BY ANDY TAYLOR
Montgomery County Chronicle

CANEY — Ever since last March, something has been abuzz in the aging elm tree outside the home of Dorothy Kendrick.

At first, she saw a few bees gathering around a crusty limb on that tree near the corner of Third and Spring streets.

She didn’t think anything about it at first. But, over the months, she saw that band of bees make a large sanctuary in that tree. Large bands of honeycombs appeared on the branch. Honey bees, she concluded. However, because the limb was more than 25 feet from the ground, she took little interest in the hive or the bees that were creating the buzz.

However, when her nephew on Tuesday removed a tree limb that had fallen near a neighbor’s car, the nephew was struck by the sound of ornery bees buzzing above his head.

“I’ve been meaning to get that old tree cut down, but I knew it would be impossible to hire anyone to cut the tree down if there was a bee hive in it,” said Kendrick.

And, because of the aggressive nature of the bees, some neighbors and friends were questioning if the hive was filled with the African killer bees that have been slowly making their way northward from South America.

Questions were asked around town.

Coffee shops began filling with rumors.

And, a few telephone calls were made Tuesday to see if the busy hive of bees could be identified by an entomologist.

Glenn Salsbury of Frontenac, Kan., came to the rescue Tuesday afternoon and provided the answers.

As a survey entomologist for the Kansas Department of Agriculture, Salsbury was able to spray a strong dose of soapy detergent on the bee hive, which killed a large volume of the bees. The detergent adds weight to the bee wings, causing the insects to meet mortality upon crashing to the ground.

“There were probably about 1,000 bees in that hive,” he said. “But, I can tell you with 99.9 percent certainty that they were not African killer bees. They were not aggressive enough.”

Salsbury took a sample of the honeycombs and the bees for further analysis. The evidence will be sent to a laboratory in Arizona, where scientists will look at the bees’ DNA to officially determine its type.

The entomologist said he believed the hive to be filled with the European bees, which still can offer a nasty punch when stirred or annoyed. That was the case in October when a man in Uniontown, Kan., was stung more than 1,000 times after coming in contact with a hive of European bees. The man ran more than 200 yards away from the hive and jumped into a pond. But the bee colony still unleashed its stingers — sending the man for treatment in a hospital for a full week.

“If he had been attacked for a few more minutes, he probably would have died,” he said.

Salsbury also said he would be surprised — and alarmed — if the results of the DNA analysis showed the bees to be the much-feared African killer variety. That’s because African killer bees have not been found in Kansas. Although that bee variety has slowly migrated northward from South America and Mexico, it has been seen only as far north as southern Oklahoma.

Salsbury said it’s fairly common for bees to build a hive in a rotting limb of an old tree. However, he said it’s always advisable to leave the hive — and the bees — alone.

“If you need to remove the bees, give a professional a call,” he said. “You can contact your local Extension Service, who, in turn, will probably call me to remove it.”

As for Kendrick, the fact that the hive is mostly gone gives her comfort in knowing that the aging elm tree can finally be brought down.

“This definitely made for an interesting day in our neighborhood,” she said, while standing with a group of other neighbors in her yard.

INDEPENDENCE — A conflict in the transition of administrations between Sheriff Stan Veach and Sheriff-Elect Robert Dierks was revealed at Monday’s meeting of the Montgomery County Commission.

Dierks, who won election to the sheriff’s seat in November, will attend a two-week training session for incoming sheriffs at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center in Hutchinson, Kan., beginning next week. Also attending the session will be an undersheriff of Dierks’ choosing.

Under state law, the incoming sheriff must be deemed a county employee to receive the training and will, therefore, be paid a two-week salary at the base salary of a sheriff’s deputy. The undersheriff will not receive the base salary.

In previous transitions of sheriff’s department administrations, sheriff’s department funds were used to pay for the training session for the incoming sheriff and undersheriff. However, county commissioners learned Monday that Sheriff Stan Veach was refusing to sign off on the use of his department’s funds to pay for the training session for Sheriff-Elect Dierks and the new undersheriff. The training sessions will cost about $995 each for Dierks and the undersheriff.

Veach was not present at Monday’s meeting.

“What can we do then?” asked commissioner Tony Fowler. “I feel like this is something that our county counsel should look into.”

Charlotte Scott-Schmidt, county clerk, said the commission could authorize the use of sheriff’s department funds to be used to pay for the training sessions. Or, the commission can decide to use general operating fund money to pay for the sessions.

