Major changes are under way at the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services area office in Lawrence.

Instead of the office overseeing SRS operations in seven counties, it’s now in a six-county region overseen by an office in Kansas City.

“The agency is changing the way it does business, that’s for sure,” said Arthurine Criswell, area director at the Lawrence office until July 1, when she’ll answer to the Kansas City office.

How the reconfiguration will affect the office’s 113 employees remains to be seen, but area residents who receive SRS services shouldn’t notice much difference, Criswell said.

“The county groupings are different, and some of the senior managers’ duties may change, but direct-care services — what goes on locally — shouldn’t change,” she said. “A lot of what’s going on is still in the planning stage.”

Currently, about 10,000 Douglas County adults and children receive services or aid through the Lawrence SRS office.

Before March 1, the Lawrence area office’s territory included Douglas, Franklin, Jefferson, Jackson, Atchison, Brown and Doniphan counties.

Today, the Lawrence office is coupled with Wyandotte, Johnson, Leavenworth, Franklin and Miami counties. The new region will have about 600 SRS employees. The seven-county area had 206 employees.

Saving money

The reconfiguration is part of a consolidation plan initiated by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius last year in hopes of cutting overhead and personnel costs by $1 million or $2 million annually. Roughly one-third of the now-closed offices were open less than 20 hours a week, said Kyle Kessler, a spokesman for SRS’ central office in Topeka.

The plan called for SRS to consolidate 11 regions to six and eventually close offices in as many as 63 counties.

“We’re ahead of schedule,” Kessler said. “So far, 45 offices have been closed.”

Kessler said another “dozen or so” offices would be closed by June 2005.

“What’s happened is that landlords are finding other tenants for the buildings we’re in now,” he said, “So instead of waiting for the lease to expire, they’re saying, ‘Let’s just go ahead and do it now,’ which is to both our advantages.”

In northeast Kansas, offices targeted for closure include those in Holton, Troy and Oskaloosa. Workers in these offices are expected to assume similar positions in SRS offices in Topeka, Hiawatha or Atchison. None will be laid off, SRS officials said.

Adding access points

The closings have been made possible by various developments:

Epilepsy care advocates seek SRS funding Social services consolidated across state Russians engage in epilepsy fight

• Steady declines in population in rural counties.
• Lawmakers no longer requiring SRS to maintain offices in all 105 counties.
• State and federal policies that no longer require in-person interviews for welfare benefits.
• Increased availability of the Internet and installation of a toll-free number for questions on welfare benefits.

Coinciding with the closings, SRS is opening more than 300 “access points” in libraries, courthouses, hospitals, senior centers and other locations across the state.

In nine counties in northeast Kansas, for example, East Central Kansas Economic Opportunity Corp. offices now help the needy apply for aid, a task once reserved for SRS workers.

“Our coordinators can handle the basics, and when something outside the norm comes up, they have people they can call,” said Jim Baze, director of human resources coordinators at ECKAN.

Smooth transition

In the wake of closing 45 offices, SRS has received barely a handful of complaints, Kessler said.

“It’s been smooth,” he said.

The transition has its skeptics.

“I had concerns early on, and I still have concerns,” said Gary Brunk, executive director at Kansas Action for Children. “The issue I see is access to information for those who don’t have a phone, don’t have a car or don’t have access to the Internet. I’m not so sure the support systems for these folks are there.”