photo by: Contributed

An architectural rendering of the public entrance to the Public Safety Building.

Douglas County staff wants to get the Sheriff’s Office’s operations into the new Public Safety Building on a faster timeline, and county commissioners will consider accelerating the planning process for that at their meeting this week.

On Wednesday, the commissioners will consider amending the county’s agreement with Treanor Architects to add the design work for the interior of the Public Safety Building’s main floor, which would be occupied and used by the Sheriff’s Office.

The Public Safety Building, which will be next to the Douglas County Jail, is intended to eventually serve as the central hub for the Sheriff’s Office, the 911 dispatch center and the county’s emergency management operations. In December, county commissioners approved a nearly $82 million budget for this building and the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center expansion project, as the Journal-World reported.

At that time, however, the only parts of the Public Safety Building that were funded were the shell of the building and the interior finishings for the lower floor, which would house the emergency communications and emergency management operations. The finishings for the main floor that would allow the Sheriff’s Office to move in would have been completed at a later date, after this first phase of work.

Now, according to a memo in the commission’s meeting agenda, county staff thinks there will be sufficient funding to complete the interior work on the main floor along with the rest of the project, and that the county would see “cost savings of between five and ten percent” by doing so.

The Public Safety Building project as originally approved was scheduled to be finished in spring 2026. County staff says doing the extra work to allow the Sheriff’s Office to move in would push that date out by two to three months, to mid-July 2026. Doing the work as a separate project at a later date, on the other hand, would be estimated to take five to six months.

The memo says the accelerated timeline would shorten the time emergency communications and emergency management staff would have to deal with construction happening above them. Those staff members would move out of their current workspace in the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center and into the Public Safety Building in May or June of 2026 so that the renovations to the JLEC could continue as scheduled.

Allowing the Sheriff’s Office to move from the JLEC to the Public Safety Building sooner would also alleviate parking concerns at the JLEC, which is scheduled to be under construction through 2027 and has already had its parking space affected by the construction project.

If the commission approves the amended agreement with Treanor, the design team expects “a ten-week window to complete design and documentation,” according to the memo. After that, bids would be taken, and a final project budget would be expected to come back to the commission by early July.

In other business, county commissioners will:

• Receive a presentation on the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council’s 2025-2027 strategic plan, adopted on Feb. 11. The CJCC serves as an advisory board for justice system partners, stakeholders and community members to address challenges and make recommendations for improving the criminal legal system.

As the Journal-World reported, the plan highlights four key priorities: gathering and analyzing data to identify trends and inform strategic decisions; documenting existing pretrial processes and their impacts to offer recommendations for improving pretrial outcomes; assessing gaps between client needs and available services; and creating a comprehensive communication strategy for member agencies.

• Consider approving a request to rezone approximately 18 acres, located to the east of intersection of East 900 Road and North 1800 Road, from AG-1, Agricultural, District to LI, Limited Industrial, District. Turformance Lawn Services, based in Lawrence, plans to construct a roughly 12,000-square-foot building on the site to accommodate its landscaping shop and office operations, the owner previously told the Journal-World.

That site is situated along the Kansas Turnpike, just east of the Lecompton interchange, an area that economic development leaders have long identified as having potential for new warehouses or other industrial developments.

• Hold a work session to discuss Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP, and regulatory accounting methods. GAAP consists of rules and guidelines used to prepare and report financial statements. According to a memo in the agenda, county staff expects commissioners to share their thoughts on potential goals regarding whether the county should adopt a new accounting method. No action will be taken following the session, as it is intended for informational purposes only.

• Consider awarding a contract to Scotwood Industries for the supply and application of dust control chemicals at a unit cost of $1.24 per gallon. Douglas County’s road network includes 519 miles of rock surfaced roads. As the Journal-World reported, the chemicals are for the county’s dust control program for 2025.

• Consider rejecting bids received for crushed rock aggregates for road and bridge maintenance. Only one supplier submitted a bid when normally two bids are received from local suppliers. Based on higher bid prices and the limit of one supplier, Public Works recommends rejecting the bid, according to a memo in the agenda.

• Receive an update on the activities of the Kansas Legislature at the end of the legislative session from Little Government Relations. There will be no action taken as it is for informational purposes only.

• Consider allowing the Public Works department to solicit bids for 3,500 tons of highway de-icing salt for the 2025-2026 winter storm season.

The County Commission’s work session will begin at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Douglas County Commission meeting room at 1100 Massachusetts St. The business meeting will follow at 5:30 p.m. The meeting will also be available via Zoom.