Douglas County Commission Chair, Karen Willey

Now that she’s officially the chair of the Douglas County Commission, Karen Willey says she hopes to keep social services and economic development at the forefront of the commission’s discussions in 2024.

At Wednesday’s Douglas County Commission meeting, Willey was voted the commission’s chair for 2024, taking over the role from Patrick Kelly. The chair position is tasked with presiding over meetings and providing leadership and direction for the board. Typically, at the start of each year, the vice chair of the commission becomes the new chair; Willey was the vice chair in 2023.

In an interview after the meeting, Willey mentioned homelessness and affordable housing as among the county’s immediate priorities. She said that the joint plan between the city of Lawrence and Douglas County to address the homelessness crisis in the city is “still evolving.”

“We’ll have a conversation with the city next week and are (figuring out) some of those roles within that,” she said.

She also said that affordable housing is on the minds of many Lawrence residents, and that more data would help the county assess its progress on that front. She said she realizes it’s difficult to be “part of the working world when people are worried about being housed.”

“I think we owe the community a lot of transparency,” Willey said, “and we’re really wanting to get good metrics on what we’re doing and how much that saves the community in terms of dollars.”

Ensuring that the county’s mental health crisis system functions smoothly is also a priority for Willey. She touted the recent creation of an advisory board for the Treatment and Recovery Center “that will kind of help put eyes on all the pieces of the puzzle.”

“And we have other pieces of that crisis system that are still being implemented,” she said.

Economic development and finding ways to support local entrepreneurs are also things that Willey said she “cares deeply about.” She said the county has “many things in the works” on that front and had been working to start conversations with community partners on “what entrepreneurship looks like” locally. In the past year, the discussion has included programs designed specifically for minority business owners.

“We’re really trying to focus on getting services in the hands of people who may have been excluded in the past,” Willey said.

If the county can attract more types of employers, Willey said, that could also broaden the county’s tax base and give it more room to provide tax relief for homeowners. County commissioners approved a budget for this year with a lower mill levy, but rising property values meant many property owners still owed more in taxes to the county than they did a year earlier.

“Having more industrial space and job centers will make us a stronger economy overall,” she said, “and will shift that tax burden away from strictly leaning on residences.”

Willey said that she would also like to see the county continue to make strides on its climate change and adaptability plan, as well as its open space plan.

“Those two pieces are interesting because they will both come into play when we have our renewable energy discussions,” she said.

The commission also chose Commissioner Shannon Reid to be its vice chair for 2024.

In other business, commissioners:

• Approved, in the consent agenda, the purchase of five 2024 Ford F-150s for $251,589 to replace five higher-mileage Dodge Durangos in the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office patrol fleet. The fleet is currently composed of 25 Durangos and two 2023 F-150s, but Sheriff’s Office Patrol Captain Josh Kellerman told the Journal-World this week that the Durango patrol vehicles would soon stop being manufactured.

“By transitioning some vehicles now, we can manage the change by adding proven vehicles into the fleet,” Kellerman said in an email on Tuesday. “The Ford F-150 Police Responder is a pursuit rated vehicle (that’s) no different than current law enforcement vehicles on the road.”

• Approved an amendment to a contract related to the planned renovation of the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center. The contract covers the remainder of work required to get the project designed and documented for construction, while also ensuring that architectural firm TreanorHL is paid for work that requires additional study of the commission’s selected set of variations for the remodel. Under the contract, TreanorHL will be paid a percentage of the total cost of construction. The new contract calls for that fee to be 8.1%, which is down from the previous agreement’s 8.4%. County officials said the reduction was possible as the scope of the project has become clearer.

• Approved, in the consent agenda, a measure authorizing Public Works Director Chad Voigt to solicit bids for dust control chemicals for gravel roads. The commission’s approval also allows Public Works to continue offering its dust control program to rural residents. Homeowners who live along gravel roads can ask the county to apply the dust reduction chemical to the section of road in front of their homes.