photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Commissioner Patrick Kelly, right, explains the commission's meeting procedures to Justin Spiehs, left, and Brian Conner during a five-minute recess. The pair had minutes earlier disrupted the meeting after not being allowed to provide further public comment. Spiehs and Conner are regulars at commission meetings, often to share public comment opposing any action to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

Wednesday’s Douglas County Commission meeting was disrupted briefly by a pair of public commenters, both of whom have regularly attended recent meetings to offer comments opposing regulations intended to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

Brian Conner and Justin Spiehs interrupted Commissioners Shannon Portillo and Patrick Kelly while they were attempting to vote on a motion. When the pair refused to stop yelling and arguing about when they were allowed to offer public comment, Kelly — the chair of the meeting in Commissioner Shannon Reid’s absence — called for a five-minute recess.

Kelly spoke to the pair during the recess and explained the commission’s procedures for addressing agenda items and why they wouldn’t be taking further public comment. The meeting resumed and finished without further interruptions. Conner remained in the courthouse chambers after the meeting had adjourned and continued to argue with law enforcement officers.

Spiehs was charged with three felonies — two for aggravated assault — stemming from an altercation at a vaccine clinic hosted at West Middle School last December and is next scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing April 21.

Beyond the interruption, commissioners held a work session prior to the regular meeting and heard an update from the Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council.

Heritage coordinator Kaitlin Stanley, council chair Amy Van de Riet and vice chair Jenny Trucano Muller were on hand to present to the board. One topic that drew questions from Portillo and Kelly was increasing the size of the council; a slide in the presentation outlined some possible benefits of doing so, and the group of council members all noted that the current scope of their work at times seems to be too much for their current group of seven members.

“With the limited number of spots we have on the council, we’re mostly just filling them with the required expertise,” Trucano Muller said. “That limits our ability to really represent the diverse demographics of the county, so if we’re able to have a larger council at some point we’ll be able to better represent the lived experiences of people in the county and we could divvy up the work a little bit.”

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Douglas County leaders had a work session before Wednesday’s commission meeting, during which they heard an update from the Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council about this year’s upcoming projects, among other topics.

Otherwise, presenters detailed a number of goals for the coming year, including launching a pilot program detailing race and civil rights history this summer. The council also plans to coordinate the nomination of 10 buildings in Douglas County that are eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places sometime this year, and also to develop and launch an app-based tour of natural landmarks throughout the county early this summer.

Looking forward to next year, Stanley said the council also plans to conduct a survey of archaeological sites in Douglas County; the last survey was completed nearly three decades ago in 1996.

The group also gave an update on its Natural and Cultural Grant program, which opened in January and finished accepting applications last month. Stanley noted that the council received about 10 more grant applications than last year, meaning the total amount of funding requested is much higher than what it has available to award — $750,000 in requests compared with $200,000 in available funding.

Stanley said that included some “innovative” first-time applicants, such as one from Somos Lawrence to create community festivities around Day of the Dead. That group collaborated with a number of community organizations to host a Day of the Dead altar tribute last fall for people who have died while experiencing homelessness.

In other business, the commission:

• Approved entering a contract with Lawrence-based architectural design firm Hernly & Associates Inc. for $8,000 in pre-design services for a waterproofing project in the Douglas County Courthouse basement. In Reid’s absence, the request passed with a 2-0 vote from the present commissioners.

That approval also authorizes paying the firm for the cost of work for that construction. The courthouse has suffered ongoing maintenance issues because it was common practice to not waterproof below stone building foundation walls when the building opened in 1904.

There isn’t a specified cost for the project until that pre-design work is finished, but county staff doesn’t anticipate construction will require the use of more money than the $4 million available in the Capital Improvement Project fund. The county will also receive a $90,000 Heritage Trust Fund grant to apply toward the project. Other portions of the work will be eligible for state-level tax credit funding.

• Authorized an agreement between Douglas County and Kansas Suicide Prevention Headquarters (KSPHQ) to implement a 24-hour 988 crisis line in the county, which was pulled from the consent agenda for further discussion by a member of the public. It aligns with a Federal Communications Commission mandate for all calls and texts to the three-digit code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline — 988 — to be directed to the existing Lifeline by July 16.

Commissioners approved the agreement for Douglas County at a cost not to exceed $280,000. KSPHQ will operate the Douglas County Crisis Line starting with an initial agreement for nine months beginning April 15 and ending Dec. 31.