By JACKIE TAYLOR | August 27, 2025

County commission

Elected officials are all supposedly equal; however, the county commissioners carry extra weight because they control the purse strings of the county.

Linn County has three commission districts, all of pretty equal populations; only once has the idea of adding two more commission districts to the county been proposed. Yes, that was when Larry Hall and Jim Ferrante were commissioners.

We had one commissioner that managed to piss off every department, county employee and most citizens of Linn County, and another that didn’t have a backbone to state his own thoughts.

Well, Hall was recalled and Ferrante rode off into the night and the proposal of five commissioners went down the road, as well.

At the time of Ferrante and Hall, commissioners made approximately $19,000 per year and were eligible for full benefits that added about half of a salary onto the cost per commissioner, if they chose to take them.

Salaries haven’t increased too much, benefits have gone up, like everything else.

Lately, I’m hearing more conversations being mentioned at the thought of adding two more commissioners to our district. More and more often, recently, two commissioners are left to make important decisions because another is not attending meetings.

This leaves decisions either stymied at 1-1, or things are settled at 2-0. With three commissioners actually voting, at least a quorum could be reached in any single vote taken.

For instance, yesterday’s vote to either approve the county budget to be revenue neutral or not was a 1-1 vote. A revenue neutral vote would pull almost 2.5 mills of funding off of the county budget; with no plan mentioned at this time where the money would be pulled from.

If all commissioners chose to attend the meetings they were elected to attend, there would not be a question on whether the county is revenue neutral or not. It would be decided one way or another, 2-1 or 3-0.

After a rudimentary search of the 105 counties in Kansas with five commissioners, Kansascounties.org showed 18 counties with five commissioners. Those counties include Miami, Franklin, Douglas, Leavenworth, Coffey, Greenwood, Greeley, Butler, Sedgwick and several more. Not all of the counties are large like Leavenworth, etc. Greeley County in western Kansas has a population of 1,296, Greenwood County has 5,871 and Coffey County has 8,301 and a nuclear power plant to add to their tax base.

One county, Johnson, has seven commissioners – the rest of the 86 counties have three commissioners.

What five commissioners would do is add two more salaries and benefit packages to the county payroll; however, it would eliminate the logjam seen at several commissioner meetings lately. Five commissioners would add two more minds to the mix to help in creating a more even decision-making field across the county.

Nothing says one commissioner wouldn’t shirk his/her duties again and play no-show at meetings, leaving a 2-2 vote potentially, but the odds are it would not be a bully session against any one particular commissioner, each commissioner could fully voice their opinion.

No one doubts the decision-making process isn’t difficult on the commissioner’s board, it takes backbone to vote one’s mind and try to do what’s right for their district. All commissioners need to stay in the game and do what’s right for their district.

Time’s wasting and big decisions are looming ahead for this county; and all heads need to be involved so solid decisions can be made. Once a term is over, fine, ride off into the sunset – but don’t ride before the term is done.

The commissioners need to safeguard the office for the next generation; look at three or five commissioners objectively, which one better suits our county and which one will potentially aid governance into the future?

Right now, all hands are needed on deck and needed for the long-term.