KAPS critics turn out for listening tour

Topeka — Kansas Advocacy and Protective Services has a lot of work to do.

About 40 people — parents, social workers and advocates, mostly — let Rocky Nichols, KAPS’ new executive director, know on Monday that they had grown weary of program’s isolation, silence and poor performance in recent years.

“KAPS hasn’t been carrying its weight,” said Kevin Siek, an advocate for people with disabilities.

Siek and others gathered at the State Historical Society in Topeka for the stop in a three-day listening tour aimed at reconfiguring the troubled agency.

Financed by a series of federal grants, KAPS is supposed to defend the rights of people with disabilities. But the agency recently found itself in hot water after an audit uncovered financial improprieties involving a past board president.

Nichols, a former state legislator, said the group’s criticism would be taken seriously.

KAPS’ governing board is planning a public forum of its own in September.

County to consider rural paving offer

Rural residents fed up with dusty gravel roads near their homes once again are offering to put up their own money to smooth things over.

Now they need the Douglas County Commission to go along.

Tonight, commissioners are scheduled to discuss options for treating 2.4 miles of gravel roads southeast of Eudora:

• North 1137 Road, which serves Hesper Heights, a residential subdivision;
• East 2300 Road, from North 1137 to North 1100 roads;
• and North 1100 Road, from County Road 1061 to the east side of Hesper Heights Church, about 1.7 miles away.

Hiring a contractor to add a “chip and seal” surface would cost $161,000, compared with rock and a dust palliative for $40,000, said Keith Browning, county engineer.

About 20 homeowners have set aside at least $1,500 each to cover project costs.

Commissioners have put them off, waiting for cost estimates.

Tonight’s meeting begins at 6:35 at the county courthouse, 1100 Mass.