You can’t watch Sedgwick County Commission meetings on public TV right now. Here’s why

Instead of watching the regularly scheduled Sedgwick County Commission meeting Wednesday morning, KPTS viewers saw Sesame Street.

The weekly commission meetings are off the air at the public television station while it negotiates with the county to continue that programming. The station has aired Sedgwick County meetings for 40 years.

During budget discussions last year, County Manager Tom Stolz initially eliminated the $80,000 used to air commission meetings on the public television station. It was later restored.

Some on the commission at the time questioned the cost when the county also airs its meetings on its website, YouTube and Facebook.

Since then, KPTS and the county have been in negotiations about concerns raised during the budget process, including some meetings not being fully aired due to time issues, according to KPTS Director of Marketing Jason Rowe.

“We kind of took a step back after a lot of the questions were asked in the last session, to try and make sure that everyone was comfortable with it,” Rowe said. “We’re just looking at everything and making sure that it still makes sense for today.”

Rowe said several viewers called to ask why the commission meeting wasn’t shown.

Viewers will likely not be able to watch the county meetings on KPTS in the coming weeks as negotiations are ongoing. The final approval on any contract would be granted by the county commission.

“I think it might last for maybe another week or so,” Rowe said. “I don’t have a definite date in my head or that I’ve heard.”

Wednesday’s meeting was the last meeting for two outgoing commissioners: Sarah Lopez, who lost re-election, and David Dennis, who is retiring.