photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Douglas County commissioners met with Consolidated Fire District 1 during a work session on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026.

Consolidated Fire District 1 has made strides in strengthening its full-time staffing while continuing to recruit volunteers, but leaders say more hires will be beneficial moving forward.

On Wednesday, county commissioners met during a work session with Consolidated Fire District 1, which serves 228 square miles in the unincorporated parts of the county, to provide an update on which recommendations from a review completed last spring by Emergency Services Consulting International were implemented in the past year.

Following the review, a multi-phase “Strategic Plan Implementation Framework” was created to improve operations, capacity and long-term service delivery in the fire district. Commissioners learned about what has been completed so far in terms of the first phase of work, including staffing stabilization, policy and procedure updates, training and onboarding improvements, reporting system upgrades and more.

In the past, Chief John Mathis has told commissioners that his primary need is staffing, as the Journal-World reported. Commissioner Patrick Kelly asked how much closer CFD1 is to its goal with the addition of the 20 volunteer recruits in the 2025-2026 class.

“Twenty isn’t necessarily 20 firefighters or EMTs … We (do) not have a set goal,” Mathis said, adding that there’s always a need. While there were 20 new recruits, each is currently certified in different training whether it’s fire or medical, he said, and it’s been primarily about getting boots on the ground before additional training.

Mathis said the district recently hired two full-time firefighters to be stationed in Lecompton and a full-time assistant chief to address staffing stabilitzation. CFD1 has also established a goal to hire six additional full-time firefighters in the future in order to have two firefighters at each of the district’s stations – where there’s four firefighters on duty each day.

According to the presentation shared with commissioners, CFD1 responded to 990 incidents in 2025 – 48% of those were EMS incidents and 52% were for fire and other services.

A large number of incidents were in the Lecompton area, and Mathis said, it’s a good indicator of where the department needs to look at growing resources. He added that a lot of their volunteers live in northwestern Lawrence and have been helpful in responding to the Lecompton calls.

Deputy County Administrator Sean Pederson said something CFD1 has been working on is marketing and branding for the department.

“That’s been a lot of the focus in the stabilization effort, just creating that identity of what Consolidated Fire District 1 means,” Pederson said. ” … The presence on social media, the fact that if you go through and you see the pictures and the training opportunities that are available for folks that if they just want to get going in fire service and medical service, what a wonderful opportunity you have in your backyard to do that.”

The fire district has also already started tackling some early work in the second phase of the plan, particularly on apparatus planning, facilities coordination, information technology and capital planning. According to a memo in the agenda, future phases will focus on staffing and leadership capacity, succession planning, community engagement, performance measurement, accreditation readiness and long-range planning.

IN OTHER BUSINESS, COMMISSIONERS:

• Heard about how the Douglas County Housing Stabilization Collaborative will be operating moving forward after its funding award from the city was further reduced for 2026, as the Journal-World reported.

County funding for the HSC has remained consistent at $330,000 for the past few years, and it will stay that way in fiscal year 2026. But the award from the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund has gone down in both 2025 and 2026. In 2025, it fell from $509,000 to $200,000, and in 2026 it’s falling again, to $150,000.

Previously, the HSC relied on a lottery system to award funding to people with active eviction notices or disconnected utilities. Now, the HSC has developed a new program model focusing on emergency assistance and move-in assistance and evaluates awards with rolling, needs-based allocations with about $40,000 available per month. The new model is slated to roll out in early 2026, the memo said.

• Heard a presentation from Douglas County Treasurer Adam Rains about changes to the Treasurer’s Office. As the Journal-World reported, on Monday, the county announced that the office would close its location at the Douglas County Courthouse and all operations will be done at its Sixth Street site, 2601 W. Sixth St., beginning Feb. 16.

In a memo to commissioners, Rains said that since 2020, the motor vehicle department had hired new staff at an increased rate. There are currently 10 staff members who have been with the office less than five years, and there are three with 10 or more years of experience. With that situation and a high number of transactions, it has caused an increase in waiting times, a lack of continued training and an increase in burnout, according to a memo from Rains.

In the memo, he also said the Treaurer’s Office will operate out of the satellite office for at least a year to provide additional training to staff, help manage lines, phone calls and work to decrease burnout. He said an evaluation of the move will happen continuously throughout the year to determine the best solution for motor vehicle operations going forward.

• Denied a site plan for a mini-storage facility with six mini-warehouse buildings totaling 100,400 square feet, with 609 storage units and a 1,050-square foot office space in the 1700 block of East 902 Road. The city-county planning department recommended denying the plan because it required a drainage study and on-site stormwater measures were not submitted or approved. The development was also estimated to add 109 daily vehicle trips, and no road improvement or design plan for East 902 Road had been provided.

• Awarded a $239,969 contract to Comanche Construction for patch and bridge repairs on two county bridges – one on North 700 Road, 0.2 miles west of the eastern county line, and one on North 1100 Road, 0.3 miles east of U.S. 59 — and authorized the Public Works director to approve change orders up to 10% of the contract amount. Commissioners also approved a request from Bettis Asphalt & Construction Inc. to withdraw its bid due to a unit price error.