info2024-01-12T14:34:43-06:00January 12th, 2024|
Shawnee Mission Superintendent Michelle Hubbard, who was recently named 2024 Kansas Superintendent of the Year, will retire after this school year. The school board accepted Hubbard’s resignation during a special meeting Thursday evening. Hubbard, who was named superintendent in 2021, will serve the remainder of her contract through June. Source: Joco 913 News
info2024-01-12T14:34:21-06:00January 12th, 2024|
With the ringing of a new year, the Great Bend Fire Department thought residents might be curious about the number of calls it handled in 2023, Fire Chief Brent Smith said. The information was presented to the City Council. “We thought you may wonder just how many calls we respond to in one year,” Smith said. This is the number of calls from Jan. 1 through Dec. 18. In all, the Great Bend Fire Department made 2,583 fire and Emergency Medical Services runs in that time span... Source: Great Bend Tribune
info2024-01-12T14:17:36-06:00January 12th, 2024|
The Shawnee City Council Committee is getting closer to setting new rules and restrictions for short-term rentals like Airbnb and VRBO. On Monday evening, the committee reached a consensus for amendments to Shawnee Municipal Code Chapter 5 to regulate short-term rentals through the city’s business licensing department. Short-term rental property owners would also face penalties if they violate existing ordinances, like noise violations or health and safety codes. Source: Johnson County Post
info2024-01-12T14:16:35-06:00January 12th, 2024|
As Overland Park continues to build its new comprehensive plan, the city is also mulling some possible updates to regulations for future development and redevelopment projects. That collection of ordinances called a Unified Development Ordinance, or UDO, lays out the rules for development in a community, including land use and architectural standards. The plan is to work with a consultant to review the UDO, the cost of which Overland Park Senior Planner Danielle Hollrah said is already budgeted into city’s 2024-28 capital improvement project list. Source: Johnson County Post
info2024-01-12T13:06:45-06:00January 12th, 2024|
The Chase County Commission approved a 3.5% cost of living adjustment across the board for county employees at its meeting Monday morning. Commissioner Matt Miller said he was in favor of making the 3.5% increase standard for all county employees, regardless of full-time or part-time status, to help with cost of living increases. “The departments have done a good job of getting some internal pay scales and structures put in place. We have made a lot of progress there with department heads meeting and updating our leave policies. Those are definitely big steps forward,” Miller said. “I encourage us as we [...]
info2024-01-12T13:02:26-06:00January 12th, 2024|
After fighting for clean, oil-free water since September, mother of three and wife, Jenna Krob, says she’s tired of being redirected. “I feel like I’m getting tossed around just like I did when I didn’t have water at first,” said Krob. “Now I’m being tossed around again just trying to find a permanent solution.” The problem began as a foul smell filling their newly purchased home located at SW Thunder Rd and SW 150th St in rural Augusta. Soon after, their plumbing pipes, toilet tank, shower and sinks were coated in a black oily substance. The family suspected crude oil to be in [...]
info2024-01-12T13:00:49-06:00January 12th, 2024|
Sedgwick County boosted pay for sheriff’s office employees Wednesday in an escalating law enforcement wage war with the city of Wichita. The county will transfer approximately $4.5 million from reserves to cover 8.7% increases for all sheriff’s employees, including Sheriff Jeff Easter, who presented the funding request to commissioners Wednesday. That’s on top of the 2% increase that went into effect at the beginning of the year. The new raise comes a month after the Wichita City Council voted to give police employees 13.27% raises and one-time $5,000 bonuses. “If people don’t believe that we’re going to lose people to Wichita, they’ve got [...]
info2024-01-12T12:56:05-06:00January 12th, 2024|
K-State Research and Extension Agent Tristen Cope has learned to look at leadership differently, especially after taking a class on the topic through Kansas Leadership Center and helping run the Marion County Leadership Program. “I was in a lot of leadership positions in high school and throughout college, but I was never taught or shown leadership as a verb. I was always taught that leadership was a noun,” said Cope. “It’s an act of how you’re a leader as opposed to a noun— acting as a leader— it’s what you do to gain those leadership skills or to help engage and [...]
info2024-01-12T12:54:52-06:00January 12th, 2024|
The Hesston Police Department will hire an additional police officer. The Hesston City Council approved the action after some discussion of shifting budgets Monday night. Police Chief Chris Eilert made the case to the council for the hiring. An officer informed him that he plans to pursue another job in 18 to 24 months. Eilert said the city, in the past, had trouble finding quality applicants for open positions, and he had a strong applicant, a Hesston resident currently working at another interested department. “He will be getting out if he can’t find something,” he said. “He fits perfectly what I’m looking for in [...]
info2024-01-12T12:52:02-06:00January 12th, 2024|
After getting divorced in her mid 60s, Darlene Palsmeier was forced to look for a new home. She didn’t like what she found, a least in terms of cost. With an annual income of $38,640, Palsmeier doesn’t consider herself well off. But when she began applying for apartments in government-subsidized senior living communities around the area, she discovered she was above the income limit for residents by almost $3,000. Needing a place “pretty quick,” she rented an apartment on Rock Road in east Wichita for $1,400 a month. That equals 43 percent of her monthly income, well above the 30 percent recommended by [...]
