[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[2:25] We're a business. If you're curious about any of the supporting documents that we have access to as we're going through the agenda, you can also find those online as with county.org. We encourage you to look through those same information that we have as we make the decisions on all the items we're reviewing today. We've got a good meeting, a lot of good things planned. So I will officially call the meeting to order for July 17, 2024. Madam Clerk, first item, please. In vocation to be led by Reverend J. Merrill Cornwell, First Pentecostal Church, please remain standing for the flag salute.
[2:54] shall
[3:02] with alpha prayer. Father, we come into this meeting today to realize that
[3:10] decisions will be made in people and their lives. I pray for each one of our
[3:17] county commissioners and their families that the blessings of Almighty God would
[3:22] be upon them. I pray for those that they're responsible for, for those that
[3:30] Labor with them. I pray especially today for our State of County Sheriff's Office and
[3:40] their deputies and families, for our firefighters and their families, for our emergency personnel
[3:48] and the EMS and those that serve us.
[3:51] Father, we thank You for honorable men that can govern us with fairness and equity.
[4:00] I pray, Lord, that You would be with them, and I pray especially the blessings of God
[4:06] upon this county, for we do know that Sedgwick County is a great county and a great place to
[4:13] raise our families.
[4:15] I pray for each one that labor in this county, I'm asking you, Lord, to let your blessings and
[4:25] let your presence be with each of them. Now county
[4:34] commissions start their daily business.
[4:38] I pray that you should be with them in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
[4:43] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation and a god in the individual with liberty and justice for all.
[5:02] Reverend, thank you, sir, for joining us this morning and for your prayer, I very much appreciate you.
[5:09] Madam Clerk,
[5:15] next item, please.
[5:15] Yes.
[5:15] Roll call.
[5:17] Commissioner Meitzner.
[5:18] President.
[5:18] Commissioner Dena.
[5:19] President.
[5:20] Commissioner Haal.
[5:20] President.
[5:21] Commissioner Lutze.
[5:22] President.
[5:22] Chairman Beatty.
[5:23] President.
[5:23] Next item.
[5:24] County announcements.
[5:26] Well, good morning, Stephanie.
[5:29] Hello, everyone.
[5:31] Chairman, commissioners.
[5:32] I am here instead of Nicole Gibbs today because she finally had her baby.
[5:37] Yes.
[5:44] I know.
[5:45] Isn't he a sweetheart?
[5:46] This is Connor.
[5:47] William Gibbs.
[5:48] he arrives Sunday morning and is just one ounce shy of nine pounds.
[5:53] He's also 20 and a quarter inches long, so good size.
[5:57] Nicole and Connor are both healthy doing well.
[6:00] They are home from the hospital.
[6:02] Oh, and dad Jeremy also recovering nicely.
[6:05] Yeah, of course.
[6:06] As for big sister Morgan, there you see it.
[6:10] Nicole says she is over the moon happy and we are too.
[6:13] So congratulations to the whole family.
[6:15] Thank you, Wendy. Yeah, I know.
[6:20] Congratulations also go out to 10 new sheriff's deputies who graduated last week.
[6:25] After 25, I'm sure long weeks of training for the deputies are women,
[6:30] one of whom are in the highest GPA in the class.
[6:34] That graduate Mary Van Atter had actually started the training last year,
[6:38] but she injured her wrist and had to start the entire course over with this class.
[6:43] So we're certainly glad she stuck with it.
[6:46] We put together a short video today to celebrate all of the graduates and to show you some of the training they went through.
[6:52] If
[8:03] these new deputies on board the Sheriff's Office now has just 37 open positions as compared to 133 in late 2022, so staffing levels have really improved.
[8:15] To tell you more about all of this, please welcome Colonel Keith Allen and Sergeant Aaron Wano.
[8:20] Hello.
[8:23] Colonel Sergeant, welcome.
[8:25] Sorry, Colonel, keep down.
[8:27] First I want to thank communications
[8:29] and Robin back there, she did a phenomenal job
[8:31] in that video, so it really highlights our troops
[8:34] and all the work they put into that 25-week academy.
[8:39] You know, back in 2022 post-COVID,
[8:42] we really were facing some critical staffing shortages
[8:45] at the sheriff's office.
[8:47] We had an employee leaving and going
[8:49] to other fellow law enforcement agencies
[8:52] in the area because of some compensation and because of the mandatory overtime we were having to do at that time due to short staffing.
[9:00] Since that point we have really turned it around and have added about 100 positions in the last 18 months.
[9:09] I think a lot of that is due to the compensation of pay packages this commission has given to us and we can't thank you guys enough as it has been tremendously helpful.
[9:18] our staffing is in a great situation compared to where it was.
[9:24] Our morale is way up, employee satisfaction is way up.
[9:29] I feel like we've really kind of turned this thing around and
[9:32] it went from a point where we were really kind of struggling
[9:35] to a point where we're really feeling very strong and confident.
[9:39] We have great recruits coming in.
[9:41] It's been really nice to see.
[9:44] Also, you know, I think that part of the reason
[9:48] that we've seen this turn around our recruitment as the efforts we've put into our recruiting
[9:51] and retention efforts. We have a peer support team and a mentorship team that we've put
[9:57] in place since this, since 22 and it has just really helped a lot with keeping the quality
[10:03] employees that we have here. And it's talked a little bit more. Sergeant Aaron Wano has played
[10:09] a tremendous role in our agency in recruiting and she was in that video if you didn't notice
[10:14] So, sorry to make you.
[10:18] Good morning, Commissioner.
[10:19] Thank you guys.
[10:21] So, our recruiting efforts, really my philosophy is it's a
[10:23] collaborative effort.
[10:24] It's not just me.
[10:25] We are seeing numbers that I didn't think that we would get
[10:28] this quickly.
[10:29] And it really boils down to when you have happy folks that are
[10:33] you're retaining, you're going to recruit more people.
[10:35] They're going to promote the organization.
[10:37] And so, we're seeing that in our classes.
[10:39] I ask every single class, you know, what got you here?
[10:41] Why are you in the seat?
[10:42] And a lot of it is.
[10:43] I either know somebody, I knew somebody or I met them just out in the public, so it's
[10:47] huge for us. Also the collaboration with HR, County HR has been instrumental in a lot
[10:53] of our work, county communications and the work that they've done, I think we talk almost
[10:57] weekly now, so it's been great to actually collaborate with the entire county organizations
[11:02] to make it happen, so I thank you guys, and one of the things that Colonel Allen mentioned
[11:07] was our wellness unit. Actually I think you said peer support, but it's fine. So we, the county saw an
[11:14] issue with obviously taking care of our mental health for law enforcement officers. And it's really
[11:18] effective leadership that makes the decision that we now have to take care of our people.
[11:22] And so our wellness unit is a holistic wellness unit. We focus on mental health, physical health,
[11:27] nutrition, family health, financial health, and we're building that out slowly. We're about five
[11:32] years in and we're getting to a point now where it's actually making a difference and the recruits
[11:36] get it from day one so we see them through and we're seeing the retention from that so it's
[11:40] been hugely instrumental along with the pay and everything we've been able to offer for benefits
[11:44] and stuff like that so it's been a great ride it's fun to see the video of it's kind of like
[11:49] prod moment not from my picture I'm sorry but and I talk to you guys a lot events and stuff like that
[11:56] so I just wanted to thank you for your support. Wonderful thank you. Thank you. Sorry Jen I
[12:00] wanted some questions and comments any commissioners any thoughts so what we just saw commercial
[12:05] I have a couple of things.
[12:07] First, I want to say congratulations on an award that you just won.
[12:10] What an honor.
[12:11] And I just appreciate the work you do.
[12:13] I feel like I see you everywhere, whether it's law camp or anything,
[12:16] that there's interaction with the community.
[12:18] And I think that's so incredibly important.
[12:20] So thank you for everything that you do beyond this,
[12:22] but just in your personal life as well.
[12:25] And then Colonel, I also wanted to mention to you,
[12:29] when we first met, we were at the Advanced Kansas Class.
[12:31] We did that course together.
[12:32] and one of the things we talked about during that time,
[12:38] how important it is to change the culture
[12:40] and to see more women engage in this.
[12:44] And so to see four women there, it's really exciting.
[12:47] So I know that that's been really intentional work
[12:49] to diversify your workforce.
[12:51] And so I appreciate everything that both of you are doing
[12:53] and just thank you for all of us.
[12:57] Commissioner Dennis.
[12:59] Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate it.
[13:01] First of all, thank you for inviting us to events
[13:05] like the graduation ceremony.
