Industrial revenue bonds and a possible merger of county departments are among items that will be on the agenda when the Shawnee County Commission meets Monday. Commissioners plan Monday to consider expressing their intent to issue $13 million worth of industrial revenue bonds.
The IRBs would help Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Equality Investment Group Wanamaker, LLC, carry out its proposed $31.4 million project to redevelop retail properties it owns at the southeast corner of S.W. 17th and Wanamaker Road, including the site of the former Kmart at 1740 S.W. Wanamaker. Commissioners on Monday will also accept public comment on a proposal sponsored by Archer that would Monday will consolidate the county’s corrections and community corrections departments under the control of the corrections department.
The corrections department, headed by Brian Cole, oversees operations of the Shawnee County Jail and the county’s Juvenile Detention Center and Corrections Annex.
Rebecca Cartmill heads the community corrections department, which oversees offenders taking part in an intensive form of probation. She is retiring, Archer said this past week.
Community corrections was part of the corrections department until commissioners made it a separate department in 2000. The corrections department had 233 employees and the community corrections department had 25 employees as of April 1.
(Read more: Political – The Topeka Capital-Journal)