Wichita man indicted for making threats to kill President Biden
18 May 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The people who work in Sedgwick County’s Public Safety Center have not felt very safe recently.
As they arrive at or leave the building at 714 N. Main, the 911 dispatchers have been dealing with strangers approaching them.
“Couple years ago, Public Safety presented concerns and issues with unsolicited encounters in the Public Safety parking lot,” Andrew Dilts, Sedgwick County director of facilities, said. “These encounters were occurring at each shift change three times a day.”
Back then, Dilts said the County considered two options to address the safety of the 911 dispatchers: securing the parking lot with a fence and creating a law enforcement presence during shift change. But the County did not own enough land for the 65 parking spaces it would need during a shift change.
So, the County relied on the presence of police officers and sheriff deputies in the vicinity to keep people from approaching the 911 workers.
“However, the encounters are still occurring and at a high level,” Dilts told the Sedgwick County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday. “In a recent six-month period, approximately nine incidents occurred where law enforcement officers were dispatched.”
The Public Safety lots are outlined in blue. The Envision lot is outlined in red. (Courtesy Sedgwick County)
So, Dilts said the County worked with one of Public Safety’s neighbors, Envision Inc., which owns a parking lot that abuts the Public Safety parking lot.
“During these conversations, it became viable for Envision to sell the parcels,” he said. “As part of the purchase price of $325,000, Envision retains 15 unassigned parking stalls for the duration of 10 years.”
Dilts said the cost of buying the land, building the fence, installing electric gates, and restriping the lot is just over $528,000.
The commissioners voted unanimously to approve the deal.
“We’ve got a lot invested in 911 and our employees there,” Commission Chairman Pete Meitzner said. “I am very supportive of this.”
He said a safer parking situation would help 911 retain and recruit employees.
“(It) might be a little larger investment than we wanted to make, but I think … the safety outweighs everything we need to do to get this secured,” Meitzner said.
“We’ve been listening to our staff and our employees over in 911,” Commissioner David Dennis said. “We know there are safety concerns, so that got us involved in this.”
He thanked Envision for working with the County.
“This is the right solution at the right time,” Dennis said.
Commissioner Jim Howell agreed. He said many people may not realize how essential the Public Safety Center and its employees are to the community.
“We’ve invested so much money in this location already,” Howell said. “To relocate this would be, I would say, would be not in the best interest of the taxpayers, so to find a solution in that spot, this is a reasonably good solution.”