Sedgwick County board meeting talks SCSO, upcoming primary election and more

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Sedgwick County Commissioners hosted a board meeting (BoCC) on July 17. Many topics were discussed, including the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, the upcoming primary election, the South Central Regional Psychiatric Hospital, mental health, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office Improvement

The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office is rapidly improving due to increased deputies and other department members.

Community Relations Specialist Stephanie Bergmann discussed the specifics.

“Ten new sheriff’s deputies graduated last week after 25 long weeks of training. Four of the deputies are women, one of whom earned the highest GPA in the class,” she said.

The sheriff’s office currently has 37 open job positions, down from 133 in late 2022.

The commissioners have provided more resources and an improved pay package to those in the local justice department.

Kernal Keith Allen says that 2024 has been a complete turnaround.

“We have a peer support team and a mentorship team that we’ve put in place since ’22, and it just really helped a lot with keeping the quality employees that we have here,” he said.

Primary Election

The primary election will be held on Aug. 6, which means there are several ways to get your vote submitted.

Those who wish to vote early can do so by mail and apply before July 30. Early in-person voting begins July 22 at the Historic Courthouse and continues after July 30 at satellite locations.

If you are waiting until election day, you can vote at designated locations between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Aug. 6.

Click here for primary candidate profiles.

Mental Health Community-Wide Effort

A Town Hall Meeting is being hosted on Aug. 1 at Campus High School to discuss plans to build the new South Central Regional Psychiatric Hospital on the corner of MacArthur and Meridian. You can attend to learn more about the structure.

Additionally, the COMCARE Community Crisis Center discussed plans to promote mobile crisis services.

“I feel as we continue to expand our services and promote mobile crisis response people will ask for those services and seek our services. So, I feel like as we continue to build on the program, we will continue to outreach to the community to be able to expand efforts,” COMCARE Treatment Facility Liaison Jennifer Wilson said.

Wilson referenced that the number of mobile responses has jumped from “500 responses” in 2022 “to over 800 responses” in 2023. They hope to extend texting and mobile needs to Wichita in the future.

“We expect to have more positions be able to answer texts because right now it’s just Suicide Prevention Headquarters in Lawrence that are taking chats and texts from Kansas,” she said.

Americans with Disability Act

The Americans with Disability Act was signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George Bush to improve the lives of those suffering from certain disabilities. It provides inclusion, services, and an equal working opportunity to those with disability.

July 26, 2024, was proclaimed “Americans with Disability Act Day” by Chairman Ryan Baty. County ADA Coordinator Kyelene Flaming says what she wishes to see amongst the disabled community.

“We have nearly 2,800 employees, many of those who seek accommodations. My hope is that as you all are working towards finding new locations for several of our employees to work at to make sure that they are available for all (disabled) individuals,” she said.

Other Information

• A public hearing was scheduled for the Aug. 21 BoCC meeting to propose the adoption of the 2022 Elevator Safety Code. The notice of hearing will be published in the county newspaper.
• A Post-Annexation Public Hearing was held at the BoCC meeting, and it resolved that the City of Derby had provided service-provided services under the 02-2021 service plan.
• There was an adoption of a Kansas Open Records Act Compliance Policy.
• Commissioners approved recommendations from the Board of Bids and Contracts’ meeting on July 11, 2024.
• Commissioners did not take binding action in the Executive Session.

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