[13:06] It's great to see that the
[13:14] things that we do appear are impacting our staff and making a difference in what you all do.
[13:21] So I sincerely appreciate allowing us to come and join in the celebrations that you all have.
[15:54] We're pushing all
[16:04] out. We're pushing all out. We're pushing and
[16:16] joining the celebrations that you all have. We're pushing all out. We're pushing all out. We're pushing all
[16:32] out. We're pushing all
[16:38] out. We're pushing all out. And they're upping their pay. So that was one of the things that came up. So it's that's kind of the basis where we're at right now. And we pay them while we train them. Right. Yes. And it requires a high school diploma.
[16:51] No, there's not any college, but it is required.
[16:53] Deploma or equivalent, so a GED or something to that equivalent, correct?
[16:56] And if we like physically fit and that type of thing, otherwise it won't make it through the class, I'm sure, but.
[17:01] There's a fitness agility test that we do with them just to make sure that they are agile.
[17:06] They can walk, they can run, they can do those things.
[17:08] It's very tailored down, and so we give them physical fitness to do within the academy, whether they choose to do that or not.
[17:14] That's completely on them, but they're required to, while they're in the academy.
[17:16] We actually have one of our captains, Mark Pierce, he will get with applicants if they're not quite to that point where they could physically pass the test.
[17:25] He volunteers this time and goes out and actually trains with them a couple nights a week to get them ready for that.
[17:30] So we're starting even before the academy trying to get applicants ready to pass all the tests.
[17:36] I guess just to find the comments, I'd like to see the law enforcement training center where we created half that facility with Wichita being utilized this well.
[17:44] And I think that's a great asset for this community.
[17:47] If you know what we have before that, it was embarrassing.
[17:50] This is a really wonderful facility at which does the university's innovation campus.
[17:55] And then second of all, these programs, this mentor program, and this peer support, or
[17:59] wellness program, I think that's awesome.
[18:01] Good job on whoever created those ideas.
[18:03] I think it's very well needed.
[18:04] So I appreciate all you do.
[18:06] So I want to say thank you to the Sheriff's Department and Sheriff Easter as well.
[18:09] Thank you.
[18:09] I appreciate the opportunity that you're here to talk not only about the training class, but it gives us an opportunity not just to
[18:17] demonstrate our gratitude to you individually and collectively at the Sheriff's Department, but also highlights and things that are going on throughout the entire organization.
[18:25] As you mentioned,
[18:27] where the staffing situation was and where it is today, it's important the public realizes that since 2021
[18:33] We've had over $60 million of incremental compensation put into the 46 departments of
[18:39] the statute of county government, Sheriff's Office being one of them.
[18:42] There's qualitative effect of that, and you've mentioned it.
[18:45] There's better retainment.
[18:46] We have healthier staff, there's better job satisfaction.
[18:49] You don't have the mandatory overtime, all of those things, so people have better quality
[18:52] of life.
[18:53] But this is what's so important when you find the balance between the investment and the
[18:57] output economically.
[18:58] These are opportunity costs that we're saving.
[19:00] There's a qualitative economic savings to this, not only to your overtime, and that's
[19:06] a big number for the Sheriff's Office, and I've seen some recent reports that that
[19:09] number is significantly improved because of staffing.
[19:12] Not only that, but you're also looking at things like your jail population going down.
[19:17] And some of the things creatively that were working.
[19:19] There was an article that came out less than a month ago that we had a historic, or I'm
[19:22] sorry, within the last 25 years I believe it was, a historic load jail population, which
[19:27] to the tune of $75 a day that adds up for the taxpayers in this community.
[19:32] So, the investment in compensation, the investment into wellness, the investment into our staff has significant economic benefit to this community.
[19:41] We see that in a sheriff's office and we're hoping to see the same results and all the other 45 departments throughout said you kind of government.
[19:47] But this is a highlight of what's happening in your department and throughout said you kind of government that I think we need to tell that story as often and as frequently as we can.
[19:54] So thank you so much for what you're doing.
[19:56] and it's very impressive, and congratulations to the success.
[19:59] Thank you, sir.
[19:59] Thank you.
[20:13] Okay, a couple of reminders about the primary election coming up on August 6.
[20:18] Early voting has begun with advanced mail ballots going out today.
[20:22] Voters do have until July 30th to still request one.
[20:26] If you prefer to vote in person, you can do that starting Monday, July 22nd,
[20:31] at the election office, and then satellite locations will open July 30th.
[20:35] You can find details on all of this on the Election Office webpage at seduacounty.org.
[20:42] And mark your calendars now for the Town Hall meeting.
[20:46] There we go, hosted by Seduac County and the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability
[20:51] Services, K-Dads, as we know it, to discuss the new State Mental Health Hospital being
[20:56] built at MacArthur and Meridian.
[20:58] The Town Hall will take
[21:05] place Thursday, August 1st in the Campus High School Auditorium
[21:08] from 6 to 8 p.m.
[21:11] And finally, in more county good news, Jennifer Wilson and her team are here
[21:15] from ComCare Community Crisis Center to share a recent success story, Jennifer.
[21:23] Yes, welcome to the team. Jennifer, welcome.
[21:26] Good morning. So the community crisis center has been working to expand
[21:31] our
[21:35] crisis response in Sedgwick County and with combined efforts to Sedgwick County,
[21:40] the city of Wichita and the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services,
[21:44] we have been able to expand our mobile crisis efforts and 988 suicide and
[21:49] crisis lifeline services over the last couple of years. Regina Stout and Lindsay
[21:55] Celciari here today to introduce some of our efforts at the Community Crisis
[21:59] Center and an exceptionally great job that our our story that our team recently
[22:05] was able to intervene and save a life. So I'm going to introduce Lindsay and Regina
[22:11] I love them. Take it away. Okay. Wonderful.
[22:17] Gina Lindsay. Welcome. Good morning. Good morning. My name is Regina.
[22:22] And I'm Lindsay.
[22:25] So a couple of weeks ago, we had a mobile crisis request. And at that time, Caitlin Powers
[22:33] and Zach Kelly were able to identify the response as a high risk situation. So they went above and
[22:40] beyond to make contact with the individual, including responding to multiple locations
[22:45] and coordinating with family members.
[22:49] From our 988 suicide and crisis lifeline, we have an integrated care specialist here
[22:54] at Katie Maybury.
[22:56] She made numerous calls to share information between the patient's family and their patient's
[23:01] wife, and then our mobile crisis team in the field.
[23:05] Not here today is Michelle Miller, who also helped with 98 tasks.
[23:08] And we have Matt Rep, who helped from the mobile crisis team with a lot of auxiliary tasks
[23:14] again to make sure everyone had the most current information.
[23:19] And with all of them working together, the team was able to successfully locate the
[23:25] patient and quickly connect them to medical care.
[23:30] This story illustrates the great work of Comhairs Community Crisis Center across different
[23:36] programs within the Community Crisis Center, and demonstrates the extraordinary team
[23:40] work it takes to provide such life-saving care. Thank you.
[23:45] So good. Hang tight, if you don't mind. I'd love to have Jennifer or anyone of the team.
[23:51] We took a briefing yesterday from the ComCare Director, Joan Tamini, about mobile
[23:56] mental health and mobile crisis response, ICT-1 through 5, and we really wanted an
[24:01] not date on kind of the data and the numbers and all the capacity.
[24:04] I'll tell you I was blown away about the numbers that are coming through the system right
[24:09] now.
[24:10] Can you add a little bit of your perspective on the importance of mobile mental health
[24:14] and the crisis response and where do you think this is going in the community?
[24:19] So if you look at the time you guys saw the timeline and how we've increased our mobile
[24:23] crisis response over the years between 2022 and 2023 I believe it jumped from 500 and some
[24:30] responses to over 800 responses so I feel as we continue to expand our services and promote
[24:38] mobile crisis response people ask for the service and really seek our services so I feel like as
[24:46] we continue to build on the program will continue to outreach the community and be able to expand
[24:51] the efforts because mobile crisis response is really meeting people where they're at. At the time of
[24:55] of crisis quickly, efficiently and hopefully helping them stay safe in the least restrictive
[25:01] way, which is at their homes or wherever they're at at time of crisis.
[25:06] You have a text platform that will be coming that isn't available now that you anticipate
[25:10] that that's going to increase the inputs into this system.
[25:13] Absolutely.
[25:14] And there's two things with 98 that's coming, so we expect you a routing which will connect
[25:19] people who are local with our 988 center despite the area code that they're calling from.
[25:24] Right now, it's just area code 316.
[25:26] So if they're calling from area code 316, they'll get connected to us.
