Municipal News & Jobs

The city flag of Overland Park has long been considered among the worst in the nation. A new flag set to be adopted next month, with its tree motif and green and white color palette, is much more effective, according to the North American Vexillological Association.
Read more: Up To Date

A 26-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, Police officer was hit and killed early Tuesday by a fleeing suspect in a stolen car, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said, exactly one month to the day after a Wyandotte County sheriff’s deputy was killed. Officer Hunter Simoncic, 26, was intentionally struck while throwing stop sticks in the 7200 block of State Avenue after 12:40 a.m. while officers were attempting to apprehend a man, the KBI’s Dustin Wallace said. Dennis Mitchell III, 31, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, vehicular homicide, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, theft, criminal possession of a firearm, and aggravated failure to appear.
Read more: News

Plentiful wind and finite water shape life on the Plains. Audrey Rupp, a lifelong resident of western Kansas, knows the region well. These days, she manages a 1,660-acre recreational park in Hodgeman County that surrounds HorseThief Reservoir, a refreshing anomaly that long existed only in the imagination.   “It’s crazy to me that people started talking about building a reservoir out here back in the 1930s,” she says with a grin. HorseThief Reservoir glimmers among rugged bluffs made verdant by summer rains. This is Rupp’s fourth year serving as park manager. The native of Tribune, a community of about 750 people in northwest Kansas, didn’t follow any of the local discussions about creating the reservoir while she was in high school. She graduated in 2009 and then took classes at Garden City Community College and Fort Hays State University.
Read more: KLC Journal

City leaders from Hays and Russell met Wednesday to review progress on their joint R9 Regional Water Supply Project, a decades-long effort to secure a sustainable water source for both communities. The two cities have been working together for years to develop a property they own in Edwards County into a long-term supply. Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty said the project has been in the regulatory process for a decade. “Hays and Russell are jointly developing a property they own in Edwards County as a long-term water supply,” Dougherty said. “We are nearing the end of the process, but we have been following it for 10 years now.”
Read more: KSN-TV

Another Kansas community is exploring the creation of a common consumption area. Dodge City is looking at creating common consumption areas. On Tuesday, Sept. 2, the city commission will be taking public comment on creating common consumption areas where visitors can openly transport alcoholic beverages between bars and restaurants in certain portions of the city.
Read more: KSN-TV

A Kansas emergency medical service needs stuffed animals. Ellis County EMS is seeking new teddy bears to stock their ambulances. The department gives the animals to children who have to ride in their ambulances to make the experience less frightening for them.
Read more: KSN-TV

The Park City City Council approved a $145 million STAR bond proposal on Tuesday to fund the Champtown development by a vote of 8-1. The planned $500 million, 160-acre development would include an 80,000-square-foot aquarium, retail, restaurants, a butterfly wonderland, and a baseball and softball complex.
Read more: KSN-TV

Multiple agencies are investigating after natural gas was detected in the new Fox Ridge housing development in Newton. Newton Fire/EMS says Kansas Gas Service crews are using vacuum trucks to remove gas from the ground to reduce any risk of ignition. Officials say homes in the area are not in danger, but the source of the gas remains unknown. The gas was first discovered Friday during a site survey near Southeast 10th and Logan. Kansas Gas Service later determined the gas is not coming from its utility lines.
Read more: KSN-TV

Starting next week, you can walk along downtown Salina with an alcoholic drink in hand. The city’s common consumption area begins Sept. 1. People 21 and older can buy alcohol from licensed, participating businesses and drink it in the designated area. “Maybe somebody had dinner and drinks across the way at a restaurant or bar, and they’re now going to make their way down to the theatre for a show, but they want to stop at your gallery on the way, you can decide,” Lauren Driscoll, Salina Director of Community and Development Services, said. “You can take that drink with you and enjoy our sculpture tour, and the local art, and our local murals. You can visit one of our plazas and look at our landscaping and our planters. You can meet some friends, you know that kind of stuff. There’s a lot of different options.”
Read more: KSN-TV

