photo by: Jackson Barton/Journal-World File Photo

The Douglas County Courthouse and downtown Lawrence are pictured in an aerial photo Saturday, July 13, 2019.

Douglas County is seeking to hear from residents about whether they would like to see the County Commission expand from three members to five.

The county has scheduled a listening session for Dec. 9 to gather residents’ input about expanding the commission after more residents started getting in touch with local leaders about the idea.

Commissioners initially expressed interest in expanding the commission to five members in March, but at a meeting in July they essentially decided to put the conversations aside because few residents had expressed interest in the idea. At that time, commissioners agreed that unless they heard from more residents, they would not move forward with a public election on the topic.

County spokesperson Karrey Britt said that following the July meeting, more people started reaching out to commissioners about the topic, so the county decided to have the listening session. As part of the session, County Clerk Jamie Shew will give a presentation on how the process for moving to a five-member commission would work and then the commission will take comments from the public.

Shew said increasing the number of districts requires a public election, which could be accomplished through a resolution passed by the commission or from a public petition. He said the resolution or petition would determine the specific ballot language, and if voters approved the measure then new district maps would be established following the election. Once the district maps had been approved, there would be an election for the newly created districts.

The public discussion about the size of the commission arose following the 2020 election, which resulted in a commission composed entirely of Lawrence residents for possibly the first time. George Hunsinger, public policy chair for the Douglas County Farm Bureau, said at the time that some rural residents worried that could mean the commission would be too focused on Lawrence issues.

The county has about 120,000 residents, with about 100,000 of those residents, or about 80%, living in Lawrence. In subsequently discussing a potential expansion, some commissioners also spoke to the larger issue of representation, since each commissioner currently represents about 40,000 people.

Britt said the listening session in December is the only event planned for now, but that could change. She said residents could also reach out to commissioners or county staff to provide input.

The listening session will be held online via Zoom, but there will also be staff at the Douglas County courthouse if residents want to participate in person. The event will take place at 6 p.m. on Dec. 9, and those interested in participating online will be able to find a link to do so as the event gets closer on the county’s website, douglascountyks.org.