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Representatives taking part in the Aug. 19 groundbreaking for the new headquarters for the highway patrol in south-central Kansas are (from left) Kansas Secretary of Transportation Mike King, Kechi City Council President Kevin Opat, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, KHP Superintendent Col. Ernest Garcia, former state representative Jo Ann Pottorff and Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

New headquarters
By Matt Heilman
Last Updated: August 21, 2014

Overdue effort paying off for highway patrol

A 21-year effort is finally paying off. On Aug. 19, representatives with the Kansas Highway Patrol joined state and local officials for a groundbreaking ceremony they say was long overdue.

The ground was broken on the new headquarters for Kansas Highway Patrol Troop F, currently operating in tight space in the 3200 block of East 45th North, near 45th North and Hillside. The ground for the new Troop F headquarters is located on land owned by the Kansas Department of Transportation within Kechi's city limits just north of K-254 and west of Rock Road.

Troop F, which serves 13 counties in south-central Kansas, will share the new 22,000-square-foot facility with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback commended the KHP and KBI for partnering on the effort to fund the approximately $3.5 million facility without the use of tax dollars.

Brownback was the first to address the crowd gathered for the groundbreaking on Aug. 19. Other officials who spoke included Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, Kansas Transportation Secretary Mike King and former State Representative Jo Ann Pottorff who represented House District 83 in east Wichita for 28 years before her retirement in early 2013.

During her service, one of the committees Potorff worked on was the Transportation and Public Safety Budget Committee. On Aug. 19, she said she is pleased to see a project realized that she's championed for more than two decades.

She said the need for a new headquarters for the highway patrol troop was evident, but the project was never a high enough priority to tackle when tax dollars were in play.

"We took our building committee down there several, times," Pottorff said of the current Troop F headquarters near 45th North and Hillside. "Every year we talked about it and it just didn't pass through the legislature. It's exciting to see it finally coming together with the KBI as a joint partner."

Kansas Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Ernest Garcia said the new Troop F facility is being paid for with funds obtained from seized cash and property, referred to in a KHP news release as "asset forfeiture funds."

"The new facility will more adequately meet our needs, and will carry us into the future," Garcia said. "I am deeply appreciative of our partners at the Kansas Department of Transportation in helping us with the work and area for this new facility."

From the City of Kechi's perspective, city administrator Bob Conger said the presence of the new trooper headquarters and KBI facility means more jobs in the small community.

"Granted, those are jobs already established in the state, but these are people that are gonna come here and work, and they're gonna be looking for services and things that are gonna make their lives a little easier," he said. "This might be an opportunity for some economic development items that have been on the table for a long time. We're hoping the influx of jobs will result in some positive things here."

He said the new building's construction has an immediate impact on one Kechi business. Kechi's Walz, Harman, Huffman Construction, Inc is the contractor on the facility.

Emporia's Emig and Associates Architects completed the building's design.

The new Troop F headquarters is slated for completion next summer with hopes that it will be ready for occupancy next July.

The move will come 22 years after the Highway Patrol outgrew the space in its current building and made its first attempt at securing funding for a new Troop F headquarters.

Schmidt followed Brownback in commending the KHP and KBI for its co-beneficial efforts paying off with the Aug. 19 groundbreaking in Kechi.

"It really is, as the governor indicated, a terrific symbol of the cooperation between the two largest state-level law enforcement agencies every Kansan relies on to stay safe in our communities, day in and day out," Schmidt said.  





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