Convinced that problems with the new electronic voting machines have been resolved, Election Commissioner Ronnie Metsker told county commissioners that he is ready to sign the papers and cut the check to vendor ES&S. Payment on the $10.6 million system is expected to go through as soon as the county legal and tech departments give it the final okay, Metsker said. Metsker said his office is satisfied that the problems that slowed the vote reporting software to a crawl in the August primary have been successfully addressed. The coding problem that led to hours of delay in reporting vote totals was [...]

The Bridj van-hailing service that debuted with the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority two years ago ended in failure because of low ridership. Eventually, the company closed down. Nevertheless, KCATA and Johnson County are willing to give micro-transit another shot, this time with a similar test program in parts of Overland Park, Merriam, Shawnee and Lenexa. County commissioners on Thursday approved spending $250,000 on a six-month pilot program to see if it will eventually provide a viable and more sustainable alternative to the full-sized city buses that now serve the suburbs. This time around, the micro-transit service will be offered through [...]

Mission has agreed to begin contracts with five neighboring cities to provide them animal control services. In the wake of the dissolution of the Northeast Animal Control Commission earlier this year, Mission plans to provide animal control services to the cities of Fairway, Mission Woods, Roeland Park, Westwood and Westwood Hills. Those year-long contracts begin Jan. 1. City administrator Laura Smith, who presented the prepared contracts for the Mission councilmembers during their finance and administration committee meeting Dec. 12, had indicated that Westwood Hills planned to participate in a contractual agreement. That agreement came up for approval in time for the [...]