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County to pay price for recent rains
Bourbon County Commissioners spent a good portion of their Monday meeting discussing heavy rainfall and flooding that have caused damage to county roads over the last week or so.
More than two inches of rain fell in Bourbon County over the weekend and several inches have been dumped on the county since a July 29 storm that brought with it an EF-1 tornado that dropped briefly in the far western part of the county near Bourbon County State Park, knocking down trees and damaging property.
Water has flowed over many roads in Fort Scott and in the county over the last week. Fort Scott received about four inches of rain with the July 29 storm; nearly six inches has fallen in other parts of the county since then and the county even received an unconfirmed report of seven inches of rain in the western part of the county following last week's rains.
Commission Chairman Allen Warren discussed damage to portions of Grand Road between 20th and 30th streets in the southwest portion of the county near the Allen County line. He showed slides of photos taken Sunday in the area of water damage to gravel roads. One set of photos showed the severe damage to a portion of Grand Road where water has destroyed parts of the road near a culvert and left drainage tubes beneath the road exposed.
"Water has run across the road; it had to be more than an inch of rain," Warren said. "The pictures don't do it justice."
Warren said he heard recently from a county resident that this is the "first time it's gone over roads to this magnitude."
"And it's taking county gravel with it every time," Warren said.
Despite the damage in Bourbon County, Warren said it is not as bad as flood damage in other nearby counties.
"We're better off than Crawford County," he said.
Commissioners discussed the possibility of adding another 6-foot tube but have not made a determination on how to fix the problem. Commissioners agreed to have the damaged portion of Grand Road barricaded for the time being for the safety of the public. They also plan to have Public Works Foreman Marty Pearson look into the problem.
Warren said the north side and center of the road are in OK condition.
"We can't do anything immediately," Warren said. "We'll get it barricaded for safety, on both sides. I think we can still let people across."
Third District Commissioner Harold Coleman said hopefully a solution can be found for the flood damage or commissioners "will be fighting this forever."
During Pearson's road report to commissioners, Warren told Pearson he would like a report on the amount of gravel that was hauled on Grand Road last week and a report later that shows how much was hauled this week.
Second District Commissioner Barbara Albright showed photos of a strip of road between Williams and Tiernan streets that is "in much need of patching," she said.
"There's a small area to be addressed," Albright said.
Albright said she told a resident of the area she would look into addressing the issue.
Warren said it is important that citizens know commissioners are concerned about damaged county roads and are working on the problem.
"We're trying to repair roads as fast as we can," he said. "It's not a small job."
In other business Monday:
* Bourbon County Undersheriff Bill Martin stopped in the meeting to invite commissioners to a reception for Sheriff Ron Gray, who announced his resignation last month. The reception will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday on the first floor lobby area of the Bourbon County Courthouse, 210 S. National Ave. Gray, who has worked in law enforcement for more than 20 years in Bourbon County, will serve his last day as sheriff on Friday. The public is invited to attend the reception to share memories or thoughts with Gray, a news release from the BBSO said.
* Bourbon County Emergency Manager Terri Coop told commissioners the state is asking for a submission of costs for flood damage in the county. She said Pearson is working on getting those figures. Commissioners recently approved a resolution for a disaster declaration. Coop said the state is trying to determine if there has been enough damages to make a statewide disaster declaration. Coop said there is some chance of rain in the forecast every day for the next nine days.
* Commissioners conducted a 30-minute executive session to discuss non-elected personnel. No action was taken following the session.
* Commissioners also set budget work sessions for 1 p.m. Tuesday and 9:30 a.m. Thursday to discuss the 2014 county budget.