Government varies throughout county
The city of 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.
The current commission is comprised of Mayor Troy Hickman, Vice Mayor Kent Steward, and commissioners Ron Mellick, Henry Schwaller IV and Barbara Wasinger.
Ellis County is governed by a commissioner-administrator form of government. Three commissioners represent three districts in the county and serve four-year terms.
The county's first administrator, Greg Sund, was hired in June 2010 to help oversee the operations of the county.
Current commissioners are Chairman Swede Holmgren, Dean Haselhorst and Glenn Diehl.
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 council members Jolene Niernberger, Brian Raub, John F. Leiker, Lyle Johnston, Glenn Kohl and John Douglas.
The Victoria City Council includes Mayor Curtis Unrein and council members Jerry Brungardt, Erica Dinges, Kenneth Pfeifer, Jan Piesker and Leroy Schmidtberger.
The Schoenchen City Council includes Mayor Dick Klaus and councilmen Kevin Bieker, James Dinges, Doug Kreutzer, Ron Sauer and Jason Schneider.
Ellis County is represented in the Kansas Legislature by two members of the House of Representatives and one senator. All three seats are up for election in November 2012.
The 111th House District includes the cities of Hays, Victoria and Munjor, as well as portions of townships in southeast Ellis County. Its representative is Eber Phelps, D-Hays.
The 110th House District includes the rest of Ellis County, as well as all of Rooks, Phillips, Norton and a small slice of east-central Graham County. Its representative is Dan Collins, R-Plainville.
The 40th Senate District includes Ellis County, as well as Trego, Gove, Logan, Wallace, Sheridan, Thomas, Sherman, Graham, Cheyenne, Rawlins, Decatur and Norton counties, and the western third of Phillips County. Ralph Ostmeyer, R-Grinnell, represents the district.
Ellis County is one of 41 counties making up the State Board of Education 5th District. Its representative is Sally Cauble, R-Liberal.
Ellis County is part of the 69-county 1st Congressional District represented by Republican Tim Huelskamp.
The state of Kansas is represented by Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran in the U.S. Senate. Roberts' term expires in 2015. Moran's term expires in 2017.