Chase County commissioners voted Dec. 31 to centralize control of 800 MHz radio programming and related changes under the Chase County Sheriff's Office.

The policy language read aloud by Speaker 2 said, in part, that "effective immediately, any changes involving K‑6 radios or talk groups assigned to Chase County, including purchases, programming, or modifications with any radio programming companies for the state of Kansas must be approved by the Chase County Sheriff's Office prior to implementation." After discussion about inventory shortfalls and accountability, Speaker 1 moved to make the sheriff's office the only entity authorized to make those changes; the motion carried on a voice vote.

Discussion before the vote highlighted competing concerns: some commissioners and staff said repeated attempts over 18 months to obtain a complete inventory had failed and stressed accountability and safety; others warned that giving an elected sheriff unilateral control could complicate emergency access and interagency operations.

After the vote, commissioners and technical staff discussed logistics for reprogramming and inventory: county staff said Aaron would receive training, master templates would be built, and reprogramming could be staged at fire stations to reduce the risk of lost radios. A preliminary Motorola quote for reprogramming and associated equipment was discussed as roughly $9,000, and commissioners discussed buying a dedicated laptop for radio programming, bringing an estimated total under $10,000 for initial setup.

Commissioners directed staff to coordinate training, finalize inventory lists and schedule staged reprogramming so departments could maintain continuity of operations during the transition.