By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
As Ellis County looks at the need to update the offices at 601 Main Street, the commission discussed the possibility of moving the county health department to the new Emergency Services building.
At a special study session Wednesday, the county commission talked about the future of the building at 601 Main, currently occupied by the Kansas State Extension and the county health department.
The building has previously been identified as the next big capital project the county plans to undertake. The commission had planned to renovate the building along with the County Administrative Building at 718 Main.
But County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes said, as he understood it, the county did not go forward with the project because of cost concerns. The way bonds were issued, according to Smith-Hanes, the county must spend $265,000 on remodeling 601 Main.
Smith-Hanes said the county must address issues in the north parking lot. He said the first estimate from the contractor to fix the drainage issue was $30,000.
He also questioned whether the current location in downtown Hays is a good location for the health department.
EMS Director Kerry McCue will take over as the County Health Administrator when longtime administrator Butch Schlyer retires at the end of the year. McCue and Smith-Hanes have looked at different locations, with some located closer to the hospital or the EMS building.
With the possibility of construction, Commissioner Dean Haselhorst said if the health department was to move the basement of the Emergency Services building, the north room of the basement is available.
“We have a huge basement down there,” Haselhorst said. “We have that whole north end that is unused.”
Smith-Hanes said one of the things to consider is the work that would be have to be done on the basement to turn it into the space for the health department.
But Commissioner Barb Wasinger said it would not be “retrofitting” the space, instead it would be “utilizing the space.”
Haselhorst said the room he has identified is not being used and has not been finished. He suggested meeting with the contractor, Commercial Builders, to discuss the possibility of remodeling the space.
The move would also potentially give the extension more space and have added space at 601 Main following the construction update.
The county was planning on using the money from the sale of the Tholen building toward construction on the building at 601 Main. But the county could use that money for remodeling the EMS space and using the money from the bond to partially remodel 601 Main.
The commission instructed Smith-Hanes to continue looking into the proposal.
• The commission also discussed expanding the commission from three to five commissioners. All three commissioners agreed that it is worth looking into. The commission would have to divide the county into districts and then it would go to the public for a vote. Haslehorst said he estimated it would take about two years to complete the process.
• Another topic of discussion was ways to increase public input. The commission, a few years ago, changed meeting times to the evening hours in an effort to increase audience sizes but many times people only show up when there are controversial items on the agendas.
The commissioners agreed that they did not want to change to meeting times and that it would be a good item to investigate the costs of purchasing audio and video equipment to broadcast the meetings similar to the way the Hays City Commission does.
• Commissioners also began setting the commission’s calendar for the rest of 2016 and 2017. The commission is planning on having an all-day retreat for January. The commission also plans to hold semiannual study sessions, similar Wednesday meeting, in the future to discuss the role and direction of the commission.