The Kansas Department of Transportation is going to find someone to mediate the dispute between Douglas and Jefferson counties over planned repairs to the Kansas River bridge at Lecompton.

If a mediator fails to get the two counties to agree, then KDOT Secretary Deb Miller will step in and decide the issue herself, she said in a letter recently sent to the two county commissions.

There are two decisions to be made, Miller noted. One is whether to close the bridge over the Kansas River on Douglas County Road 1029 during major repairs or keep it open to one lane. The second issue is deciding who pays for the extra cost if one option is more expensive than the other.

State statutes do not outline a process for resolving such a dispute, Miller wrote in her letter. “I believe the ideal outcome would be for the counties to resolve this without my intervention.”

Douglas County Commission Chairman Bob Johnson said he still hopes the two counties can resolve the dispute on their own. If not, then he said he is agreeable to Miller’s proposal. Jefferson County Commission Chairman Lynn Luck couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

Douglas County commissioners want the bridge closed during the repairs while Jefferson County commissioners want it left open to one lane. Jefferson County commissioners have said total closure would hurt the Perry-Lecompton School District and Perry businesses.

Douglas County commissioners say keeping one lane open will present its own safety problems, and they note that the bridge still would have to be closed on short notice at different times up to a total of 60 days.

The counties are supposed to submit written statements on their positions to KDOT by Oct. 27. A daylong mediation hearing will take place during the week of Oct. 30 to Nov. 3.

Jefferson County asked KDOT to intervene in the bridge issue. Douglas County initially opposed it but earlier this week dropped that opposition.