[25:30] However, if they're in Sedgillet County and connecting from a phone ever like Regina,
[25:34] she has a different state.
[25:35] She'll get connected from the state that her phone is from.
[25:39] So considering we have three universities here with people from various states living here,
[25:46] I expect them to hopefully be able, if they have mental health-related distress,
[25:50] us call 988 and be able to connect to somebody locally to connect them to services that are local.
[25:57] Chat and text, I hope, to have going by the end of this year and we have four positions with them, some improvement grant funds from the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services.
[26:09] So we expect to have more positions be able to answer text because right now it's just the suicide prevention headquarters of Lawrence that are taking chat and text for Kansas.
[26:18] Okay. Well, you know, there's a big investment coming with a new com, com care crisis, building
[26:23] and center and services. We're really excited about. There are a few departments, I think,
[26:28] in local government that has to pivot as quickly as com care has to pivot many times, just
[26:31] because the situation with behavioral health in our community is changing rapidly. So, just
[26:37] once you did know, on behalf of the commission, how much we appreciate all the work you guys
[26:40] do, the important work that you guys do for this community, and you really do save lives.
[26:44] And we enjoy telling your story, we want to tell your story a lot more because I think the community needs to know all that ComCo does, particularly in the crisis response, and we're excited about the things that are coming, excited to support the efforts and excited about what you do for this community.
[26:57] So thank you so much.
[26:58] We appreciate you.
[26:59] We appreciate the support of all of you from all of you too.
[27:02] Thank you.
[27:02] Thank you.
[27:03] Let's appreciate you.
[27:04] All
[27:09] right, thanks again for coming and that's it for county announcements.
[27:12] If you have any questions.
[27:13] We got babies, sheriffs, ComCo.
[27:15] We covered it all.
[27:16] I'm going out to Sejwick County, isn't there?
[27:18] Any questions or comments for Stephanie?
[27:21] Thank you very much.
[27:22] You're welcome.
[27:22] Appreciate it.
[27:23] Madam Clerk, next item.
[27:25] Public agenda.
[27:26] Looks like no one signed up for public agenda.
[27:29] Next item, please.
[27:31] Proclamation's item A, Proclamation declaring Americans
[27:34] with Disabilities Act A.
[27:36] Okay, wonderful.
[27:37] I'd like to read a Proclamation of Sejwick County, Kansas.
[27:40] Whereas the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law
[27:43] on July 26, 1990 by President George H. W. Bush in this year marks the 34th anniversary of this landmark legislation.
[27:52] And whereas the American With Disabilities Act has improved the lives of people with disabilities,
[27:57] ensuring equal opportunities, access to county facilities, programs and services,
[28:02] and inclusion for all citizens regardless of disability.
[28:06] And whereas, Sedgwick County, Kansas's most populous county has incorporated this law into the fabric of the community.
[28:12] ensuring access to services, programs, activities, and facilities.
[28:17] And whereas, local government entities have proactively collaborated at comply with the ADA,
[28:23] as evidenced by the creation and support of the Witchtall Sedgwick County Access Advisory Board,
[28:28] as well as maintaining an ADA coordinator's office within the county government structure.
[28:33] Now, therefore it be resolved that I, Chairman Ryan Kay Bady in the Board of Sedgwick County Commissioners,
[28:38] Do hereby proclaim July 26th, 2024, as Americans with Disabilities Act Day.
[28:45] Here in Cedric County, and we call on all residents to support inclusivity for
[28:50] persons with disabilities in this community and to continue efforts to advise our
[28:54] county leadership on areas of improvement.
[28:58] Commissioners, you've heard the proclamation.
[29:00] I move to adopt it as right, motion in a second.
[29:04] I'm quick, please call the rule.
[29:05] Commissioner Maithner, commissioner Dennis.
[29:07] Hi, Mr. Lopez, Chairman Beatty.
[29:10] Hi, and here to accept this proclamation is Brian Powers.
[29:13] Brian is the chairman of our Wichita Statue of County Access Advisory Board.
[29:17] Brian, thanks for the work you do.
[29:18] Welcome this morning.
[29:21] Thank you, Mr. Chairman and commissioners.
[29:22] It's a pleasure to be here today.
[29:24] I normally don't hug people in their aisles on the way out, but that was my daughter.
[29:27] She works for calm care.
[29:28] Oh, wonderful.
[29:29] So, I'm glad you recognize them.
[29:32] Yeah.
[29:33] We believe in service in our family, and he's carrying on that tradition.
[29:39] This is an important day for residents of Saju County and the State of Kansas to recognize
[29:44] the signing of the Americans with Disability Act, it's been 34 years.
[29:50] Some of us might be old enough to remember the Civil Rights Act of 1964, I do have barely.
[29:57] It's important to understand that disability rights are civil rights.
[30:01] And we have a board that addresses these issues daily and advises you on our suggestions to improve the lives of persons with disabilities in this community. Our work's not done. It's never done.
[30:21] I think our challenge going forward is the disability services waiting list in the state of Kansas. Some might argue this is a state issue.
[30:30] All state issues are local issues, and this is, as you said, Mr. Chairman, the most
[30:36] fabulous county in the state.
[30:38] So I think it impacts us greatly.
[30:41] I do appreciate your response to our recommendations to address this at the state level on your legislative
[30:46] agenda.
[30:48] We have a powerful voice, cheer voice, and our legislature in this state, your voice is heard.
[30:56] The people who depend on you need to get off that waiting list.
[31:02] A waiting list of 10 years is inconceivable.
[31:05] It's cruel, although the state has taken measures to reduce the waiting list by 10%.
[31:12] That means we have a nine year waiting list.
[31:15] That does not solve the problem.
[31:18] Our role in this board is to recommend solutions.
[31:22] My role in business was to recommend solutions.
[31:25] I spent 20 years in healthcare and as you can see it's that services carrying forward.
[31:31] So we do appreciate your support for all persons with disabilities in this community.
[31:37] We mentioned inclusivity in the proclamation and it truly is an inclusive element of our
[31:44] society of our community.
[31:46] We do have two members.
[31:47] I'd like to thank the members of our board who volunteer their time and expertise.
[31:52] to discuss these items and these issues, and I'd like to let them speak for a moment with your permission for a moment to that effect.
[32:04] Sir.
[32:05] Hold on.
[32:06] He needs no introduction, but this is an inquiry.
[32:08] No introduction.
[32:09] Thank you, Bady.
[32:11] I just wanted to say, you know, with the issue that the state's having with the big
[32:21] long list, we do need services here in Wichita and in Senator County to help out the
[32:30] the point and disabled community here, Betty, I'm ready to step up to the plate and go with you to Peaca and talk to our state legislators.
[32:48] So we can eliminate the list and get services that the disabled community needs in this great state.
[32:58] So, I hope you're ready to work with me, I'm ready to work with all you guys on getting this list eliminated.
[33:09] Very good.
[33:11] Thank you.
[33:14] Chairman Vady and county commissioners, I'm Kylie Fleming.
[33:18] I am the county representative at ADA coordinator, but I am the FMLA and ADA specialist with the division of human resources.
[33:27] as we have nearly 2,800 employees, many of those who seek accommodations.
[33:34] My hope is that as you all are working towards finding new locations for
[33:40] several of our employees to work at, that we continue to put the accessibility
[33:48] areas at the forefront of those decisions to make sure that they are accessible to all individuals.
[33:53] definitely thank you for everything that you've done and continue to appreciate your support as we look towards
[34:01] expanding our services. Obviously, ComCare and the mental health issues that our community faces are part of the
[34:09] disabilities that are community faces. So there are a lot of things that really affect us on a day-to-day basis.
[34:17] everything's interconnected is so good to be able to be a part of this county and the support that we give to the county and all of the areas related to the Americans with disabilities act.
[34:32] So I appreciate your support. Thank you for everything that you do and I wish you Godspeed as you continue to make decisions affecting this community.
[34:40] Thank you.
[34:41] Appreciate you.
[34:42] Hold tight.
[34:43] We've got some questions and comments.
[34:44] Commissioner Jenes.
[34:45] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[34:46] I appreciate it.
[34:46] And thanks for being here today and bringing up this important issue.
[34:50] We've included the reduction of the list and adding additional funding every year that I've been
[34:56] on this board to try and get some additional funding out of the state of Texas to help eliminate
[35:03] this list.
[35:04] Last year, they did, I think, $5 million to help, but then they put a cap on the people
[35:10] that can be on the list so there are people that are disabled that can't even get on the list as a result of the action that the legislature took last year, which is definitely a significant problem.
