Editor's Note: This is the first installment in a two-part Monitor series, "Stay in Your Lane," examining accountability inside the Bourbon County Courthouse. The second part, found here, examines accusations of bullying, micromanagement, and county officials' use of personal cellphones to conduct business outside the public record.
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FORT SCOTT, KS —At 2:59 p.m. Friday, May 29, Bourbon County maintenance employee William Jackson sent a text message to his supervisor, Laura Krom, executive assistant to the County Commission.
Attached were 10 photographs of what appeared to be deteriorating pipe insulation in the courthouse basement, including one showing a pipe above Jackson's desk shedding large amounts of debris onto it. Jackson requested permission to have the insulation and some ceiling tiles tested for asbestos.
Jackson never received a reply.
At 11:15 a.m. the following day, a Saturday, Jackson returned a missed call from Steven Cohen, the county’s contracted human resources consultant. Jackson said Cohen told him his services were no longer needed, offered no reason for the decision and referred to Kansas as a right-to-work state.
A memo placed in Jackson’s personnel file and dated May 30 was signed by Cohen and Krom.
“Per telephonic conversation, today I spoke with Mr Jackson after conversation with Ms. Laura Krom and consultation with two Bourbon County Commissioners,” the memo states. “I advised Mr. Jackson that this job has been terminated as of today.”
It states that Jackson “was still under probationary status” and that the county “was exercising its rights” under Kansas employment-at-will law. The county employee handbook establishes a 90-day introductory period for new employees. Counting from Jackson’s March 2 hire date, May 30 was his 90th day.
Who had the authority?
Krom’s four-page position description, obtained through the Kansas Open Records Act, is dated January 2026. It identifies the county commission as her supervisor and lists the job as a part-time, nonexempt position.
While the duties listed include “leadership and supervision for Courthouse maintenance worker”, the description does not expressly authorize Krom to hire, fire, discipline or issue corrective action. The Monitor found no public record of a commission vote granting her that authority.
Three of the commission’s five members — Gregg Motley, Joe Allen and David Beerbower — told the Monitor they were neither consulted nor informed that Krom had been given authority to supervise or terminate maintenance employees.
Motley said supervising courthouse maintenance was not part of Krom’s original job description and that he was surprised to learn the duty had been added. Asked whether the commission had voted to approve the change, Motley said, “No, not that I’m aware of.”
Beerbower confirmed Thursday that the supervisory role had been added without a commission vote during the period when commissioners were assigned liaison roles over various departments.
“The addition of Maintenance Supervisor was done when we were operating as liaisons. No vote. I was not consulted. Nor informed as a courtesy,” Beerbower said.
Motley and Allen said they did not learn Krom had been given termination authority until after she had begun exercising it.
Motley said department heads generally may terminate employees within their departments, but he did not believe Krom’s part-time position under the commission carried that authority.
“In my mind, she wasn’t a department head,” he said.
Commissioner Mika Milburn-Kee declined to comment for this article. Commission Chairman Samuel Tran did not respond to a request for comment for this article.
The calls
County cellphone records obtained under the Kansas Open Records Act, together with Jackson's own records, show the sequence below.
• 2:59 p.m. Friday — Jackson texts his asbestos testing request, with 10 photographs, to Krom’s county work cellphone.
• 7:53 and 7:54 p.m. Friday — Commissioner Mika Milburn-Kee's county cellphone places two one-minute calls to Krom's personal cellphone.
• 8:12 p.m. Friday — Milburn-Kee's county cellphone receives a 32-minute call from Krom's personal cellphone.
• 9:30 a.m. Saturday — Milburn-Kee's county cellphone places a 25-minute call to Cohen's cellphone.
• 10:38 a.m. Saturday — Cohen calls Jackson. Jackson misses the call.
• 10:43 a.m. Saturday — Cohen and Milburn-Kee's county cellphone connect for five minutes.
• 11:15 a.m. Saturday — Jackson returns Cohen's call and is told he is terminated.
• 12:41 p.m. Monday, June 1— Krom’s county work cellphone connects for 14 minutes with Tran’s county cellphone.
• 5:27 p.m. Monday, June 1 — Milburn-Kee's county cellphone connects for eight minutes with Tran’s county cellphone.
Phone records show Tran was in the Pacific time zone during this period. The first calls to Tran's county phone occurred over two days after Jackson's termination.
The records show the calls occurred. They do not show what was said, and they capture voice calls only, not text messages.
The (Almost) Blocked Rehire
County Treasurer Jennifer Hawkins learned of the firing that weekend and hired Jackson part-time effective Saturday, May 30, in part so he would not lose benefits.
“He did a great job. He tried. He wanted to learn things,” Hawkins said. She said Jackson repaired an office shredder she had been told was unfixable, saving roughly $1,300.
Employees called him “Little Dave,” she said, after the recently retired David Neville, who had worked in county maintenance since 1998: “He reminds us so much of David Neville.”
At 9:59 a.m. Monday, June 1, Krom emailed Hawkins: “This is not a typical transfer. All accounts have been terminated. This employee was terminated on 5/29/2026.”
