This is the second installment in a Monitor series examining the future of the former Mercy hospital and its implications for health care in Bourbon County. The first part can be read here.
Editor's Note: I originally intended this to be a single article, but it quickly became apparent that it would need to be at least two. It is now a three-part series — and, I promise, it wraps up there. The third and final installment publishes Wednesday, June 24.
Fort Scott, KS - Records reviewed by the Bourbon County Monitor show the confidential hospital memo that was posted in a local Facebook group on June 10 was obtained through a single open records request - one filed by former District 3 Commissioner Clifton Beth.
It wasn't the first time Beth had knowledge of nonpublic information regarding the county's deliberations on the hospital. On March 9, before commissioners first met in executive session on possible legal action over the hospital, Beth called local residents — including a sitting county commissioner — and told them what the commission planned to discuss that night.
Beth was contacted for comment for this story and did not respond by publication time.
The Phone Calls
District 3 County Commissioner Joe Allen says he had never spoken with Beth until he returned a missed call from him at 4:03 p.m. on Monday, March 9 — nearly 90 minutes before that night's county commission meeting was set to begin.
Allen said Beth told him that Commissioner Gregg Motley was trying to get the county to reclaim the hospital building, but that building owner KRI was in good standing, and urged Allen to call local ER Sales Tax Committee members Dr. Randy Nichols and Charles Gentry to confirm.
Allen said the conversation lasted about seven minutes and was largely one-sided, as he had no information to share with Beth.
At 4:40 p.m., former Bourbon County Review publisher JD Handly called Beth after receiving a request from Beth over Facebook to call him. Handley said it was the first time he had ever spoken to the former commissioner.
Handly said Beth told him Motley planned to call the commission into executive session that night to advocate for legal action to reclaim the hospital building — a move Beth said would mire the county in costly, extended litigation. Beth told Handly that KRI was paying its mortgage on time and that there was no justification for the county to consider reclaiming the building.
Handly said the call lasted 19 minutes and 26 seconds, and left him greatly concerned.
At 5:06 p.m., Handly sent a private message to this reporter, Monitor editor Nick Graham. "You need to call me," the message read, followed by his phone number.
Handly then said he called local citizen Anne Dare at 5:08 p.m., relaying what Beth had told him without identifying his source. Dare confirmed Handly's account of the call to the Bourbon County Monitor.
At 6:04, this reporter called and spoke to an audibly alarmed Handly. As he had with Dare, Handly relayed what Beth had told him regarding the planned executive session.
The Facebook Messages
In a Kansas Open Meetings Act violation report Dare sent to the attorney general's office on March 20, she reported the call from Handly as well as Facebook messages she had received from Beth starting at 12:38 p.m. on March 16. The message exchange between Dare and Beth, which was filed with the report, reads:
BETH: "I don’t know if you are a Motley fan or not but I think the public needs to know that he is try to take the hospital building back which would be a very costly mistake"
DARE: "I talk to Gregg but he doesn’t talk about that with me. I do have questions about how this would be good for the county but I’ve not had the opportunity to ask him."
BETH: "It would be a long drawn out court battle that would cost the county a lot as the contract has been fulfilled ie. We have an ER and the rumor that KRI isn’t paying there (sic) mortgage isn’t true because Legacy holds the mortgage and there (sic) attorney has told me that they haven’t missed a payment along with the fact that they have a sweetheart deal from legacy on repayment but the selfish side of me would love to see them try and fail again and spend lots of money on attorneys"
Dare told the Monitor that the report has since been closed by the Attorney General's office, as they stated there was no way to conclusively prove that a commissioner had leaked the info to Beth.
The Paper Trail
When the memo surfaced in a local Facebook group on June 10, the local resident who posted it wrote that it had come from a citizen who obtained it through a request under the Kansas Open Records Act, or KORA.
To trace the memo's path, the Monitor asked the county for every KORA request related to it. The county returned a single record: a request Beth filed on May 14.
Beth's request asked for one thing: "Emails sent from Bourbon County Clerk on 3-7-26 to Bourbon County Commissioners: Sam Tran, Mika Milburn, David Beerbower, Joe Allen."
The only email the clerk sent those four individuals on March 7 was the one distributing Motley's memo for the upcoming March 9 executive session.
The records account for how Beth obtained the memo in May. They do not account for how he knew its contents, or how he knew about the commission's plans for the March 9 executive session before the session was ever held.
Legacy Ties
Beth has had documented ties to the California-based Legacy Healthcare Foundation since shortly after it became involved in the county.
On Nov. 17, 2022, then-county commissioners Beth, Jim Harris and Nelson Blythe donated the Mercy Health Systems property, along with $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, to the Foundation on the condition that the funds be used for building and property maintenance, development of an acute care hospital, and several other specified expenses.
An April 7, 2023, invoice submitted to the county in accordance with the act shows that Legacy paid Osage Construction LLC — Beth's construction company — $7,300 of those funds for roof repair work on the hospital building.
Beth is also the organizer and sole member on record of Moody Building LLC, which currently holds the deed to the historic Moody Building in downtown Fort Scott. However, in recent weeks city officials have gone on record identifying their primary contacts for the building as California-based Juan Banos and Troy Schell, Legacy Health Foundation's president and chairman, respectively.
"Who Can He Hurt?"
In an interview with the Monitor, Motley said he did not understand what was driving the leaks.
"I. Don't. Understand. The. Motive." Motley said. "What's Clifton's motive? He can't hurt the county case because that rests in the lease and the donation agreement."
"Who can he hurt? KRI. That's the only organization to get hurt here," Motley said.
Motley said one of his primary reasons for trying to restrict the discussion of potential legal action to executive session was to protect KRI.
"Why did I try to do all this in executive session? To protect KRI," Motley said. "I didn't want their financial condition broadcast. I didn't want to say that they are in default of a donation agreement and default of a lease broadcast until we had a plan of action."
Motley said the county may receive a legal opinion that says that reclaiming the building is not feasible — which, he said, would render the leaks moot.
"We could get in front of an attorney and they say, 'This is a hopeless case,'" Motley said. "That's a possibility still. So if we do nothing now, this is out in the wind. Why? Why is it out in the wind? Of what benefit is that to anybody?"
The Monitor sent a request for comment to all seven individuals who had seen Motley's memo - the commission, the County Clerk, and the County Counselor - asking if they had contacted Beth about the contents of the memo or the topic of the March 9 executive session.
By publication time, only Motley, Allen and the County Clerk had responded. We will update this story if we receive further responses.
The public records discussed in this article, minus any personal contact information, are linked at the bottom of this article.
What Motley's proposed legal action would do — and where it stands before a frequently and publicly divided commission, will be covered in the third and final part of this series.
Coming Wednesday - Part 3: The Future
"What's the path of least risk? It is a huge risk to do nothing. You know you have two entities losing significant money every month. And what's Freeman's affinity for Fort Scott apart from 'We have a break even operation?'. There is none."
Subscribe below to have Part 3 delivered to your inbox Wednesday morning.
