The Pittsburg Fire and Police Departments participate in another year of Battle of the Badges Chili Cookoff with the American Red Cross. People donating blood today and tomorrow can try both types of chili and then vote for their favorite. Organizers say the event has brought in more than a hundred sign ups for donations. The Fire and Police Departments both say the competition is heating up this year.
Source: KOAM News
The city of Emporia is into a community survey designed to get “crucial information and feedback” on city priorities, programs and services. The city effort follows a 2022 collaboration with the ETC Institute on a similar survey. The goal with this survey is to compare perspectives on items including but not limited to communications, facilities, streets and sanitation. The city is requesting “candid feedback” for “a deeper understanding of areas for improvement and concerns,” saying survey results will have a big role in upcoming city decisions. Several residents have already received a mailed survey. The survey will go online at a later date. Word on when results will be posted is pending.
Source: KVOE Emporia Radio
Hillsboro schools will get infrastructure improvements after a 464-59 vote Tuesday to approve a $13.35 million bond issue.
Among items to be funded will be a tornado shelter, heating and air conditioning upgrades, a new stage and auditorium sound system, new plumbing, secured entrances, new gym bleachers and new fire alarms, new roofs, and a greenhouse.
Source: Marion County RECORD
The original branch in the Johnson County Library system is getting set to permanently close its doors after nearly 70 years in operation. Antioch Library, 8700 Shawnee Mission Pkwy., will cease operations after Sunday, Jan. 28, in order to make way for the new Merriam Plaza Library branch nearby. The Antioch branch first opened in 1956 as Johnson County Library’s first official branch and served as the county library system’s headquarters for decades before Central Resource opened in the mid-1990s. “Everybody just loves this branch,” Assistant Branch Manager Sheida Bates is quoted in a post to the library’s website. “And the people who grew up coming to the branch are now bringing their kids here.” Its replacement, Merriam Plaza, is set to open its doors for the first time on March 20 next to the Merriam Community Center just a few blocks away from the Antioch branch. No patron services will be available at either Antioch or Merriam Plaza branches during the transition. A new library branch co-located on the same site as the community center is several years in the making, and it’s a concept also being explored in Prairie Village with the county’s second-oldest library branch at Corinth.
Source: Johnson County Post
Manhattan city commissioners on Tuesday agreed housing incentives should be as flexible as possible. In an initial discussion about how to use sales-tax revenue to develop workforce housing, the commission acknowledged Manhattan is in a housing crisis and that it needs to take steps to address that. “We do a lot of studies at the city,” mayor Wynn Butler said. “We do a lot of talking at the city, and now it’s time to take some action on the housing. So I think that’s where we are going. I think the commission all agrees with that philosophy.” City staff asked the commission for direction about how to use funds from the 0.5% economic recovery and relief sales tax, which voters passed in 2020. Seventy percent of that revenue is dedicated to paying down city debt and fixing infrastructure, 20% to creating new jobs and 10% to workforce housing. Kristen Dolf, assistant to the city manager, said the city projects a total revenue of $80 million between 2023 and 2033. That means an estimated $8 million will be available for workforce housing. Over the past year, the Workforce Housing Steering Committee has reviewed the housing market challenges and discussed the “workforce housing initiatives” portion of the sales tax. Some of the committee’s recommendations include incentives on projects like higher density housing, prioritizing housing projects over parking developments, avoiding repetitive actions like studies and avoiding specific requirements for the sales tax funding.
Source: themercury.com
The Wilson Czech Opera House has made strides in restoring the property after a fire that burned most of the building. Constructed in 1901, the opera house, 415 27th St. in Wilson, was initially called Turner Hall, made from quarried stone from five miles outside of Wilson…. In November 2009, a fire from a neighboring building spread to the opera house, reducing the venue to ruins despite attempts to extinguish the flames. … Fully rebuilding the opera house proved to be an unachievable task, as Ford said the expenses could exceed well over $10 million. To preserve the remnants of the opera house, the choice was made to transform the property into a distinctive location. “It would be a unique venue for Wilson to have an open-air theater, we would still get to see the beauty of these stone walls,” Ford said.
Source: Hays Post
The Valley Center City Council last week approved the final plat for Harvest Place near 93rd North and Meridian…. The subdivision and the roads in it were named by Valley Center school district students during a contest initiated by the city. The middle school contributed Spirit Court, the high school Stinger Avenue, Abilene Elementary Sunflower Drive and Sunflower Court, Wheatland Elementary Hornet Lane and Hornet Court, the intermediate school Chance Avenue and West Elementary Harvest Place. “It was fun to have the school district involved through the naming process of the subdivision and some of the streets that will lie therein,” said Ryan Shrack, the city’s development director.
Source: AV News
A Wall Street Journal reporter was in Topeka on Tuesday working on a story expected to highlight its welcoming nature, after the city benefited from a Telemundo story that did the same thing last October, Mayor Mike Padilla said. The Wall Street Journal story is anticipated to focus on a family of Colombian immigrants who live in Topeka and hope to stay here permanently, Padilla said at his monthly news conference with interim city manager Richard U. Nienstedt.
Source: CJonline
Overland Park is getting closer to adopting its first new long-range land use plan in decades, which will serve as the roadmap for development into the future. The much-anticipated draft plan was recently handed over to city planning staff for a preliminary review, Overland Park’s Strategic Planning Division Manager Erin Ollig told the Overland Park Planning Commission earlier this month. Right now, city planners are going through some edits and revisions with the consultant. That puts the Overland Park City Council on track to finalize the plan — dubbed FrameworkOP — in the next few months, likely early in the summer. The city’s existing comprehensive plan is roughly 40 years old, adopted at a time when Overland Park was home to fewer people and its overall footprint was smaller.
Source: Johnson County Post
City leaders are getting closer to selecting Topeka’s next permanent city manager. Richard Nienstedt has served in the interim position since June, 2023 when former City Manager Stephen Wade took an extended leave of absence and was ultimately fired. Alongside Mayor Mike Padilla at a city briefing Tuesday, Nienstedt said the city is working with a consultant to hire a long-term city manager. He said he anticipates the city council will have a list of candidates by mid-February or the first of March. Nienstedt said finding the right city manager for this city will take time. “This is an important city in the state. This is the Capitol City, one of the largest cities, and it deserves the best city management that the council can get. So, taking their time helps ensure that.” A city spokeswoman told 27 news Wade was fired for having an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate. Wade is demanding $100 million from the city for wrongful termination.
Source: KSNT 27 News
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