News – Page 2464 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

USDA designates 10 counties as primary natural disaster areas for farm emergency loans

info2018-08-04T13:27:57-05:00April 6th, 2018|

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated Butler, Chase, Cowley, Ellsworth, Harvey, McPherson, Marion, Morris, Rush and Saline counties in Kansas as primary natural disaster areas due to losses and damages caused by a recent drought. Farmers and ranchers in the contiguous counties in Kansas also qualify for natural disaster assistance. Those counties are: Barton, Chautauqua, Dickinson, Elk, Ellis, Geary, Greenwood, Lincoln, Lyon, Ness, Ottawa, Pawnee, Reno, Rice, Russell, Sedgwick, Sumner and Wabaunsee. Farmers and ranchers in the contiguous counties of Kay and Osage in Oklahoma also qualify for natural disaster assistance. Qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible [...]

Clay Center to reclaim lots to extend life of cemetery

info2018-08-04T13:27:58-05:00April 6th, 2018|

Faced with running out of space at Greenwood Cemetery, the Clay Center City Council is looking at a policy on reclaiming un-used burial lots within the cemetery to extend its life. City Attorney Dusty Mullin reported to the council that he is looking at policy on how to accomplish that, which would involve notifying the current owners of unused lots by certified letter, public notices and through publication -- assuming owners or their descendants can be found, and going through a process or reverting ownership back to the city if no one with a valid claim comes forward. There are provisions [...]

Lenexa to consider public finance incentives for renovation of office building into Home2 Suites by Hilton

info2018-08-04T13:27:58-05:00April 6th, 2018|

The Lenexa City Council will hold a May 15 public hearing to consider whether to approve a redevelopment tax-increment financing project plan for a proposed Home2 Suites by Hilton hotel and office project on the southwest corner of Rosehill Road and 96th Terrace. The project would comprise renovation of a two-story, roughly 19,000-square-foot office building and related improvements in a first phase, and construction of a four-story, 99-room Home2 Suites hotel and related improvements in a second phase. The roughly 5.63-acre site of the proposed project is within the I-35 and 95th Street TIF District. The council unanimously approved holding the [...]

Leavenworth City Commissioners discuss goals

info2018-08-04T13:27:58-05:00April 6th, 2018|

Leavenworth city commissioners met Wednesday to discuss goals. Lobbying for another federal prison, trying to attract a grocery store in the northern half of the city and rental property inspections were among the topics discussed. Commissioners reviewed goals they made a year ago and discussed possible new goals. A document with updated goals will be brought back to the commission for formal adoption later this month. One of the old goals reviewed is lobbying and advocating for federal funding for a new medium-security prison and increased maintenance funding for the existing U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth. “This remains on our radar, very [...]

Flexibility and project learning part of school experiment in Wellington

info2018-08-04T13:27:58-05:00April 6th, 2018|

The community of Wellington was ready to redesign its public schools before the state school board picked it as one of the “Mercury Seven” pilot communities in a statewide program for school redesign. This was the opening message of a talk Tuesday evening on the subject of school redesign by Mark Whitener, Superintendent of USD 353 at Wellington. Whitener spoke at the Winfield High School cafeteria. Conversations about redesign had been going on for a year before the Wellington community applied for the statewide program, said Whitener, a former Ark City Middle School principal. Business, industry, teachers, parents and students were [...]

Kansas House kills bill that supporters said would have made HOAs more accountable

info2018-08-04T13:27:58-05:00April 6th, 2018|

Kansas lawmakers have rejected a bill that supporters said would have made homeowners associations more accountable by placing their oversight under the Kansas Attorney General’s office. Lawmakers shot down House Bill 2629 after a 36-minute debate on the House floor, followed by an unrecorded voice vote. "I just don't get it," said Scott Wircenske, an Olathe homeowner who sued his HOA to see its financial documents, then went to authorities after discovering the property manager was mishandling the funds. "Why would you not want this level of protection if you’re a homeowner? If I’m a homeowner, I want to know that [...]

Russell Water Judged Second-Best Tasting Water in Kansas

info2018-08-04T13:27:59-05:00April 5th, 2018|

The best tasting water in Kansas is produced by WaterOne of Johnson County according to a recent contest, and the City of Russell's water placed second. So says the team of professionals who judged water during the 51st Annual Conference and Exhibition for water and wastewater utilities sponsored by the Kansas Rural Water Association held at the Century II Convention Center in Wichita. ... The City of Russell serves 2,400 customers and has a production capacity of 1.5 million gallons per day to meet customers' needs. City Manager Jon Quinday comments the City of Russell is proud to have placed second [...]

Parsons works with Labette Community College for possible tornado shelter

info2018-08-04T13:27:59-05:00April 5th, 2018|

The city of Parsons is working with Labette Community College on the possible construction of a new storm shelter. City Manager Debbie Lamb told city commissioners Monday evening that she and her staff have been brainstorming for ideas on how a new community tornado shelter could be built. The staff wants to discontinue the use of the Parsons Municipal Building basement as a storm shelter because it doesn’t meet Federal Emergency Management Agency standards. Parsons USD 503 has FEMA-approved community storm shelters at its three elementary schools and Parsons High School, but those aren’t available to the general public during school [...]

County Commission declines to make grant application because of sales tax referendum uncertainty

info2018-08-04T13:28:00-05:00April 5th, 2018|

Douglas County commissioners reluctantly declined Wednesday a staff request to apply for a grant that would help pay for a viewing site and shelter at Wells Overlook Park because of uncertainty about the fate of the half-cent sale tax referendum before voters this spring. Keith Browning, county public works director, said the county developed plans for an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant viewing platform about 30 feet north of the Wells Overlook tower. The project was not on the county’s capital improvement list, but it was developed after Ken Lassman, a member of the family who donated the Wells Overlook property on [...]

Section of sewer line to be replaced in Holton

info2018-08-04T13:28:00-05:00April 5th, 2018|

The Holton City Commission on Monday evening approved a bid to replace a problematic section of the city’s sewer line in order to prepare the line for an upgrade. A 70-foot section of a north-south main sewer line in the 600 block between New York and Pennsylvania avenues — “the one that we’ve had so much trouble with,” Holton City Manager Kerwin McKee said — will be replaced by Haug Construction of Holton, which bid $17,355 for the work, commissioners noted. (Read more: Holton Recorder)