[35:21] So, we'll continue to fight this. I'm certain that it's going to go on our legislative agenda this coming year.
[35:28] I have great sympathy for everyone that is disabled. You look at me and you don't think I'm disabled. I can't hear.
[35:34] I wear two hearing aids, and I still can't hear, that's a disability.
[35:42] So it's not a severe as most people have, but it affects my daily life.
[35:49] And as a result, I can understand people that have even more severe disabilities than
[35:56] I have, what they go through each and every day.
[35:59] So thank you very much for what you do for the population.
[36:03] We'll continue to do what we can do to help reduce this list and get additional funding.
[36:09] I appreciate you very much.
[36:10] Thank you, Commissioner Dennis.
[36:13] Appreciate your comments.
[36:14] Brian, I appreciate the work you do on the Access Advisory Board.
[36:18] Very, very important work and we want to engage you on a whole new level as we work through this legislative agenda to try to make sure that we're advocating for the things that you're advising us on.
[36:27] And I appreciate the work coming with all the HR department and what you do and
[36:31] and advocating for how we can ensure that we are being inclusive to those that need our help
[36:35] and the access to facilities. We're contending for them. Last but not least, Mr. Crane,
[36:39] sir, we got your bag. We appreciate your champion for these causes. You advocate loudly for these
[36:45] call. You're a friend to many people in this room, and we code deeply about making sure your voice is heard.
[36:51] So we thank you for your leadership in this community on these issues, my brother.
[36:54] And you can ride up with me to pick any time you want. But I'm driving, okay.
[37:01] Thank you again. We want to get some pictures to help celebrate this day. If you don't mind
[37:04] giving us a five to seven minute break, we want to go out front and get some good pictures
[37:08] so that we can celebrate, okay? Thank you.
[40:21] Okay, thank you for giving us a little bit of time
[40:23] to celebrate that. We love those guys and love the work that they do. So back to business we go,
[40:28] Madam Clerk, next item please. New business item B, set the public hearing for the proposed
[40:33] adoption of the 2022 ASM-A-17.1 elevator safety code.
[40:40] Okay, good morning, Samantha.
[40:42] That elevator code.
[40:45] Switching gears.
[40:46] Good morning, Chris Labyrinth.
[40:48] Yeah, you're up.
[40:51] Us before the annexation.
[40:53] Good morning, Chairman and commissioners of Chris Labyrinth, M-A-B-C-D, and just quickly
[40:56] here, yes, the item we have before you today is simply to set the public hearing for adoption
[41:02] of the latest version of the elevator code.
[41:04] So a quick background on this from the material that you all were provided.
[41:09] We did have a workshop with you all a few months ago, in which we discussed changes
[41:14] that with the state program and the effect that has had on our program.
[41:18] We appreciate that the commission was very supportive with what we would need to do, which included
[41:23] possibly giving that back to the state.
[41:25] We're trying to retain it in an amended form, a city of which was a little more adamant
[41:30] that we seek to retain the program, which we refine with that.
[41:33] We have made some adjustments at this point.
[41:35] What we've done is we are outsourcing all of the annual and recurring inspections.
[41:40] We also are, which is allowed by our current building code.
[41:43] We are also allowing third party inspections that the contractor chooses those with new
[41:49] conveyances, the installation of any new elevator or equipment covered by these codes.
[41:54] And with that, we have moved forward to adopt the 2022 version of the elevator code, which
[42:01] is the latest and is also the version the state has decided they would like to adopt.
[42:05] So the adoption we will bring to you on the 21st is that version of the code.
[42:10] It does not present many significant changes from what we have now and it is also in line
[42:15] with the state's current code and we will be presenting that in a manner that allows us
[42:21] to retain the program albeit in an amended form from what we had done previously.
[42:26] So with that, we're requesting that the hearing be set for the 21st of August.
[42:31] Okay.
[42:32] 21st of August,
[42:35] it's going to be a busy day or I think we're doing something else that day, aren't we?
[42:39] Are we going to adopt an abudgeon?
[42:40] Okay, that's good.
[42:43] We've all been briefed on this.
[42:45] Commissioners, any questions or comments for Chris?
[42:50] Seeing none, I will move to set the public hearing date of August 21st and
[42:55] publish the notice of hearing in the official county newspaper.
[42:58] Okay, we have a motion, a second. Madam Clerk, please call the room.
[43:02] Commissioner Meizner?
[43:03] Aye.
[43:03] Commissioner Dena?
[43:04] Aye.
[43:04] Commissioner Hal?
[43:05] Aye.
[43:05] Commissioner Lopez?
[43:06] Aye.
[43:06] Chairman Bady.
[43:07] Aye.
[43:08] Chris, thank you, sir.
[43:10] Madam Clerk, next item.
[43:11] Item C. Post-Enexation Public Carings, City of Derby, Enexation, Resolution No. 02-2021.
[43:19] Well, hello, Samantha.
[43:20] Long time no see.
[43:22] Samantha, seeing Assistant County Councilor.
[43:25] Before you, right now, is a post annexation hearing to determine if the service plan provided by the City of Furby when the ANX-11 properties have been provided, KSA-12-531 sets out the process to follow.
[43:42] It says that three years after an annexation, the board has to hold a hearing and determine if the terms of the service plan have been met.
[43:52] If you find that it has been met, a resolution would be prepared accordingly, and that would
[44:00] close the matter.
[44:01] If you find in the negative, then a resolution to the effect would be adopted.
[44:07] And the city would then have one and a half years to provide the services.
[44:12] And at that point, the property owners can petition for de-anexation at the end of that time
[44:17] frame.
[44:19] State law requires that notice of this hearing be provided to the lien owners and to the
[44:24] city.
[44:27] These notices were provided and set after he set this for public hearing on echo June
[44:33] 5th meeting.
[44:35] If you take a look at the map, it shows the red areas as the areas that's going to be annexed
[44:42] was annexed and then the yellow is the derby city limits.
[44:47] The parcels are joined the city's boundary and were unilaterally annex, which means that the property owners did not.
[45:00] consent to it. This was, this annexation was part of the city's annexation plan. The service plan that they submitted includes street maintenance, street signage, street, street maintenance, fire, hydrox, fire protection, medical response, police protection, and animal control services, parks, libraries, traction recycling, city building, code enforcement,
[45:29] city health and nuisance code enforcement, minimum housing code, and zoning enforcement.
[45:37] Upon requests, property owners could also request local street improvements, water services, and sewer laterals.
[45:46] The city of Derby provided responses to questionnaires that the county councilor's office sent out, and they indicated the following services had been provided
[45:56] it during the since 2021, 53 days of snow removal, 12 days of sweet, sweet, sweeping fire
[46:09] and rescue, responded to two medical requests, animal control, responded to one service call.
[46:16] All but one address is receiving the city's discount with the waste management company.
[46:22] One permit was pulled for HVAC and plumbing, and the fire hydrants were maintained.
[46:34] Next slide.
[46:58] There we go.
[46:59] Sorry.
[47:02] There are three fire hydrants in this area here, here and here, and those have been maintained.
[47:10] And the city of Derby had provided flow test results in your packet.
[47:19] A representative from Derby, Dan Squires is here to answer any further questions that you may have.
[47:32] So unless you have any questions for me, I would recommend that we open this up for public hearing.
[47:39] If you have any expert take communications or any additional information that you want to consider.
[47:45] I'd
[47:52] suggest that you mention that at the start of the hearing in case there's any need
[47:56] to respond to it.
[47:58] Once you accept comments from lay knowners in the city, we can close the public hearing.
[48:05] Thank you.
[48:06] Very good.
[48:07] Samantha, appreciate that.
[48:08] Why don't we take the recommended action of declaring any expartee communication.
[48:13] Commissioner Monser.
[48:15] I have had none.
[48:17] I have had none.
[48:18] No expartee communication on my end?
[48:19] None here.
[48:20] Same here.
[48:21] Okay.
[48:22] That being said, I want to officially open the public hearing and ask that the representative
[48:28] from the city of Derby would like to share.
[48:37] Good morning, sir.
[48:38] Good morning.
[48:38] I'm Dean Squires, the city of Derby.
[48:40] I don't really have anything to share unless you have questions.
[48:43] Kind of for us.
[48:44] Very good.
[48:45] Any question for Mr. Squires?
[48:47] I'm saying none.
[48:48] I'll hang tight and maybe something will come up and we'll ask for some more input.
[48:52] Is there anybody from the public that would like to provide comment?
[48:55] Okay,
[48:58] seeing none, final questions?
[49:01] Okay, Commissioner Munster.
