McPherson County commissioners on June 30 approved purchases requested by McPherson County Community Corrections for two agency vehicles and a new server and agreed to start charging grant programs for administrative costs.

The purchases followed a presentation from Sunny Lisonbee, identified in the meeting as McPherson County Community Corrections director, who said, “we have an estimated $115,000 that needs to be spent” before the close of the fiscal year. Lisonbee told the board the funds were available now and might not be available in future years to replace aging vehicles or cover an unreplaced totaled vehicle.

Commissioners approved a motion “that we would approve the request for the purchase of 2 vehicles not to exceed $70,200.” They also approved a motion “to purchase a new server for McPherson County Community Corrections not to exceed $11,000.” Both motions passed with aye votes.

Lisonbee explained operational uses for the vehicles, saying one is dedicated to a surveillance officer who “goes out into the community to see our clients in their homes and at their workplaces,” and that another would be used for travel to meetings and trainings. She said two vehicles would be split between McPherson and Harvey counties.

Commissioners and Lisonbee also discussed how administrative accounting for multiple grant funds would be handled. Lisonbee said the state requires separate general ledgers for each grant and noted that McPherson, as the administrative county for the judicial district, provides financial services to partner counties. After discussion, a commissioner moved to “change just the charges to the grant programs” and proposed an administrative charge of $30,000 for the year; the motion passed. The transcript contains multiple references to the year for that charge; commissioners discussed different year-end dates during the motion. The board approved the motion as read.

During discussion commissioners raised follow-up questions about contributions from Harvey County to the district program; Lisonbee said Harvey County had not paid toward program costs. Commissioners asked Lisonbee to continue outreach to Harvey County and to keep the board informed on progress.

The board’s actions were limited to approving the vehicle and server purchases and the motion to bill administrative costs to grant programs. No ordinance or statute was cited in the motions recorded in the meeting.

The board directed staff to implement the purchases and to proceed with billing grant programs for administrative costs as approved; commissioners asked for updates on intercounty arrangements at future meetings.