Sedgwick County commissioners have voted to approve a lease agreement for a building in downtown Wichita for a three-year-period. The Ruffin Building at Douglas and Broadway will be used for the commission offices, the County Manager, the Clerk, the Treasurer, the Register of Deeds, the County Counselor, and the communications department.
The move will free space in the courthouse for an expansion of courthouse space and the creation of more space for the District Attorney. The expansion project is expected to begin later this year and would be finished in the spring of 2023. It will allow the District Court to address a backlog of cases and provide space for a veterans’ court, a mental health court, and the addition of two judges and a magistrate judge.
Assistant County Manager Tania Cole said the Ruffin Building will have the Register of Deeds and the Treasurer’s office on the first floor, and the 6th floor would have the County Commission offices, the County Clerk, the Finance Department, County Counselor, Communications and the County Manager’s office. An auditorium on the lower level would be remodeled for County Commission meetings.
The county is leasing the building from July 1st, 2022 through June, 2025, at a cost of over $702,000 a year or more than $58,000 a month. The county is using funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act to cover the lease costs.
Commission Chairman David Dennis called on staff to provide a plan within 30 days on what happens after the lease runs out. He said it’s time to make a decision on a permanent facility for county administrative services.
