News

The city of Merriam is turning 75 years old next month. Like other northeast Johnson County cities that have reached 75 years of incorporation, Merriam is making a big to do of it. The city plans to celebrate its 75th anniversary with a four-hour party on Oct. 23 at the Merriam Marketplace, 5740 Merriam Drive. Read more: Johnson County Post

Spring Hill’s new police chief, James “Jim” Sutterby, wants to build on the legacy of the last chief — and long-term, he’s looking to add a new accreditation, bring on new officers and update the department’s technology. Sutterby began his tenure as chief on June 23, after 34 years with the Overland Park Police Department. He took over for former chief Cindy Henson, who became the first woman to serve as undersheriff in Johnson County. Read more: Johnson County Post

With nearly 40 years of local government experience, Mike Scanlon has spent much of his career working to connect people in the Kansas City metro area via trail systems. Scanlon, who was the city administrator in Mission for nearly 10 years and a chief financial officer in Merriam for another seven, helped connect Johnson Countians with his work on the Streamway Park trail systems. He went on to connect communities in Colorado before coming back and continuing that work in Osawatomie, Kansas. He’s now an executive director for Kansas Trails Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to connecting trails across the state. Less [...]

For Kayla Elam, providing in-home child care is something of a family business. Her mother offered the service in their family home when she was growing up, and still has an in-home child care business in Shawnee to this day, which her younger sister also works at. Her twin sister offers in-home child care in Gardner, too. It was hard work, complicated by a number of factors. For one thing, parents didn’t always want to pay her or couldn’t pay on time, and it’s expensive to offer the service to begin with. There were also behavioral issues that parents didn’t want [...]

The City of Galena provides an update in regards to an odor that arose last fall. The city says landfill operators have begun applying layers of lime to the area of the landfill where the odor was detected. Galena city officials say using lime amendment as a treatment for it mitigation of hydrogen sulfide gas emissions has been successful, according to studies and trials. Read more: www.koamnewsnow.com -

Zach Daniel will serve as the next city manager after the City Commission voted Monday night to offer him the job following an executive session. Daniel, who was previously assistant manager, has been serving as the interim city manager the past few months. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity, super excited to continue to work with the commission, the department heads,” Daniel said. “We’ve got a lot of really exciting things on the horizon, and I feel grateful to be a part of that.” Read more: The Eudora Times

South Hutchinson City Council rezoned three parcels outside of the city for an Evergy natural gas-powered electricity generation plant Monday. Evergy Director of External Affairs Chase Blasi told the City Council that demand for electricity is increasing at a rate not seen since the 1950s, when electric appliances like refrigerators were becoming commonplace. The current increase in demand is being driven by artificial intelligence and data centers, he said. Read more: The Hutchinson Tribune

Is the size of the Iola City Council a problem? Is there a better way to ensure competitive elections, such as abandoning the city’s voting wards? Or are there other solutions to finding folks willing to run for elective office? Case in point: the upcoming Nov. 4 election has five seats up for grabs, but only one race is contested.  Two seats, plus the mayor’s, have candidates running unopposed. Another seat will have to be filled by a write-in candidate because nobody filed. Council members tackled the subject head-on Monday with an hourlong discussion that ended with the consensus that perhaps [...]

A global event geared at reclaiming urban, developed environments will invite the people of downtown Lawrence into temporarily reimagined parking stalls while provoking conversation about the land we dedicate to vehicles. Park(ing) Day originated in 2005 as a single installation from Rebar Art and Design Studio in San Francisco and has since evolved into a global phenomenon. Creative installations act as interventions in public parking spaces, as the project “highlights issues like climate change, road safety, and mobility equity, offering a platform for reimagining streets as greener, safer, and more equitable spaces for people,” according to the international Park(ing) Day website. [...]

A new statewide bipartisan water program task force established over the summer aims to create a long-term sustainable strategy for Kansas’ water challenges. State Sen. Kenny Titus, R-Manhattan, is co-chairing the task force with State Rep. Jim Minnix, R-Scott City. The task force is in the early stages of its multi-year effort. “We basically have three phases laid out in the task force,” Titus said in an interview Monday on KMAN. “We need to identify the problems we have, how we want to solve those problems, and then how we pay for the solution.” Read more: themercury.com -