A county administrator can help commissioners research issues, manage county departments and find solutions while leaving elected officials in charge of their own offices, according to a Miami County commissioner who spoke to the Riley County Commission Thursday. Riley County is amid its search for a new county administrator after county clerk Rich Vargo — who also fulfilled administrator duties — announced he plans to retire Nov. 30.  Vargo has endorsed the county’s current budget and finance officer Brittany Phillips to succeed him as county clerk. Read more: themercury.com

Kids take their chances squeezing through the stationary rail cars that regularly cut this small town in two. Sometimes they brave the high, narrow road bridge leading over the tracks. That gives Bret Glendening, the Osawatomie city manager, worries about how he’ll make things safer. He wonders how the town can afford to fix the once-elegant — now rusty — bridge that spans the Marais des Cygnes River. Or if it’ll ever catch up on basic street maintenance. But the railroad business that helped build Osawatomie is long gone, taking away hundreds of jobs and leaving a hollowed-out tax base that [...]

The Hutchinson City Council directed Public Works Director Cecil Weible to continue investigating the city’s options for dealing with brick streets when they need replacement during its meeting on Tuesday evening. Weible said the city has 19 blocks of brick streets 60 feet wide and 123 blocks of brick streets 27 feet wide. Or, rather, the city has that many blocks of uncovered brick streets. “Technically, almost every street in Hutchinson is a brick street under the asphalt,” Weible said. He said that brick streets can last indefinitely, but when problems occur, the problems stick around. Read more: The Hutchinson Tribune

Another local government in Kansas is declining to put an ordinance banning data centers and battery energy storage systems on the ballot. On Monday, the Rose Hill City Council determined that the petition calling for the ordinance goes beyond what’s allowed under state law. The petition seeking to ban certain data centers and BESS in Rose Hill got 230 signatures, almost 100 more than needed. But the city said the proposed ordinance would be more administrative than legislative and is thus exempt from the ballot initiative process. Read more: KSN-TV

City officials are introducing a new text notification service designed to help Topeka residents stay informed about community events and local government initiatives. City officials announced in an Oct. 1 press release that a new texting service, TextMyGov, is now available for locals to sign up for. City staff said this initiative will be led by the City’s Office of Inclusive Communities and the Communications Department. Read more: KSNT 27 News

Deriva is proposing that the Tecumseh Energy Storage project would be 270 megawatt project and occupy between 17 and 18 fenced acres. The company deems it will have enough storage to support "tens of thousands of homes during peak demand." Read more: CJonline

Antora Energy, a leading U.S. energy storage company, on Oct. 1 announced 5.8-gigawatt-hour, multiday thermal energy storage project in Pratt. Upon completion, it will be one of the largest battery storage systems in the world. Read more: CJonline

The HEAL grant helps communities restore downtown buildings as spaces for new or expanding businesses, housing, arts and culture, civic engagement, childcare or entrepreneurial activities. For this round of HEAL funding, urban distressed downtown communities are encouraged to take advantage of the grant opportunity. Up to $750,000 will be made available for communities with 50,000 population or more. Downtown communities must be in a distressed census tract as identified by the U.S. Census Bureau. Read more: Kansas Department of Commerce

Last week, the Pittsburg Police Department’s officer self-initiated activities nearly doubled while calls for service decreased. The self-initiated activities include follow-up visits with community members and periodic check-ins. Read more: Morning Sun

With a population under 400, the tight-knit town of McCune proves “small towns do it best” as its annual Fall Festival kicks off this weekend. Read more: Homepage