News

The City of Coffeyville is proud to announce that City Manager Ben Brubaker was honored last week with the Early Career Excellence Award at the Kansas Association of City/County Management (KACM) Conference. Established in 2013, the Early Career Excellence Award is a prestigious statewide recognition presented to early career local government professionals who demonstrate exceptional leadership, innovation, and strong promise to positively impact the profession. Read more: Coffeyville, KS

City Manager Enrico Villegas has been named a recipient of the Early Career Excellence Award by the Kansas Association of City/County Management (KACM), an honor presented by his peers recognizing leadership and impact in local government early in his career. During the awards presentation at KACM’s annual conference last week, Villegas was recognized for the significant progress achieved in just over one year with the City of Hutchinson. In remarks shared during the ceremony, KACM highlighted his efforts to strengthen relationships between City staff and the governing body, as well as his focus on improving communication and collaboration across City departments. [...]

Leawood, KS, mayor expressed concerns about the potential impacts of a Kansas City Royals Stadium being built at the Overland Park Aspiria campus. Read more: FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV

The City of Halstead has a $10 million annual budget and 26 full-time and 40-plus part-time and seasonal employees or volunteers, per City Manager Ethan Reimer. The city runs its gas, water, wastewater and stormwater utilities. Covering 1.31 square miles and an island golf course (Wedgewood), Halstead’s population at the last census was 2,179. Reimer led a presentation Monday evening for the newly elected officials, Gary Faebler (mayor) and Roger Keating (city council). Current council members Denise Klassen, Shawna Will, Jim VanSchaick and George Torres also attended. The city’s department heads also provided information regarding their areas. Read more: Harvey County [...]

It’s a chance to promote tourism in Hesston. The Hesston Chamber of Commerce was awarded a Kansas Department of Tourism Marketing grant from the Kansas Depart of Tourism in the amount of $4,780 to help fund a first-time program that can bring travel writers to Hesston. “These grants are awarded for first-time marketing projects, encouraging tourism organizations to try something new,” Chamber Director Andrea Braker said. “Our project, which was approved, was hosting a series of travel writers. We’re investing in a catalogue of travel writers.” Read more: Harvey County Now

Opposition to a potential Royals baseball stadium at Overland Park’s Aspiria campus has been so strong among Leawood residents and businesses that the Leawood City Council released a letter Monday night opposing it in no uncertain terms. Councilmembers and Mayor Marc Elkins said they have been flooded with letters from the public against a new stadium for the Kansas City Royals at Aspiria, on the former Sprint campus at 119th and Nall Avenue. The location would put the stadium directly across the street from Leawood. For more than a year now, the Royals have been hunting for a new location for [...]

The city of Prairie Village recently became the second Johnson County city to voice support for an effort to make statewide Spanish language voting materials available at the polls. On Monday, the Prairie Village City Council voted 8-2 to approve a resolution — brought forth by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas — that calls on the Secretary of State and the Johnson County Election Office to translate voting materials into Spanish. Read more: Johnson County Post

Olathe City Manager Michael Wilkes will retire at the end of January, despite a last-minute vote by city council last week to keep him in his role. Wilkes shared the news over the weekend in an email to city officials obtained by the Post, saying he will retire on schedule because the city council was divided over whether to extend his contract. The reversal comes just days after a contentious closed-door special meeting on Friday, during which the Olathe City Council voted 4-3 to delay his retirement and halt the nearly complete search for his replacement. Wilkes announced his retirement in [...]

Marysville USD 364 started an exciting initiative this year with a new ‘Farm to Plate Program.’ This Program brings the school and community together to provide fresh, local food to students. Darren Schroeder, USD 364 Superintendent, said that with community-based learning being a big focus in the schools, they took the steps to get started, and it has grown faster than they would have imagined. He said the biggest hurdles are making sure the Program follows state guidelines. In the first few months, the school has already brought in six hogs and three beef, along with fresh fruits and vegetables, all [...]

Last week, Deep Fission broke ground on a pilot program to bury small modular reactors underground in Parsons, Kansas. This project is the first of its kind in the United States, and comes as part of the Trump Administration’s effort to advance the nation’s nuclear power. Read more: Up To Date