Kansas Law Enforcement Officers Memorial

Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes
December 13, 2002, 10:00 a.m.
Location: Kansas Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas

Present at the December 13, 2002 meeting were committee members: Chairman Bill Miskell, Department of Corrections; Vice-Chairman Captain Ken Gorman, Fraternal Order of Police; Chuck Sexson, KBI; Colonel Don Brownlee, KHP; Director Ed Pavey, KLETC; Kenneth Roy, Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police; Gary Hibbs, Division of Facilities Management; and Matt Veatch, Kansas Historical Society.

Also in attendance were Marilyn Goodheart, President, Kansas COPS; Judy Powell, Kansas COPS; Barry Greis, Division of Facilities Management; Keith Dreiling, Kansas State Troopers Association; Eric Haskin, Kansas State Troopers Association; former Attorney General Robert Stephan, chair of the Kansas Law Enforcement Memorial Restoration Project.

1. Minutes of previous meeting
Chairman Miskell reported that he would prepare and distribute minutes of the previous meeting in the near future.

2. Treasurer's report
Mr. Veatch distributed a treasurer’s report and indicated that there had been minimal fiscal activity since the previous report. Director Pavey reported that he had donation checks that needed to be deposited somewhere. Capt. Gorman suggested deferring a decision on whether to deposit the donation checks in the Law Enforcement Memorial account administered by the Historical Society until General Stephen and Mr. Alderson arrived at the meeting. Capt. Gorman moved approval of the financial report as submitted, Mr. Roy seconded, and the motion carried.

3. Kansas State Capitol Master Plan
Mr. Greis, the Division of Facilities Management staff member working most directly on the statehouse restoration project, reported on the Kansas State Capitol Master Plan. He indicated that the plan recommended the northeast quadrant as the location for memorials to Kansans by Kansans. He provided a copy of this section of the plan to the committee. Mr. Greis commented that funding is still available for reassembling the Law Enforcement Memorial. He will be developing proposed guidelines for organizations that wish to submit a proposal for placing a memorial on capitol grounds. He did not believe the committee needed to resubmit its proposal for the Law Enforcement Memorial. He commented that the Law Enforcement Memorial proposal for repairing and expanding the memorial did not appear to pose any problems. He did observe that the memorial probably would need to be moved about 15 feet so that it would sit entirely on soil. Mr. Greis indicated he would assist the committee in getting estimates from J.E. Dunn Construction for replacing the stones and expanding the memorial. He does not believe it will take long to get these estimates.

Director Pavey asked about lighting for the memorial. Mr. Greis observed that lighting the memorial had not been discussed in the original plan for the restoration but he believes that lighting would be an appropriate element in the restoration project. Mr. Greis said that he would request that the statehouse restoration project lighting consultant offer recommendations on lighting the memorial; the cost will be covered under the restoration project.

Chairman Miskell asked whether there would be electrical power outlets available near the memorial. Mr. Greis indicated that he believed outlets would be available near the memorial.

Mr. Sexson asked about the parking garage project timetable and whether it was on target for a spring 2004 completion date. Mr. Greis stated that he thought May 2004 was still the target and that the project was on schedule. Mr. Sexson asked when the memorial itself would be reassembled. Mr. Greis said it probably would be a two-phase process: stonework likely would begin in the fall of 2003 and the construction itself probably would begin in February 2004. Mr. Sexson observed that given this timetable the committee would need to have some funding in place by fall 2003. Barry said that he would present a more precise timetable for memorial restoration when he presents the cost estimates prepared by J.E. Dunn Construction.

Mr. Sexson asked whether there had been any other memorial proposals for the northeast quadrant of the statehouse grounds. Mr. Greis said there had not been other proposals but commented that the firefighters memorial committee had been discussing the issue. Mr. Greis commented that the 50-year plan for northeast quadrant envisioned several memorials in that area of the statehouse grounds. Pavey observed that the Law Enforcement Memorial was possessed a low physical profile and asked Mr. Greis whether he thought other memorials would be of similar design. Mr. Greis commented that he thought other memorials would be built fairly low to the ground.

4. Meeting Schedule for 2003
Chairman Miskell asked whether the committee would need to meet more frequently during the first part of 2003 in order to plan the fundraising campaign. Committee members agreed that more frequent meetings would be necessary. The meeting schedule for the first half of 2003 is as follows:

Tuesday, February 4, 2003,10:00 a.m., Kansas Historical Society, Topeka.
Friday, April 11, 2003, 10:00 a.m., Kansas Highway Patrol Training Academy, Salina.
Tentative: Friday, May 9, 2003 following the memorial ceremony.

Mr. Sexson asked Mr. Veatch to send the February and April meeting dates to the Secretary of State's Office. Mr. Veatch said he would do so.

5. Memorial Ceremony
Mr. Gorman proposed that the 2003 memorial ceremony be held on Friday, May 9, 2003. Committee members agreed to the proposal.