[49:02] Yeah, Mr. Squires, welcome to the meeting.
[49:05] And I just wanna say appreciate getting to know you
[49:08] over the past years, your participation,
[49:10] Wampo and in the community is admirable.
[49:13] Thanks for all you do for Derby.
[49:15] Derby becoming a pretty good city of the first class.
[49:19] So congratulations.
[49:20] Thank you, and let me just say that we really appreciate
[49:23] all of the partnerships that we have on so many levels
[49:25] with public works and MABCD has been very helpful to us on numerous things.
[49:31] Your legal staff on various issues with agreements and stuff like that, that we've for a long time had a really good working relationship with the county and we very much appreciate that.
[49:43] Yeah, I appreciate that, the relationship between Cesar County and our 20 cities is incredibly important and it's fruitful when we have good working relationships for everybody in this county.
[49:52] So thank you for that acknowledge and we appreciate Derby so much commissioner. How?
[49:56] Mr. Chairman, thank you. I would say something nice things about Dan, but I want you to close the public hearing first.
[50:00] If that's okay. I think that'd be okay. Anybody
[50:04] Anybody else on public comment that would like to share?
[50:07] Okay, then I'll officially close the public hearing and bring the discussion back to the bits commissioner. How?
[50:12] Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to say that I'm so proud of Derby.
[50:16] This is a huge growth area for our city. If you've not been out there, it is it's amazing what's going on to the side of Derby and
[50:21] This is an obvious place that needed to be brought into the city, and a lot of this is really large lots that haven't been, you know, developed I think the way they will be in the future, but the end of the day this is, this is, this is, this is needed and Derby does a great job and Derby sets the bar high for how to provide services to annexations.
[50:43] They've always done a great job.
[50:44] The service plan is awesome and you have provided great services, I don't think she even
[50:48] mentioned them all.
[50:49] I heard on my back of Montreal saw a couple of other things that actually I thought were
[50:53] noteworthy things like library cards and things like that.
[50:56] So, the end of the day, Derby does a great job.
[50:58] I'm proud of the growth and I'm proud of the management of the city of Derby, both of
[51:02] you.
[51:03] Dan Squires as well as Kyle Magnus, you go do a great job in our city council and the mayor.
[51:08] It's a great place to be and I think that it makes total sense that we would certainly
[51:13] approve this post annexation hearing and Mr. Chairman, I'm willing to make a motion at the appropriate time, thank you.
[51:18] Okay. Thank you, Commissioner. Any other questions or comments?
[51:22] Well, since action is in district 5, Commissioner Hall, you're welcome to make a motion.
[51:27] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would move that we make the finding that the city of Derby has, in fact, provided services included within the service extension plan, authorize the County Council's office to draft a resolution to reflect such finding,
[51:39] I mean, sign the resolution, and then send the resolution to the City of Derby.
[51:43] Okay, I'll second that motion.
[51:45] Madam Clerk, please call the roll.
[51:46] Commissioner Meitzner.
[51:47] Aye.
[51:48] Commissioner Dennis.
[51:48] Aye.
[51:49] Commissioner Howell.
[51:50] Aye.
[51:50] Commissioner Lopez.
[51:51] Aye.
[51:51] Chairman Beatty.
[51:51] Aye.
[51:52] Thank you.
[51:53] Thank you, sir.
[51:54] Appreciate you being here.
[51:56] Okay.
[51:58] Moving along.
[51:58] Madam Clerk.
[51:59] Next item, please.
[52:00] Item D, a resolution of the Board of County Commissioners of Central County, Kansas.
[52:05] adopting a Kansas Open Records Act compliance program policy.
[52:09] Thank you.
[52:10] Good morning, Cory.
[52:11] Good morning, Chairman.
[52:13] Good morning, commissioners.
[52:19] Okay, so we're here to talk to you today about the Kansas Open Act compliance program.
[52:26] Chora for short.
[52:29] I will use Chora throughout what I'm saying here today.
[52:37] My name is Cory Stokes.
[52:38] I am the Director of Central Services.
[52:40] So
[52:46] Cora is governed by a statute.
[52:51] It is a law that extends from KSA 45 to 15 through 45 to 23.
[53:01] Specifically states that any citizen of the county should have access or
[53:14] government records.
[53:18] The requester does not have to specifically state I am requesting these records under
[53:26] Cora, however the statute does state that as a government entity we are to liberally
[53:39] apply the standards with data, Cora sets.
[53:42] It's
[53:46] a little bit of background since about 2020.
[53:53] We've been in a process of trying to codify the federal county policy.
[54:00] Unfortunately there's some things that have transpired, COVID being the biggest thing that
[54:06] there wasn't a policy for federal county that was put in place or it hasn't made it to
[54:12] the bench.
[54:12] So we're trying to rectify that now and get this policy on the books.
[54:19] A couple of things that I want to point out about the core of policy.
[54:25] Anybody in the county can take a core of requests.
[54:28] But according to the core, there are three positions that are responsible for the entire program.
[54:35] The Freedom of Information Officer, the official custodian and the open records coordinator.
[54:50] The Freedom of Information Officer is housed in the Records Management Office.
[54:56] Jennifer Scriven is the County Records Manager.
[55:01] She is responsible for the
[55:06] training that our county employees receive.
[55:09] she's responsible for coordinating the open records request, making sure it gets to the correct
[55:16] department. She's also in charge of putting out the education material for the public so they
[55:23] know how to access and request information.
[55:31] The official custodian is the appointed or elected
[55:36] department head of each department.
[55:41] The open records coordinator is assigned or pointed by the official custodian.
[55:51] Cora does state that we are allowed to recoup fees and association with providing records.
[55:58] Those fees look like costs of labor, hard costs that we have to pay in order to produce
[56:09] those records.
[56:12] The one thing that Cora does state, though, is that fees for supplying the request is
[56:19] not to be used as a deterrent to prevent requests.
[56:23] So,
[56:30] some of the procedures that I want to touch on, the Open Records Act is a
[56:35] high standard, it sets a high standard for us as a county. We have three days in
[56:45] order to reply to a request. And what a reply looks like is either letting the
[56:53] Requestor know that there is a cost or there is not a cost for these records.
[57:00] This is how much it is, and either supplying those records, requesting more information so
[57:06] that we can determine if these records are eligible to be released, or
[57:12] a partial or full denial of the records, and any denial that we recommend will be
[57:21] coordinated with the legal office.
[57:34] As I said, the records management office is responsible for training our employees.
[57:41] New employees will receive training during a new employee orientation.
[57:47] Anyone holding a position, any of the three positions that I mentioned will also receive
[57:53] training, more in-depth training on how to handle a core request.
[57:59] there is a enforcement side of Cora there if we are found not
[58:08] in compliant there are fees associated with that so any person or
[58:16] any person now found in complied causing us not into and
[58:21] Excuse me, causing us not to be compliant, can face some disciplinary actions, legal and the FIO will mitigate any discrepancies on that regard and provide a recommendation to the county manager or the department head with moving forward or with those discrepancies.
[58:44] So this is the public brochure that the FIO puts out.
[58:53] I ask that any department that does not have this should be available in any public
[58:59] face and departments.
[59:00] If you do not have it, please contact the Record Management Office or my office.
[59:08] With that, I ask that there are any questions and
[59:14] recommend adoption of the CORE compliance policy.
[59:18] Okay. Cory, thank you so much for the presentation. We've all been briefed and had fairly robust discussions about this and the need for this.
[59:26] One of the reasons there's a need for this type of internal policy and external policy is the amount of volume that comes through to Cory request.
[59:34] Would you be able to give an indication of how much we receive? I don't know, the best measures daily, weekly, monthly. How many Cory request are you processing?
[59:42] Thank you.
[59:43] Good morning, Commissioner.
[59:43] It's Jennifer Scriven.
[59:44] I'm your records manager and Freedom of Information Officer.
[59:48] I keep tabs on that monthly, and it can range anywhere from 14 to 1700 per month, average
[59:55] is right around 1600 per month, and that's for every department.
[1:00:00] Including myself. 1,600 quora, inquiries a month. So that is why we have to have some sort of policy relegating how this thing works and what this looks like. So it's not for nothing that we're going through this exercise. We appreciate the leadership and between you and legal counsel in regards to what this should look like to have a transparent government, but also to make sure we have policies governing how we do these types of things internally. So are there any other questions or comments on the specific policy?
[1:00:30] Okay. Seeing none, I move that we adopt the resolution.
[1:00:33] Second.
[1:00:34] Okay, please call the roll.
[1:00:35] Commissioner Meizner.
[1:00:36] Aye.
