photo by: Journal-World

The west side of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.

Lawrence’s police chief and the county’s director of behavioral health projects are serving as co-chairs of a new countywide group that seeks to provide better care to people in crisis.

Douglas County commissioners at their Wednesday meeting will consider approving a proposed charter for the new group, the Douglas County Crisis Response Coalition. The charter envisions the group working in partnership with county and municipal leadership to give advice and recommendations on how to best respond to behavioral health crisis situations.

The vision of the coalition is to increase the coordination of such care in Douglas County, and to create strategies the minimize the need for emergency personnel and law enforcement involvement, according to a memo provided to county commissioners.

The co-chairs of the new group will include Lawrence Police Chief Rich Lockhart and Bob Tryanski, the county’s director of behavioral health projects. The coalition plans to have rotating co-chairs that balance city and county perspectives, and will each serve two- to three-year offsetting terms, the memo said.

As the Journal-World reported, in October 2024, county commissioners heard a presentation about the plan to form the new coalition that would provide oversight and bring service providers together.

In addition to the coalition, a new Crisis System Operations Team also has been formed. Members of the operations team are responsible for implementing services, recruiting staff, workplace development, and gathering data about the program’s effectiveness. The team is made up of city, county and other government employees, and currently is co-chaired by a division chief with Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical, and the deputy director of Douglas County’s Emergency Communication department.

The Douglas County Crisis Response Coalition will meet quarterly and has already convened twice this year, with a third meeting planned for December. In addition, the Crisis System Operations Team meets monthly and has met bi-weekly throughout 2025 to support the coalition’s development and implementation.

In other business, county commissioners will:

• Consider executing an updated agreement with the Kansas Department of Transportation and the City of Lawrence related to the South Lawrence Trafficway expansion project – which aims to take the west leg from a two-leg to a four-leg highway. KDOT is requesting signatures from all parties to execute the supplemental agreement.

According to a memo in the agenda, in August 2024, the county commissioners approved a three-party agreement between KDOT and the city, and it outlined the city and county payments to cover the cost of local road improvements completed by KDOT. Douglas County has fulfilled its obligation in January 2025, paying $320,000 to KDOT from the capital improvement project fund.

The new agreement modifies the original agreement to reflect minor chanes in the city’s obligation, and the county’s obligations have not changed. While both contracts required the city to cover utility relocation, provide a $6,005,000 local match for construction, and pay 100% of any non-participating costs within city limits or on turnback portions, the edited version adds that the city must also pay $166,398.92 for aesthetic improvements along Iowa St. and specifies that this added amount must be paid by July 1, 2026.

• Consider approving an increase of $150,000 for 2025 legal services from the firm Seyferth, Blumenthal & Harris. In February, county commissioners approved the purchase of services in the amount of $400,000, and as of September 2025, the county has paid $389,893. County staff is seeking authorization to increase the blanket purchase order – or the pre-approved spending limit for these services.

• Consider awarding a construction contract to WIC Inc. for two culvert replacement projects with a total contract cost of $765,012, and authorize the Public Works director to approve change orders totaling up to 10% of the contract amount. The first project is located on Route 460, also known as N700 Road, between E2000 and E2100 Roads. The other project will be on N700 Road, east of E300 Road.

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