The city of Lecompton wants to find a better way to address problems such as sloppy yards, vandalism and speeding.

“We need law enforcement to enforce our codes. Period,” Mayor Roy Paslay told Douglas County commissioners Wednesday night during a joint city and county meeting in Lecompton City Hall.

Paslay and other Lecompton City Council members asked commissioners and Douglas County Sheriff Ken McGovern about contracting with the sheriff’s office for municipal police service. Currently sheriff’s officers respond to calls in Lecompton, but the town doesn’t have an officer permanently stationed there, and response times vary.

“It depends on whether we’re a mile away or 15 miles,” McGovern said.

And sheriff’s officers are sometimes limited on how far they can go in enforcing municipal laws, McGovern said.

Hiring a code enforcement officer and a part-time police officer could mean Lecompton also would have to start its own municipal court, city and county leaders said. Currently violators of municipal codes receive a letter from the city directing them to fix problems such as neglected yards. If necessary, the city will take the matter to Douglas County District Court.

Sheriff’s officers responded to a little more than 400 calls in Lecompton during the first half of the year, McGovern said. Council members asked McGovern to come up with a breakdown on the types of calls and attend a future city meeting to discuss the matter further.

The council also talked to commissioners about getting help for making improvements to Woodson Avenue, the town’s main east-west thoroughfare, which is also a section of County Route 1023. Commissioners approved putting a new surface on the street, but that doesn’t address all of the road’s problems, county engineer Keith Browning said.

Rain water runoff is washing away the ditches and damaging historical limestone curbs along sections of the road.

“It’s a part of Lecompton’s history,” Paslay said of the curbs.

Erosion could affect the road bed, Browning said. The city also would like to lower the difference in elevation levels between the road and the limestone curbs, which has a steep drop off and has brought complaints from property owners.

The cost for fixing the erosion, road and curb problems could be at least $2 million, Browning said. He suggested applying for federal transportation enhancement funding through the Kansas Department of Transportation. But funding is tight, he said.

To get that funding, the county and Lecompton would have to join to come up with local matching funding. A willingness to pick up 50 percent of the overall cost might also increase the chances of obtaining funds, Browning said. And the city and county will have to determine how much each can afford to put into that 50 percent.

Commissioner Charles Jones noted that the county sets aside the equivalent of four mills each year into a county capital improvement fund. That fund is used to pay for projects on a list. Once a year commissioners decide what projects will get funds, including projects in the Baldwin City and Eudora areas.

“Tell us what you can afford and we’ll consider it along with the others,” Jones said.

Commissioner Jere McElhaney said he would be willing to set aside some money to get the project moving.

“I’d like to not see it die,” Councilman Mark Tunstall said. “We still want it more or less done; we just don’t have the money.”