Municipal News & Jobs

The ground vacuuming will cease as Newton Fire and EMS take over the monitoring of Fox Ridge’s mystery gas emission. That’s about all for new developments into the situation, which prompted a voluntary evacuation request and emergency declarations from both the Harvey County Commission and Gov. Laura Kelly. “Newton Fire/EMS will continue to monitor above-ground levels every four hours,” City Communications Director Erin McDaniel stated. “Since monitoring began, gas levels have only been detected below the surface.” On Aug. 22, Kansas Gas detected a flammable gas in the soil at the Fox Ridge site while doing testing in the area. The company then began to attempt to determine if it was responsible for the emission or if it came from another source.
Read more: Harvey County Now

How do you want Newton to change, grow and develop? That’s the question the City of Newton is asking residents as it creates a new comprehensive plan titled “Newton Next.” The plan will replace the ReNewton plan, adopted in 2010. “This is a chance for Newton to come together and imagine what’s next,” Mayor Rich Stinnett said. “We want every resident, business owner and community partner to be part of this journey.” According to the city’s announcement, “the plan will serve as a roadmap for how the city grows, preserves its unique character and prepares for future needs in areas such as housing, transportation, land use and economic development.” The ReNewton Plan was slated to stretch from 2010 to 2030.
Read more: Harvey County Now

Three children played in a colorful, engaging room Friday morning at Sedgwick Elementary School while a song about bumblebees played in the background. The kids were at the Cardinal Kids Learning Academy at the school. “We are a licensed childcare,” Director and Childcare Provider Merry Kirkpatrick said, adding that mostly teachers’ children and community members’ children are enrolled. This is the first year for the daycare. There are a total of seven children enrolled.
Read more: Harvey County Now

On August 21, 2025, Hays city staff were asked to research and making recommendations regarding implementation of an Ordinance requiring SafeBar Alliance and Bystander Training as part of future liquor license renewals. The direction to explore implementing an Ordinance aimed to prevent alcohol-facilitated sexual violence, like the program required by Lawrence’s 2020 Ordinance 9566, followed a half-hour presentation to the Hays City Commission Work Session from representatives of Jana’s Campaign and Options Domestic & Sexual Violence Services.
Read more: Hays Daily 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.

As the 150th anniversary of Pittsburg’s founding approaches, community leaders and private citizens are planning birthday celebrations throughout 2026. The executive committee, which is made up of the heads of the subcommittees, met on Wednesday to compare notes. While still in the planning stages, Pittsburg 150 is exploring several options across several categories to celebrate the auspicious occasion.
Read more: – Latest Stories

The Environmental Sustainability Advisory Board plans to urge Lawrence city commissioners to adopt an environmentally friendly ordinance that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions while saving renters money. The policy would require owners and landlords of certain covered properties to submit energy consumption data to the city annually, a process known as energy benchmarking. Then, the data would be available in the public record to increase transparency for tenants about a building’s energy efficiency.
Read more: The Lawrence Times

The City of Winfield is proposing a ban on mini-bikes in the city limits, with an ordinance doing just that on the City Commission agenda Tuesday. City Manager Taggart Wall explained that mini-bikes are best described as miniature motorcycles, low to the ground and often difficult for other motorists to see.
Read more: www.ctnewsonline.com – RSS Results

Several weeks ago, Girard Police Chief Jesse Snider approached the Girard City Council, notifying council members of a potential project in which the police department donates bicycles in their custody, so new homes can be found for them. “Under our code 10-203, and many cities have this, if we have property that the police department takes custody of, however they take custody, at some point we can dispose of it after 90 days,” said city attorney Steve Angermayer at the meeting on Aug. 11. “… Code says if they are less than 100 bucks, they can be disposed of in a manner which benefits the public as approved by a majority of the council.” Snider provided further details on the bike initiative. “We have 33 bicycles, some from 2001,” said Snider. “… We got ahold of Brian Jackson through the Girard Chamber. He works to restore; they fix up bicycles and hand them out to kids. He’s accepted to come over and pick them up and go fix them and hand them out.”
Read more: – Latest Stories

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.

