Girard community asks that Girard county attorney office remain open

By Sarah Gooding

A proposal to consolidate the Crawford County Attorney’s office at the judicial center in Pittsburg is concerning for Girard stakeholders.

Several showed up for a work session on the topic prior to the Crawford County Commission meeting Dec. 18, asking that their input be heard as decisions are made.

County Attorney Michael Gayoso took the floor first, explaining his office’s situation and the reasons he has proposed consolidating his office staff in Pittsburg.

“First of all, the sky is not falling. Everything is still fine,” Gayoso said. “The court is not moving from Girard. It’s an impossibility by Kansas law for the court to move. You still have to hold court in Girard.”

He said currently that is done each Monday and Thursday, but that 100 percent of juvenile cases and jury trials take place in Pittsburg.

“We have two-thirds of our cases in Pittsburg right now, and we have one-third of our cases being heard in Girard,” Gayoso said. “My problem is I have two offices in two different locations that are understaffed. Instead of going to county commissioners and asking for more money to have two full time working offices, it was my approach and my suggestion that the county attorney’s office move to Pittsburg. How to accomplish that? There’s a myriad of ways.”

Gayoso said the consolidation would prevent scrambling resulting from illness or vacation as well as promote efficiency with all the files in one place, but would not change the court schedule or the need for him to be in Girard for court cases two days a week.

Gayoso also said that in the more than two years since changes were made to docket locations, he has not had any business owner contact him about reductions in business.

However, Girard City Manager Chris Weiner said that in the past couple of years Triple S Steakhouse has stopped serving lunch, Pizza Hut has closed and other restaurants have made changes.

“We have losses, economic losses in town,” Weiner said, noting that business owners may not have known to attribute those losses to the court system. “I cant say the changes in operations happened because of the loss, but I would wager that it definitely had an effect.”

Weiner expressed concerns about one office after another moving toward the population center of Pittsburg for efficiency and eventually leaving an empty courthouse and square in Girard.

“It’s a potential trend that is extremely negative for Girard,” Weiner said.

He said this counteracts efforts being made in town.

“We’re doing what we can to try to invest in economic development and promote that, to try to get things back on the square,” Weiner said. “We are making efforts to do what we can to try to grow this community and grow the economy.”

Julie Smith, executive director of the Girard Area Chamber of Commerce, said those who attended the work session were there out of a concern that these efforts go forward.

“We are doing economic development,” she said. “We are really working with our local entrepreneurs and our local businesses to grow these.

Tony Stonerock, president of Community National Bank and Trust, and Tim Dainty, with First National Bank of Girard, also questioned the strategy of taking people out of Girard.

“Activity breeds activity breeds activity,” Stonerock said. “Activity gets people excited and people live where there’s activity. If we eventually start down a path of having less activity, I’m concerned about that.”

However, Gayoso clarified that this is not the entire court system, which by law, must continue in both Girard and Pittsburg.

“The court operations cannot end in Girard, by law, absent an act by the legislature and the governor of the State of Kansas,” Gayoso said.

“Nothing is going to change upstairs in court, that’s my understanding, Gayoso said. “Nothing is going to change with the court or how things have been running for the past 2.5-3 years.”

Others also commented with their concerns, and commissioners assured them that no decision would be made immediately and continued input would be sought.

“Before we make a decision, we’ll have another round of public input,” said Commissioner Carl Wood.