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 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.

Ten to 15 buildings and a facility that uses an amount of electricity equal to a third of the capacity of Jeffrey Energy Center. Those are some of the specifications of a proposed data center in Pottawatomie County that members of the county’s planning commission have heard so far. Beltline Energy, the Atlanta-based developer brokering the deal, has said that it wants to build a large-scale data center near Jeffrey Energy Center, a power plant north of St. Marys that’s owned by Evergy, and sell to another company. Beltline reps have held meetings to lay out some of their plans, but they have not submitted an application to the government, in part because the land they’re considering using is zoned for agricultural use and couldn’t be used for a data center without a change in the regulations. The county is currently working on draft regulations for such facilities.
Read more: News Radio KMAN

City commissioners debated proposed revisions to Manhattan’s workforce housing sales tax policy Tuesday night. Commissioners pushed back against removing certain requirements and references to workforce housing, which was meant to give the commission more discretion on a case-by-case basis. “The whole rationale for having a policy is to have a set of standards … that our developers can be looking at,” Mayor Susan Adamchak said. The discussion focused heavily on how to define affordability targets, how strictly to cap income eligibility and whether the program should prioritize ownership, rental development or a mix of both.
Read more: News Radio KMAN

Starting next year, the outdoor country music and camping event Country Stampede Kansas will be held at the newly opened Gilley’s Gambling Hall in Park City, Kansas. Kustom Entertainment Inc., a live entertainment and music festival company, announced a multi-year partnership agreement with Gilley’s to produce and host music festivals throughout spring, summer, and fall seasons beginning in 2027.
Read more: News Radio KMAN

Newton could soon have a common consumption district in the downtown. The Newton City Commission heard a recommendation from its Main Street Board to designate an area that roughly follows the Downtown Business District as an area where alcohol can be consumed in public. “The number one business people have wanted to see in our community was a brewery,” Choose Newton/Main Street Kansas Coordinator Jen Lehman said. “Something like this can be seen as an incentive, if we already have something like this in place.” The City of Newton already has common consumption outlined in its city code. However, the city has never designated an actual district. The proposed district varies slightly from the downtown business district, as it adds Military Park and removes areas like schools and the county jail.
Read more: Harvey County Now

Newton resident Meagan Waltner used to wait until her two children ate to eat. If there were leftovers, she ate something. If not, she didn’t. That was around 2009, when she raised two kids as a single mom. What’s going on with the economy now reminds her of what it was like then. Now, her children are grown, and one lives at home. She’s having trouble making ends meet. “I’m working right now,” she said. “I’m not getting as many clients as I need, so things are really tight.” She’s a therapist at a group practice and is self-employed. Sometimes, she goes to bed hungry. “I hope to get back to where I need to be,” she said about her economic status. “I have a feeling a lot of people are experiencing that.” They are. Bills are going up, but paychecks are not.
That’s one of the reasons Salvation Army of Harvey County Case Manager Tisha Green attributes to more people getting food from their Harvest of Love Food Pantry.
Read more: Harvey County Now

A federal plan to reduce flood risk of Turkey Creek in downtown Merriam may require up to a decade of additional planning and construction, as well as the removal of 17 buildings. After four years of design work and $6.5 million, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers revealed 65% of its plans for flood mitigation in downtown Merriam — namely, 740 feet of levee, more than 6,000 feet of floodwall and the replacement of both the Merriam and Johnson Drive bridges. The city of Merriam has yet to sign onto the Corps’ plan, and is simultaneously mulling a flood mitigation plan from a separate, private entity. That private engineering firm’s plan calls for demolishing all of historic downtown between the Johnson Drive and Merriam Drive bridges. Alongside the flood mitigation efforts in downtown Merriam, the city is also in the middle of a downtown master plan to guide future redevelopment in the area.
Read more: Johnson County Post

For the past year, Madison Moore has managed to bring a piece of Hawaii to landlocked Johnson Countians. Her love story with baking started early, in a junior high economics class. She got a KitchenAid mixer after that, and began whipping up baked goods for her family and friends. Today, her Hawaiian-inspired baked goods have worked up a following by making appearances at farmers markets in Lenexa and Mission. This winter, her bakery, Mahalo Mornings, will start a new chapter further south. Madison Moore and her father, Tim Moore, plan to open Mahalo Mornings’ new cafe in downtown Olathe by the end of this year — the bakery’s first brick-and-mortar storefront. The bakery will join multiple new tenants at the County Square Commons redevelopment, just off Santa Fe and Cherry streets in downtown Olathe.
Read more: Johnson County Post

