Tiffany Blaser, Director of the Bates County Museum and member of the Bates County Historical Society came in on her scheduled meeting to discuss a proposal to have the Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Statue Monument on the Courthouse Lawn listed to the national registry through the parks department's Network to Freedom. If accepted the monument would be given a QR code linking to over 800 historical sites. The Historical Society seeks a letter of permission from the Commission to proceed. The Society aims to increase awareness of local history, including the Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry and the Battle of Island Mound, through events and educational programs. Tiffany noted that they have increased their volunteers and social media outreach. They are hoping to gain more interest and engagement from the community through events and educational outreach.
John made the motion to give a letter of approval to the Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Statue on the Courthouse lawn to be added to the Network to Freedom Program. Trent seconded the motion. All vote yes. Motion carried. No opposition.
Mark Byrd, a resident in Walnut Township, stopped in with the open-door policy to discuss a road issue in Foster. The culvert he questioned was found to be a state responsibility. Attempts will be made to notify the appropriate people.
May 7, 2025 The Bates County Commission met with Presiding Commissioner Jim Wheatley, Northern Commissioner John Gray and Southern Commissioner Trent Nelson present.
Ciena Networking company called in on the scheduled zoom request to speak to the Commission on networking and broadband system needs. It was discovered on the conference call that the company was just reaching out to discuss the counties needs yet there was no need for setting up a broadband for the county as there are several to choose from already in place.
Richard Brattin and Vickie Sheets came in on their scheduled meeting to follow up on the December meeting. In attendance County Assessor Carl Bettles and Doug Mager with Mid-America News Review. They had not heard back from the Commission or Carl as they had stated. The property taxes are still in question. Jim asked if they had heard from the Tax Commission. The Brattin's had no knowledge of the Tax Commission being involved as they were waiting to hear from either Jim or Carl. They had paid the taxes under protest. They restated the case of the property being changed to residential from agricultural. They received a letter sometime in September even though it was sent out in July and the 15-day period to protest this was up. It was discovered that part of the property is listed as Commercial as well. It is not known why or when this happened. Carl stated they use the barn as a residence, and he had added a bathroom to the building on the assessment. They once again stated the barn did not have the amenities of a residence electricity or water. John reminded them that they refused to look at the pictures of the barn the Brattin's had brought at the last meeting. After slamming his fist on the table Carl stated he didn’t have any opportunity to look at any pictures. John replied, "Go back and look at the minutes so well, and I tell you what, Carl, you want to slam your fist on the desk? You're going to make this an issue? Here we go on January 22 of this year, I was new in this office, and you sat right there in that same chair and said you would go after everything they had. You'd climb the gate, go in that property. You would find it all. Jim Wheatley sat here and said he would too. I'll get every mower, every tractor. I'll get everything they've got, and I'm going to leave one comment out of there. And I stood up right here and said, “You can't do that.” I said, if you're going to do that to them, you come to my house, your house, his house, and your house. Now why are you targeting one family I've got multiple this is, this is, this is just the beginning." The barn is mostly used to house and secure a mower that is left at the site. It is only used occasionally as a family gathering point and or hunting camp. The Brattin's further stated they had tried to have a meeting with Carl to which he preferred to speak to them through "that girl" who stated she would re-assess their whole thing and was treated disrespectfully. The Brattin's further stated that Carl did not need to jump the gate they offered to set up a meeting to show him the property. They also admitted to having a bit of a chip on their shoulders due to the lack of follow-through and disrespect given to them from the assessor's office in the county. It was mentioned about the many errors in the Assessment of properties over the last years and Jim stated that it wasn't just Carl's office. It wasn’t recorded correctly. There were several offices not getting the information together correctly. Carl stated he would change it all back to agricultural and apologized for them not being treated well. Carl stated he would send them a letter once the changes were made.
Work in progress
Policy Regarding Indigent Cremations given 8/25/2023 updates current
Rattlesnake Hill Roads 11/06/2023 updates current
Policy Regarding Computer, E-Mail, Devices and Social Media given 2/14/2024
Telephone Contracts 3/11/2024 updates current
Opioid Settlement Resolution 10/2/2024 (Judge Highley)
EEZ Board 3/26/2025
See video from the May 7 meeting here https://youtu.be/havSV2axBA8?si=a3bCuCHPBVfbJ8zB
