While many rural communities - especially across Western Kansas - Scott City has set itself apart in terms of population and economic growth. That hasn’t gone unnoticed in Topeka as Secretary of Commerce David Toland spent three hours in Scott City on Monday morning as part of a brief area tour. The swing through Southwest Kansas-wide tours planned this summer by Toland and his staff. “We want to not only talk about the importance of the Department of Commerce serving the entire state, but also show our commitment to that by going throughout the state and hearing Western Kansas gem - [...]

After resolving some concerns about the extent to which building inspectors will inspect mobile homes, the Scott City Council has given unanimous approval to a new set of guidelines regarding permits and safety regulations. The new ordinance, which takes effect immediately, requires permits for some types of work being done on manufactured homes and there are more instances when the city will require inspections. Read more: Scott County Record.

As incoming city manager Craig Owens gave a driving tour of Clayton, Mo., he was sure also to drive outside Clayton’s bounds to a place starkly different from the city he has managed since 2008. Just outside the affluence of Clayton, an invisible line is crossed and the landscape changes: the homes are still brick but they are much smaller, closer together, some in need of repair. Here, the school district is only provisionally accredited. And it is here, in a conjunction of two dozen small municipalities that fall under the Normandy Schools Collaborative, that Owens spent several years on the [...]

The world incoming city manager Craig Owens departs is a very different one from what awaits him in Lawrence. The approximately 2.5-square-mile city of Clayton, Mo., where Owens has been the city manager since 2008, has been booming by many accounts. The city has about 16,000 residents and brings twice that number of people into the city for work. On a recent weekday morning, people with briefcases in hand crossed downtown Clayton’s intersections in the shadows of gleaming business towers and new high-rise apartment buildings. Read more: LJWorld.com.

Gov. Laura Kelly will visit the Eudora Public Library on Thursday to sign legislation important to the library’s future. Carol Wohlford, director of the Eudora Public Library, said the legislation authorizes the Eudora City Commission and Eudora Township Board of Trustees to pass a joint resolution creating the Eudora Community Library District. The library district will include the city of Eudora and all of Eudora Township. ... Under the legislation, Wohlford said, the library district will be governed by a six-member board elected by voters in the district. In addition, the legislation gives the board the right to levy up to [...]

Lawrence school district administrators and the Lawrence Education Association (LEA) will follow a new format for contract negotiations this year, and they’ve planned 28 hours’ worth of meetings. District spokeswoman Julie Boyle said via email that the negotiation teams have been trained in interest-based bargaining, or IBB. She said that changes the format of meetings into “collaborative-style discussions among one team working together.” A federal mediator will guide the process, Boyle said. Read more: LJWorld.com.