Topeka ? Douglas County officials will host the first in a series of town hall meetings Monday night to discuss issues surrounding the county jail, and one of the issues likely to come up will be how to pay for a possible expansion of the jail.

But County Commissioner Mike Gaughan said Friday that a bill pending in the Kansas House that deals with public building commissions won’t play a role in the county’s decision.

“The key distinction for us is going to be what’s the right mechanism to finance the project,” Gaughan said.

Currently, he said, the county is considering at least two options, if any such expansion is authorized. One would be to seek a public vote on a countywide sales tax. Another would be to finance the project through the county’s public building commission.

Under current law, county public building commissions are not required to seek voter approval before issuing revenue bonds unless a protest petition is filed. House Bill 2296 would make it easier for citizens to file such a petition by lengthening the time they have to gather signatures and reducing the number of signatures needed to force the issue onto a ballot.

That bill passed out of the House Committee on Local Government March 13 and is awaiting action by the full House.

But Gaughan said the county is not looking for a way to minimize public participation in the decision.

“The focus on the public building commission has been on the public involvement,” Gaughan said. “We are going to do an extremely public process anyway.”

The meeting Monday night is being organized by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department, although commissioners and other county officials are expected to attend. The focus will be on the jail’s role in the criminal justice system and the effect other community services have on its operation, according to a news release from the Sheriff’s Department.

“We have a research project underway to understand why our jail population is changing,” Gaughan said. “Before we can figure out what changes to make at the jail, we need to figure out what the community needs.”

The town hall meeting will be from 6-7:30 p.m. Monday in the county commission chambers of the courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.