photo by: Journal-World

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

Douglas County commissioners will consider developing a tenant eviction defense pilot program on Wednesday for low- and moderate-income renters facing landlord-tenant disputes.

The pilot program would involve contracting with nonprofit legal providers – such as Kansas Legal Services or Kansas Holistic Defenders – for a seven-month pilot from June through December 2026. The program would aim to provide legal advice, limited representation, or full representation to up to 80 low- and moderate-income residents facing landlord-tenant disputes.

County staff would work to develop a contracted rate to reimburse eligible providers utilizing a fee for service model for individuals that are screened and deemed eligible. Based on recent data, about 165 individuals per year could qualify for legal representation, particularly in contested eviction cases, according to the Douglas County District Court Self Help Center.

According to a memo in the agenda, the program would be modeled after a similar program in Topeka. From May 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025, Kansas Legal Services provided advice to 92 tenants in Topeka, limited scope representation to 17 tenants, and full representation to 10 tenants. Among these cases, 34 resulted in the eviction case being dismissed as of March 2025. Kansas Legal Services’ total contract award for these services was $84,137, which funds an attorney and paralegal.

The pilot in Douglas County would be funded using $40,000 already included in the County Commission’s 2026 budget for eviction prevention activities. County staff will continue working with stakeholders and return with a final proposal for commissioners to review before any program is formally implemented.

The county’s District Court Self-Help Center would act as a primary referral hub for the proposed program. The center already works with community partners and operates an eviction resolution program that educates tenants and landlords about the court process, the agenda said.

County staff are also reviewing Johnson County’s mediation program and working with the nonprofit Building Peace to explore ways to use mediation to prevent evictions in Douglas County. Some of those ways include tenant education, incentives for pre- and post-filing mediation, and potential policy changes including but not limited to court mandated pre-file mediation or post-file eviction mediation as seen in Johnson County.

Representatives from the Self-Help Center and partner organizations are invited to Wednesday’s meeting to discuss the pilot proposal and next steps, as commissioners consider how to structure and potentially expand eviction prevention strategies in Douglas County.

This will be the County Commission’s fourth conversation surrounding a potential program focusing on legal representation and advice to renters, as the Journal-World reported. Initially, a majority of commissioners seemed interested in the idea of a tenants right to counsel program – guaranteeing free legal representation to any renter facing eviction, but during a December 2025 meeting, commissioners were split on what they wanted to happen next.

The idea of a tenants right to counsel program was first introduced in the city-county “A Place for Everyone” plan, and it is listed as a strategy for Douglas County to help reach its affordable housing goals.

During the December meeting, Commissioners Karen Willey, Patrick Kelly and Gene Dorsey said they were interested in looking into a mediation program, which gives a landlord and a tenant the chance to meet with a third party.

The three commissioners were in favor of county staff bringing back more of a full picture about a mediation program in Johnson County as well as having conversations with Douglas County District Court to see if they would be open to a similar program. Commissioners were also interested in getting more information on the program providing a variety of free housing legal services to eligible tenants who live in the City of Topeka.

Advocacy group Lawrence Tenants have expressed strong support for the development of a local tenants right to counsel program, and even met with commissioners in September, urging them to approve a county ordinance they crafted to guarantee the right to counsel for all tenants regardless of income.

Many people involved in Lawrence Tenants said the creation of the program would “balance the scales between landlords and tenants, while people in opposition – mainly landlords – of the program said it would increase costs, reduce the housing supply and actually create an imbalance.

IN OTHER BUSINESS, COMMISSIONERS WILL:

• Consider approving an amendment to the county’s Finance Policy to account for how legal services are selected and paid for. Since the county counselor is a political appointment made directly by the County Commission – rather than a service chosen through a competitive bidding process – county staff say those legal expenses don’t fit within standard purchasing rules.

To address that, the proposed change would add legal services to the list of exemptions in the purchasing policy, allowing those costs to bypass competitive bidding requirements. This change would align legal services with other categories of spending that are already exempt, including utility payments, payroll-related expenses, employee health insurance and workers’ compensation costs, and certain law enforcement-related expenses like prisoner medical care and out-of-county inmate housing.

By exempting legal services, the county is updating its policy to reflect how those services are already obtained in practice. Staff estimate the county will spend about $755,000 on county counselor services and related legal work in 2026.

As the Journal-World reported, county commissioners previously considered changes to its finance policy in December 2025, which spelled out how much money should be kept in rainy-day reserve funds. Commissioners did not take action on those changes, even though the county has violated the former policy for the last two years by leaving millions of dollars in excess funds in county accounts. Staff also said they hope to hold multiple work sessions in 2026 to gather feedback for commissioners and develop a new larger policy.

• Hold a work session with staff in the Domestic Unit of the Douglas County Court Services. The staff provides court ordered domestic investigation reports for parenting time and child custody cases for indigent litigants who cannot afford a Guardian ad Litem. The presentation will cover the origins and scope of the Domestic Unit, the content and processes of reports and goals for the expansion of the unit. Court Services staff began providing these services for the 7th Judicial District during the spring of 2024.

• Consider approving a revised site plan for Heinen Outdoor Power Equipment, 1795 East 1500 Road. The site plan shows a 7,817 square-foot addition for a workshop on the west side of the existing building and a 2,230 square-foot carport structure for displaying equipment on the east end of the property, near the access drive.

There are also changes to the parking area including 14 new parking stalls and curbed islands with landscaping at the end of each row of parking. The proposed site changes also include alterations to the outdoor display area, landscaping, and outdoor lighting.

Planning Department staff is recommending approval of the revised site plan on two conditions – the land combination survey must be recorded with the Register of Deeds Office prior to the release of the site plan for building permits and to revise the number of parking stalls from 23 to 24 proposed stalls.

• Consider executing bid award contracts with Bettis Asphalt & Construction Inc. and Killough Construction Inc. for a supply of hot mix asphalt materials used for county road maintenance operations.

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.