photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Left to right, County Commissioners Patrick Kelly, Karen Wiley and Shannon Reid on June 26, 2024, during a county commission meeting.

The Douglas County Commission at its meeting Wednesday approved an engineering plan to extend Wakarusa Drive, but the timing of it could clash with another KDOT project and cause problems for first-responders, some at the meeting said.

Commissioners approved an approximately $91,000 contract for BG Consultants to extend Wakarusa Drive to a point south of the Wakarusa River. The construction – which is a part of Douglas County’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan – is scheduled to commence concurrently with the Kansas Department of Transportation’s project to widen the western section of the South Lawrence Trafficway from two lanes to four.

However, some are concerned with the upcoming construction being too heavy on the 3.5-mile corridor between the Highway 59 interchange in Douglas County and Baldwin City. County commissioner Karen Willey said ambulance services come out of Baldwin City, and with the highway closed, first responders would need to go down Wakarusa Drive.

Chad Voigt, director of Douglas County Public Works, said he was unable to give a timeline for the construction on Highway 59 but thinks it would be better if they didn’t have these going at the same time.

KDOT plans to start the SLT project this fall, and aims to complete work by 2028. According to a memo from the county’s Public Works Department, construction of the Wakarusa Drive extension is projected to commence in October 2025, and expected to be open to traffic in 2026.

As the Journal-World reported, the Wakarusa extension project has not been without some controversy.

Lawrence city commissioners withdrew their support of the Wakarusa project after concerns about the environment and about the road damaging land sacred to the Native American community. Despite the city pulling out of the project, county commissioners have decided to continue moving forward with the plan after hearing about needs for a new north-south route for rural residents.

As the Journal-World reported, county officials said the extension of Wakarusa is necessary because it would carry an estimated 3,650 vehicles per day and become one of the most heavily-trafficked routes in the county.

In other business, commissioners:

* Heard a presentation from McGrath, a human resource group, which anticipates a $1.4 million to $2.2 million wage gap for county employees. The county commission heard from a draft report examining how county employee wages compare to average wages for similar jobs in the broader region surrounding Lawrence.

The report analyzed the county’s salary ranges in comparison to broader market salaries. According to a presentation in the agenda packet, 54% of employees at the minimum salary range are below the market average. Meanwhile, in the midpoint analysis, 50% fall below the market average, and among those near the top of their pay scale, 52% are under the market average.

Commissioners did not take any action on the wage information. Instead, the issue is expected to be a focal point during the county’s upcoming budget session, where the county commission will finalize a spending plan for 2025 and establish property tax rates to support it.

* Approved a plan that would enable Douglas County’s Emergency Communications Center, which is responsible for handling 911 calls, to dispatch the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center’s Mobile Response Team to incidents involving mental health issues.

The Bert Nash team had been assigned calls from Headquarters Kansas, which operates a suicide prevention line. Bob Tryanski, director of behavioral health projects for the county, said in a memo to the commission that it has been difficult for the Bert Nash team to quickly access urgent issues, and there are too many access points in the mental health team to reasonably keep track of and prioritize.

The commissioners also redirected up to $45,000 from current funds allocated in the Douglas County Crisis Line budget. This funding will be used to acquire improved communication and geolocation tools as the Mobile Response Team shifts operations from Headquarters Kansas to the Douglas County Emergency Communications Center.

* Approved the transition of Douglas County’s Cyber Security insurance provider to Rubrik Enterprise Edition.

Douglas County IT will form a contract with Rubrik’s Backup Solution, with an initial startup cost of at least $113,000. An annual cost of approximately $79,000 will be presented to the County Commission for approval at a future date.