News – Page 2220 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

Sedgwick County Commission moves to hire familiar face as new manager without a search

info2019-02-07T10:13:14-06:00February 7th, 2019|

Negotiations for the highest unelected position in Sedgwick County government will happen without a job search. Commissioners say a search for a new county manager would be a waste of time and taxpayer money because they already have the best man for the job: Interim County Manager Tom Stolz. Some commissioners suggested Stolz should have been chosen as county manager in 2015 over Michael Scholes, who was paid $205,427 to leave in December. Stolz is now in negotiations with the county to drop “interim” from his job title. A vote to approve the contract could come as soon as next week. [...]

Moundridge USD 423 proposes smaller bond issue; uses area contractors

info2019-02-07T10:05:49-06:00February 7th, 2019|

Ballots should appear in the mailboxes of Moundridge USD 423 voters this week. Ballots must be back in the McPherson County Clerk’s office by noon Feb. 26, according to the McPherson County Clerk staff. Postage for the return mailing is included, so voters will not have to supply a stamp, staff said. Moundridge USD voters rejected a $23.8 million bond issue in 2016 and a second one, smaller but also over $20 million, in 2017. The new proposal costs less, uses area contractors, and addresses Greer gym - three issues USD 423 patrons said they wanted, according to school district officials. [...]

Water flow study approved for Ellis sewer system

info2019-02-07T10:02:37-06:00February 7th, 2019|

The sewer system in Ellis has problems with inflow and infiltration and the city council has agreed to pay for a month-long flow monitor study to determine what’s wrong. Alan Scheuerman, public works director, told council members Monday twice as much water is entering the sewer system than is produced, causing it to work over capacity and resulting in excess chemical cost. Wilson & Company will conduct the flow study at a cost of $22,646 to determine the location of the infiltration. (Read more: Hays Post)

Former city clerk pleads guilty to theft

info2019-02-07T10:35:16-06:00February 7th, 2019|

Rick Voisin, the former Towanda Municipal Court and utility clerk accused of stealing more than $186,000 from the city, pleaded guilty to two charges Friday morning in Butler County District Court. In August of 2016 after a customer received an overdue notice on a utility bill that had been paid and providing a cancelled check, Towanda City Administrator Matt Engels and then-treasurer Andy Newbry, contacted the sheriff’s office after finding several manual adjustments to utility accounts. Through investigation, the Sheriff’s department discovered several checks manually endorsed and not run through the point of sales system and other discrepancies with the accounts. [...]

Dodge City approves panhandling ordinance

info2019-02-07T10:00:20-06:00February 7th, 2019|

Dodge City commissioners have approved an ordinance establishing a Chapter XI, Article 7 of the Code of the City of Dodge City for prohibiting pedestrians from entering or staying upon a designated roadway to facilitate a transfer of anything from pedestrian to vehicle occupant would be prohibited. What is being referred to as the “Panhandling Ordinance,” it states that pedestrians stepping out into the roadway or for those that remain along side a designated roadway, to complete a transaction, would be prohibited. Therefore, anyone that goes into the roadway or along side the roadway and approaches a vehicle stopped on the [...]

Paola crime rate drops 20 percent

info2019-02-07T09:59:09-06:00February 7th, 2019|

The Paola Police Department has released its year-end statistics for 2018, and the total reported criminal offenses dropped from 692 in 2017 to 549 in 2018, a reduction of 20 percent. Capt. Eric Jenkins said the department leaders were particularly pleased to see a reduction in preventable offenses, such as burglaries (down 21 percent), theft (down 33 percent) and automobile theft (down 30 percent). “As in the past, we attribute these reductions to the citizens of Paola taking crime prevention more seriously,” Jenkins said in a news release. “Crimes such as these are typically a crime of opportunity. While we all [...]

Ellis County fire chief presents 2018 report to Ellis County Commission

info2019-02-07T09:58:04-06:00February 7th, 2019|

The Ellis County Fire Department responded to 320 calls for service in 2018, a slight decrease from the year before but they still spent more than 6,600 hours on emergency incidents in and around the county. Director of Fire and Emergency Management Darin Myers presented the commission with the departments 2018 annual report Monday. The response times within the county continue to improve, according to Myers. He said in 2018 the average on-scene time within Ellis County was 9 minutes, 34 seconds. Recently, the number of volunteer emergency personnel has been trending downward, according to Myers. “Luckily, over the last four [...]

City holds meeting on downtown transportation

info2019-02-07T09:53:56-06:00February 7th, 2019|

At a standing room only meeting about downtown transportation, a lot of people had opinions. The City of Wichita is working on a downtown development plan for transportation issues. The first listening session happened Tuesday night at Distillery 244. Right now, city buses only run at certain times and the Q-Line only runs along Douglas in Downtown. The city is meeting with downtown residents to see if that should change. (Read more: KAKE - News)

Taggart Wall to manage city he once helped govern

info2019-02-07T10:35:28-06:00February 7th, 2019|

Taggart Wall, city manager of Sterling and a former Winfield city commissioner, said he looks forward to coming back home after being hired as the new Winfield city manager. The decision to hire Wall, a Winfield native, by the city commission on Monday was unanimous, according to a press release issued by the city immediately after the announcement. Wall’s expected start date is May 13. He replaces former city manager Jeremy Willmoth, who left the city in October 2018. Wall earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy/religious studies in 2011 from Southwestern College and a Master of Public Administration from Wichita [...]

Garden City commission OKs charter ordinance updating bond issuance authority

info2019-02-07T09:46:59-06:00February 7th, 2019|

The Garden City Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved a charter ordinance that would give the city significantly more freedom in addressing general improvements and issuing general obligation bonds for certain projects. The new charter ordinance would repeal a 1975 charter ordinance that until this week dictated that the city may borrow money and issue bonds for government projects without local voter approval at the ballot box, as long as the amount of issued bonds does not exceed $350,000 a year. Under the new ordinance, city projects are instead broken into two categories — utilities and transportation repairs and projects, and general [...]