Sedgwick County staff outline $20.5 million plan to expand Regional Forensic Science Center; commissioners raise site and safety questions

Shelley Stedman, director of the Regional Forensic Science Center, and Andrew Dilts, director of Facilities, told the Sedgwick County commission at a July 15 staff meeting that the county needs a new laboratory addition and renovations to resolve equipment, space and utility constraints at the existing forensic facility.

Stedman said the center operates two distinct forensic functions — forensic laboratory testing (DNA, toxicology, firearms, drug identification) and medicolegal death investigation — under one roof and that the facility’s current footprint prevents the center from expanding services or installing new instrumentation. "We have no electrical capacity for new instrumentation in the legacy building," Stedman said, and described operational inefficiencies such as limited exhaust hoods, dispersed specimen storage, and insufficient office space for staff and trainees.

The center proposes a two-step Capital Improvement Program request: a 2026 ask of about $1,200,000 for architectural and engineering design and a 2027 request of roughly $19,000,000 for construction and remodeling. Dilts said the 2027 figure includes about $4,000,000 to remodel the existing building and about $16,000,000 for the new addition, roughly $2,000,000 for owner costs (contingency, geotechnical work, signage, IT/networking) and about $830,000 for furniture, fixtures and equipment and specialized…