Fumes force Health Department relocation to courthouse

The Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Department was given permission Monday to move to the Public Works Office located on the second floor of the Bourbon County Courthouse after employees complained of odors from the roofing repair project.

Alice Maffett, public health nurse, attended the Bourbon County Commission meeting armed with information regarding the negative health effects from tar fumes. Because Wray Roofing of Wichita has set up its tar pot in the west parking lot in front of the health department building, the fumes were strong inside the building.

Some of the detrimental effects of the fumes ranged from nausea and headaches to having an impact on those with asthma, she said. The information she provided commissioners was from www.health.ny.gov, which stated that such projects should be done after business hours and if near a school, during summer months when not as many people will be affected.

Commissioners called Maintenance Supervisor David Neville to see if he could speak to the contractor, but it was determined that changing the work schedule is not an option. Neville said the contract between the roofing company and county states that work will be performed during business hours. Besides going against the contract, Commission Chairman Allen Warren said altering the hours of the project might not be a good idea.

"If we shut the contractor down until after hours, that would extend the time on the project to twice as much," Warren said.

He contacted Dee Dee Martin, chief nursing officer of the SEK Multi-County Health Department, to inquire about temporarily moving the health department staff to the courthouse.

Neville said the contractor hopes to have the equipment moved to the north side of the courthouse by today or Wednesday, where the crew will begin working on the correctional facility roof.

While work is being done on the courthouse, foot traffic is being routed through the correctional facility. Entrance to the correctional facility will be blocked and routed through the courthouse while work is being done on the correctional facility roof.

Delinquent tax sale today

Attorney Dan Meara and County Treasurer Rhonda Dunn met with Commissioners to discuss the tax sale, which begins at 10 a.m. today in the courthouse.

There are 59 properties up for grabs, due to owners not paying their taxes. Unlike the last sale, which was held in August, Meara said not many of those property owners have come in to redeem their properties and keep them off the sale block. Dunn said she had one person redeem their property on Friday.

Meara said he has taken pictures of properties and also has worked with Information Technology Director Shane Walker to provide a map to identify locations of properties. Jim Stewart will be the auctioneer, as he was in August.

Dunn reported that one property owner had paid their delinquent taxes on several properties, but had not brought taxes up-to-date on a property with a house that was being re-roofed on Monday. She asked commissioners about developing a system prior to the next sale when all delinquent tax property owners could be notified to encourage them to redeem those taxes.

"As long as you contact all of them," Warren said. "You have to be fair. That's what got us in trouble before."

Dunn said if a system were to be developed, she would contact all or none.

Later, Dunn returned to the commissioners to report the one person has sold the property that is being re-roofed.

Boiler needs

Neville attended the meeting to discuss replacing all or parts of the courthouse boiler. Codes have changed since the boiler was installed 35 years ago. Neville said the county can be considered "grandfathered in" if parts of the boiler are replaced, which means it would not have to bring the entire system up to code. He estimated the cost of replacing all 14 sections of the boiler to be $40,000. Individual sections could be replaced for about $12,000 each.

Commissioners agreed that Neville should contact an engineer so the county can get bids on replacing the entire system and bringing it up to code.

"The codes are there for a reason," Warren said.

However, Warren also stated, "I don't know where we'll get $40,000."

Budget work session

The commission is scheduled to meet with Terry Sercer CPA in a budget work session at 1:30 p.m. Today. The purpose is to determine where the county budget stands and to see if expenses and revenues are being placed in the proper funds.