The Unified Government Board of Commissioners will meet Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. at the Municipal Office Building.

Commissioners will vote on a series of commemorative proclamations, including MWGM Day (Sep. 14) celebrating Most Worshipful Grand Master Johnnie Eaves of the Kansas Prince Hall Grand Lodge and Hispanic Heritage Month (Sep. 15 to Oct. 15).

Former state senator Chris Steineger will give a presentation about consolidating of the Board of Public Utilities with the Unified Government.

Steineger identifies many duplicated functions between the two bodies and estimates that consolidating would provide annual savings of $25-$27 million in personnel costs and $10-$15 million in other costs.

The presentation is informational only, and no votes or other action will take place at the meeting. However, there will be a public comment session about BPU after the presentation.

HopeBUILDERS, an organization that provides accessibility improvements and home repairs for seniors will give a presentation about their work, along with Christmas in October, which provides basic repairs and maintenance for low-income homeowners.

The commissioners will also vote to accept a series of public safety grants totalling over $688 thousand for victims’ services, fentanyl awareness and enforcement, and courthouse security.

The regular commission meeting will be preceded at 5:00 p.m. by a special meeting called to hold an executive session for personnel, real estate acquisition, and legal discussions with counsel. The executive session is not open to the public.