Mr. Gorman suggested that the committee consider setting the date for the 2004 ceremony for Friday, May 7, 2004 to avoid conflicts with national ceremonies. Mr. Hibbs thought this date would probably be work out as long as the garage project stays on schedule.

6. Capital Campaign
Mr. Miskell distributed a draft Kansas Law Enforcement Memorial Restoration Project brochure for the committee's review. Mr. Pavey asked whether it was appropriate to include the $120,000 fund raising target in the brochure. He observed that the committee would benefit by raising funds beyond the $120,000 to establish a fund to pay for memorial maintenance. Mr. Miskell asked whether the brochure should be the product of the advisory committee or the Law Enforcement Memorial foundation/non-profit. The group agreed that it should be sponsored by the foundation/non-profit. Mr. Miskell asked whether the brochure expressed the message the committee wished to convey. Director Pavey observed that the basic message needed to be included in the first two or three paragraphs of the brochure.

Former Attorney General Stephan joined the meeting at this point. Attorney General Stephan commented that he has a brother in the advertising business and asked whether the committee wished for him to send the brochure to his brother and request his assistance. The committee thought this would be a good idea.

Attorney General Stephan thought the dollar figure for fund raising should be left open ended to leave the door open for additional fund raising. He also observed that it might make sense to compose the brochure in such a way that it could be used beyond the capital campaign itself. Mr. Sexson commented that the primary goal of fund raising was repairing and expanding the memorial. Attorney General Stephan agreed that the brochure should focus on the capital campaign but he still believed the dollar figure should be left out. Col. Brownlee commented that it would be useful to have the brochure be more generic. Mr. Sexson stated that he thought it was best to have a brochure for the project itself. Attorney General Stephan will discuss this issue with his brother.

Director Pavey asked Mr. Miskell if the Department of Corrections could print the brochure in four colors; Mr. Miskell said they could.

Director Pavey suggested that the brochure should clearly state the window of opportunity for the capital campaign. Capt. Gorman did not believe a deadline needed to be established and commented that the year for the capital campaign could be removed from the brochure.

Director Pavey thanked Attorney General Stephan for agreeing to assist with the capital campaign. Director Pavey asked Attorney General Stephan for his opinion on the prospects of the capital campaign. Attorney General Stephan stated that he believed corporations and other funding entities would view the capital campaign positively. Director Pavey asked Attorney General Stephan how he goes about identifying potential sources of funds. Attorney General Stephan said that he starts with the Chamber of Commerce directories as well as the Directory of Foundations. He commented that it might work well to approach local chambers of commerce and work through them on the fund raising effort.

The Kansas State Trooper's Association agreed to host a web site for the memorial restoration non-profit organization. They agreed to pay for the space for the site, the domain name registration, and to develop the web site. The committee needs to decide upon a domain name for the site.

Attorney General Stephan suggested having a press conference announcing the capital campaign once a brochure was ready. Mr. Roy asked whether everything would be in place by the next committee meeting in February. Attorney General Stephan said he was not sure but that he would do what he could to push things forward.

Director Pavey asked Attorney General Stephan whether it would help kick off the campaign if the group could get a large corporation to agree to donate funds. Attorney General Stephan agreed that it would and said he would work on this. He also said he would contact Mr. Alderson to push forward the process for creating the non-profit corporation. He asked Mr. Miskell to contact Mr. Alderson as well.

Mr. Miskell asked Attorney General Stephan whether donation checks could be deposited in the Law Enforcement Memorial account with the KSHS and later moved to the non-profit. Attorney General Stephan stated that this would be fine. Mr. Veatch will arrange for the deposit of the two checks received by Director Pavey. Mr. Miskell will draft a thank you letter to send to donors.

Mr. Gorman asked whether committee members could serve as non-profit corporation board members. Mr. Sexson observed that this was an issue that would need to be discussed with Mr. Alderson.

Ms. Goodheart asked whether Kansas COPS could contribute a bench for the memorial. Mr. Sexson thought this would be fine. He also commented that the plaques from the memorial currently are stored at the KBI. Mr. Roy asked what would happen to the old memorial stones that are in storage. Mr. Miskell suggested that the committee ask the stonemason who gets the bid for the restoration and expansion to cut the old stones so that they could be distributed to family members.

Attorney General Stephan left the meeting.

7. Names submitted for consideration for inclusion on the memorial
Mr. Veatch and Mr. Sexson reported that fourteen names had been submitted for possible inclusion on the memorial. Mr. Veatch suggested that time constraints would make it difficult for him to complete research on all fourteen names. Mr. Veatch and Mr. Sexson will coordinate the research but committee members agreed that it was not imperative to make decisions on all fourteen names for the 2003 ceremony. Mr. Miskell also volunteered to assist with some of the research.

8. The meeting adjourned at 12:00 p.m.

9. Next meeting: Tuesday, February 4, 2003,10:00 a.m., Kansas Historical Society, Topeka.