Municipal News & Jobs

A Wichita developer who took on repurposing five downtown buildings has sued the city of Wichita over parking disputes that she claims led to the closure of the Jinya Ramen Bar last year and is impacting parking for her tenants. Through various LLCs, Sudha Tokala has filed two lawsuits over ongoing disagreements with the city on outstanding parking debt and access to city garages following construction of the Wichita Biomedical Campus kicking off in 2023.
Read more: Wichita Business Journal – Local Wichita News

Visitors in Delano can walk around the neighborhood, alcoholic beverage in hand, starting Friday. Visitors can take advantage of the common consumption area Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. “Implementing common consumption isn’t just about being able to enjoy walking around Delano with a beverage,” Wichita City Council member Dalton Glasscock said. “It’s about creating a dynamic and walkable neighborhood and finding ways to draw patrons to the businesses of Delano.”
Read more: Homepage

Creek Side Resort owner Aaron Dreher asked the Hays City Commission last week if city-owned land could possibly be donated to facilitate the building of affordable housing. Before making his request during the Citizen Comments of the Aug. 28th Commission meeting, Mr. Dreher drew laughs by identifying himself as “the maintenance guy at the trailer park and aspiring Chick-Fil-A owner.” He opened his comments by noting that there has been talk throughout the community that building $150,000 houses in Hays is not possible.
Read more: Hays Daily News

Wichita is considering increasing fines — and adding more investigative tools — to crack down on illegal dumping. On Tuesday, the council will consider several items to increase enforcement of the illegal dumping ordinance, including using police surveillance technology to find offenders. That includes Flock cameras and closed-circuit television. Five cameras will also be installed in dumping hot spots across the city to catch offenders.
Read more: Wichita Eagle

In late July, the Prairie Village City Council adopted new ordinances around the use of e-bikes and e-scooters. The new rules state that e-bike or e-scooter operators must yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian and give an audible signal before passing or overtaking them. Riders also can’t operate their bike or scooter while distracted and must not ride in a “reckless, careless or negligent manner.”
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.

On the streets and in the courts over roughly the past year, Derby Police having been seeing growing issues with one particular drug — THC. In the last 365 days, Derby Police Chief Brandon Russell reported 49 THC vapes or vape cartridges were recovered during traffic stops, along with two packages of edibles — and 89 THC vapes were confiscated at Derby schools. There were also 10 drug-related driving under the influence arrests (out of 66 total) from July 31, 2024, to July 31, 2025, including two overdoses from THC products. With the amount of THC products seen on the streets and available for purchase, that led Derby PD to target sales, recently putting out a letter to more than 300 retail stores across the city to cease and desist distribution of illegal THC products.
Read more: www.derbyinformer.com – RSS Results in news,news/* of type article

Winfield City Commissioners approved a ban on mini-bikes, and approved the city’s budget and property collection for 2026, during their Tuesday meeting. This ban was requested by Winfield Police Chief Robbie DeLong due to safety hazards caused by mini-bikes and similar vehicles on public streets, according to the request for commission action. These vehicles should only be ridden on private property because they do not meet safety or EPA standards, and do not have a vehicle identification number.
Read more: www.ctnewsonline.com – RSS Results

The Marmaton Market, Moran’s grocery store, is closed “until further notice.” Store manager Marilyn Logan declined to comment further Wednesday. The market, which was purchased by the Marmaton Market Cooperative in 2018, has struggled to stay afloat financially, to the point Logan warned in 2021 it would close without greater local support. Several grants, including a $140,000 USDA grant that paid for construction of a commercial-grade kitchen, have helped keep the store afloat.
Read more: The Iola Register

You turn on the faucet, water comes out. What you don’t use runs down the drain and disappears. It feels simple, but every drop of water, whether coming in or going out, depends on a vast and complex system that keeps it safe for humans and the environment. It might seem invisible, but hundreds of public servants and billions of dollars in infrastructure work every day to: treat and transport water to your home; manage and dispose of your wastewater (sewage); direct stormwater away from neighborhoods, and preserve and restore natural streamways.
Read more: Johnson County Post

