After years of consternation and several Treasurers the new tag office to replace the current Murdock location is open for business.  Current Sedgwick County Treasurer Linda Kizzire recently hosted a ribbon cutting event for the new and expanded office at 2525 W. Douglas just west of the Delano neighborhood.   Space requirements and parking had been a concern for several years.  The new location will hopefully deal with both of those issues.   The office’s regular hours will be Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm starting June 7, 2016.

The new facility with expanded parking and work stations and the availability of an app to diminish wait times and customer throughput should take some of the anxiety out of the renewal process.  Kudos to Linda, her staff and our facilities management group for getting us into the new location.  

For over 15 years now we have been lamenting the need for a new law enforcement training center in Sedgwick County to serve as the educational hub for the training of  Wichita police, Sedgwick County deputies and detention officers and other law enforcement personnel.   The old elementary school that the training center is housed in is tired, needs up-grading and is woefully insufficient for the mission of insuring the highest quality of training for the guardians of our safety.  

At one time several of us on both sides of the street (City and County) worked closely with the State Adjutant General’s office to include the law enforcement training component in the footprint of the National Guard training and maintenance facility now built and occupied at the junction of I-135 and K-96.    It was to be a regional first responder training center that focused on multi-disciplinary training and shared facilities for many levels of first responders. 

Initially, there were a host of partners engaged in conversation and charrettes to plan the needs, usage and shared spaces of the complex.   The State National Guard, Kansas Highway Patrol, the U.S. Marines, Sedgwick County, the City of Wichita, and other entities were at the table working to create the Heartland Preparedness Center.   The vision was to create a one- of -a-kind facility in the United States.   Over the years that vision  dissolved, was diminished by subsequent decisions, watered down for various reasons and  deposited us in a very sad situation:  No new training center, diminished funding, little agreement between partners on where to put it, and more time gobbled up failing to move forward.

Recently the agreement between Wichita State University, the City of Wichita, and Sedgwick County to locate the training center at the Innovation Campus was a welcome end to the long-standing gridlock.  I believe that public safety is top-of-mind for citizens.   And that exemplary training curriculum and facilities is called for to deliver what our community and law enforcement deserves.   And by the way, in times of disasters and crisis situations, the idea that first responders have trained together, practiced together, planned together and worked together makes a lot of sense.  I am anxious to see the future Law Enforcement Training Center become a reality.