The Douglas County Elections Office is located at 711 W. 23rd St., Suite 1. It's in the shopping center at the southwest corner of 23rd and Louisiana streets.

Voter information for the general election on Nov. 5

The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Polling locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Registered voters can cast an advance ballot at the Douglas County Elections Office, 711 W. 23^rd St. Suite 1, at the following times:

• 8 a.m.-7 p.m. – Thursday and Friday, Oct. 31-Nov. 1
• 9 a.m.-3 p.m. – Saturday, Nov. 2
• 8 a.m.-noon – Monday, Nov. 4 (Please note the office closes at noon by law).

Additional advance voting locations include:

• 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Oct. 31-Nov. 1, at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, 2120 Harper St., St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, 5700 W. Sixth St., and the Lied Center Pavilion, 1600 Stewart Drive.

• 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Lecompton Community Building, Eudora City Hall and Baldwin City Library.

Links to information for the most frequently-asked questions:

Q: Am I registered to vote and is my registration information up to date? 

A: https://myvoteinfo.voteks.org/voterview

Q: How can I vote?

A: https://www.dgcoks.gov/county-clerk/voting-and-elections/ways-to-vote

Q: Who is running for office?

A: https://www.dgcoks.gov/county-clerk/voting-and-elections/current-candidates

Happy Halloween!

We wish everyone a safe and Happy Halloween! Pictured are staff who work in Administration and the Treasurer's Office. Follow our Facebook and Instagram accounts to see more costume photos.

Community encouraged to participate in survey about criminal legal system

The Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) is seeking the community’s input through a survey that will be open until 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 4. The survey aims to gather input on key priorities the CJCC should focus on to improve the criminal legal system.

By participating in the survey, residents will be helping to ensure the CJCC’s strategic plan focuses on the areas that matter most to the community that it serves. All individual responses will remain confidential and will only be shared in aggregate form.

The survey is being conducted in partnership with The Justice Management Institute (JMI), a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing justice systems through research, education and technical assistance. JMI has been supporting the CJCC through a strategic planning process that began in January 2024.

The mission of the Douglas County CJCC is to be an advisory board that provides an open, transparent and collaborative forum for justice system partners, stakeholders and community members who come together to share information, problem-solve and make evidence-informed recommendations to improve the criminal legal system.

News release: https://dgcoks.gov/news/102424

For over a year, the Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) has collaborated with The Justice Management Institute (JMI) to restructure, draft new bylaws, and develop a strategic plan. Pictured earlier this month, from left, are Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinator Katy Fitzgerald, JMI Senior Program Associate Aimee Wickman, Douglas County Director of Criminal Justice Services Pam Weigand, and JMI Senior Advisor Kristy Danford.

The McQuillian Farmstead, located west of Baldwin City, is on the barn tour. The farmstead features a well-preserved barn that was constructed in 1900, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council hosting free Barn Fest event Nov. 8-9

The Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council is hosting a Barn Fest event Nov. 8-9 in Lecompton where participants will learn about the preservation of historic barns in Douglas County. The event aims to highlight the beauty and stories held within the historic farmsteads of Douglas County and connect and convene property owners, students, contractors and enthusiasts interested in preservation of these places and stories.

The event includes an all-day workshop on Nov. 8 and a countywide tour on Nov. 9. The event is free to attend; however, spots are limited. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis.

News release: https://dgcoks.gov/news/101724

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Oct. 25 to celebrate the completion of the Treasurer's Office new location at 2601 W. Sixth St. Pictured, from left, are Commissioner Karen Willey, Stacy Kurtz, director of taxation for the Treasurer's Office, Treasurer Adam Rains, April Withers, assistant motor vehicle supervisor for the Treasurer's Office, and Commissioner Patrick Kelly. The new location opened on Monday, Oct. 28.

Treasurer's Office opens larger, more accessible location on Sixth Street

The Douglas County Treasurer’s Office opened its location at 2601 W. Sixth St. on Monday, Oct. 28. The new 5,054-square-foot building is more accessible with a lobby, close parking and a drop box.

