Kansas Municipal News
At 8 million square feet, solar project would be same size as 4,000 homes
In all of Grant Township — one of several names for this place north of North Lawrence — there are 169 homes spread across its approximately 11,000 acres, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Simple enough. As the crow said, not very many. But soon, the counting around here may get more complicated. Plans have been filed for a utility-scale solar “farm” that would put 237,300 solar panels on about 600 acres of farm fields. That is nearly 8 million square feet of solar panels.
Source: LJWorld
Higher for Longer After All? Investors See Fed Rates Falling More Slowly.
Investors were betting big on Federal Reserve rate cuts at the start of 2024, wagering that central bankers would lower interest rates to around 4 percent by the end of the year. But after months of stubborn inflation and strong economic growth, the outlook is starting to look much less dramatic. Market pricing now suggests that rates will end the year in the neighborhood of 4.75 percent. That would mean Fed officials had cut rates two or three times from their current 5.3 percent.
Source: NYT > Business
Five finalists for city manager say Topeka must address these key issues
Before the meet and greet, the city council, mayor and a panel of community stakeholders, appointed by the mayor, interviewed each candidate. The panelists included Danielle Twemlow, Laura Burton, Keith Warta, Kerry Pancoast and Susan Duffy. City council member David Banks said he was pleased with the turnout at Monday’s event. “It’s just nice to see everybody here,” Banks said.
Source: CJonline
Kansas solar development sparks emotional debate in Great Bend
There was a collective sigh of relief from members of the Barton County Planning Commission following a lengthy morning meeting March 14. They had just approved the final draft of new zoning regulations and a revised zoning map governing the development of large-scale and commercial solar energy conversion systems, rules that were OK’d Friday by the Barton County Commission during a special meeting. These actions capped an arduous 10 months of meetings, hearings and heartfelt testimony as county residents came to grips with the idea of having a solar installation in their backyards.
Source: Kansas Reflector
North Newton to discuss marijuana ordinance
The City of North Newton will consider changing first-time possession of marijuana from a criminal misdemeanor charge to an infraction. North Newton Police Chief Jim Bethards is submitting the proposal to the North Newton City Council. He said the change would save his department time and save the city money. “One distinction we want people to understand is it’s not decriminalization like Wichita or Lawrence has done,” he said. “It’s just a first-offense thing that moves the process a little quicker.”
Source: Harvey County Now
Olathe land had belonged to one family since Civil War. Soon it will be a city park
Land that has been in the hands of Olathe’s Hoff family since the Civil War is set to become the city’s latest neighborhood park. Construction starts on Pioneer Park later this year, with the goal of being done by next summer. The 16.7-acre piece of land where the park will sit is immediately north of College Boulevard and slightly west of Woodland Road and the Stone Pillar Winery. Marcie Hoff and her husband Tom Hoff had decided to will the land to the city back in 2005, but they later resolved to give it earlier.
Source: Joco 913 News
‘Step into a simpler time’
Two committed Crawford County residents are making progress on bringing back the days of a nostalgic old-fashioned general shop to the west side of Girard’s historic downtown square, complete with antiques, homemade ice cream, and candies. Jim and Kathi Cooper, of Farlington Lake, have worked endlessly since August in building the store, which has an anticipated completion date of August 2024. It all started when Kathi Cooper found herself in the Girard Public Library, researching the history of the town square.
Source: Morning Sun
Overland Park to remove thousands more infected ash trees — Here’s where
Overland Park is taking steps to remove more dying and dead ash trees that line city streets. The Overland Park City Council Community Development Committee on Wednesday unanimously recommended for approval a bid tabulation for a second formal round of ash tree removal. This slate of removals, anticipated to cost just shy of $865,000, will be funded entirely from federal COVID-19 relief funds. Emerald ash borers, a type of insect that is not native to the U.S., have wreaked havoc on ash trees. A type of beetle, female ash borers lay eggs in ash trees and those offspring feed on the trees, damaging and oftentimes killing them. At one point, Overland Park had more than 10,000 ash trees in its street canopy, roughly a quarter of all trees in the city. Laura Peterson, one of the city’s foresters, told the committee on Wednesday that the pest was first detected in Overland Park in 2014. Since then, it’s all but wiped out the ash tree population in the city. Over the years, the city had removed infected ash trees, mostly one by one. But last year, Overland Park embarked on its first widespread removal effort, targeting dead or dying trees in 12 neighborhoods.
Source: Johnson County Post
‘Act of listening’: Retiring Wichita officer has spent years answering life-or-death calls
One evening early in Dan Oblinger’s career with the Wichita Police Department, he responded to a call he was unprepared for — a woman dangling over the guardrail on the top floor of the Bank of America parking garage downtown, intent on ending her life. She felt alone, without hope. He didn’t know what to do. He tried to tell her how she should feel and what she should do. That didn’t help. “That lasted probably 15 minutes, which doesn’t sound like a long time … but in that situation it feels like a lifetime,” the 42-year-old said, reflecting back on a career that was greatly influenced by the events of that night. “Then I shut up and started listening to her. She had some stuff to say so once I stopped trying to convince her — and I couldn’t say anything, because I didn’t know what to say — she actually started talking. Then I figured out you just have to ask some questions.”
