Safe Streets Coalition and Topeka City of Character will be holding a press conference on April 1 at 12:00 noon at the Great Overland Station to announce the recipient of the Champion of Character award for demonstrating character that significantly improves the health, safety and quality of life in the community. 

This month’s recipient of the Champion of Character Award is Bryon Schlosser, a Real Estate Broker for Coldwell Banker Griffith and Blair.

Schlosser was the catalyst for changing the way Realtors access properties in Topeka.  For years real estate agents have used traditional lock boxes on the homes that were listed.  If an agent wanted to gain access to a property for showing purposes, the agent would call the listing agency for showing permission and the agency would give the agent the lock box code to open the combination. 

Bryon was the first broker in Topeka to hire a professional appointment setting service called Showing Solutions.  The agents now call Showing Solutions to get permission to show a property.  They obtain permission only by providing their specific code to Showing Solutions.  Showing Solutions provides a record for the listing agent and the seller of the appointment.  Now every major real estate agency and the majority of small agencies in the Topeka area have followed his example by hiring the same agency.

Furthermore, Schlosser invested over $32,000.00 for the purchase of electronic lock boxes.  The electronic lockbox forces the agent to carry a smart card based electronic key that opens the lock box.  Each time the residence is accessed, an audit in the lock box records the event.  The smart cards use extremely secure encrypted data chips to prevent unauthorized access to the information they contain, thus preventing someone from copying it or making a counterfeit card.  Additionally, each and every access to the lock box’s key compartment is recorded in its secure memory which cannot be erased, even if the internal battery dies.  Thus, every cardholder becomes accountable for the use of a home seller’s key.  Schlosser has worked diligently with the Topeka Area Association of Realtors and a special electronic lockbox committee to introduce the lock boxes to the area agents and to provide training to the agents regarding their use. 

Toni Shenk, a Coldwell Banker agent nominated Schlosser for the Champion of Character Award. She stated, “I’m very proud of Bryon and the Topeka Area Association of Realtor’s efforts to make Topeka one of the safest capital cities in the country.”  She praised Schlosser for absorbing the investment of the electronic lock boxes as the cost was not passed on to the agents of his company. 

“The Creativity, Initiative and Generosity of Schlosser certainly help make our city a safer place to live”, stated Cindy Patton, Executive Director of Topeka City of Character.

The awards are presented by the Kansas Character Recognition Council of Topeka/Shawnee County.  Senator Laura Kelly, Mayor William Bunten, City Councilman, Jack Woelfel, Chief of Police Ronald Miller, Shawnee County Commissioners Shelly Buhler and Ted Ensley, Director of Shawnee County Corrections, Richard Kline, District Attorney Chad Taylor and Shawnee County Sheriff Richard Barta are all members of The Kansas Recognition Council.