That termination date is a day earlier than the one cited in the memo circulated after Jackson’s termination. The email was copied to all five commissioners, Cohen and county counselor Bob Johnson.
At 11:16 a.m., Cohen replied to the same recipients: “There will be no new hire unless the Commission approves it, per resolution 15-26. If Ms. Hawkins wishes to hire William Jackson as a replacement employee she will have to terminate another employee. Otherwise, Mr. Jackson can volunteer but he will not be placed on payroll.”
Resolution 15-26 requires commission approval for actions creating new positions or increasing benefit costs. It also states approval "shall not be required for the replacement of an employee in an existing, authorized position," and acknowledges elected officials retain hiring authority within their offices.
The employee handbook states separately that new hires come "only through an Order of Resolution by the County Commission."
Both conflict with state law. Under K.S.A. 19-503, the county treasurer may appoint, promote, demote and dismiss the deputies and assistants needed to run the office — subject to the commission's pay plan and budget, but not to the commission's approval of the hire itself.
A 2017 Kansas Attorney General opinion states that county commissioners "do not have authority to supersede another elected county official's power to appoint, promote, demote or dismiss such official's personnel." Hawkins is an elected official.
Hawkins said Johnson told her the county could not stop her from hiring Jackson. He went on her payroll June 1 as a part-time motor vehicle clerk at $16 an hour and remained until finding a full-time position with another employer.
Laura Krom and Steven Cohen did not respond to requests for comment for this article.
The Asbestos Question
Whether the pipes contain friable asbestos remains untested.
On the week of June 15th, Ryan Jack from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Air Compliance office toured the basement with county Emergency Manager Lou Howard. While Jack took photos, no samples were taken.
William Jackson spoke to the commission during the public comments portion of their July 6 meeting, expressing his concern that no testing had been done.
“I want to make clear that I'm not here because I'm angry. I'm here because health and safety should never be political. This courthouse was built in 1930, [and] while serving as maintenance director, I found deteriorating insulation and damaged building materials that warranted asbestos testing,” Jackson said. “My responsibility was simple: Protect employees, elected officials, the public, and every child, juror, and visitor who walks through those doors.”
Jackson then urged the commission to provide proof that there was no hazard.
“These are bigger than my job. If there is no hazard, prove it. Release the inspection records, show the testing, let the facts speak. But if those records don't exist, then every day the issue is ignored is another day employees and the public may be exposed to a preventable risk.”
During commissioner comments at the end of the meeting, Tran addressed Jackson's remarks.
"So on the issue of health and wellness of the people within the building itself, just for everybody's edification, KDHE did come through the building. They did tour the building. They did inspect the building and they gave us a clean bill of health," Tran said.
Tran acknowledged that due to the age of the building, he could not guarantee there was no asbestos present, but that it was safe so long as it was not disturbed.
"So for the general public, we're fine. As long as you don't go eating it, licking it, crumbling it and breathing it, you'll be fine. All right?" Tran said.
"Actually, I heard you could eat it. You just shouldn't breathe it." Milburn-Kee joked in response.
The "Clean Bill of Health"
On July 14, the Monitor submitted a KORA request for all correspondence between KDHE and the county on the matter, as well as the "clean bill of health" Tran had referenced.
The county produced a single document in response: a memo authored by Krom on July 8 - two days after the meeting - stating that KDHE's Ryan Jack had inspected the basement and told her the agency would not be issuing a written report.
The memo said Jack told her KDHE "only regulates asbestos in connection with construction or demolition, not deterioration alone," and that he considered the concern "unsubstantiated."
Two months after Jackson raised the concern, no sample of the material has been collected or tested by a laboratory, and the state has issued no written findings. Determining whether the insulation contains asbestos, and whether it is releasing fibers, would require sampling and lab analysis. A visual walkthrough cannot establish either.
In an interview with FortScott.biz, Howard described the KDHE representative's reaction during the walkthrough.
"He stated that at the time he looked, he did not see anything that was concerning," Howard said. She said he also told her, "If there was active construction going on at the time, then it would be a concern. But nothing is being disturbed."
County records show contractor work in the basement shortly after Jack’s visit. The courthouse elevator failed June 16, and in a June 25 email Krom wrote that an electrical subcontractor “has been in the basement doing pre-work” and would finish that day “the building of enclosure around the elevator shaft in the basement.”
The elevator remains out of service.
Part two, examining courthouse morale and accusations of intimidation and micromanagement, publishes Monday.
Pictures of deteriorating pipe insulation submitted to County Commission Executive Assistant Laura Krom on 5/29/26. (Photos by William Jackson)
Reporting is based on county cellphone billing records, Resolution 15-26, the executive assistant’s position description, the county employee handbook and payroll rosters, obtained under the Kansas Open Records Act; the May 30 termination memo, county emails, text messages and phone records provided by William Jackson; the county’s July 8 KDHE memo; the July 6 commission meeting recording; reporting by FortScott.biz; and interviews with Jackson, Treasurer Jennifer Hawkins, Commissioner Joe Allen, Commissioner Gregg Motley, and Commissioner David Beerbower.
