A Healthy and Safe Community
For its 2023-2024 priorities, the Board of County Commissioners chose to focus on building a healthy and safe community for all, doing so through the lens of sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion. The goal is to provide everyone who works, lives or plays in Johnson County a healthier environment and a sense of belonging and connection. Our organization has taken major strides towards this priority over the past year.
Our 2024 annual community survey reveals that our efforts are paying off with questions about feelings of safety revealing even higher marks than the prior year.
- 98.1% feel safe or very safe in their neighborhood during the day. (97.4% in 2023)
- 89.3% feel safe or very safe in their neighborhood at night (88.2% in 2023)
- 82% feel safe or very safe in JCPRD parks (79.8% in 2023)
- 92.4% feel safe or very safe overall in Johnson County (90.0% in 2023.)
Lighting the Way through…
…putting resources towards those who serve and protect the residents of Johnson County
A priority of the work done in 2023 to better align employee salaries with the market focused on recruitment and retention challenges in the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. In an effort to curb an alarming level of vacant positions, the BOCC allocated ongoing funding for 10 full-time civilian positions as well as $13.2 million in ongoing funding for the Sheriff’s Office updated step plan.
In 2023 the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office Criminalistics Laboratory implemented new extraction robots for processing DNA samples. This new technology allowed for 48 samples to be processed at a time, tripling the efficiency of this process.
Another 2023 example of the Sheriff’s Office’s work to make Johnson County a safe community was its accomplishments keeping illegal drugs off the streets as part of the Northeast Kansas Drug Task Force. In March 2023, the work of the Task Force resulted in the seizure of 10 pounds of methamphetamine. Just a month later, the task force made a major seizure from a supplier of several illegal drugs.
…launching two new community coalitions
In June 2023, the BOCC approved the creation of two new board-appointed coalitions to forward important initiatives in our community: the Sustainability Coalition and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coalition. The Sustainability Coalition will encourage environmental stewardship across the Johnson County community in the face of a changing climate and advise the BOCC on sustainability policy options. The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coalition will foster an inclusive community where all people are connected, safe, and have a sense of belonging and aims to cultivate a welcoming, diverse community where all people are valued. The coalitions kicked off their work at a joint meeting in December 2023.
…being good stewards of resources
When it comes to being the best stewards of resources that we can, we made good progress in 2023. In the spring of 2023, we learned in our greenhouse gas inventory report that the Johnson County community reduced its greenhouse emissions by 30 percent between 2013 and 2020. As for our organization, we have decreased our electricity, natural gas and water usage in our buildings by some admirable numbers:
- Energy usage for the county buildings has dropped 11% from 2022
- Energy usage for buildings has decreased 1% since 2015 despite an increase in square footage of 27%
- Energy usage per square foot has decreased 22% since 2015
One sign we are headed in the right direction? Getting ranked on a national list of the largest municipal green power users! In October 2023 we learned we came in No. 12 on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership Top 30 Local Government list!
…ensuring our internal structures align with DEI efforts
Staff did important work in 2023 to ensure our county policies, procedures and practices align with our objectives to be a diverse, equitable and inclusive organization where everyone belongs (known internally as VIBE). Efforts included making sure materials are available in multiple languages, providing Core VIBE Team training and education directly to 25% of the staff annually, and providing more VIBE workshops and learning opportunities. Examples of 2023 accomplishments in this area include:
- Conducting an internal review of the BOCC agenda process and seeking ways to improve the process for staff and the public.
- Developing a strategic plan to prioritize language accessibility.
- Increasing focus on building diverse talent pipelines.
Our VIBE is so strong that it was featured as the cover story for Public Management, a highly respected government magazine published by ICMA, the world’s leading association of professional city and county managers.
Did You Know?
- The Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division conducted 160 criminal investigations and the Patrol Division drove 850,000 miles.
- The county is using more than 60 million kilowatt-hours of green power annually.
- Approximately 55% of the county government’s energy use is from renewable sources.
- 9 departments, agencies or offices have their own VIBE team.
- 575 employees attended 34 VIBE workshops in 2023.