A previous version of this story took the word of County Counselor Joe O'Sullivan as to the procedure regarding appointment of new commissioners should the commission expand to five members. That statute has changed as of 2017 and the story is being corrected to amend that fact.
By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Board of Reno County Commissioners plans to bring the idea of whether or not to expand their membership to five to a head at their next meeting July 13. One concern raised by Commissioner Daniel Friesen had to do with who fills the commission seats once they are created.
"Who will be appointing the interim commissioners is an important consideration," Friesen said. "I think, generally speaking, if you look at our recent elections and so forth, I don't know that the majority of the county would agree with the governor picking their two new commissioners, either."
According to an email from County Administrator Randy Partington, the statute regarding the addition of new commissioners has changed in 2017. Quoting from Partington's email , "K.S.A. 19-203a in the statutes states that within five days of certification of the election approving the expansion, the Governor will, in consultation with the board of county commissioners, declare either that the election (to fill the vacancy) will occur at the next general election OR declare the date of a special election."
Friesen's concern at the time appeared to be that even if the idea of having five commissioners is a good one, the political concerns raised by having a governor that a majority of Reno County didn't vote for filling commission seats may doom any vote of the public and not accurately reflect the merits of the overall idea.
In 2018, Governor Laura Kelly lost Reno County by more than 1000 votes to Republican nominee, Kris Kobach, but won a majority of the rest of the state. With the change in statute given to Hutch Post after the meeting, that concern may well have been alleviated. Commissioner Ron Hirst also expressed a concern of creating a divide between the urban and rural parts of the county, but he really wants more public input on the idea.
"Just naturally, some are a little adverse to change," Hirst said. "I'm not necessarily, adverse to change, especially when it's going to, in my opinion, strengthen," Hirst said.
However, he hasn't heard from constituents other than isolated comments as to whether it is their belief that it will strengthen the commission. Commissioner Ron Sellers is for putting the idea before the voters and giving them a chance to tell the commission what they want that way.
"Our job is to provide insight into direction, maybe decide if we approve a courthouse or things of this nature, but it's not to say we buy a road grader that's already funded and so forth," Sellers said. "Our job is more of a job to give long-term direction to the administrator and let him run the county. I feel strongly, you guys know this, that five of us can do a better job of giving that person ideas than three can."
As to what a specific map of new districts would look like, that has been set aside until the final decision is made on whether or not to bring the question in the first place.