Scott-Schmidt also said the training sessions’ registration deadline was Dec. 2, thereby giving the commission no time to consult with its counselor, Paul Kritz.

Commissioners then voted unanimously to allow the use of general operating fund money to be used for Dierks and the new undersheriff. In the meantime, the commission will consult with Kritz about the matter. If Kritz deems that the commission can use sheriff’s department funds for the training sessions, then the sheriff’s department fund will reimburse the county’s general operating fund, commissioners said.

In other business transacted from Monday’s meeting, commissioners:

• agreed to give 55 cent per hour pay hikes to employees in the county appraiser’s department and computer department. Commissioners voted 2-1 for the salary hike with commissioner Tony Fowler being the lone dissenter.

The decision to grant the pay hikes came one week after commissioners voted 2-1 to deny pay hikes to the two departments.

County appraiser Leroy Burke reiterated his case for the pay hike for his employees, saying that most of his workers had not received a salary bump since 2005.

Earlier this year, the commission did agree to grant a one-time-only $75 pay hike to all county employees in lieu of salary increases. However, Burke and other department heads said the salary increases were needed to boost morale and to keep existing employeese from leaving for higher-paying jobs in the private sector.

• agreed to seek bids at the request of the county appraiser’s department for the purchase of a pre-owned or program vehicle at a cost not to exceed $15,000.

BY ANDY TAYLOR
Montgomery County Chronicle

INDEPENDENCE — The price tag to insure Montgomery County government from lawsuits and insurance claims will require about $200,000 in additional money starting this week, county commissioners decided on Monday.

One week ago, representatives of the Independence-based insurance firm Newkirk, Dennis and Buckles told commissioners that the county’s insurance provider, EMC Insurance Companies, was severing its liability insurance and workers’ compensation insurance package to Montgomery County because of a high amount of claims filed against county departments over a three-year period. Since Jan. 1, 2006, the county had amassed a three-year premium of $923,094 while paying out insurance coverage losses of $1,083,699. EMC’s insurance coverage would end on Dec. 1, commissioners were told at that meeting.

On Monday, Newkirk, Dennis and Buckles representatives presented commissioners with one insurance option to consider after several other insurance companies declined to offer a quote due to the county’s high volume of liability claims. Doug Buckles of Newkirk, Dennis and Buckles said Berkshir Hathaway Homestate Company had to agreed to provide liability insurance coverage but at a cost of $200,000 more than what EMC Insurance Companies was providing. Berkshir Hathaway’s total premium will cost Montgomery County taxpayers $529,000 per year — an increase from the $329,000 that the county was paying to EMC Insurance Companies.

Because of the county government’s history with high volume of claims, Buckles said Berkshir Hathaway will cover claims up to $500,000. EMC was providing premium coverage of $1million, Buckles said.

“We’re going to have to bite the bullet because we have to be covered,” said commission chairman Billie Lewark-Wood. Commissioner Lewark-Wood along with commissioners Gene Tucker and Tony Fowler voted to accept the Berkshir Hathaway insurance package.

On a related note, Newkirk, Dennis and Buckles advised commissioners to purchase an extended insurance rider through EMC Insurance Companies to cover those insurance issues that were in the claims process when the EMC package expired on Dec. 1. The rider will cost an additional $16,200 and is good for a 12-month period.

Commissioners were informed that employment practice issues were the primary cause for the increase in insurance costs. Buckles said that six out of seven liability claims filed against Montgomery County in the past year dealt with employment practice, such as wrongful termination or discrimination.

Buckles also suggested that the commissioners work with department chiefs to make them aware of the rising insurance costs due to employment and workers’ compensation issues.

Commissioner Tony Fowler echoed Buckles’ suggestion, saying he would advocate training sessions and seminars for all department chiefs to attend.

“If such a seminar or meeting could be called, I would be glad to call that meeting to order,” said Fowler.

BY ANDY TAYLOR
Montgomery County Chronicle

CHERRYVALE — Members of the Cherryvale City Council and Cherryvale Recreation Commission entered a robust discussion about the condition of the Lake Tanko complex during a joint workshop of the two bodies Monday night.

The meeting was arranged to discuss the status of the Lake Tanko tennis courts, which are no longer usable. However, the discussions have evolved into a larger, broader discussion about the general condition and upkeep of the Lake Tanko complex.

