photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Fireworks light up the sky on July 3, 2022, over the KU Endowment building, 1891 Constant Ave.

State lawmakers already have said they’re fine with extending the amount of time that residents can buy fireworks for the Fourth of July holiday. Now, Douglas County commissioners will try to figure out whether they’re fine with a longer selling season, too.

Douglas County commissioners at their weekly meeting on Wednesday will begin the discussion of whether to add — potentially — days or weeks to the season in which fireworks can legally be sold in the county.

In 2025, the Kansas Legislature approved Senate Bill 199, which gave counties the power to extend the selling season for fireworks during the Independence Day holiday. The change expanded the state-authorized seasonal fireworks sales period from June 27 through July 5 to June 20 through July 7.

However, counties have been allowed to set more restrictive selling periods for fireworks, and Douglas County has done so for years. The county’s regulations allow firework sales for four days — from July 1 through July 4. With the most recent change in state law, at least one county leader — Commissioner Erica Anderson — has asked the commission to consider whether it wants to change the local selling season.

County commissioners will not make any decisions at their meeting on Wednesday, but they will provide direction to county staff on whether they would like to begin the process of initiating a text amendment to county code and extend the firework sales dates.

After reviewing the firework regulations in eight neighboring counties, county staff found that most of them have not changed their regulations after the state made changes last year. However, most of them also have selling seasons significantly longer than what is allowed in Douglas County.

Lyon, Miami, Jefferson and Shawnee counties allow sales from June 27 through July 5, while the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, allow sales from June 27 through July 4. Osage County permits sales June 20 through July 5 and requires a special event permit, while Franklin County allows sales for no more than 14 days between June 20 and July 7. Johnson County does not permit fireworks sales.

As the Journal-World reported, staff said extending firework sales could result in an increase in sales tax revenue. But some emergency responders said the change would require increased personnel and operating and maintenance costs.

County staff also reached out to seven firework vendors and learned that a majority of vendors would be concerned about the additional labor and staffing associated with a longer sales window. However, two vendors supported extending sales to July 5.

While the fireworks presentation by county staff was originally scheduled for last week, it was deferred because Commissioner Erica Anderson was absent. Anderson initiated the request for county staff to explore the idea of extending firework sales.

IN OTHER BUSINESS, COMMISSIONERS WILL:

• Consider a five-year contract with Axon Enterprise Inc. for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office to maintain and upgrade its law enforcement cameras, recording systems, software, cloud storage and TASER devices. The contract would run from January 2027 through December 2031, with annual payments of $321,493 for a total cost of $1.61 million.

Rather than soliciting bids from multiple companies, the Sheriff’s Office wants to continue purchasing from Axon because its cameras, TASERs, software and systems need to work with the existing Axon equipment. If they switched to another company, it could create compatibility issues, according to a memo in the agenda.

• Consider waiving the purchasing policy and authorize the County Administrator to renew a one-year Microsoft License agreement in the amount of $178,568. Instead of entering into a three-year contract, the county’s IT staff chose to continue with an annual contract to ensure Douglas County received the most competitive pricing.

• Consider authorizing the County Administrator to enter into contract negotiations with Lockton Companies for employee benefits broker and consulting services.

The County Commission will meet 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.