Both City Commissioner Alaina Cunnigham and Mayor Sandy Jacobs used a portion of their Commissioner Comment time on August 14th to ask the public to watch out for kids on scooters as school begins. And on August 18, 2025, an Ellis resident asked the Ellis City Council to address the same problem, kids on scooters darting out between cars, before someone gets hurt.
Read more: Hays Daily News

The Kansas attorney general’s office issued a $250 fine to the Haysville City Council for violating the Kansas Open Records Act, officials said Wednesday. City employees declined without explanation to release copies of photographs requested under the state government transparency law. The photographs should have been released under KORA. The photographs were subsequently presented in court during a jury trial and led to the examination of whether the city committed a KORA violation.
Read more: Homepage

Many streets north of Waterman downtown soon will have paid parking meters installed. The city will begin to place meters after Labor Day on many of the north-south streets downtown, as well as the remainder of Douglas Avenue and other east-west streets. “Installation is expected to take several weeks,” a city news release said. This phase of parking will include some 15-minute parking spots that are free for visitors. Some of those spots will be on South Topeka near the Kansas Leadership Center and the Hilton Garden Inn Wichita Downtown.
Read more: Homepage

In part of east Wichita, a gun crime was 9.4 times more likely to happen at or within 300 feet of a gas station. It was 5.2 times more likely within 300 feet of a bar and 3.6 times more likely within 300 feet of a phone store. That’s what Wichita police learned from one of the department’s latest strategies to curb gun violence, the risk terrain modeling program. Risk terrain modeling software, from a company called Simsi, looks at the underlying factors of an area that might lead people to go there to commit crime. Wichita police are focusing on gun crime now.
Read more: Homepage

The dream of turning the old tennis courts at Wilson Park in Arkansas City into pickleball courts scored a big victory last week with the city announcing it had been awarded a $115,840 grant from the National Park Service.
Read more: www.ctnewsonline.com – RSS Results

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.

There’s a certain comfort that communities take in being able to pick up the phone, dial 911 and get help on possibly the worst day of their lives. Elijah Robinson of Newton is one of those people at the other end of the call who rush to help, and he’s doing that as an EMT with Hesston Fire/EMS.
Read more: Harvey County Now

Girard Events, gearing up for its annual Fall Festival celebration, visited the Girard City Council Monday evening to discuss common consumption at its annual event. Scheduled to take place Friday, Oct. 17 through Saturday, Oct. 18, the annual Girard Homecoming and Fall Festival is a longstanding tradition, offering a parade, live music, kids’ games, and much more. During Monday’s meeting, Girard Events/Chamber Board member Kylie Smith and Girard Chamber Director Greg Scott visited city hall to seek approval from councilmembers. The council and Smith first talked about the city’s common consumption ordinance. Read more: – Latest Stories

At Tuesday morning’s county commission meeting, the commissioners discussed establishing a Reinvestment Housing Incentive District (RHID) somewhere in the county. According to the Kansas Department of Commerce, RHID is a program designed to aid developers in building housing within communities by assisting in the financing of public infrastructure improvements. RHID captures the incremental increase in real property taxes created by a housing development project for up to 25 years. The revenue can be used for reimbursement for incurred costs or to pay debt service on bonds.
Read more: – Latest Stories

Friday’s booming rally turned into Monday’s reality check as investors weighed just how aggressive the Federal Reserve will be on lowering interest rates and how the moves might impact the broader business and economic climate. Chair Jerome Powell, in his annual address at the Jackson Hole, Wyoming, symposium, gave Wall Street hope of easier days ahead when he said conditions “may warrant adjusting our policy stance,” which is generally seen as “Fedspeak” for cutting rates.
Read more: Finance