photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Douglas County commissioners held their business meeting at the Douglas County Public Works building, 3755 E 25th St., on Wednesday, September 18, 2024.

To give the City of Lawrence and Douglas County more time to figure out their next fire and medical services agreement, county commissioners on Wednesday approved an extension of the current agreement through the end of 2025.

The commission authorized County Administrator Sarah Plinsky to sign the extension of the county’s joint agreement with the City of Lawrence that funds the Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical department. The city of Lawrence covers much of the fire and medical department budget to support firefighting services within its boundaries, and Douglas County contributes millions to the department for its countywide ambulance services.

The joint three-year agreement was set to expire at the end of 2024. But Plinsky said it would take more time to hash out the details of the next multi-year agreement with the city. According to a memo provided to county commissioners, the new agreement will be crucial as both parties do significant planning for the future regarding issues such as expansion of fire and medical stations and the financial sustainability of the department.

“It generally takes quite a bit of time for these agreements to come together if we’re going to negotiate a different payment structure or governance structure,” Plinsky said.

The commission agreed that it was best not to rush to create a new agreement by the end of 2024. Commissioner Karen Willey, while not giving many specifics, said there were important issues that the two governments would have to discuss in more detail.

“I do think that it would not be feasible to tackle the level of what’s needed between now and the end of the calendar year,” Willey said.

And Commissioner Patrick Kelly emphasized that LDCFM represents a substantial part of the county’s expenditures, and that both the county and the city needed to work toward a solid agreement during a time of budgetary challenges.

“I think that is a difficult place for us to be in this partnership, but I think it’s something I’m hoping that as we work on this, I’d rather us get it right than rush to get it done,” Kelly said.

Plinsky said she and the city manager would soon begin work on the new agreement.

“This is a very important partnership for our community,” Plinsky said. “We have a long history of working together with the city of Lawrence on this, and it’s very important to both bodies that we are successful and we get a good agreement that we’re all happy with.”

In other business, commissioners:

• Heard about an effort to educate residents about conservation easements, or legal protections that restrict the future use or development of land. The effort is a partnership between the county and the Kansas Land Trust, and its goal is to establish two new conservation easement projects in the county to demonstrate the effectiveness of this legal tool in preserving natural spaces.

As the Journal-World reported, the Kansas Land Trust plans to invest approximately $225,000 to collaborate with property owners on the conservation easement projects. The partnership also plans to allocate approximately $25,000 for communication and outreach efforts aimed at engaging county residents who may be interested in conservation programs.

• Met with Plinsky in executive session for the purpose of “consultation with the County Counselor on matters which would be deemed privileged under the attorney-client relationship.” There was no action following the session.