Meeks resigns as county attorney

Bourbon County Attorney Justin Meeks has announced he is resigning from his position as county attorney to begin working only as the county counselor.

Meeks, who has been working as both county attorney and county counselor, spoke to Bourbon County Commissioners about the decision during the commission meeting Thursday at the Bourbon County Courthouse.

On Friday, Meeks told the Tribune it was a “hard decision for me.

“It really was,” he said. “I’m trying to look out for what’s best for our county patrons. It was difficult, but I know it’s the right choice.”

According to unofficial minutes from Thursday’s meeting, Meeks said counties of the same size as Bourbon County have two separate employees working in the two positions. Of the 34 counties that attended a recent Kansas Association of Counties meeting, Bourbon County was the only county present that had one employee working the combined positions.

Meeks said he will be providing a letter to Gov. Sam Brownback next week notifying the governor’s office of his resignation as county attorney, effective Jan. 1, when he will only be working as county counselor.

Meeks said he and commissioners had been working for some time to determine whether the county attorney’s job is designated as part-time or full-time.

“I was working as an attorney on a full-time basis,” he said. “Then I started working as a part-time county counselor. I’ve been doing this over three years, a lot more than a couple hours a week. I found I couldn’t do both jobs really well, and so I made a decision to do one job really well … It’s hard to do really well when there’s a lot going on with two different jobs.”

Commission Chairman Lynne Oharah said at Thursday’s meeting that Bourbon County is “unique” in that the county attorney also does the work as county counselor. Oharah said due to the large workload, the person doing the job can’t do both jobs they want, meeting minutes state.

As county counselor, Meeks “assists county commissioners, but also will have other duties” such as HR, interdepartmental work and economic development, Oharah told the Tribune.

“That’s the broad base of it,” Oharah said. “He’ll be helping in those areas. He will not be taking any responsibility from anyone else.”

Oharah said commissioners on Nov. 7 approved separating the positions out and a “stand-alone” county counselor position. It was made official Thursday when commissioners and Meeks signed the employment contract.