Commission to delay courthouse grant application

Application to the state historical preservation office to help with repairs to the Linn County Courthouse has been delayed for a year because the county commission delayed making decisions, including the hiring an engineer for the work. (Journal file photo)

By Charlene Sims, info@linncountyjournal.com

MOUND CITY – On Monday, April 14, the Linn County Commission agreed to not apply for a grant for repairs to the courthouse from the State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPO) after hearing that the grant writers did not feel that there was enough time to prepare for the grant and the county did not have an engineer to work with them. 

Linn County Economic Development Director Chasity Ware gave the commissioners the update from the Southeast Kansas Regional Planning Commission (SEKRPC) about the historical society grant. 

Ware read an email from the grant writers at SEKRPC:

The letter said SEKRPC staff members were able to discuss the potential Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) grant for Linn County considering the current time constraints and the recent leadership transitions within the county. 

“We would recommend postponing the application until next year,” the letter said. “The additional time would allow for a thorough preparation including engaging with an engineer to obtain a comprehensive cost estimate and necessary project details. By waiting until the application opens next year, you would provide ample opportunity for an engineer to work on the project without the pressure of a tight deadline.   

“We suggest reaching out to an engineer after this summer. This timeline would facilitate the development of a detailed cost estimate and a clear scope of work allowing for a smooth application submission in April of 2026.

“So at this time they are not willing to do anything because of the timeframe of now less than two weeks to have this grant particularly written. (The grant writer) didn’t feel confident that she could write a well enough grant to have it ready to submit and didn’t want to waste their time and our time and our money if the grant wasn’t awarded,” said Ware. 

Hamilton said that she was perfectly fine with that. 

At the April 7 commission meeting, former Public Works Director Shaun West had told the commissioners that it was imperative that an engineer be hired to for the courthouse project, road projects, bridge projects including the Baskerville Road and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) projects that were waiting on engineering consultations.  

Commissioner Alison Hamilton was not happy with West’s recommendation of Pfefferkorn Engineering and asked him if he knew someone there.

West said he didn’t. But he continued to express the importance of deciding on an engineer at the April 7 meeting.

“Commissioners, the issue is we’ve waited an extra week to decide on the on-call engineer,” West said. “We have a limited time to get the grant for the courthouse in and this engineer, whoever we hire, will have just a few weeks to put all that together along with the FEMA plans for Baskerville Road. I’m sorry to say we’re pretty much up against the wall to make a decision on this. I tried to get it done last week but I couldn’t.”

At the April 7 meeting, Commissioner Chair Jim Johnson and Hamilton voted to fire West following his weekly report. At the courthouse talking to a potential bidder on work to the courthouse roof when the motion to fire him was approved, West was met by law enforcement when he returned to his office. He was escorted out of the building with little time to gather his things. 

At the April 14 meeting Hamilton said she would like to talk to legal later in the meeting to make this decision. Later, after a legal executive session, Hamilton moved to go with CFS Engineers out of Topeka to fulfill the remaining time left in Kaw Valley’s two-year contract that had less than a year remaining on it.

In other business, the commissioners:

• Accepted the resignation of Planning and Zoning Director Kent Harris effective as of April 7. The county will post that position.

• Learned from Johnson that the commissioners from counties represented by the Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center (SEKMHC) will be having a meeting in Iola on Thursday, April 17, to discuss the pay and the services and what’s going on. Johnson will represent Linn County at the meeting. Recent reports that that SEKMHC CEO Nathan Fawson had a salary and benefit package equal to about $600,000 annually has sparked outrage among officials from the six counties that the organization covers.

• Learned that the attorney for the Tanglewood Lakes board would like to move the item on the April 14 agenda to April 28.

• Postponed an assistance application requesting that the county mow the dam for Lake Chaparral. Discussion was held on whether that would be done on private property. 

Hamilton asked how much time it would take. Johnson said that Interim Public Works Director Jesse Walton had his hands full right now. 

Walton said that it would not be high on his priority list but it could be considered a winter project but the road department could not get to it in the near future.   

Hightower said he would like to have Walton check into how many hours the project would take and see if they want to withdraw the request.

• Learned that Walton had reached out to a few individuals about the wastewater license needed for county projects. Only one had gotten back with him and that was Chad Page.

Johnson asked how long it took to get the wastewater license. Walton said he would have to check on that.

The commissioners decided to talk about it in executive session with legal.

• Learned from Walton that the 15 foot tube had been received for the 900 Road project.

• Approved spending up to $30,000 to repair the track load at the landfill. The repair is for replacing the track pads which are down to 25 percent of the life remaining on them. Walton explained that this needed to get taken care of because the landfill was using the track from Prescott and Prescott needed it back for roads. The vote was 2 to 1 to repair it with Hamilton voting no. She wanted more information on XXXXXX.

• Discussed the repairs to the roof of the courthouse and how to take contractor’s bids. Hamilton said that she had a contractor that she had been speaking with that she would move to complete the job.

Johnson said he thought the county had three or four contractors that were interested in doing the project. Paletta told them that they should have Souza call those people and ask them to provide bids for the project.

Souza said that, according to the insurance company, the county had two years to complete the project. This May will be one year since the insurance settled the claim.

• Johnson told Walton that he had received two phone calls the past week saying they were pleased with the roads in Walton’s district.

• Opened oil bids and will have Walton qualify the bids before deciding.

• Approved Walton signing any building and sanitation permits and other permits that come through planning and zoning.

• Approved the transferred of Jessica Brown from the appraiser’s office to the GIS/Mapping department at the rate of $20.12 effective May 5, 2025, at the recommendation of Interim GIS/Mapping supervisor Jason Parker. 

• Learned that County Counselor Jacklyn Paletta will not be at the commission  meetings for the next three Mondays but that she will be available remotely if needed on April 28.