News that England’s national team will stay in Prairie Village while training for the World Cup created a stir when it hit in February. But now that the team’s arrival is imminent, England fans and ex-pats are wondering if they’ll have any chance to glimpse their standard bearers in person. They also say they don’t expect mobs of the team’s supporters — who have a long-standing reputation for, shall we say, passionate revelry — to descend on Johnson County. The problem is, none of England’s group stage matches take place in Kansas City. Even if the team comes out on top, their knockout games would be in Atlanta, Mexico City, Miami, or the final in New Jersey if they go that far, according to an ESPN sports analysis.
Read more: Johnson County Post

When it came time to cut the ribbon at the opening of the new Overland Park Farmers’ Market space in the Clock Tower Landing area, city officials were surprised by the size of the crowd. “We did not anticipate this many people being this excited,” said Bryan Toben, director of the city’s parks and recreation department, to the assembled group. Part of what makes it more accessible than the old space is that part of the construction involved flattening out what used to be a 10 to 12-foot grade change from the top to the bottom of the market area, just off Santa Fe Drive, behind the iconic clock tower. To get up to the new Clock Tower Landing area, visitors can use stairs or a ramp. Other amenities include more bathrooms, increasing from two to 12 stalls with an additional family restroom. The change also provides some added bonuses for vendors, with shade in the summer, heat in the winter and numerous places to plug in equipment such as refrigeration units and cooking gear.
Read more: Johnson County Post

The Manhattan City Commission, with a 5-0 vote, approved a resolution that opposes the suggested incorporation of the City of Green Valley in Pottawatomie County. The resolution will be submitted for Pottawatomie’s Board of County Commissioners June 11th public hearing.   If approved by Pottawatomie County, the area would become its own municipality with authority over local governance matters, rather than remaining solely under Pottawatomie County jurisdiction.
Read more: KCLY Radio

The Hutchinson Planning Commission voted Tuesday, June 9, to recommend temporary zoning requirements for large-scale data centers and utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) in order to give the city time to make permanent regulations. If the Hutchinson City Council approves the proposed temporary regulations at its July 7 meeting, the city will prohibit large-scale data centers and utility-scale BESS in all residential districts and require conditional use permits for them in commercial and industrial zoning districts but would permit BESS used for on-site needs and server rooms serving a main use at the same location.
Read more: The Hutchinson Tribune

In a rare public appearance Wednesday, the Las Vegas casino magnate and Wichita businessman Phil Ruffin outlined his vision for his Gilley’s entertainment complex in Park City after recently securing the popular Country Stampede music festival. Gilley’s will partner with the Lenexa-based Kustom Entertainment (NASDAQ:KUST) to produce and host music festivals throughout 2027, including the three-day Country Stampede festival that will relocate to Gilley’s next June as part of a multi-year agreement.
Read more: Wichita Business Journal

Nine residential units in South Hutchinson will receive cash incentives from Reno County, aimed at reducing their price and increasing residential development in the city. The South Hutchinson City Council approved nine $7,000 incentives at its regular meeting Monday, with six payments for homes to be completed and sold by the end of 2027 and three for homes to be sold by the end of 2028. All homes will be built by Free State Builders in the Prairie Ridge subdivision , near Bluestem Drive off west Blanchard Road.
Read more: The Hutchinson Tribune

Young trainers took on the Greenbush Pokemon Gym Challenge, aiming to “catch ’em all” as they visited four themed gyms on the way to the champion gym. Organizers said the event was designed to give families a fun experience while encouraging creativity, movement, problem-solving and positive student engagement.
Read more: www.koamnewsnow.com

Children met some of their community heroes during a special storytime event at the Frontenac Public Library on Thursday. Members of the Frontenac Police Department and Frontenac Fire Department visited the library, showing children their vehicles and talking about how they serve the community.
Read more: www.koamnewsnow.com

Eighteen Kansas communities will share in nearly $14 million in funding to support infrastructure projects. Gov. Laura Kelly announced Wednesday that over $10.1 million in federal Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act funding will be paired with over $3.6 million in matching funds from the Kansas Infrastructure Hub and the Build Kansas Fund, along with $165,000 in local funds. The money will support improvements at multiple Kansas airports, as well as energy grid improvements.
Read more: KSN-TV

Marquette Mayor Hank Kugelman said the day after severe storms brought a new challenge: cleaning up debris in the heat while dealing with the outage.
Read more: KSN-TV

A 10-megawatt data center has been operating in Pittsburg since January, bringing new revenue streams to the city while raising questions among some residents about future expansion and community input.
Read more: www.koamnewsnow.com