By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
This week, the Ellis County Commission appointed five community members to the newly formed Ellis County Library Board.
To be eligible to serve on the board, individuals have to live in the new taxing district, which covers rural Ellis County and Victoria but not Hays or Ellis.
According to County Administrator Darin Myers, the county received 12 applications.
The commissioners then ranked the 12 applicants and listed the top five individuals.
Myers said the top five pickers were:
1. Jennifer Teget
2. Becky Rogowski
3. Kylie Honas
4. Benjamin Dome
5. Alisha Hammerschmidt
Teget and Rogowski were the top two voters getters and were appointed to the longest terms through April 30, 2028.
Honas’ term will run through April 30, 2027. Dome’s term expires April 30, 2026, and Hammerschmidt’s April 2025.
Each term on the board is four years after the initial shorter terms, and according to County Counselor Bill Jeter, the statute says a person can only serve two four-year terms before they have to wait a year before returning to the board.
“Anybody that has less than a four-year appointment once that expires could run for two more or be appointed for two more consecutive four years,” Jeter said.
The Ellis County Commission chairperson will serve as a member of the board.
County Commissioner Michael Berges said he appreciated everyone who applied for the positions.
"The nice thing about the applications is how much many of those people do on other boards," Berges said. "So, seeing the community involvement (is) certainly something I took into consideration on all the applications."
The board will create its by-laws and regulations.
“They make their own separate decisions on what course they want to see this library go, based on the funding the commission provides,” Jeter said. “You don’t have the right to approve or disprove what they do or what direction they want to go.”
Commissioner Neal Younger said he likes the fact that the five people come from all over the county.
“I believe all three commissioners chose these people (because) there’s some backgrounding (with) a lot of those individuals,” Commissioner Neal Younger said. “So, I think they’ll do fine without any guidance from us.”
Property taxes currently collected from residents living in those areas for library services fund the Central Kansas Library System (CKLS).
According to the CKLS, Ellis County collected more than $292,000 in taxes in 2023. The funding was then distributed to member libraries across the 17-county area that the CKLS serves.
The funding the Hays and Ellis public libraries and the three public school libraries receive from the CKLS has continued to decline in recent years, and according to County Administrator Darin Myers, by 2027, less than 25% of the taxes paid from Ellis County will be returned to Ellis County.
The library taxes collected in the newly formed taxing district will support the county library.
The State Library Board can still block the implementation of the county library if they believe it will do “manifest harm” to the Central Kansas Library. Still, Myers said an updated set of regulations had been sent to the attorney general’s office that would trim the waiting period from the current two years.