Barton County Commission meeting at a glance
Here is a quick look at what the Barton County Commission did Tuesday morning:
• Approved the 20th Judicial District Juvenile Services’ fiscal year 2024 carry-over budget for a total of $91,889.93.
• Approved an extension of the agreement between Juvenile Services and Learning Tree Institute at Greenbush for fiscal year 2004 in the amount of $12,500.
• Held two executive sessions (one for 30 minutes and one for 15 minutes) to discuss matters concerning attorney-client privilege involving non-elected personnel in the Central Kansas Community Corrections department. Included in the sessions with commissioners were County Administrator Matt Patzner, County Counselor Patrick Hoffman, CKCC Director Amy Boxberger and CKCC supervisory officer Tyler Lehmkuhl,
After reconvening in open session, no action was taken,
Following the agenda meeting, the following appointments were scheduled:
• 9:45 a.m. - Departmental update by Glennda French, register of deeds.
• 10 a.m. - Bob-Tach backhoe attachment purchase with Jennifer Hamby, solid waste director.
• 10:30 a.m. - Regular business discussion with Matt Patzner, county administrator.
As the Barton County Commission Tuesday morning approved the 20th Judicial District Juvenile Services’ fiscal year 2024 carry-over budget, it was noted the department hasn’t needed to tap the funds recently, but they are important in case State of Kansas or local funding streams dry up in the future.
The budget includes $72,831.93 from Core programming and $19,058 from Immediate Intervention for a total of $91,889.93, said Juvenile Services Director Marissa Woodmansee. Funds from the Core Programming will be used to fund contractual services, training, supplies and equipment. Immediate Intervention funds can only be used for evidence-based curriculum, incentives or referrals to outside services for youth.
“The Kansas Department of Corrections allows us to reimburse ourselves from program fees, collections, and things like that,” she said.
“I would like to clarify the fact that it is a growing pool,” she said of the money. “And that’s because we’ve been in a fortunate position that our state block grant does cover us and we haven’t had to utilize these funds.”
“You never know when this could stop,” District 2 Commissioner Barb Esfeld said. “So it’s very important to keep this pool going.”
“You’re exactly right,” Woodmansee said. She has leftover funds because of open positions and she has not been able to make a planned vehicle purchase.
But, “you never know when I’m going to need to utilize these,” she said. “So I’m really grateful that the state allows us to keep them locally.”
Good information
In addition, the commission approved an extension of the agreement between Juvenile Services and Learning Tree Institute at Greenbush for fiscal year 2024 in the amount of $12,500. The money for this comes from the county’s Drug Free Communities Grant.
Learning Tree (based in Girard) is the single-source provider for grant data analysis, evaluation and reporting services for the Drug-Free Communities Support Program Grant award from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Woodmansee said. The extension covers data analysis and management for the period of September 2023– September 2024.
The arrangement is worthwhile, she said. She shared information Greenbush provided via a 38-page report.
“It’s really good information as far as the data that has come from Barton County,” she said, offering highlights. “There were some notable trends that we were looking at.”
Included in this was some good data on vaping among youth. This is raw information, but at least it has been captured and can be shared with commissioners, local stakeholders and advisory boards.