After waiting for months for the federal government to deliver promised funds, Overland Park is finally moving ahead with a traffic calming and safety plan. Last year, Overland Park was promised $500,000 to complete a traffic Safety Action Plan using the Safe Streets For All (SS4A) grant program. That’s a five-year, billion-dollar program established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed during the Biden presidency, designed to cut down on serious injuries and deaths in traffic crashes. Earlier this year, the money — delivered through the Federal Highway Administration — for the project was tied up amid federal grant process freezes, effectively stalling the project while the city was unable to access it. However, the city has now received the funds and is ready to begin the project this year.
Read more: Johnson County Post

More residents may soon become eligible for Overland Park’s property tax rebate pilot program this year. With roughly $110,000 left in the pot set aside for city property tax rebates this year, the city is looking at expanding the eligibility criteria to include more household income levels in the program. Currently, only extremely low and very low income households — defined under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s guidelines for the Kansas City metro area — are eligible for the rebate. However, the city could expand that to include low-income households as well.
Read more: Johnson County Post

Just one month into the pilot, the city of Prairie Village is expanding its drop-off composting program. The Prairie Village City Council on Aug. 18 unanimously agreed to purchase three more KC Can Compost smart bins for a total of five drop-off composting locations. Since launching on July 1, KC Can Compost has collected more than 8,000 pounds of food scraps (as of Aug. 18) from the two bins originally approved as part of the pilot program.
Read more: Johnson County Post

Weeks after the Olathe Planning Commission denied a proposal for a massive cold storage facility, residents who live by the proposed site poured into the City Council chambers, pleading with council members to deny the project over concerns of it posing an environmental hazard. In a meeting Tuesday night, the City Council unanimously approved tax incentives to help fund construction for parts of the project, but the development proposal itself still needs to come back to the dais for final approval.
Read more: Homepage

Twice in the past five years, supermajorities of voters have turned down proposals to build new high school baseball and softball fields in Louisburg, Kansas, home of the Wildcats. The school board had no intention of asking again. Its new plan was to fund a scaled-down version of the project by entering into a 10-year, $4 million lease-purchase agreement with First Option Bank. Adding in interest, the fields would cost about $4.8 million. Unlike proposals before it, though, the annual payments of more than $400,000 would be funded entirely through the school district’s capital outlay budget, meaning construction wouldn’t require a property tax hike. But 568 people signed a protest petition that was filed with the Miami County clerk in July — more than twice the threshold of Louisburg voters necessary to trigger a referendum vote on whether the project can proceed.
Read more: Homepage

A Shawnee police dog that was stabbed in Kansas City, Kansas, Aug. 5 is back to work after nearly a month of recovery. Dagger, a K9 police dog with the Shawnee Police Department, returned to full duty Tuesday after he was stabbed while responding to an aggravated robbery call on Aug. 5.
Read more: Homepage

The Kansas Supreme Court is seeking public input on proposed Rule 1405, which would create a standing Rural Justice Initiative Committee. If approved, the rule would set the structure for the committee, including membership and terms. The committee would oversee the implementation of recommendations from the Rural Justice Initiative Final Report, track the effectiveness of those efforts, and explore ways to improve access to legal services in rural areas.
Read more: KCLY Radio

“History was made here today.” That’s how one person described the test flight of a drone that delivered a piece of medical equipment to a rural hospital nearly 30 miles away. It was a pioneering effort to see how unmanned aircraft can benefit rural hospitals and patients in the future. 
Read more: KCLY Radio

A new vending machine in Garden City is offering free doses of Narcan to anyone who needs them. Compass Behavioral Health announced that its outpatient office at 1111 E. Spruce St. has partnered with DCCCA to provide the medication, which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. The machine is available to the public at no cost.
Read more: KSN-TV

Being a helpful member of your community doesn’t have an age limit, as shown by second grader Tiffany Hernandez from Burrton. She’s been coming to the Newton and Burrton public libraries since she was 18 months old. Now, the 7-year-old is giving back to places she says are a couple of her favorite places in the world. “The kids section, and the books,” Tiffany said when asked what her favorite part of the library was. But Tiffany has another passion; earlier this year, she got into making hair bows. But Tiffany wasn’t going to just give these handcrafted bows away. This second grader also has an entrepreneurial spirit, so she decided to sell these at the Burrton farmer’s market. But instead of saving the money for herself, Tiffany decided to donate all of the earnings, around $100, to both libraries.
Read more: KSN-TV