info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

Ellis Co. will begin investigating new election equipment next week

info2019-02-04T09:09:55-06:00February 4th, 2019|

The Ellis County Election Office will start looking at new election equipment on Tuesday at the Administrative Center in the Ellis County Commission Chambers, 718 Main. Election Systems and Software will demonstrate its election equipment for county officials. In a news release, County Clerk Donna Maskus said the county is looking at new election equipment since Kansas Statute 25-3009 goes into effect this year. The law will require a post-election audit to be done before the canvass. The equipment in use now is not sufficient to handle the audit process. “We look forward to bringing new voter equipment for future elections [...]

Salina, Saline county appear to be close to agreement on road impact fee

info2019-02-04T09:08:44-06:00February 4th, 2019|

The city and county appear to be close to an agreement on a road impact fee and annexation and maintenance of roads. According to a news release from the city, the Salina City Commission is scheduled to conduct a special meeting at 2:35 p.m. Monday (or as soon thereafter as possible following the special meeting of the Saline County Commission) to consider approving an agreement with Saline County providing for a road impact fee and annexation and maintenance of certain roads, and to execute a joint motion of the city and county to vacate injunction. (Read more: The Salina Post)

Abilene discusses future of housing addition

info2019-02-04T09:57:41-06:00February 4th, 2019|

“A toothache” is what Abilene Mayor Tim Shafer called it. “A toothache with a migraine,” commented Commissioner Dee Marshall. At Monday’s Abilene City Commission meeting, that is how they described what was once the Highlands Addition housing development, 116 acres of land now owned by the city of Abilene with a $4 million debt for infrastructure. The development dates back to 2006 when a housing needs forecast based on the planning goals of the nearby military base said housing was needed. That need nor the subdivision developed. “This is what I hear about: what we are doing about it,” Shafer said [...]

For several years, Lawrence made sales tax mistakes on water, trash bills; some customers may be due small refund

info2019-02-04T09:49:42-06:00February 4th, 2019|

The city of Lawrence recently discovered it has been incorrectly taxing as many as 2,000 solid waste customers, adding to a list of other billing errors that the city has discovered over the past two years. Customers who requested an additional trash cart were mistakenly being charged sales tax for the cart, while other customers were not charged sales tax on the purchase of certain yard waste and other bins when they should have been. The city discovered the incorrectly assessed taxes for solid waste containers after a different sales tax error, discovered by the state of Kansas, prompted the city [...]

Justice prevails: FHSU part of study on rural Kansas youth

info2019-02-01T11:53:20-06:00February 1st, 2019|

Fort Hays State University is part of a project titled “Our Town, Our Kids,” aimed at helping prevent youth from entering the criminal justice system. Rural counties in western Kansas are part of a study devoted to developing support systems for youth and families with the goal of providing services that maximize their chances of leading productive lives. The project was awarded funding by the Kansas Department of Corrections and the Kansas Advisory Group. Dr. April Terry, associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at FHSU, said rural western Kansas is often overlooked. It is important to have a study [...]

Should Green Valley area (east of Manhattan) incorporate?

info2019-02-01T11:40:50-06:00February 1st, 2019|

A pair of meetings are planned next week that could shape the future for residents living in the southwest portion of Pottawatomie County. With about 4,000 residents living in the growing Green Valley area east of Manhattan, residents are increasingly more in need of public services such as law enforcement, ambulance, road construction and maintenance. All of the services currently are financed by the county at-large. Assistant Planner/Zoning Enforcement Officer Stephan Metzger says it’s apparent the county should play less of a role in governing those services. Earlier this month, a lawyer hired by the Pottawatomie County Commission recommended the area [...]

Transfer station project could affect trash service in Newton and Harvey County

info2019-02-01T11:37:39-06:00February 1st, 2019|

The Board of Harvey County Commissioners approved a low bid of $58,890 from Snodgrass & Sons Construction Co. for resurfacing the floor at the transfer station on Monday. And that means a complete shut down of the station while work is completed. Now it will be up to Solid Waste Director Rollin Schmidt and County Administrator Anthony Swartzendruber to iron out the details to get the project done with as little interruption to trash service as is feasible. The single shutdown, as opposed to doing work in phases, would reduce the price by $3,400. “Phasing would be a pain,” Schmidt said. [...]

Public encouraged to take survey on statewide drone usage

info2019-02-01T11:54:07-06:00February 1st, 2019|

The Kansas Department of Transportation’s Division of Aviation is seeking public opinion on the use of unmanned aerial systems or drones in Kansas airspace. Individuals of all ages, occupations and backgrounds are encouraged to participate in the 10-question online survey available at https://www.ippkansas.org/ks-uas-ipp-survey until Feb. 28. Through the survey, KDOT hopes to gain a better understanding of the public’s familiarity and opinion on UAS use scenarios to drive operations for the Kansas UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP). This federally-initiated program will help tackle the most significant challenges to integrating drones into the national airspace and will reduce risks to public safety [...]

City leaders: Cash incentives not everything when wooing companies

info2019-02-01T12:30:32-06:00February 1st, 2019|

Speaking Thursday at a WBJ Emerging Leaders panel, Wichita city manager Robert Layton said Cargill Protein was very close to leaving town. "There was a lot of money being thrown at (Cargill) during that process from cities around the country," Layton said. "We were in a significant competition with Plano, Texas, and they had a very lucrative package on the table." What made Cargill officials ultimately opt to stay in Wichita and eventually build a $70 million complex on the site of the old Wichita Eagle building downtown? Creative solutions to problems that the company had identified. "In order to fend [...]

Fare game: Wichita targets economic development with regional push to expand air service

info2019-02-01T11:31:54-06:00February 1st, 2019|

When Howard George made the decision to find a new location for his Seattle-based call center business, he narrowed his choices to Wichita and Boise, Idaho. As a Midwestern hub for call centers and a market where the cost of living and other factors were attractive draws, George says one of the biggest strikes against Wichita at the time was the lack of direct air service to Seattle. “I liked Wichita … but I wasn’t sure if I could get there easily enough,” he says. Then, in April 2017, Alaska Airlines began a daily, nonstop flight between the Air Capital and [...]

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