photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Douglas County commissioners met on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026.

Douglas County will soon be seeking applications for an advisory board to help give recommendations on how to preserve the Black Jack Battlefield and Nature Park.

On Wednesday, county commissioners approved a charter for a seven-member Black Jack Battlefield advisory board. As the Journal-World reported, Douglas County and Baldwin City acquired joint ownership of Black Jack Battlefield and Nature Park in November 2025, and the board will help guide recommendations on the site’s preservation and maintenance.

The advisory board will develop a report with recommendations for preserving and maintaining Black Jack Battlefield, with the goal of presenting it to Baldwin City and Douglas County commissioners at the end of the year, Kaitlyn Ammerlaan, heritage conservation coordinator of Douglas County, told commissioners.

And once the report is finalized, according to the charter, the advisory board will be dissolved.

“I suspect that maybe one of the recommendations will be to establish a permanent advisory board,” Ammerlaan said. “But for right now, you establish a charter just to be short term.”

Commissioner Karen Willey said she hopes the advisory board includes someone with experience in youth programming, and she said past events at Black Jack Battlefield, such as battle reenactments, have drawn interest.

County staff will invite applications for the advisory board, review candidates with one or more county commissioners, and present finalists to the County Commission for approval. The advisory board’s work is expected to begin in the spring, Ammerlaan said.

IN OTHER BUSINESS, COMMISSIONERS:

• Heard more information about a proposed housing development in Eudora, Holladay Woods – which is anticipated to include approximately 119 single-family residential units and 49 duplexes on 129 acres north of Kansas Highway 10 and east of East 2100 Road in Eudora. The project is estimated to cost $17.7 million.

The City of Eudora wants to make this development possible with special housing districts. Zack Daniel, city manager for Eudora, previously told the Journal-World that the Reinvestment Housing District doesn’t affect existing property taxes. Instead, it uses new property taxes from the development to reimburse the developer for public improvements, like streets, utilities and stormwater systems. He added that it’s meant to lower development costs and keep home prices affordable.

The next step in the process is a public hearing scheduled on Monday, Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. at Eudora City Hall, 4 E. Seventh St., to consider the establishment of the special housing districts within the city for the project.

• Approved licenses for non-emergency medical transportation services with EMS Unlimited and TECHS EMS for a term of five years. According to a memo from John Darling, division chief of EMS at Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical, by licensing private ambulance companies to perform non-emergency transfers, it will ensure more ambulances are available for 911 response.

In 2024, LDCFM performed about 800 non-emergency transfers, or almost 5% of its total call volume. A majority of the non-emergency transfers go to hospitals out of town, and the commit time is significantly longer than an EMS incident where the patient goes to LMH Health, Darling said in the memo.

• Updated a 2026 service agreement with Mental Health America of the Heartland, a nonprofit offering mental health resources, advocacy and education throughout the Kansas City metro area. The county is working with the nonprofit for its “flexible housing pool program,” which is providing financial assistance for rent, utilities and other expenses to help individuals move toward stable and long-term housing.

Commissioners approved an agreement in November for Mental Health America of the Heartland to provide supportive housing services costing up to $164,274, with the expectation that it would serve up to 22 households in 2026. Now, the organization will expand its services to 32 households at a total cost of $519,552 for 2026.

The “flexible housing pool program” was modeled after a program served by the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center with a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant. The program provided 12 permanent supportive housing units, which were to receive $321,000 in 2026, but the HUD grant was canceled. The 32 households to be served in 2026 include those 12 units, now merged with the county’s program, and the units are expected to be funded by the county’s behavioral health sales tax. This money was already set aside by commissioners during the 2026 budget process.

• Approved a final plat to create one approximately 18.5-acre lot in the southeast corner of the intersection of East 900 Road and North 1800 Road in unincorporated Douglas County. According to a memo in the agenda, the property is platted to accommodate the development of a landscape business. The project also includes the dedication of an existing roadway easement as Douglas County road right-of-way for North 1800 Road.

The landscape business is currently operating in a limited fashion in another part of the unincorporated area with an approved conditional use permit. A site plan for proposed development at this site has not been submitted yet, the memo said.

• Approved an agreement with the Kansas Department of Transportation for a high-friction surface treatment on curved sections of Route 1055 and the north leg of Route 1061. The county will cover 10% of the estimated $550,000 cost, with funding provided through the federal High Risk Rural Roads Program – a federal-aid initiative aimed at improving safety and reducing crash rates on rural roads.