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Wichita is poised to settle a lawsuit challenging police gang list. Here’s what it means
The city of Wichita is poised to settle a lawsuit brought by Kansas Appleseed and the ACLU of Kansas that contended the Wichita Police Department’s gang list is unconstitutional. Last fall, a federal judge granted class-action status to the 5,245 people on the gang list. If City Council members approve the settlement Tuesday, Wichita will pay $550,000 in legal fees and costs. The mediated agreement would not require Wichita to destroy its gang list as plaintiffs initially called for. Instead, a judge would appoint a special master to oversee its ongoing use by the police department for three years at an additional cost of $75,000 to the city. “This mediated agreement narrows and clarifies the criteria the Wichita Police Department can use to place a person on the gang list/database, with increased oversight on the gang list/database process to review when and how someone can be listed,” the agenda report states. City documents do not elaborate on how the process for placing someone on the gang list would change.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
How long would it take to run every street in Wichita? Local runner now knows after being first
The most challenging part about running every square inch of Wichita? Loose dogs. Jason Niblack was chased by dozens of them, cornered multiple times, even had a driver cut in between him and a pack of aggressive dogs. He eventually started carrying pepper spray but never had to use it. The 48-year-old software engineering manager at NetApp also had a couple of interesting encounters with police en route to running Wichita’s 3,886 streets over 596 runs. He finished the feat Easter morning after a few years of what he called obsessive running once he found out about how to track running on every street in the city. It led him to see many hidden gems in the city he spent his whole life in, but also showed him stark lifestyle differences among people who live just blocks away from one another. Niblack, who started running in his 30s after realizing how unhealthy he was during a boot camp put on by a coworker, is the only person known to have run every inch of Wichita.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Goessel City Council works on flooding issue
The Goessel city council met on March 25 and discussed the flood control project. Mayor Evan Esau talked about concrete and debris that need to be removed from the creek that runs through town. Some trees also need to be removed, as well as a dam on private property. It was noted that some property owners in that area have already removed the trees on their property pointed out by Darin Neufeld of EBH Engineering. He had walked through the creek area with members of the council to show them specifically what needed to be removed for the water to flow through town to avoid flooding. The council noted that it is the responsibility of homeowners to clean out their culverts. Turning their attention to another matter, the council spent some time discussing equipment. The tractor that had been repaired does not work; it still has the same problem. The city will pay for the parts that had been billed, but will not pay for the labor yet. The city’s road grader does not work either, and parts are no longer available to fix it since it is old. The council has looked into purchasing another road grader but made no decision. In the meantime, they accepted a contract to hire the road work at 10 hours a month for $125 per hour.
Source: Hillsboro Free Press
New sculpture honoring Leawood’s 75-year history coming soon
Now that the Leawood City Council has given final funding approvals, a massive sculpture celebrating the city’s 75th anniversary — and compared in importance by one councilmember to a piece by Michelangelo — can begin its journey from New Orleans to the corner of Mission Road and Lee Boulevard. The 844-mile-trip between New Orleans and Leawood will have to be made four times with the sculpture broken down into movable pieces. But that is only the latest chapter. “Reaching,” a 28-foot tall, 15,000-pound work by William Nemitoff, has already been on an epic journey that began in 2021 and has included debates over the site, a proposed parking lot, supply chain issues and unexpected installation expenses. “I have to think of Michelangelo doing the Sistine Chapel. I’m sure that didn’t start and finish the way everybody envisioned it,” said Councilmember Debra Filla as the city council prepared to approve installation spending Monday night. “I do think it is going to be one spectacular thing. I’m going to put it on my nightly prayer list — installed by July 1, installed by July 1.”
Source: Johnson County Post
Wichita City Council unanimously passes program for water-saving devices
A program to provide incentives for some water-saving devices has passed with a vote of seven to zero. Wichita has offered water conservation rebate programs since 2013 in an attempt to save water. These rebates come as water bill credits and since its conception, rebates totaling $1,654,007 have been approved. These water saving units have saved roughly 478 million gallons of water. The 2024 program hopes to save water by offering incentives to people who install water-saving devices such as rain barrels, smart irrigation controllers, rain sensors, faucet/hose irrigation controllers, leak repair kits and dual flush conversion kits. Customers are limited to five rebates per year.
Source: KAKE – News
Municipal Bond Trends for April 5, 2024
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. 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.
Municipal Bond Trends for April 4, 2024
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. 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.
Topeka announces five finalists for city manager position
On Wednesday, the City of Topeka announced the five finalists for the Topeka City Manager Position. The finalists will be participating in two interview panels on Monday, April 8. The interviews will not be open to the public, but a meet and greet will be held for members of the public on April 8 from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Hotel Topeka Emerald Ballroom at 1717 SW Topeka Boulevard.
Read more: KSNT
Planning Commission wrestles with battery storage questions
While no official decision was made during the Halstead Planning Commission work session Monday evening, the commission seemed to be leaning toward creating regulations to guide a company interested in installing a battery energy storage system (BESS) in the city’s industrial park. Other options included banning the operation all altogether or amending the code to allow battery storage systems.
Source: Harvey County Now
Newton Public Library opens to large crowd
You can now check out and check out from the new Newton Public Library. The library, its board, the City of Newton, donors, the Newton Area Chamber of Commerce, along with members of the public, celebrated the opening of the building with a ribbon cutting Monday morning. More than 200 people were in attendance. “This is a momentous occasion, and it’s made possible by the unwavering support by our community and the dedication of our community and numerous organizations,” Larry Lee, library board vice president, told the crowd.
Source: Harvey County Now
Emporia’s Bird scooter program shutting down this week
The Bird scooters zipping around Emporia the past three years will be, pardon the pun, flying away soon. Bird has announced it will be ending its local presence March 31. Emporia city commissioners approved a partnership with Bird in 2021…
Source: KVOE Emporia Radio