Tonight, Johnson County spoke loudly: voters soundly rejected a $94.5 million debt for more of the same, expensive public safety strategies. They made it clear we deserve better.
Johnson County rejected a big, new, expensive jail and sheriff’s office, because we want to – and we can – do so much more. Because we deserve better than this. Because we deserve to be engaged about the tradeoffs, asked for input about our priorities, and offered clear explanations of how a proposed jail fits into the community safety ecosystem we envision and that we deserve.
We came to this conversation centering truth and logic, solidarity and interconnectedness, liberation and freedom, a deep desire to imagine more than cages, and love.
Tonight was a rejection of the status quo, of the idea that the community will sign off on plans county leaders devised without us. Johnson County rejected the false choice between this proposed jail and nothing.
Now we hope county leaders will — finally — listen, and start to collaborate with the community as they should have from the very beginning.
Tomorrow, it’s vital that we set aside the acrimony from the election and look for ways to move the community forward. To talk about what community safety in Johnson County should look like. About how we can address safety systemically and holistically.
We have a year before voters might again consider a proposal. It is incumbent on county leaders — Sheriff Brad Kunkel, County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith, reelected Supervisors Jon Green, Lisa Green-Douglass, V Fixmer-Oraiz, Mandi Remington, Supervisor-elect Sue Dvorsky, and even outgoing Supervisor Rod Sullivan — to have these tough conversations, and to have them with the community and without ego. We are ready to think creatively and to find solutions for hard problems.
We understand the need to plan for the long term, which is why we know we deserve a plan that includes investments in the systems and infrastructure that prevent harm — meaning fewer victims — rather than those that react to it. A long-term solution means more care, not more cages.
That’s how the Johnson County we know thinks and works. That is who we are. That is why, as we seek to responsibly provide safety and dignity for our community, Johnson County deserves better.