[1:00:37] Commissioner Dennis.
[1:00:37] Aye.
[1:00:38] Commissioner Hall.
[1:00:38] Aye.
[1:00:39] Commissioner Lopez.
[1:00:40] Aye. Chairman Beatty.
[1:00:41] Aye. Thank you again for your work on this.
[1:00:43] Thank you.
[1:00:44] Madam Clerk, next item, please.
[1:00:45] Item E.
[1:00:46] Report of the Board of Business and Contracts, regular meeting on July 11th, 2021.
[1:00:50] This is usually when I make a joke about Joe Thomas, but I can't do that today, so.
[1:00:54] Oh, he's watching.
[1:00:54] You can still.
[1:00:56] Good morning.
[1:00:58] Good morning, Mr. Chairman, commissioners,
[1:01:01] plea barrier purchasing department.
[1:01:03] The regular meeting of the Board of Vids and Contracts
[1:01:05] of July 11, 2024 resulted in two items
[1:01:08] that require your approval.
[1:01:10] Item number one, blue stem mistakes, road improvements,
[1:01:13] public works, we recommend to accept the low bid
[1:01:16] from piercing construction, LLC,
[1:01:19] in the amount of $752,214 and 10 cents.
[1:01:23] Item number two, Forensics Software Platform Sheriff's Office.
[1:01:28] We recommend to accept the quote from Magnet Forensics LLC in the amount of $54,390 for a period
[1:01:36] of one year beginning August 15th, 2024 and continuing through August 14th, 2025.
[1:01:43] I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have and I recommend approval of both.
[1:01:47] Okay, very good.
[1:01:48] Thank you.
[1:01:49] Any questions or comments on the bid board?
[1:01:52] Okay, saying none, I move that we approve the recommendations of the Board of Bitten Contracts.
[1:01:57] Okay.
[1:01:58] Okay, I'm quick.
[1:01:59] We have a motion in a second.
[1:02:00] Please call the roll.
[1:02:01] Mr. Meitzner.
[1:02:02] Mr. Dennis.
[1:02:04] Commissioner Lopez.
[1:02:05] Hi.
[1:02:05] Chairman Dady.
[1:02:06] Hi.
[1:02:06] Thank you, Lee.
[1:02:07] Appreciate it.
[1:02:08] Okay.
[1:02:10] I think this is a good place that we can pause the Board of County Commission meeting and call
[1:02:14] to order the officially adjourned the meeting for fire district number one and return us back
[1:02:18] to the Board of County Commission meeting.
[1:02:20] I don't clear next item.
[1:02:22] Consent agenda.
[1:02:24] Manager Stolz.
[1:02:26] Chairman Tom Stolz, again, I recommend approval of consent items F2J on the general meeting
[1:02:32] agenda.
[1:02:33] Okay.
[1:02:34] Any questions on the consent agenda?
[1:02:37] Seeing none, I'll make a motion to approve consent items F through J.
[1:02:41] Okay.
[1:02:42] Motion in a second.
[1:02:43] Item clerk, please put a roll.
[1:02:45] Commissioner Meitzner.
[1:02:45] Commissioner Dennis.
[1:02:47] Commissioner Hal.
[1:02:48] Commissioner Lopez.
[1:02:48] Thank you.
[1:02:49] Chairman Bady.
[1:02:50] Next item, please.
[1:02:52] Budget discussion.
[1:02:53] Okay, commissioners.
[1:02:53] We do have some topics that we want to discuss on budget discussion.
[1:02:58] How do we want to go about this?
[1:02:59] Commissioner Dennis, would you like to start?
[1:03:01] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[1:03:02] I appreciate it.
[1:03:03] And I appreciate the way that we're going through the budget process.
[1:03:09] In the past, we'd gotten to the point where that we were surprised on budget day with different
[1:03:15] motions by different commissioners. That is not the way to do business.
[1:03:20] And so last year what we started doing was asking the commissioners if they had an issue
[1:03:26] to bring it up ahead of time so that we could go through it. And that way that every one
[1:03:31] of the commissioners know exactly what we're looking at on budget adoption day. Now I did include
[1:03:38] one because I brought it up earlier. As we get into the budget on August 21st, whether
[1:03:45] the other commissioners agree with me or disagree with me, I do not believe it's a reason
[1:03:50] to vote against the budget at that point in time. But it is healthy for us to discuss this
[1:03:57] ahead of time so that there's not an argument. And there's not people being surprised at
[1:04:03] the end. So what I ask for was a discussion about the lobbyist that we have in Washington,
[1:04:10] D.C. And as I said, I brought this up in the past. We pay, I think, 60,000, 70,000 now,
[1:04:19] a year for a lobbyist in D.C. We never bid that out. We didn't go into any kind of open bid
[1:04:26] process, we just selected someone and I'm not certain that the results that we have
[1:04:35] received is worth $70,000 a year. And so that's why I ask for that to be included
[1:04:42] today. Again, whether on 21st August, I have agreement from anyone else will not impact
[1:04:49] whether or not that this almost 900 page budget is adopted. At least I'm not going to vote
[1:04:55] against it because of one item, so I guess you have some information about this and I'm anxious
[1:05:04] here and then I'll have some questions for you.
[1:05:06] Thank you, Commissioner Danes.
[1:05:07] Thank you for laying out the process as we go forward here.
[1:05:10] On the issue of federal lobbyist, the federal lobbyist position was created or we came into contract with
[1:05:21] form run in the 2019 area we had a change of commission historically.
[1:05:26] The county had never had a federal lobbyist, the commission that was at the time, made
[1:05:34] a decision that as the second largest county in state of Kansas, maybe we should have federal
[1:05:38] lobbying.
[1:05:38] So that's where this relationship with the form run was born.
[1:05:43] Just to correct the number, a commissioner, it is a 78,000 contract per year.
[1:05:51] It's 6,500 per month and I believe it's been that rate since the inception when we when we contracted with dorm run.
[1:06:00] It is considered a single source bid, a single source contract.
[1:06:07] This current contract we're under now has expiration of 1231 of 25, in other words, we have another year of renewable if the commission wishes to go there.
[1:06:18] We signed this latest contract, the current contract, we were in, in December of 2023.
[1:06:25] Yesterday, I sent you a self assessment from Mr. Davenport through on run of what services they provide.
[1:06:35] In addition, I pulled some staff, finance, public works, the sheriff's office,
[1:06:41] people that have more direct touch points with the federal lobbyist to get their assessment on any anecdotal
[1:06:48] types of services that Mr. Davenport provides to them or the county organization.
[1:06:56] I received a few and all this blaze through them very quickly here.
[1:07:01] In the finance department, they have found value in Thorn Run's update on housing appropriation processes, cuts or additions, information pertinent to broadband funding on the federal level deadlines that an update.
[1:07:16] Brick updates and awards of middle deadlines, an update concerning inflation reduction act, local government provisions.
[1:07:26] They receive a new grant newsletter like we all do, news on mega grants, timelines, eligibility, etc.
[1:07:33] Senator COVID-19 supplemental funding bill information, the assistance on getting a appropriations
[1:07:45] ask of 2 million into Senator Moran for our proposed EOC.
[1:07:51] And then we had I think the Commissioner where we had a refund payment from IRS about a
[1:07:55] year ago that was mystifying all of us and Mr. Davenport helping negotiate and navigate
[1:08:01] the proper handling of that, of that fund repayment, so it was done ethically.
[1:08:09] And then he's also recently provided a summary of federal grant update.
[1:08:12] We had someone in Senator Marshall's reach out to commissioners on how they could assist the county.
[1:08:18] And we got a summary report from Mr. Davenport on what would be available there.
[1:08:24] From public works, they feel like Mr. Davenport is instrumental in providing
[1:08:29] needing urgent 95 attention to Senator Rand's office and
[1:08:34] insight and expertise on bipartisan infrastructure law grant funding.
[1:08:39] The sheriff's office does not use, Sheriff Tomi, he does not necessarily use Mr.
[1:08:44] Davenport, he connects to the federal delegation through the National Sheriff Association.
[1:08:50] So he has little, he does not care one way or another what the commission decides on keeping a federal lobbyist or not.
[1:08:58] So, based on that, I think the question at hand today is a fiscal one, and I think the commission,
[1:09:04] like in any area of the budget, has to determine if they were getting quality for the quantity we're paying, and I think that's the discussion we need to have today.
[1:09:12] Thank you, Tom. I appreciate that analysis. A couple of questions though.
[1:09:18] We have a state lobbyist, which does a fantastic job every year, and we bid that out.