Assistant City Manager Braxton Copley presented two options to the City of Topeka Transient Guest Tax Committee (TGTC) Wednesday to help recover the $17.7 million that has been spent so far on Hotel Topeka. The TGTC voted unanimously to implement a transient guest tax structure to recoup costs related to Hotel Topeka on Aug. 27. The proposal that was approved will result in a 7% transient guest tax increase until 2028 for all other hotels in Topeka, when the rates will drop to 6% and then to 5% in 2033. To recoup the costs, Hotel Topeka will have its own special tax rate of 8%. Any tax revenue collected above the base year of 2025 will be used exclusively to reimburse the city for the purchase price, capital expenses and operating losses of Hotel Topeka. Once the city is fully reimbursed, the 8% special rate will expire, according to the ordinance. Copley said it could be close to the end of 2060 before the city can recoup the costs associated with Hotel Topeka.
Read more: KSNT 27 News

You wouldn’t know it by looking at it, but a small well on the northeast corner of Yates Center’s downtown square plays a part in the town’s history. The hand-dug well proved back in the 1800s that if residents wished to locate there, they’d still have a source of water. Wells were dug, at the insistence of landowner Abner Yates, to prove there was sufficient groundwater to put a community smack dab in the middle of Woodson County. It’s why, after a pair of hotly contested elections in the early 1870s between Neosho Falls and Kalida townships, to determine the Woodson County seat, voters opted for Yates’s vision. They voted to call Yates Center the county seat, the only such designation in the state for a town that hadn’t been created yet.
Read more: The Iola Register

Since 2020, Lawrence has gone from staffing three animal control officers to one, and pressure has mounted for the Lawrence Humane Society and the public to fill in the coverage gaps. An attack from a dog in Centennial Park recently hospitalized a 70-year-old woman and resulted in the death of her chihuahua. Investigations into the incident are ongoing. The aggressor dog, unleashed at the time of the attack, was sent to be quarantined at the Lawrence Humane Society. It isn’t entirely clear who the owner is, according to Lawrence Police Department spokesperson Laura McCabe. The incident has fed into broader community concerns regarding the number of stray and at-large animals in Lawrence versus animal control’s reach.
Read more: The Lawrence Times

Park City took an important step Tuesday on a project plan for proposed sales tax revenue bond incentives for the $500 million Champtown development. The major project will span 160 acres in Park City showcasing a boardwalk with an aquarium, butterfly pavilion, multi-sport venues, retail and hotel along I-135. It has been in discussions as part of the STAR bond program for the past three years after a previous project proposed for the site, the former Echo Hills golf course, hadn’t seen any forward movement for years. The City Council approved the project plan, also considered a development agreement, during its Tuesday meeting.
Read more: Wichita Business Journal – Local Wichita News

Wichita Transit drivers have been trained on how to use naloxone, a medication that reverses opioid overdoses. Drivers were shown how to recognize signs of an overdose and how to use the medication during training provided by local non-profit Safe Streets at a monthly safety meeting. “Naloxone is here to save lives,” Aonya Kendrick Barnett with Safe Streets said. “It does not encourage drug use.
Read more: Homepage

After months of gathering input, a nonprofit focused on revitalizing the city’s center has put together a picture of what they say Wichitans want downtown to become: a community-centric space with more housing options, better walkability, a livelier riverfront and a neighborhood that feels like home. Now Downtown Wichita is preparing for a third open house from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27, at their 501 E. Douglas office. The come-and-go event will be the nonprofit’s final big push for community feedback before it assembles a new Downtown Wichita Action Plan.
Read more: Homepage

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.

Six priorities have been identified to guide future efforts: access to care, behavioral health and substance misuse, food security, transportation, affordable housing and addressing health disparities and community voice.
Read more: Hutch News

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.

Jacob Wood was appointed Salina’s new city manager, dropping the “interim” title. Wood has had several roles within the city of Salina dating back to 2008 as an intern in the finance department before moving into the city manager’s office.
Read more: Salina Journal

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.