By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
The city of Hays and Ellis County commissioners have agreed to essentially swap responsibilities for the emergency communications center and road maintenance of peripheral areas of Hays.
In a joint meeting Monday night at BriefSpace, the vote was unanimous for Ellis County to take over emergency dispatch staffing and operations in 2024 and the city to vacate the Ellis County Law Enforcement Center, 105 W. 12th, in 2026.
Ellis County and Hays law enforcement have shared building space since 1976. Since then, staff and operations for both agencies have increased.
The city will build a new police station and municipal court facility, most likely at 27th and Main; the 2024 budget includes funding for the design process.
Currently, the city of Hays staffs and operates the emergency communications center, fielding calls for all of Ellis County. The county owns and maintains all the necessary 911 equipment and infrastructure.
Hays' financial responsibility for communications staff salaries and benefits will be gradually reduced and the employees will become county workers.
Then in 2026, Ellis County will begin charging the city a fee to house municipal court inmates. Currently, those fees are waived in exchange for staffing the emergency communications center.
"By shifting the sheriff's office to where the police are now, we're looking at a possible future capital expense of having some more jail cells added," said Darin Myers, Ellis County administrator, "so if we have something like COVID again, we have isolation cells. We could also keep females and males (inmates) more segregated."
Myers, who also serves as the Ellis County fire chief, talked about plans to add a backup dispatch center in the Ellis County Emergency Services building, 1105 E. 22nd.
The city will be responsible for maintenance and upgrades of seven roads bordering Hays, with the exception of the existing unpaved portion of 41st Street from east Vineyard Park to 260th Avenue for which the county will retain responsibility.
Most of the roads are in both city and county jurisdictions, while some are entirely within the city’s limits.
The muddled alignments between ownership and responsibility have sometimes been frustrating for developers, said Nathan Leiker, county commissioner.
"They see our chopped-up roads. Now we've got a new agreement to where there's a little more clarification on the future," Leiker said.
Hays mayor Shaun Musil agreed with County Commission Chairman Neal Younger's earlier statement that "it's more of a community, not county/city.
"I think this is a big thing for our community, working together," Musil said.
"For the future of Ellis County and the city of Hays, I think this is a great thing we're doing tonight. Hopefully, we can continue to work like this for even better things in the future."
Sandy Jacobs, Hays vice-mayor, said "The only real place we haven't had collaboration is (commissioners) sitting at this table.
"All our departments are sharing things, doing things all the time together that most people don't even know about," Jacobs said.
"All we're doing is bringing it to a new level and letting our community and county know we're working as one for the whole area."
Details of the agreement were negotiated by staff for several months prior to Monday's meeting.
County Commissioner Michael Berges was absent from the meeting.