By BARBARA PROFFITT | August 9, 2023

The Linn County Commissioners met on Monday, Aug. 7, and began their weekly meeting with the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting followed by the approval of claims in the amount of $176,918.88.

County Clerk David Lamb presented adds and abates 2022-919 through 923 with a negative total of $726.60.

Commissioners then accepted the Sheriff’s monthly fee report for July as well as the July report for the Linn County Park and Marina.

Commissioner Danny McCullough then read from the Sheriff’s weekly report noting there are currently 65 inmates in the jail, 40 of which are farm-ins.

Economic Development Director Jessica Hightower presented an agreement for the commission chairperson to sign with regard to the grant applied for on behalf of the STARS vocational school and commissioners voted 3-0 to allow McCullough to execute the agreement.

EDA Hightower noted she had recently been elected as secretary of the STARS board and Commissioner Jim Johnson asked County Counselor Gary Thompson if that created a conflict of interest for her to manage a grant on behalf the program she serves on the board for. Thompson stated he would look into it.

EDA Hightower then stated that Kwikom has set a groundbreaking for their project near Parker on Aug. 29 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the courthouse and they have asked McCullough to speak at the event.

EDA Hightower presented an offer from the Garnett Airport for the fuel left at the Linn County Airport. Garnett offered $2 per gallon, with Garnett transporting the fuel, for the 3,000 gallons there. Commissioners voted 3-0 to accept the offer.

Public Works Administrator Shaun West presented an application for mowing assistance from the city of Mound City and commissioners approved the request.

West stated Construction Consultant Randy Page will have final bids for the former district court building by next Monday.

Commissioners approved Resolution 2023-34 for various pieces of equipment to be sold on Purple Wave.

Nathan Fawson with Southeast Kansas Mental Health spoke to the commission regarding their programs and services provided in Linn County and answered several questions regarding their services. No action was taken on their budget at that time.

Discussion between West and the commission then turned to compactor sites and whether or not the county should look at turning the sites over to the cities and only do the hauling and removal. No final decision was made.

Patty Sanborn, with SEK, Inc., introduced herself to the commission and explained that she is part of the Housing Coalition Board and thanked the commission for allowing Darcy Wilson and Jessica Hightower to be a part of their board and program.

Commissioners held a 15 minute executive session for legal matters, ten minutes with Thompson and five minutes with West.

Following the executive session Thompson recommended the commissioners create a special grievance board and select an independent investigator to look into two grievances file by employees against the Board of Commissioners. (See related article in this edition.)

Lamb presented several budgets for commissioners to review noting that until he has numbers for budgeting purposes on building projects he will not know for certain if the county will be revenue neutral.