Municipal News & Jobs

Overland Park will participate in a pilot program with the Strong Cities Network designed to help communities prevent and combat hate, extremism, polarization and terrorism. Money to support the city’s participation in the pilot comes from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The city has been putting the pieces together on the pilot program for the past year. City officials plan to soon release a survey seeking to gather information about residents’ experiences with hate, extremism and polarization that have threatened their safety. “We are working to connect with anyone who has experienced hate or extremism to learn how to best support them. We hope this community can highlight blind spots to safety and inclusion so everyone can feel connected and safe in Overland Park,” Dehner said in an emailed statement to the Post.
Source: Johnson County Post

The city of Lenexa is looking at renovating its old city hall property into a new headquarters for the Lenexa Fire Department. Currently home to a one-truck fire station, the city would like to demolish the old city hall building on the site near 87th Street Parkway and Monrovia Street and build a structure that would serve as the new headquarters for the department. “It cuts our response time to the 79th (Street) and Quivira corridor in half,” Lenexa Fire Chief Travis Vaughn said. “We’re in a time-based business where people get sicker or become more hurt and or the fire gets bigger the longer it takes us to get there.” He added: “That’s why it’s imperative that we’ve got fire stations based out of areas in the community where we can touch most parts of the community that are well-populated within four minutes (of) straight drive time.” Plans for the property envision a three- to four-bay facility that also has space for administrative offices, along with upgrades that focus on the physical and mental health of the firefighters, similar to what the Shawnee Fire Department showcased with the opening of two renovated fire stations earlier this year.
Source: Johnson County Post

A group of Shawnee Mission School District parents has followed up their request for cell phone free schools with a petition to the school board. The petition, circulated since last week via Google forms, asks the board to create a clear policy on phones and electronic devices. As of last Thursday, it had 300 signatures, said Allison Brimblecom, one of three signers. The petition springs from an “action meeting” of Shawnee Mission district parents and teachers last Tuesday that was attended by 40 or 50, Brimblecom said. Although it doesn’t give specifics of how the policy should look, “our hope is they will adopt a policy of storing devices from bell to bell,” meaning phones would not be allowed during lunch or passing periods, she said. School districts throughout the country have grappled with the issue of phone use in school. But bans have sometimes met with opposition from parents worried that their children might need to contact them, especially in an emergency. Student cell phones have also been used to document violent incidents on school property.
Source: Johnson County Post

Cities like Leawood and Prairie Village have recently addressed speeding in neighborhoods through traffic calming measures. But which measures work the best to slow down traffic? Speed humps or roundabouts are just two examples of traffic calming measures used in specific areas to slow down vehicle speeds. In several Johnson County cities, these measures are installed on a case-by-case basis due to specific needs on specific roads, city staff members told the Post. “Traffic calming devices are so site specific that it is difficult to say one type outperforms other types,” Lenexa City Engineer Tim Green told the Post. Most Johnson County cities use some type of traffic calming measure, but some like Lenexa and Shawnee opt against using speed humps and speed tables in particular. Here’s a look at how some Johnson County cities attempt to minimize speeding on public streets, and how they determine which type of measure to use.
Source: Johnson County Post

After narrowly surviving a vote to scuttle the entire project, the Prairie Village City Council is moving forward with a years-long idea to build a city-owned community center. The final projected price tag is now clearer, too, with the city council voting 8-4 to move forward with plans to repay construction costs over 30 years through an estimated five-eighths or three-quarter cent sales tax increase. The cost of building a new city-owned community center to replace the current aging Paul Henson YMCA is estimated to be $55 million, but when interest is added on to repaying bonds over a 30-year term, the total cost the city is projected to pay reaches $92.5 million. On Monday, Mayor Eric Mikkelson broke a split 6-6 vote to kill the project outright, a motion that was made on the fly by Councilmember Nick Reddell. Several councilmembers said they are concerned about partnering with the YMCA, but some who shared those feelings voted against killing the project in order to get feedback at an already scheduled city public forum Oct. 15.
Source: Johnson County Post