By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
After a week off, the Barton County Commission, complete with colorful Hawaiian shirts, returned to action Tuesday. The board heard from Communications Director Dena Popp, who provided an update about the $1 million Critical Facility Mapping Grant Program from the Kansas legislature, which was opened in July. 911 centers around the state were able to apply for funds to have school buildings in their county mapped inside and out to enhance emergency responses in the event of a critical incident.
“It was at that time, or within a short period of time after that,” Popp said, “that we were able to go in and start filling out the grant, which was a very simple one-page fill-in-the-blank type of grant – not your typical grant – and save it until the point we were actually able to submit.”
Popp did submit the application, and Barton County received an allocation. Popp met with officials from all 18 schools in the county, and a priority was set to map schools with higher probabilities of active shooters, such as high schools. With funding still left, all 18 schools in Barton County were eventually mapped. Popp chose a vendor that has also mapped schools in surrounding counties.
“That was important to me because, if we have to assist any other county with an incident, the mapping is the same for multiple counties around us,” she said. “It’s not that you have to learn a new format of the mapping.”
For the actual mapping, the vendor went on-site to each school, walked the grounds, and took photos and measurements of the inside and outside of the facility. Districts were also allowed to submit previous paper maps. There is no cost to the districts because of the grant, though any changes the schools wish to make later may have costs. The actual maps will be owned by the Kansas Legislature, for which Commissioner Tricia Schlessiger expressed her approval so the information is not available to potential threats.
“Most school buildings are a maze,” Schlessiger said. “Ellinwood, for example, has been added on twice, and we have two separate second stories that don’t connect, and there are two separate elevators. If you don’t have this mapping, it’s very hard to direct anyone through any of these buildings. If you are not familiar with them, it would be very difficult. I think this is a great grant. I’m glad you went after it.”
Popp reported the Kansas Legislature has announced a second round of funding. If that money is not used by schools, the opportunity may be presented to other public facilities like courthouses and community centers.