Three days before a vote to turn Century II, Wichita’s last large public venue, over to private management, candidates for City Council clashed over whether privatization of park and arts facilities is a good idea. Southeast Wichita Council District 3 challenger Mike Hoheisel said he thinks it’s time to pump the brakes on turning over major city assets to private profit-making companies. Privatization “is putting another barrier in between accountability to the people and the people who need to be held accountable,” he said during a Saturday evening campaign forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters. Source: Wichita Eagle.

Close to 60% of Lawrence residents are renters, but an extremely small number of the city’s rental properties — under 1% in recent years — are inspected annually for code and safety violations. That could soon change. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider the first draft of amendments to the city’s rental inspection ordinance, which includes provisions to increase the number of units inspected and to reduce the number of violations that allow landlords to qualify for less-frequent inspections, among other proposed changes. Commissioners agreed in August that the current inspection program is inadequate and [...]

The City of Lawrence will soon be requiring its unvaccinated employees to be tested regularly for COVID-19, and Douglas County could soon adopt a similar policy for its employees. Between the two local governments, such policies would cover more than 1,600 workers. While these kinds of policies don’t go as far as the vaccine requirements that President Joe Biden recently announced for federal workers, officials with both local governments said their positions were influenced by the high voluntary vaccination rates among their workforce. City Manager Craig Owens said the city has already verified that 77% of its employees are vaccinated, and [...]