Recreation commission members indicated a desire to not make improvements to the tennis courts — due to high renovation costs — but to develop that same site for a possible city recreation building. Recreation commission member Tony Hawkins said he envisioned the recreation commission taking advantage of the Kan-Step program that is administered by the State of Kansas. The program, if awarded, allows qualified communities to build public facilities, such as fire or police stations, park buildings, etc., with volunteer labor and donations. The State of Kansas will provide the money for the construction materials.

Developing a city recreation facility is a long way from the drawing board, but Monday’s meeting was the first time that recreation commission members were able to express their vision with the city council.

Councilors indicated support in seeing such a facility be erected at Lake Tanko.

In discussing the overall upkeep of the Lake Tanko complex, recreation commission members seemed inclined to maintain the entire park area except for the lake itself, which would remain under the management and ownership of the City of Cherryvale.

To help the council and recreation commission further their plans for improving the Lake Tanko area, they agreed to seek the input of local citizens in the form of a survey. The City of Cherryvale’s January newsletter to local citizens will include a survey seeking input on recreational needs in the community. Results from those surveys will then be released in a joint meeting between the council and recreation commission in February 2009.

Members of the Cherryvale Recreation Commission who were present at Monday’s meeting were Tony Hawkins, David Lanning, Casi Addis, Marvin Hestand, Don King and Rene Castilleja.

BY ANDY TAYLOR
Montgomery County Chronicle

CANEY — The level of training of existing Caney city ambulance workers will be upgraded in the near future while city councilors also will seek bids from firms to offer a privately-operated ambulance service to local residents.

Those decisions were rendered Monday night when councilors gathered in a special session to discuss the status of the city’s ambulance service, several weeks after an Oklahoma firm offered its ambulance service to the Caney area for a 60-day trial period.

Discussions at Monday night’s special session revolved around the current expenses and revenues of the City of Caney’s ambulance service, which, Mayor Dale McBride has started to see a positive financial gain in recent months. With information showing the costs and revenues of the city’s ambulance service in 2007 and 2008, McBride said the local service could see a surplus of $39,000 by the end of the 2008 calendar year. Projected expenses are $169,300 while projected revenue (from sales taxes, county ambulance levy, and patient bills) is $208,000. In 2007, actual expenses were $184,250 while actual expenses are $141,356 — a $42,000 surplus.

“The long-standing theory was that our ambulance service was losing money,” said McBride, noting that the city had implemented a private ambulance billing system to improve its cash flow. “In other words, it was costing us more to operate it than what it was accumulating in revenue. That’s a fallacy. It’s just not true.”

However, councilor Jason Moore took issue with McBride’s assessment. Moore has, on his own volition, instigated discussions with Integrity EMS of Afton, Okla., to provide a private ambulance venture in Caney. He contended it was impossible for any person to say a service was making a profit because tax money was being used to subsidize the service. There could be no positive gain in dollars and cents when taxpayers are contributing to the revenue of the service, he said.

Moore then provided a plan that, he said, would save taxpayer dollars with the implementation of a private ambulance service. The private service itself would not save tax dollars, he said, but through the council’s elimination of one staff member in the city’s police force, which operates the ambulance service. He said eliminating one officer could save as much as $36,000 in salary and benefits savings alone.

Discussions then focused on the choices that confront the council regarding the delivery of emergency care to Caney residents. McBride summarized those four options as follows:

• continue the status quo with a basic-level ambulance service operated through the police department.

• upgrade the existing basic-level ambulance service to include EMT-I (intermediate) personnel who would possess more skills than basic-level first responders and EMT-B (basic) personnel. EMT-I personnel would not have the same training and skills as paramedics but would have higher training than an EMT-B to provide further stabilization of a critical patient through the implementation of some intravenous drugs and use of airway intubation devices.

• eventually transfer control of the city’s ambulance service from the police department to the fire department, thereby making the fire department operated by full-time employees.

• contract with a private ambulance service to provide paramedic-level ambulance coverage to the Caney area.

Many councilors seemed content with upgrading the city’s current ambulance service to include EMT-I personnel. Upgrading the service would require minimal cost, other than continued training of current workers and buying various basic drugs that could be used by the workers to stabilize critical patients.

