Mayor Carl Gerlach seemed momentarily ill at ease as he stepped to the podium at his last Overland Park City Council meeting last month. Council president and incoming mayor Curt Skoog had just read a lengthy commendation of Gerlach’s accomplishments, and a staffer was getting some cell phone pictures as the standing ovation began to die down. “As everybody in the room probably knows, I’m not comfortable with all of this,” Gerlach said, before saying thank you to his family, councilmembers and staff. Never a headline-grabber, Gerlach said later he’s always been a little leery of the spotlight. Source: Prairie Village [...]

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic nearly two years ago, more attention has turned to how local governmental bodies broadcast their public meetings, since in-person attendance in many cases remains limited. The city of Shawnee, for instance, recently voted to add live video streaming of its city council and planning commission meetings sometime early next year. (Currently, the city only airs live audio.) Cities across northern Johnson County offer a mix of livestreaming services and also allow public access to recordings of meetings after they are finished. Source: Prairie Village Post

An Overland Park city council committee on Monday advanced an ordinance that would change two code changes impacting city trash services. One change would loosen the city’s current regulations governing how residents store their trash and recyclable bins at home. The other change would significantly overhaul the city’s bulky item pickup service. Source: Prairie Village Post