Municipal News & Jobs

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of AA rated bond trades reported to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA® system. Every issuer’s credit is different, and other financing sources may be available. To obtain comprehensive Financial Advisory services for your local government, contact your Ranson Financial Municipal Advisor, Larry Kleeman, or Henry Schmidt.

The Kansas City Chiefs have informed administrative officials that they will announce their move to Kansas today, according to sources who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Read more: KC Star

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of AA rated bond trades reported to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA® system. Every issuer’s credit is different, and other financing sources may be available. To obtain comprehensive Financial Advisory services for your local government, contact your Ranson Financial Municipal Advisor, Larry Kleeman, or Henry Schmidt.

SEK Animal Advocates rescued 29 cats outside a residence in Altoona last weekend. An Altoona woman, Carol Sharp, died in a car crash last week, leaving dozens of cats without care. Volunteers with SEK Animal Advocates, a non-profit foster-based dog and cat rescue, spent hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday catching cats and setting traps for the more feral felines. By Sunday night, they had captured 29 cats, with more still in the area.
Read more: -The Morning Sun

The Girard Department has a new high-tech tool that may assist with situational awareness and fire safety. Earlier this month, the Girard Fire Department announced that it received a donation of an advanced, top-of-the-line drone. The drone was donated by Heather Scales, alongside her daughter Maddie, as the two gave the piece of equipment, which will help the Girard Fire Department in numerous ways such as providing an aerial perspective and delivering real-time data during an emergency. Scales is the daughter of the late Ronald E. “Pete” Scales. An active member of the SEK Chiefs Association along with the Crawford County Firefighters Association, which he served 13 years as president, Scales held the position of fire chief in Girard from 1985 until his retirement in 2009.
Read more: – The Morning Sun

Riley County Police Department will be solely responsible for enforcing animal-related ordinances as of Jan. 1 after entering a new contract with the city. The Riley County Law Enforcement Agency Board approved an agreement Monday for the city to transfer specialty vehicles and equipment for animal control needs. RCPD acknowledged and agreed that it will be the sole enforcement authority of animal-related ordinances within city limits. The Riley County Law Enforcement Agency Board approved the contract Monday in a 5-2 vote, with Barry Wilkerson and Kathryn Focke voting against.
Read more: News Radio KMAN

A new camera surveillance agreement will allow the Riley County Police Department to access city camera feeds in real time. Manhattan city commissioners approved the license agreement with RCPD and the Riley County Law Enforcement Agency Board on Tuesday. RCPD has a contract with the intelligence platform Axon Fusus to deploy a RealTime Intelligence Center program. Fusus allows RCPD to integrate with RCPD’s existing cameras and third party camera systems such as local business and now the city of Manhattan’s camera system, including its traffic cameras.
Read more: News Radio KMAN

A newly-approved compensation tool will bring a salary increase for most City of Arkansas City employees and create a more unbiased method of setting compensation. Finance director Jennifer Waggoner said implementation of the new structure will cost $259,399 in 2026 and was included in the budget. Human Resource Director Marla McFarland said the approach will determine the proper compensation level for a position and then consider a number of factors to determine the proper pay for each individual employee in that position.
Read more: www.ctnewsonline.com

Garden City Community College has announced the signing of a landmark Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with three fellow Western Kansas institutions: Colby Community College, Dodge City Community College and Seward County Community College. The agreement was officially signed Dec. 4 on GCCC’s campus, marking a historic moment for regional collaboration in higher education. The Western Kansas Consortium MOA strengthens partnerships among the four colleges and creates new opportunities to expand educational access, support workforce development, and maximize resources for students and communities across western Kansas and the state. For more than a century, the community colleges of western Kansas have each played a vital role in serving students and supporting local communities.
Read more: Dodge City Daily Globe

A southwestern Kansas county plans to sue the state for more than $2 million after nearly a decade of mistaken payments, mounting concern for democratic processes. Voters in Morton County, which borders the Oklahoma panhandle and Colorado, approved a countywide sales tax in 2015 that directed funds to their local hospital. But an early administrative error that the county tried to fix resulted in the Kansas Department of Revenue sending checks to the county’s cities, which spent the money.
Read more: www.emporiagazette.com

