News – Page 2212 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

Lyon County Commissioners approve letter to KDOT re: Turnpike closures

info2019-02-19T11:54:52-06:00February 19th, 2019|

Lyon County Commissioners approved a letter to the Kansas Department of Transportation regarding how closures of the turnpike negatively affect local traffic on Interstate 35. The approval came following a discussion with Undersheriff John Koelsch Thursday morning at the courthouse. He said the purpose of the letter was to request a meeting with Secretary of Transportation Julie Lorenz. “It’s based on the joint city/county discussions about when the KTA decides to close and requests our local resources to close the gate,” Koelsch said. “It creates a backup on I-35 and overwhelms our resources in short order. It’s occurred several times over [...]

Newton utility rates under scrutiny

info2019-02-19T11:53:24-06:00February 19th, 2019|

Newton City Manager Bob Myers has said at many a city meeting that no matter where you live, you think the utility bill is too high. Apparently, he is right — as residents of the city of El Dorado were recently questioning their city hall about utility rates. Enough so that city staff of El Dorado turned to creating a graphic to show the average utility bill for eight different cities in the region and posting it on social media Feb. 13 for all to see. Of the eight selected, El Dorado showed as the second lowest. Newton was credited with [...]

Hays approves $774K for street maintenance this year

info2019-02-19T11:31:59-06:00February 19th, 2019|

Hays city commissioners Thursday night approved six low bids totaling $774,456.39 for the 2019 Street Maintenance Program. Monies will come from the Special Highway fund. A little more than $1.1 million is budgeted for street maintenance this year. The street work includes include seal coat, asphalt rejuvenator, micro-surfacing, curb and brick repair, major rehabilitation of Ash Street from 23rd to 27th, and concrete shoulders along portions of 8th Street and Old Highway 40 east of Vine Street. Vance Brothers had the contract in 2018 for micro-surfacing but was unable to finish all the work, according to John Braun, the city’s project [...]

Leavenworth County Development Corp approves budget without funding from Bashehor

info2019-02-19T10:50:58-06:00February 19th, 2019|

For a second year in a row, the Leavenworth County Development Corporation has approved an annual budget without funding from the city of Basehor. But Steve Jack, executive director of LCDC, said he is scheduled to meet today with Basehor’s new city administrator. “We’ll talk about the things we do,” Jack said. Jack said he will see if there is interest in Basehor rejoining LCDC. Leslee Rivarola became the Basehor city administrator earlier this month. Basehor previously supported LCDC. But the city ended its participation with the economic development organization at the end of 2017. The Leavenworth County government and the [...]

Feral cat trap-neuter-return proposal returning to Lawrence City Commission for review

info2019-02-19T11:39:06-06:00February 19th, 2019|

Lawrence city leaders will soon review changes to the city’s animal control ordinance, including a provision that would allow feral cat colonies. The Lawrence Humane Society proposed changes to the ordinance that would allow for a “trap-neuter-release,” or TNR, program under which cats would be caught, neutered, vaccinated, and then returned to where they were collected and allowed to roam free. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will review the proposed changes to the ordinance. Currently, Lawrence city code does not allow cats to roam free, and animal control officers address resident complaints and trap stray or [...]

City of Liberal discusses perimeter fencing for airport; may seek grant funding

info2019-02-15T12:17:41-06:00February 15th, 2019|

Community safety was the main theme of the evening for the Liberal City Commission during its most recent Tuesday evening. Up first in this theme saw Airport Operations Chief Brian Fornwalt talk to the commission about the installation of perimeter fencing at the Liberal Airport. “Last year when the FAA was doing its inspection, they saw coyotes running across the main runway and run toward the golf course,” Fornwalt began. “Through some programs we’re trying to go through the FAA to get some funding for a perimeter fencing project Our recommendation is for the commission to approve the perimeter fencing installation project [...]

Emporia discusses update to alcohol laws

info2019-02-15T12:14:51-06:00February 15th, 2019|

City Attorney Christina Montgomery addressed the Emporia City Commission Wednesday about changes to state cereal malt beverage laws. In April, grocery stores, convenience stores and CMB bars that only serve low-alcohol-volume beer may be allowed to carry enhanced cereal malt beverages. An enhanced cereal malt beverage, according to Commissioner Becky Smith, who owns Twin Rivers Winery and Gourmet Shoppe, is essentially a strong beer — up to but no more than 6 percent alcohol; IPAs may fall into this category. She said the changes to enhanced cereal malt beverage laws won’t have any impact on her business because it’s a farm [...]

Sedgwick community works together, builds playground

info2019-02-15T12:11:21-06:00February 15th, 2019|

On Feb. 2, volunteers gathered at the R.L. Wright Elementary School playground to install the new playground equipment purchased by the school last fall. The community had been asked to sign up for two-hour shifts, though some stayed for several shifts. The building began at 7:30 a.m. and they finished by 2:30 p.m. Principal Julie Scott said that everything went very well. “We had to make a run for more concrete or we would have been done an hour earlier,” she said. Scott estimated that over 50 people helped throughout the day. “It was just great that so many parents, staff, [...]

Mission Hills moving forward with study of flooding issues near Brush Creek, Rock Creek confluence

info2019-02-15T12:09:11-06:00February 15th, 2019|

The Mission Hills city council this week approved spending $75,000 on an engineering contract with Water Resource Solutions for 2D and 3D modeling of the Rock Creek/Brush Creek confluence as the city looks to address the potential of overflow and flooding in the area. The total cost of the engineering project is $150,000 with Mission Hills splitting the expense with the Army Corps of Engineers. Significant rain events have caused overflowing where Rock Creek and Brush Creek meet, leading to flooding damage in some Fairway homes. The modeling will identify whether there is a viable way to improve the problem and [...]

Leavenworth County Commission approves land use recommendation

info2019-02-15T12:08:20-06:00February 15th, 2019|

When they met Wednesday, Leavenworth County commissioners voted for a recommendation for future land use along a County Road 1 corridor south of Tonganoxie. This will not be the commission’s final action on the matter. The recommendation will now be forwarded to the Tonganoxie City Council for review. The issue will be brought back to the County Commission at a later date for final adoption, according to Krystal Voth, deputy director for the Leavenworth County Planning and Zoning Department. The commission had previously hired the firm Vireo to do a land use analysis of the County Road 1 corridor. The corridor [...]