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FORT SCOTT - A motion to recess into executive session to meet with a group identified on the agenda only as the “Bourbon County Development Group” failed for lack of a second at Tuesday night’s Fort Scott City Commission meeting.
Commissioners spent nearly seven minutes trying to determine whether the group was a legal entity and whether a closed session would comply with state law.
Commissioner Matthew Wells made the motion to enter into the closed session with the five commissioners, City Manager Brad Matkin, City Attorney Bob Farmer, and "the representative from the Bourbon County Development Group" attending.
When Commissioner Tim Van Hoecke asked for the name of the representative, Wells identified him as former District 3 Bourbon County Commissioner, Clifton Beth.
Monitor reporting from June traced a confidential county hospital memo, which surfaced on Facebook June 10, back to an open-records request Beth filed May 14.
It wasn't the first time Beth had shared advance details of a county matter: before county commissioners met in executive session March 9 over possible hospital litigation, it was reported Beth called several residents, including a sitting commissioner, and told them what would be discussed.
City Attorney Bob Farmer then asked Wells for more information on the group.
"Is that the name of the group? Are they incorporated? Do we have that information?" Farmer asked.
"That I cannot answer," Wells replied.
Wells’ motion cited K.S.A. 75-4319(b)(4), which allows a closed session to discuss the financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts or individual proprietorships.
Farmer reminded commissioners that they had recently completed required training after the attorney general’s office found, in response to a complaint from resident Michael Hoyt, that the commission violated KOMA by invoking the same exemption to discuss buying asphalt from Bourbon County in executive session.
“I don’t want to throw cold water on anything, but I think we just got through some training,” Farmer said.
Commissioner Tracy Dancer checked state filings during the discussion and said he found no LLC registered under that name with the Kansas Secretary of State.
Farmer then referenced the city's similar struggles with the historic Moody Building, whose deed is owned by a forfeited LLC that Beth is the only listed officer for.
"And you've just been through, and we're continuing to go through across the street over here with a company that doesn't exist in Kansas anymore. They've thrown a wrench into things."
Dancer argued the exemption didn't apply without a corporation, partnership, trust or individual proprietorship on record.
“What is the definition of a sole proprietorship then?" Beth asked Dancer in response.
Farmer said he shared Dancer’s uncertainty, and commissioners spent several minutes searching for a workaround; a company name Beth could confirm or a general overview in closed session. Farmer then questioned Beth directly.
"Are you the financial person? In other words, there are going to be some financial[s]...we're going in to discuss trade secrets." Farmer said.
"I used to be a commissioner, I know how this works," Beth responded.
"Well, that's the problem is that we got in trouble with the Attorney General's office for very similar stuff." Farmer replied.
Asked earlier whether Wells could simply speak for the group on his behalf, Beth said, "Matthew doesn't have my permission to speak on my behalf without me in the room."
Wells objected to Farmer questioning the legality of the closed session; Farmer said he respected the disagreement but didn't want another complaint against the commission.
Commissioner Tim Van Hoecke and Commissioner Julie Buchta said constituents had already asked them who the group was; VanHoecke said he'd told them he didn't know.
Wells said he and the city knew what Beth wanted to discuss, but that it wasn't his place to say. With no second forthcoming, the motion failed.
As Beth left the commission room, he turned to Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization Coordinator Lisa Dillon and said, "Sorry Lisa, that's 40 houses gone" – the only specific description, on or off the record, of what the group had come to discuss.
More than an hour later during the commissions closing comments, Wells argued the commission had gotten the law backward.
"According to the KSA, a specific company name is not required for an executive session. So, what we did was wrong. We quite possibly did some bad things that will not be able to be fixed."
Mayor Kathryn Salsbury also discussed the incident at the close of the meeting.
"I don't know who this person is, but coming into our meeting with no patience for us to figure out what we need to do and to rush out with comments doesn't sound like someone who is here to help our community," she said.
No further action was taken before adjournment.
