Commission agrees to look into harassment, flagging training

By Charlene Sims, info@linncountyjournal.com

MOUND CITY – On Monday, June 23, the Linn County Commissioners, after hearing from Mound City resident and former traffic control employee Kevin Amer, decided to look into harassment training and flagger training for the employees. 

During public comment, Amer reminded the commissioners that he had asked about harassment training several months ago and wanted to know where the county was at in scheduling that training. He said that the Kansas Attorney General Association and the state attorney recommend it; the Kansas Civil Rights recommend it and our insurance company recommends it and the federal government demands it of their employees.

“Where we at, guys?” asked Amer. “It’s free from our insurance company.”

Receiving no answer, Amer said he would let the commissioners ponder that while he moved off to the next thing.

Amer thanked the commissioners for approving that the county purchase boots for the employees.

However, he had another suggestion.

“If we could keep up on the safety training,” he said, “I’m sure the guys haven’t had flagger training in beaucoup years. We’re out there on the highway flagging but we’re supposed to have cards in our pockets. (You) probably want to up that a little bit. You’ve got to keep up with it or (have) lawsuits.”

He told the commissioners that has been kicked by the wayside but that is not going to save a family.

Amer predicted that the lawsuits are going to start flying since he has been out of his position for a year and no one has been hired to take his place. He said that a newly hired person needed to be sent to school to learn about Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). He pointed out that it was not a part-time job but a full-time one.

“I left off at 1600 Road on stop signs and street sign replacement for the county, Amer said. “They only have a 10-year shelf life at the most because there’s a thing called retroreflectivity that we have to match now. I’ve seen a lot of them down. Like I said, it’s not a part-time job if you do it right, it’s a full-time job to keep the public safe.

Linn County Clerk Danielle Souza told the commissioner that harassment training and flagger training were both available through Kansas Workers Risk Cooperative for Counties (KWORCC) for free.

Hamilton asked Souza if she could look into requiring both elected and non-elected employees to take the harassment training. 

In other business, the commissioners:

• Approved a resolution to appoint Lisa Kellstadt for a four-year term as appraiser in Linn County at the salary of $81,102.

• Approved the appointment of approved designated electors, Alicia Whitcraft and Marri Krupco, for the destruction of ballots pursuant to Kansas Statute 25-2708. Linn County Clerk Danielle Souza said they would destroy the ballots on July 10.

• Approved Linn County Economic Director Chasity Ware placing an ad in the paper for a part-time employee at the Linn County Park.

• Ware and Commissioner Alison Hamilton discussed communications that they had with a representative from OpenGov. In a phone call with Ware, she explained that OpenGov was a procurement program that assisted counties with locating vendors for bidding on projects. 

Ware said she was unsure of the cost to Linn County but that the representative would be presenting to the commissioners probably in two weeks. She said that OpenGov had different levels of service and Miami County used their top notch program, which was over $20,000 a year. 

• Hamiliton brought up hiring Grace Naylor as a manager for social media. Naylor is a recent high school graduate who won the entrepreneur challenge for high school students this spring. Naylor will be attending Wichita State University majoring in marketing and social media.

Hamilton suggested that maybe the commission could hire her or bring her in as a social manager. She asked if Ware would ask Naylor to come so she could meet with the commissioners. 

• Went into an executive session requested by Ware with the two county commissioners, and the attorney for 10 minutes regarding financial data. No action came from the executive session.

• Discussion about term limits on the planning and zoning committee was held after Public Works Director Jesse Walton said that the planning board would like clarification of the rules governing terms of its members                                                                                                                                  

Johnson said that term limits for county committees had been voted on by the commission previously and the resolution said that a person could serve two consecutive three year terms and after a break could return.

At the Nov. 28, 2022  meeting, the commissioners approved a policy regarding term limits for county committee members. 

• Heard from Hamilton that the mayor of Pleasanton had reached out to her to ask the commission if the mayors of Linn County could meet in a workshop with the commission to discuss the mill levy that the commission had taken away from the cities.

Johnson said that was extra money that came from the pipeline and we took it away because of budget restraints at the time. I don’t see it being back there myself. He said that it got to the point when the commission was trying to stay revenue neutral that they chose to take the money back. He said he did not have a problem meeting with the mayors, but that he didn’t see returning those windfall grants back to the cities.

• Discussed how old people operating mowers had to be. Johnson asked why the county could not hire anyone under 18 to mow. County Clerk Danielle Souza said that the insurance company did not recommend it because child labor laws needed to be followed so anyone 17 or under could not operate dangerous machinery.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

• Approved a roofing bid from Dave Sutter at World Premiere KC Building Services that covered the 4-H building, the courthouse roof, the bell tower on the courthouse,  the annex and the gazebo. Johnson said to take out the price for the gazebo repair. The company will receive the amount that the insurance covers for the repairs and the county will have to pay the $10,000 deductible.

• Went into an executive session for attorney client privilege with the two commissioners, Paletta, and another attorney on Zoom for 20 minutes.

• Heard from Parker resident, Jan Longenecker about his concerns about a building permit being issued to lot 5 of the Sunshine Meadow Subdivision. Longenecker told the commissioners that he and additional landowners appealed the issuance of this permit in May.

Longenecker said that when he talked with interim Public Works Director Jesse Walton he was told that the appeal process was only for the person applying for the permit. Longenecker disagrees with that opinion.

Longenecker asked the commissioners when the appeals hearing would be before the appeals board. Linn County Counselor Jacklyn Paletta said that they would check with the planning and zoning committee to see when the appeal hearing will be. 

• Attended an executive session with two commissioners and Paletta for five minutes for 75-4319 B12 information security about county’s information on the website.

• Approved a cereal malt beverage license for All Star in Prescott.

• Participated in an executive session for appraiser appointment session for negotiations for 10 minutes with two commissioners, Souza, and Paletta. Then went in with the Interim County Appraiser Lisa Kellstadt for executive session on negotiations for 10 minutes. Extended that executive session for five more minutes. Again extended that executive session for five more minutes.