By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
A recent request for the Ellis County Commission to consider expanding from three commissioners to five was met with a great deal of resistance by the current commission.
At last week’s commission meeting, Robert Readle, member of the Hays Board of Realtors, presented the commission with a request to consider adopting a resolution that would allow Ellis County voters to consider expanding the commission from the current three seats to five seats.
“The Hays Board of Realtors has observed what we believe are organizational shortcomings that have led to unpredictable outcomes at times and less than ideal mechanisms for decision making, at times,” Readle told the commission.
He said that the board is not taking issue with any of the previous decisions made by the county commission but said it believes five commissioners would better serve the citizens of Ellis County.
Readle said the group has been working on a petition that, if they could gather the necessary signatures, could be placed on the next general election ballot. But after the Reno County Commission passed a resolution putting the question of expanding to five county commissioners to the voters, Readle said the Hays Board of Realtors wanted to ask the Ellis County Commission to do the same.
He said they have two reasons for wanting the commission to expand to five members. The first is the limits from the Kansas Open Meetings Act. The second is when a commissioner is absent, must recuse themselves or resigns, the commission is left with just two commissioners.
Third District Commissioner Dean Haselhorst announced his resignation at Monday’s meeting.
“It puts us in a situation where an action is decided by two commissioners, due to one of the commissioners being absent,” Readle said. “Oftentimes, it’s a non-issue. However there have been situations where a split vote effectively stops a proposition.
“This situation can be summarily described as a single person having veto power on an issue brought to a vote,” Readle said. “We view this as less than ideal to the citizens of Ellis County.”
He said the addition of two commissioners will grant to current commissioners to “freedom” to talk about the issues outside of an open meeting.
“We believe this inhibits commissioners from being able to hear opposing viewpoints which results in less informed decisions,” Readle said.
He also said they believe the change will lead to “more predicable” outcomes.
Ellis County Commissioners Chair Butch Schlyer and Neal Younger told Readle they were not in favor of the expansion.
Schlyer said he opposes expansion on “many levels.”
“I don’t know that we need more predicable outcomes,” Schlyer said. “What we need is true and honest discussion amongst the board of commissioners.”
Schlyer said there was a contentious issue that came before the commission a year ago and he did not know what the outcome of the vote was going to be coming into the meeting.
He also said he talked with previous County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes about expansion when it was previously discussed.
Schlyer said Smith-Hanes told him that five member commissions often result in a 3-2 coalition.
He said he sees it with the current Hays City Commission.
Schlyer also said he told a developer he was not in favor of expansion at a recent meeting.
“It’s not very transparent to the public at large when business is conducted under the table, but I said it makes your job easier to lobby for an issue you want,” Schyler said.
“If we want true transparency, we can’t get commissioners talking off the record (and) we can’t have agencies talking off the record,” Schlyer said.
He said he also believes that expansion and talking about the issue outside of the meetings will mean that the issues will have already been decided before it’s brought before the full commission.
“I know that sort of thing will happen. I’ve seen it happen,” Schlyer said.
Schlyer added, “The people are going to be better served by having a three-board commission when business is conducted above board.”
He added that the public still has the ability to lobby and reach out to each commissioner individually.
“I just believe that’s the way the commission should be conducted,” Schlyer said.
Schlyer also talked about the concern of adding two more commissioners giving the city of Hays more representation on the commission than the surrounding communities.
“If that 3-2 coalition is from the commissioners in Hays, an issue can be decided without the east or west ends of the county commission even being privilege to what’s going on or knowing what’s happening,” Schyler said.
Schlyer also brought up the added costs associated with bringing in someone to help with the redistricting and the additional commission salary and benefits.
He said that he was, “100-percent opposed” to expansion and he would not endorse any resolution and told Readle to go ahead with their petition.
“But please as you educate the public, tell them this is not in their best interest,” Schlyer said.
Readle told Hays Post they are ready to kick off their petition campaign.
According to Readle, they have six months to collect signatures from 5 percent of registered voters in Ellis County.
He said the county clerk’s office told them there are 18,529 registered voters in Ellis County.
Readle said anyone interested in finding out more about their efforts can contact any local Realtor.