Municipal News & Jobs

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman, Beth Warren and Henry Schmidt.

Although the Salina Municipal Solid Waste Landfill is expected to last another 180 years of service to the city, steps are being taken already to reduce the amount of waste going into the designated ground southwest of the city. When it comes to “Zero Waste,” sustainability is one of the main emphases to what Salina is looking at in terms of reducing solid waste production.
Source: Salina Journal

Woman are better represented in the upper ranks at the Topeka Police Department than at most police agencies in similarly sized U.S. cities. But compared to those cities, women are underrepresented at the lower-level supervisory rank of sergeant. Meanwhile, Topeka’s overall percentage of female police officers, 13%, is close to average for a U.S. city its size.
Source: CJonline

Kansas taxpayers will give $3 million in economic development incentives to Hill’s Pet Nutrition as part of the company’s relocation of its headquarters from Topeka to Overland Park. The company didn’t mention the taxpayer-funded incentives when it announced Jan. 11 that it was moving its headquarters — despite a provision in the contract apparently requiring them to acknowledge the support of the Kansas Department of Commerce.
Source: CJonline

Before lichens and other biological growth were cleaned from the headstone in Oak Hill Cemetery, neither the name of the person buried there nor the stone’s ornamentation was clearly visible. The surface of the stone was covered in black, green and yellow growth, and cemetery records listed the headstone as “unknown.” Now, when visitors look upon the headstone, what they can clearly see is the name of Luzine Wildersen and an inscription indicating she died in 1871 at the age of 10 years, 9 months and 29 days. Atop the stone is a hand with a finger pointing upward to heaven. A collaborative project funded by a local grant, donations, and the City of Lawrence will conserve at least 53 headstones in poor condition in Oak Hill Cemetery, and dozens of volunteer hours have already helped clean more than 250 stones, including Luzine’s.
Source: LJWorld

…many of the same criticisms leveled against the Panasonic deal — and diverting state monies to economic development projects more broadly — remain, while some question the wisdom of using the incentive framework on a company already based in Kansas. They are compounded by significant uncertainty regarding the CHIPS Act, the federal law passed last year to stimulate investment in the semiconductor industry domestically. Kansas will need to be awarded federal incentives for the Integra project, otherwise the state can withdraw their offer and look for another megaproject. All the while, a land rush has occurred nationally with states trying to get into the semiconductor space. But some worry Kansas could be prospecting for fool’s gold as much as the real thing.
Source: Hutch News

Just 262 miles to go, you can hold it. So says one of the many signs promoting the up-and-coming super chain of Buc-ee’s convenience stores popular in the southern United States. But not if Russell Economic Development and CVB and Russell Development Inc. can do anything about it. Eco Devo Director Mike Parsons said there is a push to bring the chain to the I-70 corridor in Kansas. “Late last year, they actually had a CBS Sunday Morning segment that highlighted Buc-ee’s,” he said. “They announced they’re looking to expand and maybe move further north.”
Source: Great Bend Post

It has been just over three years with Cody Schmidt serving as the Great Bend Mayor. The 2004 Great Bend High School graduate acknowledged that he has enjoyed the successes and challenges that have come with the position, but he is unsure if he’ll seek a third term in this upcoming fall election. Schmidt spends a lot of hours, outside of his fulltime job, as a volunteer for the city’s betterment, but he wouldn’t have any other way. “Since I’ve been mayor, I’ve always wanted to be involved in everything I can be,” said Schmidt. “I think that is what has separated myself from previous mayors is being involved, understanding and learning. I want to hear everything out of the horse’s mouth and not be a he said, she said type of situation.”
Source: Great Bend Post

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman, Beth Warren and Henry Schmidt.

A three-hour work session went on to spell out what the Saline County Commissioners want to work on and provide to the community during their tenure. They honed in on key focus areas which encompass different goals, each working toward a broader discussion Tuesday about the culture of local government in Saline County. Five key focus areas the commission collectively agreed upon include: county workforce, communication and outreach, working relationships, physical and economic health, and service and infrastructure.
Source: Salina Journal

Despite protests from a room full of dozens of Douglas County residents, county leaders on Wednesday approved permits for an out-of-state energy firm to install devices on properties scattered around southwestern Douglas County that gauge the viability of a future wind energy project. The decisions — taken in five separate votes by the Douglas County Commission at its meeting Wednesday night — followed more than two hours of cumulative public comment mostly from about 20 people who said they live in the southwestern portion of Douglas County. That’s an area Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources has previously confirmed it’s exploring as a potential site for developing a large-scale wind project.
Source: LJWorld

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman, Beth Warren and Henry Schmidt.

The Federal Reserve nudged up short-term interest rates by a quarter-percentage point and signaled it was on track to do so again at its meeting next month while officials consider whether and when to pause increases late this spring. The decision Wednesday to raise the Fed’s benchmark federal-funds rate followed six larger, consecutive increases to combat inflation, which hit a 40-year high last year. Officials raised rates by a half point in December and by 0.75 point in November. Officials agreed to slow rate rises to gain more time to study the effects of their moves. “We’re talking about a couple of more rate hikes to get to that level we think is appropriately restrictive,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference after the central bank’s policy meeting.
Source: Wall Street Journal

NOEL Lodge, a non-profit emergency shelter serving the people without homes, recently expanded their hours to accommodate people needing assistance. The facility, located at 200 W. 6th Street, operates two first-come, first-served sessions. The daytime session runs 7 am-3:30 pm and the nighttime session from 4 pm-7 am. With 25 beds available, NOEL is operating at capacity. President and CEO Shara Gonzales noted several factors are causing an increase in the number of people needing the emergency shelter’s services. “We are looking at new people falling into homelessness. The cost of living, insurance, and property tax has all gone up. People’s rent has been raised. Affordability is falling away,” she said.
Source: Hutch News

Volunteers counted 365 unsheltered people last year in Topeka during the annual Point in Time Homeless Count. Meanwhile, one chronically homeless person costs taxpayers an average of more than $35,000 a year, says the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Multiply those and the total is $12.78 million. Compare that to the roughly $76,000 Topeka’s city government is considering paying a consultant to help the city better deal with homelessness and “that $76,000 is a pretty small number,” said city manager Stephen Wade.
Source: CJonline