Board Members

Board Member	Term End Date	Appointed By
Joe Caiharr (Chair)	12/31/2025	Mayor Garner
Gregory Todd	12/31/2023	Commissioner Bynum
Jody Boeding (Vice Chair)	12/31/2025	Commissioner McKiernan
Rocki Mayes	12/31/2025	Commissioner Burroughs
Korri Hall	12/31/2025	Commissioner Townsend
Susan Martin	12/31/2023	Commissioner Ramirez
Micki W. Hill	12/31/2023	Commissioner Johnson
Erica Simpson	12/31/2025	Commissioner Kane
Jim Jarsulic	12/31/2023	Commissioner Markley
Judy Anderson	12/31/2025	Commissioner Stites
Melanie Schwartzkopf	12/31/2025	Commissioner Davis
Carol Levers	--	KCKPL Executive Director of Libraries | Non Board Advisor

Wyandotte County Library District

The Chair of the Wyandotte County Library Board is appointed by the Mayor of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. The Board elects the other officers.

1. Wyandotte County has two (2) libraries.
Kansas City, Kansas Library (KCKPL)
Bonner Springs City Library (BSCL)

2. The libraries are operated by the following:
KCKPL - the Board of Education for USD 500
BSCL - Library Board of Directors appointed by the Bonner Springs City Council

3. The libraries are funded by taxes levied by:
USD 500
City of Bonner Springs

4. The original County Library District was created by the County Commission in 1965 under the authority of State statute to provide library service for areas of the County not already served by a library.

5. The Library District is comprised of all areas of the Wyandotte County not otherwise subject to a library tax levy, i.e.:
not in USD 500.
not in the City of Bonner Springs.

6. The County Library District is comprised of the following geographic areas; their respective populations as of the 2000 census are in parentheses.
Piper (6,154)
Most but not of Edwardsville (4,146)
Turner (19,943)
A small part of KCK (527)
Part of Delaware Township (54)
Lake Quivira in Wyandotte County (47)

7. The County Library District is governed by the County Library Board. Prior to 1999, the Board consisted of five members appointed by the County Commission.

8. The County Library Board has the authority to set the County Library Tax Levy. With that money, the Board could either establish or operate a library or it could contract with another library to provide library services to the residents of the County Library District.

9. Between 1966 and 1999, the County Library Board contracted with USD 500 for KCKPL to provide library services to the residents of the Library District in exchange for payment to USD 500 of all the proceeds from the Library Tax Levy.

10. In October 1997, after a vote of the people, the City of KCK and Wyandotte County governments consolidated into the Unified Government. In Spring of 1998, the Unified Government Board of Commissioners created the Public Library Task Force to make recommendations how library services and taxation within Wyandotte County should be structured, particularly the Wyandotte County Library Board.

11. In May 1999, the Task Force submitted its report and recommendations to the Unified Government Board of Commissioners.

12. Among the Task Force’s findings was the conclusion that funding of library services was inequitable. In 1999, the mill levies for the three taxing entities were the following.
USD 500 (6.556)
BSCL (3.77)
County Library District (2.344)

13. The Task Force made four recommendations to the Unified Government Board of Commissioners:
Restructure the County Library Board.
Charge the Library Board to work closely with USD 500 and Bonner Springs to promote joint countywide library planning.
Charge the Library Board with the responsibility to develop and promote new interlocal agreements.
Raise the Library Tax Levy from 2.344 to 3.38.

14. In August of 1999, the Unified Government Board of Commissioners reconstituted the County Library Board making it an 11-member board.

15. Beginning with the 2000 budget the Library Tax Levy was raised to 3.38 mills where it has remained through the 2004 budget year.

16. The Library Task Force had recommended that, based on circulation figures of the two libraries, for the years 2000-2003 one-third of the “Edwardsville mill-equivalent” should go the Bonner Springs Library and two-thirds to the KCK Library. That has been done.

17. The County Library Board, the two libraries, and the Unified Government entered into an Interlocal Agreement for 2003 and future years until modified or terminated.

18. Pursuant to the Interlocal Agreement and state law, the Unified Government collects the taxes produced by the Library tax levy and puts them in a separate Library Fund.

19. The Interlocal Agreement states that the Unified Government Director of Revenue (formerly known as the County Treasurer) will distribute the funds collected into the Library Fund “according to the allocation formula contained in the current budget approved by the Wyandotte County Library Board.”

20. Taxes are collected on various categories of property:
Real estate
Personal property (intangible)
Personal property (motor vehicles)
Industrial revenue bond payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs)