Noting the Kansas County Commissioners Association benefited the Barton County commissioners through more intimate, more peer-based training and interaction, the commission Monday morning approved re-upping the membership to the organization for 2020.

“I’m in favor of doing this,” Commissioner Jennifer Schartz said. “We get a lot of good out of it.”  

Tied closely to the Kansas Association of Counties, this organization is comprised of the commissioners serving the 105 counties in Kansas, said County Administrator Phil Hathcock. Education, training, partnering and seeking strategic alliances that benefit the interests of county government and its citizens are its core goals.

The cost for this is $700, which based on the county’s population being between 20,000 and 50,000 and unchanged from last year.

But, unlike KAC, which includes all county officials, this targets commissioners more specifically, Hathcock said.

This was the last of three organizational membership invoices to be approved by the commission. In addition, the county has memberships in:

• The KAC (renewal was approved Jan. 20): Based on a calculation that includes a base fee, population and valuation, the dues for this year are $6,147. They also approved an additional $100 charge for access to 10 webinars on various county government topics.

The association sponsors the annual KAC Conference and various educational meetings throughout the year. 

It lobbies at the state and federal levels on behalf of Kansas counties.

• Kansas Legislative Policy Group (renewal was approved Jan. 20): The KLPG is a bipartisan coalition of western Kansas counties with the common interest in the preservation of the counties tax base and retention of local control. The cost of the renewal for 2020 was $4,994.