Eudora may pay more to use 911 dispatch services beginning in 2024 with a fee increase to the Douglas County Emergency Communications Center being considered by the city.

“We asked them if there was any kind of change in operations, and it’s not related to a change in operations,” Interim City Manager Kevyn Gero said.

The current fee is $25,000, according to an agenda statement. The money is split between fire and police dispatch services, Gero said. The initiative is split into Douglas County, Lawrence and Baldwin City.

The proposed update to the governance and finance initiative has two fee possibilities. One is an annual payment of about $175,000. This option is based on each city and Douglas County’s population, according to an agenda statement.

The other, a payment of about $129,000, is based on the county paying a fixed percentage. Cities will individually pay the rest according to their population.

“We don’t know the final numbers, but looking at the preliminary numbers, I think staff believe that we can manage it through our current budget without greatly impacting taxes,” Gero said.

A phase-in plan was proposed, which would ease the city into the new cost over a three-year period, according to an agenda statement.

“I think the jump could be attributed to just a different funding model. The $25,000 was sort of arbitrary,” Gero said. “And so looking at their total expenses, including administrative costs, they feel like this ballpark is kind of a close representation of providing services to Eudora.”

No action was taken on the proposed update at this time. 

In other business, the commission approved a real estate sale contract for the STAR Bond district at 2248 N. 1300 Road in an executive session, Mayor Tim Reazin said.

“So ultimately, the city’s not, if the STAR Bond district doesn’t go through, we made sure that in the documents that the city wouldn’t be obliged to purchase that land,” Reazin said.

Reazin said the contract would also give the city the opportunity to pass the project on to a third-party developer.

Commissioners and the Department of Commerce may be taking a trip to Reno, Nevada, next month. The trip will be to tour Reno’s Panasonic plant and speak to government officials about the plant, Reazin said.

Reazin said while the Reno plant will be very different from the one outside Eudora, he’d like to talk to government officials about how the plant has impacted them. 

The goal is to gather as much information as possible to make decisions about the future of the community, Reazin said.

“I have to be educated on it, and no one around here can give me that same thing as going there and seeing it in person,” Reazin said.

Superintendent Stu Moeckel attended the commission meeting to discuss the upcoming bond campaign kickoff on Wednesday. 

The bond committee has identified three important aspects of the schools that need to be updated: safety and security, technology systems and structure capacity, Moeckel said.

Voting for the bond will be in person only. Advanced voting will kick off on April 26,  Moeckel said. Regular voting will be held on May 16, the Times previously reported.

In other business:

• Eudora was one of 40 cities to be awarded the KDHE Keep it Clean Kansas grant, Parks and Recreation Director Sally Pennington said. The grant will be used to erect eight benches, some of which will be placed at the new multipurpose courts.

• The city is moving forward with a real estate contract with the 701 Group for the old public safety building. Kawehi and Paul Wight submitted a letter of interest for the building at the last city commission meeting, hoping to renovate the property into a film studio, the Times previously reported.

Reach reporter Caroline Zimmerman at [email protected].