City, county use commission form
Hays is governed by a commissioner-manager form of government. Five commissioners are elected at large, serving staggered terms of four or two years, depending on how they ranked in number of votes received.
The city manager is hired by the commission and runs day-to-day activities of the city.
Toby Dougherty was hired in March 2005 as assistant city manager and hired June 28, 2007, as city manager after Randy Gustafson announced his Dec. 31 retirement.
The current commission is comprised of Mayor Troy Hickman, Vice Mayor Barbara Wasinger and commissioners Ron Mellick, Christopher Channell and Allan Lytton.
Ellis County has three commissioners who oversee operations of the county. They hire department heads and authorize the budgets. Current commissioners are Chairman Vernon Berens, Dennis Pfannenstiel and Perry Henman.
The three other incorporated cities in Ellis County include Ellis, Victoria and Schoenchen, which have mayor-city council forms of government.
The Ellis City Council includes Mayor David McDaniel and commissioners John Walz, Loy "Kip" Johnson, David Bittel, Wayne Haver, Joseph Day and Philip Martin.
The Victoria City Council includes Mayor Curt Unrein and council members Jerry Brungardt, Ilona Patterson, Kenneth Pfeifer, Joe Robben and Leroy Schmidtberger.
The Schoenchen City Council includes Mayor Dick Klaus and councilmen James Dinges, Ron Sauer, Kevin Bieker, Jason Schneider and Doug Kreutzer.
Ellis County is represented in the Kansas Legislature by two members of the House of Representatives and one senator.
The 111th House District includes the city of Hays and North Big Creek, West Big Creek, East Big Creek, North Lookout, South Lookout, Wheatland and Freedom townships. Its representative is Eber Phelps, D-Hays.
The 110th House District includes the rest of Ellis County and Rooks, Osborne and Russell counties. Its current representative is Dan Johnson, R-Hays.
The 36th Senate District includes Ellis, Hodgeman, Mitchell, Osborne, Pawnee, Phillips, Rush, Russell and Smith counties, plus the townships of Athens, Burr Oak, Erving, Esbon, Highland, Ionia, Limestone, Odessa, Walnut and White Mound; and the cities of Burr Oak and Esbon, all in Jewell County. Janis Lee, D-Kensington, represents the district.
Ellis County is one of 41 counties making up the State Board of Education 5th District. Its current representative is Sally Cauble, R-Liberal.
Ellis County is part of the 69-county 1st Congressional District represented in Washington, D.C. by Republican Rep. Jerry Moran, Hays.
Government Contacts:
City:
State:
U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, 109 Hart Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510. (202) 224-4774. http://roberts.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.EmailPat
U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, 303 Hart Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510. (202) 224-6521. http://brownback.senate.gov/CMEmailMe.cfm
U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran, 1st District, 2202 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. (202) 225-2715. Jerry.Moran@MAIL.HOUSE.GOV
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, 2nd Floor, State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. (800) 748-4408. governor@state.ks.us
Your Kansas senator or representative, State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. (785) 296-0111. For e-mail addresses, go to http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-legisportal/redistricting.do
Kansas Sen. Janis Lee, 36th District, Room: 162-E. (785) 296-7366. jlee@ink.org
Kansas Rep. Dan Johnson, Room 140-N. (785) 296-7501. johnson@house.state.ks.us
Kansas Rep. Eber Phelps, Room 327-S. (785) 296-7691. phelps@house.state.ks.us