[1:09:24] I think it's contracts coming up fairly soon.
[1:09:29] Why is it important to bid one and not bid the other?
[1:09:33] We can bid either commissioner.
[1:09:37] I think the first touch point, the first decision point of the commission is do you feel
[1:09:41] like the need that we even need federal lobbying?
[1:09:44] If that's true, then is it foreign run or do we want to, does the commission as a body want
[1:09:49] to go out for a bid for competition?
[1:09:53] But Joe is not here today, but, and I might have to add to lean on the envelope a little bit on the single source designation on this last contract, but we definitely could put that out for Ben.
[1:10:06] I appreciate that answer again.
[1:10:08] And you touched on really one of the major points is do we actually need a federal lobbyist?
[1:10:16] I think every one of the five of us on this bench talk regularly with both of our senators
[1:10:23] and our representatives.
[1:10:27] All you got to do is take a look at some of the pictures that we have.
[1:10:30] We're constantly with one of our senators or one of our representatives.
[1:10:33] And their staff works with us great.
[1:10:39] I said on the Air Force selection board for Senator Moran,
[1:10:44] Senator Marshall, and Congressman Estes.
[1:10:47] Do I talk to them?
[1:10:48] Absolutely.
[1:10:49] So they know exactly what our issues are.
[1:10:52] So the first step is do we actually need
[1:10:57] one of some lobbyists in DC?
[1:11:00] But then the second portion of my question is that this year the budget is tight and we are looking all over the place for ways that we can save money and not put the property taxpayer and more jeopardy for paying additional property tax.
[1:11:21] So as a result of that, you had over six minutes, who has got a cut, said to County Fair, has a cut.
[1:11:27] Yeah, Kansas,
[1:11:33] South African American Museum has a cut.
[1:11:36] The Historical Museum has a cut, River Festival has a cut.
[1:11:39] Arts Council has a cut.
[1:11:41] Exploration place has a cut.
[1:11:42] Economic development has a cut.
[1:11:45] Mental health and substance abuse.
[1:11:46] That was one we knew was going to go away.
[1:11:48] And the Extension Council had a cut.
[1:11:50] But so again, I go back to the same question that I ask about the $6 million is this lobbyist
[1:11:59] in DC more important than all of those things put together.
[1:12:04] And it's hard for me to say it is.
[1:12:07] It's hard for me to say that $78,000 for a lobbyist in DC when we have contact with our senators
[1:12:14] representatives constantly is more important than all of this.
[1:12:18] So, how do I talk to the public and how do I talk to each one of these when I say I'm
[1:12:23] going to cut you, but I want to keep somebody that we didn't even bid out that we just selected
[1:12:28] and we continue to fund at $78,000 a year.
[1:12:32] So, that's all I have to say about,
[1:12:40] honestly, it'll come up on the 21st of August.
[1:12:45] I hope that I have at least two other commissioners that agree with me on this.
[1:12:50] If I don't, I'm not fallen on my sword by any means.
[1:12:55] This is an important budget, and I'll vote for the budget.
[1:12:59] But I sincerely hope that I get two more commissioners that understand that we're cutting huge things.
[1:13:05] We didn't fund things that were necessary, and yet we believe that someone in DC is more important.
[1:13:13] Thank you, Mr. Manager, I appreciate it.
[1:13:17] Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I just want to clarify so the commissioner from District 3 is advocating we would just cut this from the budget this year, is that what you're saying?
[1:13:24] You'd like to see us cut this out of the budget this year, yes.
[1:13:27] Okay.
[1:13:28] I'll just say this, this budget approval isn't necessarily picking the Thorne Run or Mr. Davenport.
[1:13:38] or it's simply an appropriation for that lobbyist position.
[1:13:42] Again, if we keep a lobbyist position,
[1:13:44] I do agree that we ought to have it go out to bed.
[1:13:48] I would tell you that I believe that
[1:13:56] actually,
[1:13:57] Jim's done a pretty good job.
[1:13:59] I especially appreciate his bringing up
[1:14:02] to our only five project on federal level.
[1:14:05] And I think we've seen some movement there
[1:14:06] and I give him credit for that.
[1:14:08] We don't, I don't think I don't have a good visibility
[1:14:10] of exactly how much of his day has spent lobbying for
[1:14:15] Sedgwick County versus other municipalities.
[1:14:17] We don't really know how many customers he's got.
[1:14:19] And I would agree with the previous speaker that, again,
[1:14:23] I have cell phone numbers and great relationship with both
[1:14:29] of our U.S. senators and three of our congressional members.
[1:14:32] And I know the candidates, several of them,
[1:14:33] I think the leading candidates for replacing
[1:14:36] the district two Congress.
[1:14:39] And so, the end of the day, I believe that I have a way to make a federal
[1:14:49] request, if you will.
[1:14:51] It's nice having good relationships with these folks.
[1:14:55] I even feel like we have the commission as a whole, as good relationship with Governor Laura Kelly.
[1:15:00] So, we have, you know, folks in these levels, these positions that are, they're very interested in Central County. And I don't know if that necessarily requires a federal lobbyist for us to make a request to those folks and let them actually work the issues for us as their constituents. We are very, Central County is very important to all of our federal representatives, both U.S. Congress, U.S. Senate and U.S. House. I haven't said that. Most of the years I was here when I first became
[1:15:29] a commissioner, we didn't have a federal obvious.
[1:15:32] In fact, we didn't even have a state lobbyist.
[1:15:34] We used a personal, we used a county staff for that.
[1:15:41] And I think that we've stepped up on that level
[1:15:44] because we've seen an awful lot of legislation
[1:15:46] that we actually needed to be,
[1:15:48] might think a little bit more energetic perhaps
[1:15:51] and more successful in moving our issues forward,
[1:16:00] bringing on that aspect of what he does.
[1:16:02] But this is not about him personally.
[1:16:04] I think he does a good job.
[1:16:05] and I know he's done some things for us recently that I do appreciate, but in terms of trying to get our budget
[1:16:16] back under control, I think somebody $8,000 haircut to that part of the budget does make sense. I probably would support that. Thank you.
[1:16:22] Okay. Appreciate the dialogue, Commissioner Meister.
[1:16:27] Okay. I respect both opinions. I respectfully disagree. I think that Mr. Davenport is a value,
[1:16:36] just even one success story of $3 million at dark 95 or another one at the EOC,
[1:16:45] dwarfs what we spend for his attention, but on a work basis he's well known in the
[1:16:55] department at the government at federal government level and he knows how to
[1:17:00] navigate through complex, I don't want to use the word swamp, but I did use the word
[1:17:08] But even the key management under the federal, under the senator's offices and our congressional
[1:17:19] offices appreciate that their staff can lean on him to get in to talk to the right level
[1:17:27] at the department level, so I don't know what if we do not have a federal lobbyist or
[1:17:39] we did not have somebody's respected as his organization is, we'll never know what
[1:17:44] we missed out on.
[1:17:46] So I think any of those departments that were a light bulb moment for me is when you're
[1:17:52] not all the departments or all those agencies that are potentially taking a 10% in
[1:18:05] the budget.
[1:18:06] Any of we could introduce this to any of those departments to see if there's grant opportunities,
[1:18:12] for instance, at the zoo or any of those departments.
[1:18:16] He's got a staff that knows and he quickly answers the phone and he quickly would respond back and say,
[1:18:23] yeah, there will be opportunities or he'll quickly say no, there's not an opportunity.
[1:18:28] So he's a real yes-no person on on evaluation and evaluation and
[1:18:34] Again, I think it's I would feel bad for the community if we knew that other counties around the country were
[1:18:42] having opportunities where they could succeed based on that and and we failed not because we
[1:18:49] We failed, but we failed because we weren't unaware of an opportunity that we could succeed
[1:18:58] on.
[1:18:59] So, it's a tough one, I agree, it's tough, but I've just seen too many of the successes
[1:19:07] that far outweigh the cost on the impact.
[1:19:11] We introduced him to which state universities succeeding in getting a $51 million grant at
[1:19:21] one of like 30 or 40 I can't remember what it was out of 500 applicants and our whole
[1:19:28] region got a $51 million grant which is a large, large grant and as a matter of fact we're
[1:19:36] updating that here this afternoon on year two of that grant.
[1:19:41] So the impact is huge.
[1:19:44] You never know when you win something, what was the thing that won?
[1:19:48] Was it Commissioner Dennis talking to Senator Moran?
[1:19:53] Was it Pete Meitzner talking over here?
[1:19:55] Was it a lobbyist working in the department?
[1:19:58] You never know when they're evaluating all those, what the real anchor was.