It is located on property that the county purchased with federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and then renovated with funding from the Capital Improvement contingency fund. The total cost of the project was $1.6 million.

With the opening of the new office, the Treasurer’s Office closed the satellite office at 2000 W. 31st St., which was leased by the county.

The Treasurer’s Office continues to operate its location inside the historic County Courthouse on the first floor. Both the Sixth Street and Courthouse locations are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

There is also a Baldwin City office, which is located inside Baldwin City Market, 112 Eighth Street. It is open on the second full week of each month.

Residents can also renew their motor vehicle taxes and pay property taxes online. Please visit, the Treasurer’s Office website - https://www.dgcoks.gov/treasurer - for more information.

The Treasurer's office location at 2601 W. Sixth St. has a lobby area and close parking.

Crews are cleaning, restoring and repairing the stone masonry on the Courthouse. This project is expected to be finished in the spring, weather permitting.

Construction projects underway at historic Courthouse

If you’ve visited the historic County Courthouse in downtown Lawrence this fall, you’ve noticed a lot of construction. There are three projects underway:

• Stone masonry project – This work is being done to clean, restore and repair the stone masonry on the outside of the building.

• Foundation waterproofing – This project is correcting issues involved with water infiltration through the exterior wall of the stone foundation.

• Commission meeting room project – The room is undergoing a renovation that includes fitting it to accommodate five commissioners and repairing water damage that occurred in October 2022 from a fire sprinkler flood. The goal of the project is to preserve the integrity of the room’s historic features while equipping it with modern technologies.

We appreciate the public’s patience as we work to preserve and repair this building which was constructed in 1904. It is listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places.

A project to waterproof the foundation began about one year ago and is expected to be finished before winter.

The County Commission room is being repaired and renovated. The project is expected to be finished in early January when the new five-member Board of County Commissioners begins to meet. The courtroom is being restored to its original color scheme.

About your Board of County Commissioners

Chair Karen Willey

Vice Chair Shannon Reid

Patrick Kelly

Douglas County Commission meetings are at 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays at the Public Works/Zoning and Codes building, 3755 E. 25^th St., in the training room. Meetings are also available on Zoom. Commission meetings are taking place in the Public Works/Zoning and Codes building due to renovation of the Commission meeting room in the historic Courthouse.

The County Commission took the following action on regular business agenda items in October. They unanimously approved:

• a pilot property tax rebate program for low-income seniors (ages 65 and older) and disabled veterans.
• classification and compensation recommendations as a result of a study completed by McGrath Human Resources Group, Inc.
• the Emergency Communications Center Board and bylaws and a request to rezone about 20 acres located at 1231 N 400 Road from agricultural district to transitional agricultural district.

* Recordings of the meetings can be found on the Douglas County YouTube channel.

Work sessions

County Commissioners also have work sessions to study and discuss various topics throughout the year. No action is taken during work sessions. The following work session is scheduled for 4 p.m. in November:

• Nov. 20 - Judicial and Law Enforcement Center addition and renovation project

Please note: The Commission will not have a meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 27.

Sheriff's Office delivers 254 pounds of unused medications for safe disposal

The Sheriff’s Office collected 184 pounds of unused medications from the public on Saturday, Oct. 26, as part of National Drug Take Back Day. Community members brought their expired and unused medications for safe disposal to the drive-through site outside the Courthouse.

Additionally, the Sheriff's Office collected 70 pounds of unused medications in recent months in the lobby of the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center. The drop box is available year-round. Deputies delivered the 254 pounds total of medications to the Drug Enforcement Administration to be safely destroyed.

The goal of National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is to provide a safe disposal of unneeded medications from homes to prevent medication misuse or opioid addiction. The next one will be in April 2025.

Douglas County Sheriff Jay Armbrister speaks with residents of Bethel Estates this fall about ways to avoid becoming a victim of a scam.

