ST. JOHN — These are the minutes from the Stafford County Board of County Commissioner meeting.
The Stafford County Board of County Commissioners met on Wednesday, Jan. 14, in the Commission Room in the Annex. Chairman Stanford called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Present: Jim Stanford, Bryce Garner, and Todd Wycoff.
Commissioner Wycoff moved, and Commissioner Stanford seconded, to reorganize the commission board for 2026 with Bryce Garner as Chairman, Todd Wycoff as Vice-Chairman and Jim Stanford as board member.
Commissioner Wycoff moved, and Commissioner Stanford seconded, to adopt resolutions 2026-1 through 2026-5 as follows. Motion carried 3-0.
Resolution 2026-1: Designating Equity Bank, Macksville and St. John; SJN Bank of Kansas, Hudson, Macksville and St. John; and Community National Bank & Trust. Stafford as official depositories for county funds for 2026.
Resolution 2026-2: Allowing the county financial statements and reports to be prepared on the basis of cash receipts and disbursements for 2026.
Resolution 2026-3: Designating the Great Bend Tribune as the official county newspaper for 2026.
Resolution 2026-4: Setting the county mileage reimbursement rate at 67 cents per mile.
Resolution 2026-5: Authorizing Stafford County to participate in the Rural Opportunity Zone (ROZ) Program.
Commissioner Wycoff moved, and Commissioner Stanford seconded to approve the 2026 holiday schedule. Motion carried 3-0.
Marshal Sanders, Rural Fire Director, advised that there were three firefighters that will be removed from the county fire department due to not meeting the training and participation requirements which were established last year. Written notification will be sent. He advised that the grain rescue training will probably take place in August or September. Equipment is here and ready, but this is the soonest that the training could be scheduled. Marshal discussed that the ISO paperwork for the department needs to be updated and completed, which is a lengthy and time consuming process. Since he no longer has an assistant, he is working on this project on his own along with the regular administrative duties for the department. He requested an increase in the monthly salary that he receives. The commission will look at this along with all of the other salary increase requests at the end of the month. Marshal was also given his portion of the KDOL safety inspection report to make the needed repairs and document those actions.
Ryan Russell, Economic Development, met with the commissioners to give them a year-end review for 2025. He advised that $2.63 million was awarded in 2025. He discussed CDBG grant funding for childcare and city water piping. Since only one grant can be funded to a city, he asked if the county would agree to be an applicant for an additional grant. Discussion was held regarding efforts on behalf of the 800 radios and tower equipment. Economic Development and the city are working on a sidewalk project as well as the pool repairs. He stated that there were several projects around the county such as these on which they are working. Ryan discussed that he would like to hire an Assistant Director for Economic Development to assist with projects and grant writing to try to capture more of the grant money that is available.
Chairman Garner recessed the meeting at 9:16 a.m. The meeting was reconvened at 9:20 a.m.
Cheryl Budge, Appraiser, advised the commissioners that the City of St. John had requested that the taxes be removed from properties that were accepted into the City of St. John Landbank. They requested that the taxes be removed effective the date of acquisition. Cheryl also advised the outcome of the small claim’s hearings regarding the Kanza tax protest. Discussion was held regarding this issue.
Commissioner Wycoff moved, and Commissioner Stanford seconded, to approve the minutes from the January 14th meeting. Motion carried 3-0.
Vanessa Cornwell, Treasurer, presented the fourth quarter investment report for the county. She advised that the count, earned $35,182.76 on investments in the fourth quarter and a total of $131,430.13 for the entire year of 2025. The county checking accounts earned $162,119.47 in interest for 2025. Vanessa also presented the first half tax collection report which showed slightly over 64% of 2025 taxes have been collected. She then presented employee evaluations for her department along with requested pay rates.
LuAnn Brister. Register of Deeds, presented her employee evaluation to the commissioners. She also discussed the current status of her office and the plan for 2026.
Darren Reed, Landfill Supervisor met with the commissioners regarding the KDOL report for the Landfill. Darren also presented a cost-of-living salary increase for himself.
Upon the request of Misty Rudy, EMS Director, Commissioner Wycoff moved, and Commissioner Stanford seconded, to recess to executive session pursuant to the non~elected personnel exception to discuss the status of an EMS employee. Open session to continue at 10:18 a.m. Motion carried 3-0.
Those present: Misty Rudy, County Commissioners, and County Clerk. The commissioners also went over the EMS Department’s KDOL report. Misty will make sure the issues are resolved and documented.
Commissioner Wycoff moved, and Commissioner Stanford seconded, to approve the presented tax roll corrections, Motion carried 3-0.
Meeting adjourned at 10:25 a.m.
