News – Page 1163 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

Leaders talk about state of the city, school district and county

info2022-03-16T23:05:35-05:00March 16th, 2022|

Completion of two major street projects, updating the city’s comprehensive plan, and ringing up record sales tax collections were just a few of the topics Leigh House touched on Wednesday, March 9, while delivering her first State of the City remarks as mayor of Paola. “Paola saw a record amount of sales tax collected, showing that the community is choosing to shop local to support our businesses. And thank you all for that,” House said. “It does make a huge difference.” About 50 people gathered for the State of the City on Wednesday morning at Town Square event center in Paola. [...]

County issues over 600 burn permits via new online system

info2022-03-16T23:03:35-05:00March 16th, 2022|

The county has issued 620 burn permits through its online permit system since it was launched in mid-November. Mark Whelan, emergency management coordinator for the county, said Tuesday, March 15, that 151 of those permits have been issued in the last 30 days. Permits are required, and the permit holder should call 294-3232, Option 4, when they plan to burn. The new online burn permit system will save applicants a little leg work. Whelan said the new system should help streamline the process because it will no longer be necessary for someone to get a paper permit. Source: Local News | [...]

McPherson School Board recall election will take place, thanks to lawsuit

info2022-03-17T22:08:05-05:00March 16th, 2022|

Residents of USD-418 will soon have a chance to decide if they want to retain Board Members Jeff Johnson, Emily Greer, and Ann Elliott after McPherson County Clerk Hollie Melroy certified the success of a recall effort. She certified its failure fewer than two months ago. The recall election is set for May 24, with advanced voting available from May 4 through 23. What changed? The reversal of decisions came after 12 members of the recall committee filed a lawsuit against Melroy on Feb. 18, claiming she hadn’t correctly counted, specifically contesting Melroy’s disqualifications due to address changes, the use of [...]

Merriam approves one-time employee retention bonus amid staffing shortage

info2022-03-16T22:55:58-05:00March 16th, 2022|

The Merriam City Council on Monday approved a one-time, approximately $300,000 employee retention bonus. Why it matters: Merriam is experiencing staffing shortages — just like other cities, and even hospitals and school districts. The city is seeing fewer applicants to fill vacancies, particularly in the public works and police departments, according to city documents. City Administrator Chris Engel said the city traditionally faces competition from other local government agencies. Now, he said, it’s gotten to the point where the city is competing with Hy-Vee for police officers. Source: Prairie Village Post

Governor joins effort in asking for $50 million for rural housing

info2022-03-16T22:50:31-05:00March 16th, 2022|

Gov. Laura Kelly is getting behind efforts of a broad coalition of business and government interests to get the Legislature to approve $50 million to help solve a rural housing shortage. The governor announced a $50 million budget amendment on Tuesday that would be transferred to the State Housing Trust Fund administered by the Kansas Housing Resource Corp. Source: Sunflower State Journal

City to-do list has hefty price tag

info2022-03-16T22:49:04-05:00March 16th, 2022|

Iola city leaders crossed several big-ticket items off their to-do lists Monday, totaling more than $978,000. The first was a bid of $145,000 to PAR Electrical, Inc., out of Kansas City, Mo., to install three 69kV power poles. The PAR bid was the lowest of three for the laminated, cambered wood poles. The Council approved the pole purchase in November. Monday’s action was for installation. As an aside, the poles arrived Monday prior to the meeting, said Mike Phillips, power plant supervisor. NEXT up was a $543,500 expenditure to Peaker Services, Inc., out of Brighton, Miss., to upgrade the MED controls [...]

Humboldt gets to work on projects

info2022-03-16T22:47:37-05:00March 16th, 2022|

City leaders took official steps Monday night to get the ball rolling on two big projects. First, they approved a Community Development Block Grant for $700,000 for street improvements. The State of Kansas, through the Department of Commerce, will shoulder $492,086 of the expenses; Humboldt, $210,894. About 44 blocks of downtown Humboldt are slated for work. Bruce Boettcher of BG Consultants is overseeing the work. The planning of the project is complete, Boettcher said, with the design phase to be next. Council members also approved a public hearing for April 11 to discuss the funding of a $13 million upgrade to [...]

City hears ideas for improvement, transparancy

info2022-03-17T22:08:51-05:00March 16th, 2022|

Ideas to improve the appearance of the city of Marysville were brought to City Council Monday night by local residents Diane Schroller and Darlene Boss. The women, who are both former city council members, asked the council to improve education about basic provisions of the city code, help citizens understand how and by whom the code is enforced, give out more information about the city’s sidewalk replacement and removal of blighted property programs and to begin a program to monitor the condition of the city’s trees. Schroller and Boss said they would be willing to be part of a committee to [...]

Salina to purchase ‘Butterfly Tree’ sculpture, placed it near library

info2022-03-16T07:41:35-05:00March 16th, 2022|

A sculpture that was part of the 2021 Sculpture Tour in downtown Salina will have a new home by the Salina Public Library after it was selected as the People’s Choice. “Butterfly Tree,” by Reven Marie Swanson of Colorado, was the people’s selection and is set to be purchased by the City of Salina after approval by the City Commission Monday. Brad Anderson, director of the Salina Arts and Humanities Department, said the city has purchased the People’s Choice every year since 2011, making this the 12th piece bought by the city and added to its public collection for display. Source: [...]

Hutchinson’s shortage of hotel rooms causes economic loss

info2022-03-16T07:40:25-05:00March 16th, 2022|

... for a second consecutive year, more than a third of the teams in the [National Junior College men’s basketball] tournament are having to stay in hotels outside of Hutchinson because of not enough rooms locally. No studies have been done locally to determine the economic impact of the tournament on Hutchinson, but some from other sites hosting NJCAA tournaments for other sports estimate their impact at anywhere from $1.5 million to $4 million. Even at the low end, that means the impact of those teams not staying in Hutchinson is potentially a $500,000 to $750,000 loss for local businesses during [...]