Dispatching concerns

However, should the city hire a private firm to provide ambulance coverage to Caney, another area of the current police-ambulance service would be impacted: dispatching. Although Integrity EMS and other vendors have not yet issued formal bids for their services, Integrity EMS officials have said they would provide their own dispatcher to handle local emergency calls.

If Caney uses a private vendor to handle dispatching, then there would be a reshuffling of duties in the city’s police force to handle those other duties that are also handled by the existing dispatchers, police chief Rick Pell said. This would include the clerking of municipal court, collection of fines, handling matters relating to condemnation of unsafe properties, and other duties.

“The dispatcher does more than just answer a telephone,” Pell said.

McBride gave a history of the city’s dispatching service — recalling the days when the dispatching was handled by an older gentleman in his own home. A shared dispatching service was tried with Sedan but failed due to conflicts with territory and response time, McBride said.

And, Caney has shied away from any countywide 911 dispatching service because of the need to keep the service in local hands, McBride said.

Compounding the issuing of how to handle dispatching should a private ambulance service be hired is the fact that the City of Caney collects a one-half cent sales tax from local residents to pay for dispatching and ambulance services. That portion of the sales tax generated $75,000 per year in 2007, said city administrator Don Whitman. Be having a private vendor would likely seek the use of that sales tax money as a subsidy for the ambulance service, Whitman said, adding that the city’s budget would take a $75,000 hit due to lost revenue.

McBride said he was against the use of taxpayer money now used as a subsidy for the local service to be used by a private ambulance vendor. He also said he was concerned about the prospects of losing control of the quality of the ambulance service to a private vendor.

Councilor Joe Taylor, a former police chief himself, also said he was against a private ambulance service.

“I would hate losing control of the ambulance service,” said Taylor. “I would like to see the current service upgraded so that it can be operated through the fire department.”

Caney is the only community in Kansas in which its ambulance service is carried out through a police department. All other ambulance services are privately owned or operated through a fire service, councilors were told.

Pell, along with fire chief Tony McCammon, said they, too, would prefer to see the city’s ambulance service be transferred to the fire department in Caney’s long-term future. However, they emphasized that such a transfer would require a complete change of culture in emergency services in Caney.

“It will not be an easy transition,” said McCammon.

McCammon, who also works as a firefighter in the Bartlesville Fire Department, said he was concerned about the loss of control of personalized service offered to Caney residents through its dispatchers and ambulance personnel.

“We know the people of Caney,” said McCammon about the local dispatchers and ambulance workers. “I know firsthand that if you put this service in private control, that personalized service is gone. The private business will look at the service solely as a business. It will not be a service to the community.”

Councilor Penny Coy emphasized that the council should remain open to all options regarding ambulance services to local residents.

“We don’t want to shut any doors,” she said.

Councilors split votes

Councilor Ron Wade then presented a motion to abandon any further discussion regarding a privatized ambulance service and to upgrade the current ambulance service to include EMT-I personnel. His motion failed on a 3-4 vote (yea votes were cast by Wade, Taylor and Kelly McIntosh; nay votes were cast by councilors Chad Bradford, Penny Coy, Erin Munday and Jason Moore).

Councilor Jason Moore then presented a motion to have city administrator Don Whitman prepare bid specifications for a private ambulance service, which will be considered by the council at its Dec. 15 meeting. Moore said he believed the bid specifications could be placed in the form of a paragraph and sent to private ambulance operators.

Whitman retorted that preparation of bid specifications could not be summarized in a paragraph.

“It’ll take a book,” he said, emphasizing that the wording in any bid specification should be detailed and spelled out so that bids can be comparable.

Issue was also raised about whether preparation of those bid specifications can take place before the council’s Dec. 15 meeting. Moore’s initial motion included the words “if possible,” meaning that it gave latitude in time for Whitman to seek those bid specifications.

But, when pressed if the motion should include a vague timeframe, Moore said he wanted the motion to be specific.

“I want to get something done,” he said.

Moore’s motion was approved 4-3 with Moore, Bradford, Munday, and Coy voting in favor while councilors Taylor, McIntosh and Wade voted against the measure. Councilor Carol McClure was absent from Monday’s meeting.

At the conclusion of the meeting, McBride reminded councilors that it was up to the council to determine how to provide emergency care to local citizens should a private ambulance service fail or pull out from its contract with the city.

“If a private ambulance service failed to run in Caney, we’re the responsible party,” said McBride. “Anything we do, we’re going to have to be cautious about. Right now, what we have works.”