The Historical Perspective
Monday, March 19, 2007
Part 2 of 4
This isn’t the first time that Emporia and Lyon County have looked at law-enforcement consolidation. It’s just the last time in 35 years.
The last big push came in the early 1970s. In fact, there were two big pushes about then. The first would have combined the police and sheriff’s departments in Lyon County. The second would have built one big law-enforcement center for both, at a cost of about $1.2 million.
Neither one went anywhere.
“I think one of our problems at that time was they didn’t involve the rural area,” former police chief Merle Hayes said. Hayes was a big supporter of consolidated law enforcement when it first came to the ballot in 1972 and remains so today.
“I always felt that, had they involved Neosho Rapids, Hartford, Americus and the other communities in the county in that particular study, that possibly they would have had some input and things might have been done,” Hayes said. “But we put it up to a vote and it went down. That was possibly one reason — we failed to sell it to the whole entire county.”
Elbow room
It all started because of overcrowding.
“At the time, the police department was running out of space and the sheriff’s department was in the same position,” Hayes said. “The jail facility was getting pretty well deteriorated. And our communications system — we were having problems with it breaking down.”
Two factors combined to bring the issue to a head. The first came in 1969 when District Court Judge Jay Sullivan and County Attorney Don Lill visited the county jail. They sent a letter to county commissioners calling the arrangement “totally inadequate to house county prisoners.” Sullivan later ordered the county to find an alternative.
The second part came that October, when the county began to build a new shop for its highway department — and realized that the old shop, two lots east of the courthouse, might make a good jail.
Things grew from there. In 1970, the Emporia City Commission and Lyon County Commission discussed having a joint building for the jail and police department. Later that year, it became a discussion of jointly operating the police and sheriff’s department. And by early 1971, the two commissions had accepted a study group’s recommendation to consolidate the agencies.
“It was just so much easier to put the two of them together,” former City Manager Virgil Basgall said.
As it turned out, “easy” would be a matter of opinion.
Storm clouds
When the consolidation bill reached the Legislature, there were some warning signs that it might have a stormy reception back home. The original bill called for a one-cent sales tax to pay for the merger. Local merchants objected, including Chevrolet dealer Dick Handy, Ford dealer John North and Bluestem Farm and Ranch manager Lee Nelson. All said the tax would put them at a competitive disadvantage.
“I don’t think we could exist as we do now,” Handy told a Senate committee in February 1972. “I’m not here opposing the idea, just the method of financing.”
That ended up splitting the issue into two ballot questions — one on the merger and one on how it should be paid for.
The fun wasn’t over yet. After a meeting with residents at the Lyon County Farm Bureau, Rep. Gene Steffes of Olpe said he wanted an amendment. There should be two votes on the issue, he said — one for city residents and one for rural residents.
“Mr. Steffes told the group that he was not specifically opposed to the concept of consolidation,” The Gazette reported, “but that he thinks that allowing the county to vote on the proposal as a whole would permit Emporia residents to decide the question without giving rural residents a voice in the discussion.”
The amendment never made it. The bill passed and was signed by Gov. Robert Docking. But Lyon County had been put on notice. The rural voters intended to be heard.
Down to defeat
As it happened, there hadn’t been much county involvement in the initial study group. Of the seven members named, only two were county officials — Sheriff Frank Coburn and County Engineer William Kretsinger. That was a mistake, said Hayes, who had also been in the group.
“I think they had to involve the whole rural area,” he said. “They’re having to pay the tax bill, therefore, they should be involved.”
Whatever the reason, when election day came, it wasn’t even close. Voters rejected consolidation by a five-to-one margin. In one rural precinct, the issue failed by a margin of 34 to 1.
Two years later, when the combined law-enforcement center was voted on, it too failed. The issue sank, not to be heard from again for a long time.
These days, Hayes said, it might be a harder sell. There’s been a new jail, new sheriff’s department, improvements to the police department. Things don’t seem as urgent to people, he said, which might make consolidation more difficult to promote.
It can still be done, Hayes said. But the price tag would have been easier to take in the ‘70s.
“I’m in favor of consolidation,” Hayes said. “I think it’s more economical. I think it’s more efficient. And I think it’s going to cost them more today than it would have at that time.”
Basgall said the key would be with the task force and its ability to cooperate.
“If the task force can just stay all one group instead of becoming two different groups, they’ll make it,” he said. “They have to consolidate themselves.”
Splitting into city-county camps makes no sense, he added.
“They’re the same people,” Basgall said. “We might as well just get along and do it together.”
TUESDAY: Riley County consolidated its police and sheriff’s departments 33 years ago. How has it worked out?
armywife (anonymous) says...
I think this is a great idea. I worked for Leavenworth County right after they consolidated with Leavenworth PD and it worked out great. I hope to see it happend here.
March 19, 2007 at 4:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jmb232 (anonymous) says...
Leavenworth County Sheriff and the City of Leavenworth Police are not consolidated. They share a justice center.
Their operations are in no way combined.
March 20, 2007 at 5:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )