info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

Hutchinson officer uses traumatic experience to peer mentor officers

info2019-01-18T10:34:00-06:00January 18th, 2019|

Law enforcement risk their lives daily, answering the call when the unexpected happens. Hutchinson police officer, Josh Long says trauma is just part of his job, and it doesn't discriminate. "This job is stressful. Whether you're a dispatcher or somebody else within the department, it's stressful," says Long. Long says he was involved in two traumatic incidents while on duty in a span of just two months. That's when he says he knew he needed help. "Things weren't right. I started to withdraw and started to not be myself and really looking for answers as to why that occurred," says Long. [...]

Report to Hays: ‘Retail is not going away’

info2019-01-18T11:22:41-06:00January 18th, 2019|

“There’s a lot of potential here,” according to Clay Craft, portfolio director of Retail Strategies, Birmingham, Alabama. That was the tag line on the final slide Craft presented to Hays city commissioners Thursday night in an update from the national firm hired in March 2018 to provide a retail recruitment and retention program for the city. Craft said he likes to joke the company is the “Match.com of retail.” “The pitch to locate in a town must be very specific to what that retailer is looking for,” he told the commission. Retail Strategies focuses on recruitment of national retailers which may [...]

State of the city: leaders tout ‘big win’ for Hutchinson

info2019-01-18T10:23:17-06:00January 18th, 2019|

One day after passing the title of mayor to David Inskeep, Jr., Steve Dechant spoke about Hutchinson’s challenges and triumphs in the State of the City address. Dechant remains as a member of the Hutchinson City Council. “You can see that I’m still hanging on by my fingernails,” Dechant joked before beginning his portion of the speech. Hutchinson AMBUCS established the State of the City seven years ago, and in previous years the address had been handled solely by City Manager John Deardoff. However, this year Dechant and Deardoff split the speech into parts. Dechant covered the city’s human relations efforts [...]

Wichita Open tees up economic impact and civic pride

info2019-01-18T07:01:27-06:00January 18th, 2019|

When the Wichita Open kicks off its 30th anniversary tournament in June, the roar of the crowd will celebrate more than just the play of some of the world’s best up-and-coming professional golfers. It will also celebrate the longevity of one of the city’s premier sporting events, which, thanks to the outside-the-box thinking of its long-time director, has come to raise the profile of the Air Capital and contributes a growing local economic impact measured in the millions. “It seems to be getting better every year,” says Roy Turner, entering his 20th year as the tournament’s director. And as one of [...]

Making history: Pretty Prairie water plant, sales tax vote in the works

info2019-01-18T07:00:30-06:00January 18th, 2019|

Stakes are planted in the ground at the construction site for the long-desired reverse osmosis treatment plant in Pretty Prairie. The city was told about 30 years ago by environmental authorities that high nitrates in the drinking water were a concern. The city also is making history with a special sales tax election scheduled for March 26. Pretty Prairie has no city sales tax. If the ballot passes, a one-percent retailers’ sales tax would start likely July 1 and would be in effect ten years. Revenues would be dedicated for streets and infrastructure under streets. Yet another landmark day looms for [...]

Gardner City Council increases chamber contract by $115,000

info2019-01-18T06:43:30-06:00January 18th, 2019|

The Gardner City Council approved a $150,000 agreement with the Gardner-Edgerton chamber of commerce for business and tourism services during a council meeting Jan. 7. The agreement, which will run through the year, is $115,000 more than the $35,000 the chamber received from the city last year. According Mathew Wolff, finance director, the increased budget allocation will fund tourism services for the community. He said the funding will in part be drawn from transient guest tax revenue the city will get once the Hampton Inn opens later in the year. “The city shall pay the chamber the sum of $115,000 for [...]

Never too cold for Fire District #1

info2019-01-18T06:41:32-06:00January 18th, 2019|

ohnson County #1 spent Jan. 14 training in snow and 30 degree temperatures. The day was spent deploying and advancing pre-connected hoselines. According to the district, the current weather was a perfect scenario for recruits to adapt and overcome obstacles including the cold snowy elements. (Read more: Gardner News)

Mission agrees to repay plaintiffs in settlement of ‘driveway tax’ cases

info2019-01-17T13:40:08-06:00January 17th, 2019|

Details on the settlements, and how much will be repaid, will be worked out over the next 30 days, said city administrator Laura Smith. But the city has unanimously agreed to authorize settlement agreements in two pending lawsuits, ultimately to repay TUF dollars to the Heartland Apartment Association and 10 individual plaintiffs in that case, as well as a class action case brought by Rex Danley. In general, the plaintiffs and the city have agreed to terms in both of the cases. “The city has taken strong positions all along,” said Mission City Administrator Laura Smith. “We feel like we have [...]

Large donation to provide big improvements at Harvey County’s Camp Hawk, West Park

info2019-01-17T13:20:04-06:00January 17th, 2019|

A $90,000 donation will build at least one cabin at Camp Hawk and greatly upgrade playground equipment at West Park. The Harvey County Parks Department recently announced the donation from the R. Michael Rhoades Foundation, which aims to encourage the use of the outdoors by young people as well as the greater public. “We were going to get these projects done regardless, but this will allow us to make them high quality,” Parks Director Kass Miller said. “I think we’re real real fortunate that they’ve decided to help Harvey County and park systems.” For context, it would take around 0.3 mills [...]

Newton to take guess work out of incentives

info2019-01-17T13:18:40-06:00January 17th, 2019|

In a work session, the city of Newton laid out priorities for the upcoming year and one of those included establishing criteria for economic incentives. Hallelujah! Criteria for economic incentives are relatively common when it comes to governments across the state. Sedgwick County has them. Wichita has them. Even Haven, with a population of 2,000 people, has them. But currently, Newton lacks any such criteria. The criteria amounts to city staff telling the commission it’s a good idea to give a business incentives, or pay for public improvements, or provide tax abatements, etc. The commission then decides if that’s a good [...]

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