Lawrence resident Patrick Kelly will be sworn in as Douglas County Commissioner during a ceremony at 10 a.m. Monday at the County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts Street. Kelly will represent the 1st District, which includes central Lawrence.

Patrick has called Lawrence home since attending the University of Kansas beginning in 1989. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Music Education and a Master’s in Educational Leadership from KU and began teaching in the Lawrence Public Schools in 1999. Previously, Patrick has served Lawrence and Douglas County as a member of the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Commission and on the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission. He is active in Leadership Lawrence and with the Kansas Leadership Center, providing leadership training for a variety of organizations.

Patrick and his wife, Amy, and their daughter, Brynn, live in the Perry Park neighborhood. They all enjoy participating together in community theatre, along with his step-daughter, Victoria. Patrick’s civic engagement includes Theatre Lawrence, Van-Go Mobile Arts, Friends of the Lied, and the Lawrence Schools Foundation. In 2014, Patrick co-founded, Confabularryum, a free festival of creativity and making for the people of Lawrence and Douglas County.