Rachelle Mathews, currently the acting chief financial officer for the City of Topeka, will be the new director of finance for the City of Lawrence. The city announced Mathews’ hire in a news release Tuesday afternoon. Her position will be effective Monday, April 15. Mathews received her Bachelor of Arts in business and accounting from Kansas Wesleyan University and her MBA from Washburn University, according to the release. She’s a certified management accountant, and she began her career in public finance as an accountant in Topeka in 2015, according to the release. She is currently studying for the Government Finance Officers Association certified public financial officer credential. “As I enter this chapter of my career, I am very much looking forward to growing and learning inside the City of Lawrence,” Mathews said in the release. “This position is more than the numbers. It’s a commitment to serving this vibrant community and contributing to the financial well-being of the organization.” Mathews is an active member of Women in Public Finance, according to the release.
Source: The Lawrence Times

People who are booked into jails statewide have long waited several months — even more than a year — for beds at state mental hospitals, so their competency to understand court proceedings can be restored. Douglas County is now working on a local solution to that problem. The Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council heard a report about the program Tuesday morning. The county plans to launch the new process on April 1. The district attorney’s office cannot prosecute people who are not mentally competent to participate in their own defense, Douglas County DA Suzanne Valdez said Tuesday. Katy Fitzgerald, criminal justice coordinator for the county, said defendants are now seeing an average wait of about 14 months before a bed opens for them at a state mental hospital. But “A recent change in state legislation allowed counties — if they met certain conditions — to conduct competency evaluations and orders for restoration without sending those in custody to Larned or Osawatomie state hospitals,” according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.
Source: The Lawrence Times