The only major grocery store in downtown Kansas City, Kansas will close its doors in less than two weeks. The announcement of The Merc Co+op, a community-owned grocery store, closing came as quite a hit for leaders trying to fill a food desert. The parking lot at 501 Minnesota Avenue was already a bit of a ghost town on Wednesday. Mostly empty shelves and freezers inside likely play a part. Dedric Moore was there in 2020 when they cut the ribbon on Downtown KCK’s Merc Co+op. “It was a big step for the community that we were going to have a grocery store down here in this area that had been a food desert for ages,” he said. Merc Co+op announced in July that it was closing the KCK location at the end of the year and concentrating on operations in Lawrence.
Read more: FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV

When Gallery Mostaza came to downtown Newton, promoters of the city’s core hoped to have scored a coup. The hand-thrown pottery store had a history of drawing crowds to Harper, Kansas, with its events. Yet the question remained: could it do the same in Newton? Anecdotally, that answer following its October pumpkin event was very much yes. The store sold a huge amount of goods, saw lines at opening, and resulted in a downtown that looked much fuller than normal. Businesses reported upticks. With its big Christmas event scheduled, businesses in the downtown organized and remained open for their own events. The result: a success, and now the City of Newton has the data to prove it.
Read more: Harvey County Now

A program that gives property tax relief to eligible low-income homeowners in Johnson County is headed for a major expansion that is intended to open it up to more people next year. County commissioners last Thursday voted to remove the 65-and-older age restriction and disabled veteran requirement while also increasing the maximum home value to qualify for the county property tax relief program. A qualifying home’s value can now be no more than $500,000 next year, an increase from $384,600 currently. However, the income eligibility remains at or below the “very low” benchmarks set by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Those income limits vary depending on the number of family members.
Read more: Johnson County Post

When the city of Gardner in eastern Kansas ordered Aspen Place apartments closed for unsafe living conditions last May, Candice Montgomery came home to a frantic neighborhood. She and other residents of the Gardner housing complex only had 48 hours to leave their homes. “It was total chaos,” Montgomery said. “My neighbors are everywhere, people are crying. My elderly neighbors didn’t know what they were going to do.” Gardner officials had warned the owners of the property dozens of times that the apartments were not safe, largely because of water and sewage issues. The final straw came when a firetruck sank into a street in the complex while responding to an emergency. The city condemned the property the next day, and hundreds of tenants were homeless because their landlord failed to act.
Read more: KLC Journal

A new pharmacy residency program is being developed at the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas with the goal of training and retaining pharmacists in rural communities. The community-based, postgraduate year one residency is currently working toward accreditation through the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
Read more: www.koamnewsnow.com

As last-minute shoppers crowd Wichita stores before Christmas, police are stepping up patrols, which includes officers on horseback as part of an effort to crack down on shoplifting. Mounted officers can see over crowds, spot suspicious behavior faster, and respond quickly if someone tries to make a run for it. While some shoppers are rushing from store to store, others are stopping to notice something a little different. “Our kids love animals. When they were pulling in, we saw them, and we said, ‘Hey kids, look at the horses,’” said Rader. Those horses belong to the WPD’s mounted patrol unit. They are deployed during the holiday season to help prevent theft and keep an eye on busy parking lots.
Read more: KSN-TV

The Morton County attorney and the county commissioners want a new sheriff in town. County Attorney David Thompson and the Board of County Commissioners released a joint statement Thursday saying Sheriff Thad Earls and his staff have refused to resign. So they want the attorney general to step in and force Earls out of office. The officials said in a news release that their grounds for the ouster are misconduct and neglect of duty.
Read more: KSN-TV

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly issued a state of disaster emergency declaration impacting the entirety of the Sunflower State. Kelly issued the declaration for all 105 counties in Kansas on Dec. 17. She cited delays in the delivery of propane for heating purposes as the cause for the declaration. “As every Kansan knows, our winters can become dangerously cold at times,” Kelly said. “We want to make sure every person has access to a steady supply of heating fuel throughout the winter months, particularly those in rural areas who depend on propane to warm their homes.”
Read more: KSN-TV

Marion is now considering changing a city logo it has used in one form or another for a couple of decades. The city is asking members of the public to create their own designs and submit them by the end of January to a city logo design competition. “Maybe it’s time to do something fresher,” economic development director Megan Jones said.
Read more: Marion County RECORD

President Donald Trump took the first step Thursday to reclassify marijuana, but the move won’t affect Kansans unless the state changes its laws, a law enforcement professional said. Trump signed an executive order to drop marijuana from a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act to a Schedule III drug. In 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services recommended the change, indicating marijuana has medical use. The change doesn’t take immediate effect on the federal level, but it will not affect Kansans unless laws are changed, said Ed Klumpp, a retired Topeka police chief and a lobbyist for the Kansas Peace Officers Association.
Read more: The Iola Register