Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday voted 3-1 to move forward with a plan for the Tenant Eviction Defense pilot program they approved in March.
Once the program is up and running, a nonprofit legal service provider will attend the weekly answer docket, which is when tenants who have received an eviction notice have a chance to deny claims that a landlord has made in a petition.
The provider and project team will work to speak with renters as well as property owners or landlords at the docket. They will hand out paper or online intake forms to tenants to assess their demographic information and “circumstances of eviction to determine whether legal advice or representation is warranted.”
With the commission’s approval, county staff members will now issue an informal request for proposals.
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Assistant County Administrator Jill Jolicoeur said the $40,000 budget for the service, which was already set aside in the 2026 county budget for eviction defense, does not require a formal RFP process, but the county will specify a full program outline.
Jolicoeur said Douglas County District Judge James McCabria will now be over the eviction docket. She said they had discussed possibly creating a virtual eviction docket, as some people may have work or child care obligations, disabilities or other reasons they can’t make it to the answer docket in person.
Commissioner Gene Dorsey asked whether there would be income restrictions, family size guidelines or other eligibility requirements for the pilot program.
Douglas County Administrator Sarah Plinsky said there will not. She will want to know why attorneys pick the cases they pick to participate in the program.
The county tentatively plans to run the TED program from June 1 to Dec. 31. Depending on the program’s success, commissioners may choose to fund the program beyond the initial pilot period.
In May 2024, Lawrence and Douglas County approved their joint “A Place For Everyone” strategic plan to end chronic homelessness. The plan set a goal to establish a tenant right to counsel program for those facing evictions in Douglas County.
Dorsey said he thinks the city and county need to revisit the strategic plan.
“We know a lot more now than we did when that was put together,” he said.
Compared to other meetings on this subject, there was very little public comment.
Jessi Fisher, a property manager, asked commissioners how much data it would take to make the pilot program into an implemented program.
Commissioners don’t answer questions during public comment, but Patrick Kelly said during the commission’s discussion that he’d encourage people to “join the fun” of the county’s budget hearings, which span multiple days each summer as commissioners ask numerous questions of partners that receive public funds. Determining the threshold for data is difficult, he said.
“I appreciate those who recognize that this is an experiment, and we’re going to try something, and we’re going to see what we can find out,” Kelly said.
Russ Livingston asked commissioners during public comment, “Why are tenants the only beneficiaries of publicly funded legal assistance in what is, at its core, a shared legal process?”
“If the county steps into that relationship with public funding, it should do so in a way that respects all participants in the legal process — tenants, landlords and homeowners alike,” Livingston said. “Anything less risks undermining the very fairness we’re trying to promote.”
Vince Munoz, an organizer with Lawrence Tenants who has actively pushed for the commission to approve legal counsel for tenants, said that in the eviction process, a sheriff’s deputy — funded by the county — actually enforces eviction.
“So there is actually already some precedent for county support for one party and not the other, but it’s just the landlord, not the tenant,” he said.
Commissioners Shannon Reid, Willey and Kelly voted in favor of the pilot program, and Dorsey opposed. Erica Anderson was absent.
“I was really hopeful that it would be a healthier conversation within the public than what it has been,” Commissioner Karen Willey said. “And that’s really been too bad, because I think that there’s a lot of shared values across a lot of what we heard as being siloed conversations.”
Note: Post updated to add an additional photo
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