Although Douglas County has expressed commitment to tenant right to counsel and has engaged in implementation discussions for months, a majority of county commissioners Wednesday said they weren’t ready to dive into a right-to-counsel program, opting instead to have county staff do more research on mediation.

The commission was set to consider how they might implement a limited tenant right to counsel pilot program for the 2027 fiscal year. County commissioners heard from 42 members of the public, 25 of whom were in favor of a TRTC program.

Lawrence Tenants, a local renter advocacy group, has championed a proposed tenant right to counsel program that would ensure all people in Douglas County facing eviction would have the right to legal representation regardless of income or other potential eligibility requirements.

When it came time for the board to make decisions, Commissioners Karen Willey, Gene Dorsey and Erica Anderson asked many of the same questions that staff, community members and statistics provided to them have answered repeatedly over several meetings and discussions.

“I’m just going to be real frank with you all — it’s frustrating for me because it feels like we’re regressing in the conversation after having had a lot of progress in this conversation,” Commissioner Shannon Reid said to her fellow representatives.

“And to echo the point of many public commenters who have been here repeatedly with us over recent months, and who have been doing work throughout the work group that existed before these public meetings and conversations about it — it has been a conversation that’s been ongoing in this community for more than two years at this point,” she continued.

She said it felt like the commissioners had previously expressed an appetite for the program, and she was confused that they were getting cold feet.

Commissioners Patrick Kelly, Willey and Dorsey formed a majority opinion to have staff continue researching mediation.

Anderson said she wanted to see any funding from the county go to rent and utility assistance.

Reid wanted to start a pilot TRTC program with no eligibility limits.

During the conversation, Dorsey asked why the community brought TRTC to the county rather than city level, a question already posed and addressed at the commissioners’ bench. Sarah Plinsky, county administrator, again explained it was because eviction proceedings occur in Douglas County District Court.

Willey and Kelly advocated for a mix of mediation and access to counsel, and Dorsey was fully in favor of mediation, even as Kelly acknowledged that renters throughout these many discussions have been staunchly opposed to that process as a solution to evictions.

“Everyone wants everyone to know their rights, but mediators and self help cannot provide legal advice, and they can’t pursue counterclaims that tenants may have, because they’re supposed to be neutral, and so tenant right to counsel is simply trying to balance the scales,” Nick Simpson, with Lawrence Tenants, said during public comment.

Willey later suggested that mediation could be a boon by taking lawyers out of the equation entirely, encouraging landlords and tenants to meet face-to-face.

However, that assertion runs counter to information presented to commissioners thus far, which shows that mediation often entails a pro se tenant facing a landlord’s attorney. Findings from the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel show that 4% of tenants have legal representation in eviction cases nationwide, compared to 83% of landlords.

Dorsey said he met with a mediator from Johnson County and thought that mediators are required to know the law — a statement also proven dubious in past conversations — and suggested that it would be cheaper than TRTC.

“Just for the record, an attorney at KLS (Kansas Legal Services) or Kansas Holistic Defenders does not cost $250 an hour,” Reid responded. “And Johnson County is paying mediators $250, so it’s not a given that mediation is cheaper than legal counsel.”

Reid also reemphasized that mediators cannot replace lawyers.

“An attorney can mediate an agreement. A mediator cannot advise anybody about their rights,” she said. “That’s a fundamental distinction that makes a huge difference in what information is being shared, how it is shared, and then how somebody is empowered to make an informed choice based on that information and advice given to them … it is not a substitution for legal representation and legal advice.”

Anderson said she thought that landlords haven’t been given a strong voice at the table.

Reid said that, like renters, landlords have had every opportunity to view public agendas, contact their commissioners and make their voices heard in public comment. Around a dozen people who said they were landlords spoke against TRTC during public comment on Wednesday.

Lawrence Tenants have made multiple attempts to liaise with county commissioners to discuss their proposals over the last few years, which have not yet yielded the ordinance-flavored fruit they’ve been aiming for.

Reid and Lawrence Tenants supporters reiterated time and again that a TRTC program would not attempt to eradicate evictions entirely or provide a legal bias in favor of renters. 

“Having an eviction filed against you simply triggers a right to access legal counsel, to be informed about your legal rights, which nobody should assume,” Reid said.

Many landlords who spoke Wednesday said TRTC would be a misappropriation of taxpayer money and would put them out of business, opening the way for more corporate landlords to move into town.

Sam Allison-Natale, executive director of Kansas Holistic Defenders, said he hadn’t planned to speak during public comment until he heard these fears expressed. He was moved to debunk them. 

“The truth is, although it seems scary … having an attorney involved is actually better for landlords,” he said.

Allison-Natale said two attorneys can negotiate an agreed-upon move-out date for the tenant alongside a voluntary dismissal of the eviction.

“This benefits the tenant because they walk away without an eviction on their record, and it benefits the landlord because they get to negotiate a date certain that this person is going to be moving out,” he said. “That kind of communication only happens when there’s two lawyers being able to have an arm’s-length discussion.”

Some landlords also said they felt that TRTC would be a misappropriation of taxpayer money, but Reid advocated to use the $40,000 that the commission had already set aside explicitly for eviction prevention to start a pilot program.

Those in favor of TRTC spoke to the financial benefits for taxpayers, cities and counties as the program can be a public health measure. Studies have shown that TRTC saves local governments on the cost of homeless shelters, emergency health care, foster care programs and other social services down the line.

Reid said that, although she is a landlord, her allegiance lies with renters on this issue and she couldn’t understand other landlords’ fears.

As she and many public commenters pointed out, evictions may be expensive for a landlord, but they don’t carry the same weight that they do for tenants.

“What’s at stake for landlords is that, OK, they have maybe a few tenants that they need to get rid of, or maybe some of them said that they’re going to get out of the landlord business,” said Jason Maymon, co-chair of the Lawrence DSA, during public comment. “… What’s at stake for a tenant in an eviction is the risk of becoming homeless.”

Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at wulfe@lawrencekstimes.com.

Read their complete bio here. Read their work for the Times here.

Nathan Kramer (he/him), a multimedia student journalist for The Lawrence Times since August 2024, is a senior at Free State High School. He is also a news photo editor for Free State’s student publication, where he works as a videographer, photographer and motion designer. See more of his work for the Times here.

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