Sheriff's Office offers guidelines to avoid scams

As part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Sheriff Jay Armbrister is raising awareness about scams.

"Scammers are persistent and cast a wide net, so it is important to be vigilant and remain educated about different types of scams," he said.

Common scams that the Sheriff's Office has seen recently include text messages or fake warrants claiming someone missed jury duty or that registered offenders need to pay them to be in compliance. Here are a few guidelines to avoid becoming a victim:

• Held package. Because so many packages are shipped these days, scammers count on people taking for granted they might have a package coming but they need to correct something with the shipping details. Scammers are trying to lure people into providing personal or financial information. Do not click the link. Ignore the message or report it to junk.

• Unsolicited message. The goal is to get you to start up a conversation so they can get you to reveal personal information or convince you to send an image or other information that could be used to try to extort funds from you. It's also best to avoid the message, report as junk and block the number.

• Fake warrants. It could be a document via email or text, but the goal is to get you concerned about a warrant out for your arrest. The warrants often mix up language from federal and state court templates and can include typos or unclear language. The biggest clue that this is a scam is law enforcement will not pressure you to pay a sum of money immediately to resolve a legal problem. It is best to hang up from these calls.

"The easiest rule to follow is don't answer calls or messages from numbers you don't recognize. If something is that important, it will get to you through a channel you trust," Armbrister said.

Residents should also ignore or hang up on people who claim to be law enforcement and are pressuring an immediate payment to resolve something. Residents can call the Sheriff’s Office at 785-841-0007 or another agency directly to verify a law enforcement contact.

FBI policy mandate requires encryption of law enforcement radio traffic in Douglas County

Law enforcement radio communication channels in Douglas County became fully encrypted this month to comply with a mandate from the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Security Policy.

The federal policy change went into effect in December 2022 and required local and state agencies to gain the capabilities to be in compliance with encrypting radio traffic to protect personal information transmitted over the air.

The encryption change means law enforcement channels dispatched through the Douglas County Emergency Communications Center and typically heard via radios, scanner applications and websites are not accessible to the general public.

• News release

The Sheriff's Office call log report is available to the public.

A Day of the Dead celebration is set for Nov. 2 in John Taylor Park, 200 N. Seventh St.

Community invited to Day of the Dead event on Nov. 2 in John Taylor Park

Somos Lawrence and Lawrence Percolator are hosting a Day of the Dead event from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at John Taylor Park, 200 N. Seventh St. This year’s altar will honor the lives of grandparents and the elders who have departed. Community members are invited to bring mementos of loved ones to add to the altar or set up their individual altars. There will be tamales, sweet bread and hot chocolate.

Somos Lawrence, which is housed in the Ballard Center adjacent to John Taylor Park, is a community organization that seeks to advocate for effective and culturally informed grassroots outreach to under-represented, Spanish-speaking residents of Douglas County. Other collaborative partners in the event include the Ballard Center, Common Ground, Senior Resource Center for Douglas County, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. The event is supported by a grant from the Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council, and workshop space is being provided by the Sunrise Project and SeedCo Studios.

Register of Deeds office offers free recording service for veterans

Military veterans are encouraged to record their military discharge form (DD214) with the Douglas County Register of Deeds office for safekeeping. This is an important document that is often needed for veterans’ benefits.

The Register of Deeds office offers this service for veterans at no cost. Veterans keep the original document. The recording provides safe and secure storage for peace of mind. Free certified copies can be accessed quickly by authorized parties.

The Register of Deeds office is located on the third floor of the Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts Street. For more information, call 785-832-5282.

Douglas County Government offices will be closed Monday, Nov. 11, for Veterans Day. Thank you to our veterans and all who have served, past and present.

County offices will also be closed on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 28-29, for the Thanksgiving holiday. There will be no County Commission meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 27.

Don't forget Daylight Saving Time ends Sunday, Nov. 3, and you will need to turn your clocks back one hour. Enjoy the extra hour!

Judicial and Law Enforcement Center:

111 East 11th Street

Lawrence, KS 66044