By KEN CARPENTER
Great Bend Post
GREAT BEND — Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir went to Topeka last week to support a state constitutional amendment that will require county sheriffs in Kansas to be elected, not appointed. A hearing about that proposed amendment was held in the State House Committee on Federal and State Affairs last Thursday. Bellendir, who is the elected sheriff in Barton County, explained why he wants to see the amendment pass.
“There has been some movement in some locations to either consolidate city and county government and put the chief law enforcement officer, your sheriff, under a board of county commissioners or a board of directors or something like that,” Bellendir said. “Sheriffs feel very strongly about this that your chief law enforcement officer in your county should be elected democratically by the people.”
If the proposed amendment is approved by the state legislature, it will be placed on the ballot in November. State Representative Tory Arnberger-Blew who represents much of Barton County is the Vice-Chair of the Federal and State Affairs Committee. She has expressed her support for the measure.