioners verbally responded in the affirmative; no recorded motion failed during the meeting.
The commission met in two brief executive sessions during the meeting under K.S.A. 75‑4319(b)(1) for personnel matters and K.S.A. 75‑4319(b)(3) for employer‑employee negotiations; the transcript states no action was taken during the first executive session and actions resulting from the second executive session were carried out in open session.
The meeting closed after commissioner comments and routine announcements.
