News – Page 2157 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

How Reno County can keep baby boomers at home

info2019-04-18T13:14:24-05:00April 17th, 2019|

A threat is on the horizon for Reno County’s largest revenue source — property tax. Ben Winchester, a rural sociologist with the University of Minnesota Extension, showed about 50 people on Wednesday at the Atrium Hotel and Conference Center how the future deterioration of homes will affect property tax as baby boomers are no longer able to maintain their homes. ... Winchester said it would be prudent of city and county officials to start thinking about policies for elderly homeowners to keep their homes up to par or create opportunities for people to fix up those homes down the road. Read [...]

Beccy Yocham named new Lenexa City Manager

info2019-04-17T10:23:09-05:00April 17th, 2019|

With more than 20 years of experience serving the community in several capacities, Beccy Yocham has been appointed as the new City Manager for Lenexa, Kansas. Following a national recruitment and selection process, the City Council unanimously approved Yocham’s contract during their April 16 meeting. Appointed by the City Council, the City Manager works closely with elected officials to set and achieve goals for the community and oversees the city’s professional staff. When she officially begins her duties on May 1, Yocham will be the fourth City Manager to lead the organization. The appointment comes as current City Manager Eric Wade [...]

How slow internet hurts rural Kansas, starting with cattle sales

info2019-04-17T10:23:20-05:00April 17th, 2019|

Crawling internet speeds in rural Kansas make trying to sell cattle online exasperating. Instead of uploading photos and videos of cattle for sale from home, farmer and cattleman Jay Young drives to his parents’ house or into the town of Tribune in far west Kansas where internet speeds are faster. Young has a broadband connection and says he’s able to create a cattle listing from home, but the slow internet brings on additional work. “I just can’t post the videos to that listing,” he said. “So, what I’ll do is I’ll email them or I’ll go into town and, and put [...]

Tonganoxie City Council approves utility vehicle ordinances

info2019-04-17T08:53:48-05:00April 17th, 2019|

Expansion of UTV usage in Tonganoxie moved forward with approval of ordinances addressing the vehicle use. Tonganoxie City Manager George Brajkovic laid out ordinances and fees that he said staff did a good job of “streamlining” for residents who want to operate the vehicles within city limits. If the ordinances become official after legal publication in The Mirror, the changes could go into effect next month. Some of the highlights of updated UTV usage would be that they can only be operated on streets with speed limits of 30 mph or less. They also would need to be compliant with noise [...]

City rejects $3.19 million increase in City Hall renovation funding

info2019-04-17T08:52:48-05:00April 17th, 2019|

Topeka city manager Brent Trout won’t get the more than $3.19 million in additional funding he sought to carry out the first phase of a project to renovate City Hall. But Trout did see Topeka’s governing body late Tuesday approve amended versions of his plans for capital improvements here. That body, consisting of the mayor and city council, first voted 5-5 Tuesday evening — with six “yes” votes being needed for approval — to reject a proposal that would have added more than $3.19 million to the budget for a City Hall renovation project. Council members Sylvia Ortiz, Tony Emerson, Aaron [...]

Sound and fury of Neosho County wind farm dispute reaches state Capitol

info2019-04-17T08:52:03-05:00April 17th, 2019|

Alternative-energy controversy pulsated through Neosho County’s political circuits Tuesday with a force tantamount to one of the gigantic 600-foot-tall wind turbines at the root of this neighbor-to-neighbor clash in southeast Kansas. Spokes of a passionate debate reached into rural economic development, corporate secrecy, property values, political leadership and green energy. The scuffle raised questions at the Capitol about whether it was time for state government to set standards for turbine setbacks from homes, access to service roads by power companies, guaranteed payments in lieu of taxes and decommissioning of old turbines for benefit of counties without a zoning framework to guide [...]

Hutch City Council tables job incentive policy

info2019-04-17T08:51:19-05:00April 17th, 2019|

The Hutchinson City Council discussed a proposed job incentive policy during its regular agenda session. After more than an hour of discussion, no agreement could be reached and the matter was tabled. The sticking point centered around whether there should be verbiage in the policy regarding job retention and job creation. Councilman John Daveline was spearheading the addition and said such incentives were given to Eaton when it threatened to close and to Lowen when it hinted at relocating jobs elsewhere. Questions came up whether the extra wording might cause some restrictions in the policy. Council members also worried if the [...]

Kansas’ stronger beer likely won’t mean bigger buzz

info2019-04-17T10:19:58-05:00April 17th, 2019|

Kansas finally abandoned a Prohibition-era rule that restricted certain stores to only sell beer with up to 3.2% alcohol content, but the stronger beer that's now allowed doesn't contain much more alcohol. Kansas this month ended its law dating back to the 1930s, allowing groceries and convenience stores to stock beer with up to 6% alcohol by volume. Beer drinkers are unlikely to notice a big difference because the outdated law measured alcohol by weight but alcohol is now measured by volume, the Wichita Eagle reported. Chantel Fletchall, who handles brand registration for the Kansas Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, said [...]

County mulls merging corrections, community corrections departments

info2019-04-17T06:55:24-05:00April 17th, 2019|

Shawnee County commissioners plan to consider consolidation the county’s corrections and community corrections departments under the control of the corrections department. Commissioners Bob Archer, Bill Riphahn and Kevin Cook plan to hear the first reading Monday of a proposed home resolution sponsored by Archer that would make that move, according to information in the agenda packet for that meeting made public this week by the county. Community corrections had been part of the corrections department until commissioners made it a separate department in 2000. Archer said Thursday that Rebecca Cartmill retires soon as head of the community corrections department, and no [...]

Wichita moves forward with $7 million police station project

info2019-04-17T06:53:54-05:00April 17th, 2019|

The Wichita City Council on Tuesday gave the green light to begin a $7 million project for the construction of a new police sub-station in east Wichita. The new facility will be built next to the Patrol East sub-station, at 350 S. Edgemoor, that it will replace on adjacent Park Board land. Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay told the council Tuesday morning that the new, approximately 23,000 square-foot facility is greatly needed to reduce cramped space at the existing sub-station. While originally constructed for 30 to 40 officers, Ramsay said more than 100 officers work out of the sub-station now. (Read [...]