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Shawnee County leaders have approved new regulations for solar energy projects in unincorporated areas during a commission meeting Monday, following years of research and public input from county residents. The decision creates a formal framework for how large-scale solar developments will be reviewed and approved in the county moving forward. Read more: KSNT 27 News

Miami County leaders have declared a state of emergency after severe storms brought destructive hail across the area Wednesday afternoon. The Miami County Sheriff’s Office said officials in the City of Paola, the City of Osawatomie and Miami County all made "verbal emergency declarations" following the storm, citing damage to structures and vehicles. National Weather Service storm reports show just how intense the hail was. In Paola, hail was measured at up to 2.5 inches, with some estimates reaching as large as 4 inches in diameter. Nearby areas also saw significant impacts, including baseball-sized hail north of Osawatomie and ping pong [...]

Mayor Nicholas Cheney wants residents to weigh in on the future of bump-outs located on the town square corners, as the city grapples with increasing maintenance costs and safety concerns. The bump-outs were installed several years ago, but according to the mayor, they have become harder and more expensive to maintain. Now, the city is presenting three options to residents: cement all of the bump-outs, only cement the outer bump-outs, or leave them as they are. Business owners along the square have mixed feelings about the proposed changes, though many agree that visibility at intersections has become a primary concern.. Read [...]

Progress continues as the Americus City Council gets ready to end the city’s police department operations. Mayor Dustin Wright tells KVOE News the inventory process is complete, thanks to the work of former police chief Jody Meyers. Evidence processing is next, and Wright says the goal is to have that work done by the next City Council meeting in May. Once the evidence processing is handled, Wright says the final steps towards disbanding the police department are an inventory and equipment sale and an evidence transfer to the Lyon County Attorney’s Office. Wright believes the process could be done within the [...]

Johnson County leaders are looking decades ahead as development continues to spread to rural areas, especially near the Panasonic site in De Soto. The county board recently adopted a road network plan that could reshape how people move through the rural parts of the county. The plan is a recommendation, not a construction schedule, but it identifies which rural roads could need to be expanded to keep up with development pushing to the west. This means some roads might go from two lanes to four in the future, and other roads may open for the first time ever. Read more: KSHB [...]

City commissioners unanimously voted to allow people to use UTVs on city roads with a new registration process.  The move follows that of nearby communities like Baldwin, Tonganoxie and De Soto. The ordinance will go into effect on June 1. Police Chief Wes Lovett said they reviewed these regulations when crafting Eudora’s.  The ordinance regulates the use of work-site utility vehicles. UTV or micro truck owners can drive in city limits if the owner resides in the 66025 zip code and registers their vehicle annually with the Police Department. The registration process requires a valid driver’s license, proof of liability insurance, [...]

“These things have to run 100 percent 100 percent of the time,” are the words that Hutchinson Fire Department mechanic Rick Spitler lives by when it comes to taking care of the department’s equipment. Spitler has been turning a wrench since he was 14 years old and broke a tooth when a driveshaft fell on him while he was changing it. For the past four years, he’s been the mechanic responsible for keeping all of HFD’s fire engines rolling. “When I got into high school, I was in shop class, and I figured out I could take stuff apart, put it [...]

Before they adjourned from their meeting on April 14, members of the Hutchinson Planning Commission spoke about the need for better data center zoning regulations. Commissioner Denice Gilliland was the first to bring up the subject, mentioning the joint Reno County, Hutchinson and South Hutchinson task force and saying that it should be on everyone’s agenda. No member of the Hutchinson Planning Commission was asked to be a part of the task force. Commission Chair Elaine Carter asked Associate Planner Paul Schiffelbein if the city had been working on tightening its zoning regulations around data centers and battery energy storage systems [...]

As part of its efforts to reduce its reliance on bonds for city projects, the City of Hutchinson is implementing a new program to fund smaller projects in the upcoming fiscal year. At the April 7 Hutchinson City Council meeting, city finance director Angela Richard outlined the new hybrid program, which is called PayGo. “PayGo is short for Pay-as-you-Go, which is what it sounds like-paying for projects/maintenance/equipment as you have the cash,” Richard said. “Hybrid would incorporate trying to pay for those projects we can cash finance, while still bonding for certain projects that meet certain requirements.” Because PayGo is new [...]

Allen County will likely institute a nominal motor vehicle transaction fee to help cover operational costs within the Allen County treasurer’s office. A new state law allowing counties to add motor vehicle transaction fees could bring additional revenue to Allen County. County Treasurer Darolyn Maley told commissioners Tuesday morning that she plans to take a modest approach in implementing the change locally. Maley said the legislation comes after years of work by the County Treasurer’s Association to address funding gaps in motor vehicle departments across Kansas. “This is something that the state has finally passed to get a little bit more [...]