[1:20:02] but I think he's part of a team of success and any
[1:20:14] of you could call him on his cell phone
[1:20:17] and he answers right away and ask any questions. So I'm supportive of keeping that in the budget
[1:20:25] for positive reasons for our community. Thank you.
[1:20:35] Okay.
[1:20:38] Again, I appreciate the positions of all my commissioners.
[1:20:42] I wanted to bring this up so that we could start going through the process who we're
[1:20:46] going to use throughout the budget cycle.
[1:20:49] But one other point that the manager made was that Sheriff uses his national organization
[1:20:56] to lobby for him.
[1:20:58] Don't forget we have NACO.
[1:20:59] We belong to a national organization that lobbies for us and
[1:21:08] we pay money for that.
[1:21:09] So maybe there's a trade-off if we don't think that we need NACO and we need the lobbyist more
[1:21:16] Maybe that's something we need to look at
[1:21:18] So maybe as we move forward we can bring that up at the next meeting because
[1:21:24] We do have someone that's lobbying for us in BC and that's called the National Association of Counties. Thank you
[1:21:31] Okay, thank you commissioner. Oh, yes. Thank you. I'm just with the discussion today
[1:21:37] I think it's really important to just mention that Commissioner Meissner and I went and spoke with Senator Moran recently and talked about a couple of items which were
[1:21:46] Arc 95 and the new EOC building and we do have great relationships with with our partners at the federal level and I think that's wonderful.
[1:21:55] But at the end of the day, if someone comes and talks to any of us about an issue, we turn around and go and talk to staff because that's the group that actually is on the ground getting the work done.
[1:22:05] And I feel like that's where Jim comes in is, yes, we talked to Moran, and he could
[1:22:10] push from his perspective, but if we have someone also advocating at the staff level that
[1:22:14] can help kind of move these things forward, it's really helpful.
[1:22:17] And just, I mean, a couple of months after those conversations, Jim emailed us with that
[1:22:23] we were getting, or hopefully you're getting the $2 million for the EOC and $3 million for
[1:22:27] ARC 95.
[1:22:27] And I think that just goes to show, when we all work together, what can be accomplished
[1:22:33] in $78,000 is a lot.
[1:22:35] but $5 million from that I think is significant as well.
[1:22:38] So I am not in favor of getting rid of that contract,
[1:22:43] but I can understand where you're at too.
[1:22:45] So that's where I'm at with this one item.
[1:22:48] Thank you.
[1:22:48] Appreciate the conversation.
[1:22:50] Two questions, Tom.
[1:22:51] Number one is this is a contract with Davenport.
[1:22:54] That's an annual contract.
[1:22:55] It is, it's renewable till the end of 25.
[1:22:58] Okay.
[1:22:58] Does the city wish I'll have a federal lobbyist?
[1:23:01] They do.
[1:23:01] And it's separate from Gibbon Davenport.
[1:23:03] There's no other store in the room.
[1:23:04] Okay, we use the same lobbyist.
[1:23:06] Okay, okay, just a good discussion.
[1:23:09] I appreciate that.
[1:23:10] Any other discussion on this specific topic?
[1:23:13] I think it's, I think we should probably receive and file this discussion.
[1:23:19] So I'll move that we receive and file the discussion pertaining to budget discussion today.
[1:23:25] Second.
[1:23:25] Motion a second.
[1:23:27] Madam Clerk, please call the roll.
[1:23:27] Mr. Martin, Mr. Dennis, Mr. Cal, Mr. Lopez, Chairman Beatty.
[1:23:35] Okay, next item, please.
[1:23:38] Committee reports.
[1:23:39] Okay, commissioners, anything on committee reports?
[1:23:43] Yes.
[1:23:44] Oh, so Mr. Martin.
[1:23:45] Oh, yeah.
[1:23:47] Thank you.
[1:23:49] I just, you know, we also, speaking of memberships, we belong to REAP, the regional
[1:23:56] economic area of partnership, 10 counties, whatever, anyway, I did take the last meeting,
[1:24:03] some of the meetings are pretty valuable, some are not as valuable, but this last one
[1:24:09] there was a really extensive presentation by Workforce Alliance about employment trends
[1:24:16] in a, they're required by federal law to have their regions and they don't match up directly
[1:24:22] with like maybe a REAP region or a regional region, they don't line up exactly, but it's
[1:24:32] pretty close in our area.
[1:24:34] Anyway, the workforce alliance has a license, and I'm glad our HR directors here, because
[1:24:44] they showed some incredible trends, and I know some of us are data-driven, better than
[1:24:49] others. Commissioner, now. But it's really good. And the important thing that you can
[1:24:57] peruse through that. Anyway, I got that report and I shared it with Lisa to share it with
[1:25:02] you all, including the manager and the HR director. And the key part is that he has a, that
[1:25:08] they have a license that if we looked at a thing and some triggers to say, well, I'd like
[1:25:14] to know a little more detail about this right could you think of that they
[1:25:19] Amanda there at workforce alliances really a bright person and she was
[1:25:24] encouraging that that ask anything we can we lose our our license we had a
[1:25:29] request for them and they'll they'll give us a report so it's really employment
[1:25:33] statistical stuff that's so it's pretty deep and like the presentation they
[1:25:39] only showed really ten slides during the meeting that I think it's about 30
[1:25:43] e-slides, but there's a lot of charts, graphs, and everything else. So I just wanted to say
[1:25:47] that that was pretty valuable in another part of that same email you'll see from the
[1:25:54] Extension Center talked about, again, grants and assistance that they've been doing that
[1:26:00] I was unaware of. And there's a few slides in there that a lot of our nonprofits can utilize
[1:26:07] as well as grant assistance that maybe we've got a pretty good grant area person as well,
[1:26:14] but maybe that's, there may be already connected, but anyway, I also should make sure
[1:26:18] that finance gets very few when it comes in that too.
[1:26:22] So, anyway, that's my report on REAP, so thank you.
[1:26:27] Very good, anything else in your committee reports?
[1:26:30] Okay, saying no next item, please.
[1:26:32] Other?
[1:26:33] Okay, anything for other?
[1:26:36] I would just simply say that we're moving towards an election, a primary election, August
[1:26:41] 6th. One of the things that the commission and the county commission and our election
[1:26:47] commission is really advocated for is more polling sites. The best way to increase accessibility
[1:26:52] to voting is to have more polling sites throughout the community. With that being said, with more
[1:26:58] polling sites, we need more volunteers to work the primary election. We just encourage the
[1:27:02] community. I think it's a wonderful learning experience, but it's a community service event
[1:27:07] to be able to come and serve the election commissioner and the elections of department
[1:27:12] for the primary. We do need more workers, we do need more volunteers, so please, if you're
[1:27:18] interested in doing so, please contact the elections office and they will give you all the
[1:27:23] resources you need to help sign up and to activate you into volunteering during the primary
[1:27:27] election. Lots of opportunities and they do need help. So, Commissioner Howell. Just to follow up on that, I think you
[1:27:33] Chairman, she did provide a report to the Cedric County Association of Cities meeting on Saturday and she did say that she does have the staff that she
[1:27:43] needs for this election cycle. The November election I'm sure she'll need some more. But I mean, if people want to help out for the November election, I think that's a great call for help, but I think she does have the primary election is
[1:27:55] is taking care of in terms of first half needs.
[1:27:56] Okay, very good.
[1:27:57] I could appreciate that update.
[1:27:59] Well, for the primary election in November, please,
[1:28:01] we're gonna need a lot of help.
[1:28:02] General election in November.
[1:28:04] You can tell I'm not in a campaign right now, right?
[1:28:07] Sorry.
[1:28:09] For the general election in November,
[1:28:11] I think it's very important.
[1:28:12] We need to be able to support.
[1:28:13] One of the things that we are specifically attuned to
[1:28:16] is trying to get more polling locations,
[1:28:18] more polling sites for more accessibility.
[1:28:20] With that means more need for volunteers, more need for help.
[1:28:23] So, um, please make sure you're helping to volunteer.
[1:28:26] Um, okay.
[1:28:27] Anything else under either?
[1:28:38] I'm saying none.
[1:28:39] Next item, please.
[1:28:40] Executive session.
[1:28:41] Okay.
[1:28:42] We do have that.
[1:28:42] Chairman Dady.
[1:28:43] Bye.
[1:28:44] Okay.
[1:28:46] Are we going to go right over here, Tom?
[1:28:48] Six.
[1:28:48] We're going to go up to the 6th floor.
[1:28:49] So, uh, off to the 6th floor.
[1:28:52] I'll see you back 45 minutes.
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