Atchison County schedules second public listening session in Effingham

County leaders are taking their public outreach outside Atchison, with Chair Casey Quinn setting a second Conversations with the County session for May 20 at the Effingham Blue Building and linking the effort to a broader push for transparency, county image and public trust.

The session will run from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., immediately before the township meeting that starts at 6:00 p.m. Quinn said the county wants residents to bring questions and speak directly with leadership about what is happening in Atchison County. The move puts the board in front of voters in a setting that is countywide rather than city-centered, a small but meaningful shift for a county of 16,016 people.

That matters because the first Conversations with the County forum, held Thursday, April 16, at Servaes Brewing in Atchison, drew a strong turnout and a wide range of reaction. The county’s notice described that meeting as a special meeting under the Kansas Open Meetings Act. Residents who filled the venue raised criticism, questions and possible solutions, turning the gathering into more than a listening exercise and giving county leaders a public test on how they handle feedback.

The May 20 session will show whether the board can turn that one-night momentum into a steady communication habit. Atchison County commissioners already meet on a regular Tuesday morning schedule, according to the Kansas Association of Counties member directory, but the listening sessions are designed to create a different kind of contact, one that invites direct public response before formal county business begins. That distinction is central to Quinn’s message that the county is trying to build a clearer feedback loop with residents instead of waiting for problems to surface at the courthouse.

The county’s outreach push also now reaches beyond local listening. Quinn said Atchison County will host the Kansas County Commissioners Association conference in 2027, with help from Jill Thorne, the executive director of the Atchison Area Chamber of Commerce. Hosting county officials from across Kansas gives Atchison County a chance to present itself as organized and open, and it ties local communication efforts to a larger statewide audience that will judge the county not just by what it says, but by how it is seen.

That statewide connection is not trivial. The Kansas County Commissioners Association is part of the Kansas Association of Counties, whose events include conferences, meetings, trainings and educational workshops. Quinn also recently attended her first in-person meeting after being elected to the Kansas Association of Counties Governing Board, adding another layer of county representation beyond Atchison itself. For a board of three commissioners, every public step now carries both local and statewide weight, and residents will soon see whether the promised openness extends beyond the talking points and into daily county practice.