Municipal News & Jobs

The City of Clearwater is hosting a town hall meeting on July 21 to discuss the future of fire protection in the city after the Sedgwick County Commission voted to terminate mutual aid agreements. In May, the Sedgwick County Commission voted to terminate mutual aid agreements with Clearwater, Cheney, Mount Hope and Valley Center. The July 21 meeting will allow residents to learn about the current status of fire protection, hear about available options moving forward and provide feedback to the city. At the Segwick County Commission meeting in May, commissioners gave the communities 90 days to work with them to make new automatic and mutual aid agreements.
Read more: KSN-TV

The El Dorado City Commission voted on Monday to invalidate an ordinance petition that would have stopped certain types of facilities from being built in the city, but commissioners also voted to put a temporary ban on the approval of these types of projects. Commissioners heard concerns from the city attorney about a petition with over 700 citizen signatures asking the city to approve an ordinance that bans the construction of large data centers and industrial, commercial or utility-scale energy storage systems. The petition says that if an ordinance is not passed, the city should put it up for a public vote. City Attorney Ashlyn Lindskog said that, based on Kansas law, ordinance petitions cannot be applied to matters that require specialized training or experience. She said the reasoning for this is that the petition can contradict the city code.
Read more: KSN-TV

The Salina City Commission has unanimously approved the creation of a water rate relief program. On Monday, commissioners adopted Resolution No. 26‑8362, authorizing the city manager to develop, implement and administer a pilot program for customers affected by water quality issues. “In the state of Kansas, we talked to KDHE — [the] Kansas Department of Health and Environment — and there are no other communities that are doing a program like this in Kansas,” City Manager Jacob Wood said.
Read more: KSN-TV

Remediation steps to put out a smoldering fire at the Galena Landfill were successful, and the landfill operator will continue work to meet other state requirements, a health agency spokeswoman said Tuesday. The fire that has been alight at the landfill for weeks to months was still smoldering during a June 24 inspection, said Jill Bronaugh, Kansas Department of Health and Environment spokeswoman, in an email. But excavation work completed since then by landfill operator Jordan Disposal indicate the fire is out, she said. HOWEVER, Jordan wasn’t able to complete the required foot of soil cover over the area that KDHE asked for after the June inspection, as more time was needed for re-grading the area after the excavation, she said.
Read more: The Iola Register

City commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a two-year moratorium on large-scale data centers in Lawrence, extending an original one-year proposal, while city staff study longer-term code changes. The commission also initiated a text amendment to the city’s land development code related to data centers. The code currently would allow massive data centers to be developed in several zoning areas around town by right, without a public process through which residents could object. Planning and Development Services Director Jeff Crick told commissioners the temporary moratorium is intended to give staff time to study the issue and draft regulations. He said the work could require significant staff resources and could delay or suspend other long-range and special projects. 
Read more: The Lawrence Times

Wichita-area cities have moved to regulate duplex construction after community pushback over neighborhood density and design. Goddard just adopted new rules, and Derby approved its own in May. Maize might consider changes.
Read more: Wichita Eagle

A letter written by Marysville Mayor Todd Frye, asking Marshall County to join Marysville in enacting a moratorium on data centers in the county and in the city was approved Monday night by the Marysville City Council. Concerns Frye outlined in his letter include loss of farmland, skyrocketing power bills, water depletion, increased noise, decrease in property values and changes in local economies.
Read more: www.marysvilleonline.net

During 2010-2024, local governments issued about $18.3 billion in industrial revenue bonds and exempted about $1.1 billion in related property taxes, most of which likely would’ve gone to school districts and local governments in the state. Local governments are required to submit a cost-benefit analysis that estimates forgone property tax revenue when applying for an IRBX, but those estimates differed substantially from the actual forgone revenue for 23 projects we reviewed.
Read more: Legislative Division of Post Audit

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.

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.

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.

City staff began developing a possible framework to provide relief for those who have “verified water quality impacts” associated with the city’s water system. Of the about 22,000 water customer accounts, the city said based on complaint history and staff’s understanding of the water infrastructure, fewer than 100 accounts may be eligible for such relief.
Read more: Salina Journal

A landlord registry presents itself in many forms across the state and country. However, the main intention is to keep a detailed list of rental properties and/or landlords within a community. Kansas communities that have landlord registries or a rental leasing process include Lawrence, Overland Park, Leavenworth, Girard, Kansas City, Lenexa, Manhattan and Wichita.
Read more: CJonline

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.

“The proposed ordinance provides time for staff to research Data Center uses and provide the City Commission with information so they may make a decision on altering the Land Development Code via a text amendment,” Jeff Crick, director of planning and development services for the city, wrote in a memo to the commission.
Read more: The Lawrence Times

After the federal government stopped making pennies last November, at least one municipal government in Kansas stopped accepting them. The city of Liberal is rounding up all payments for cash transactions to the nearest nickel, it said on its website, adding that customers could avoid paying extra by paying with a check or card.
Read more: Salina Journal

In Lawrence, Algerian flags are seen just about anywhere, symbolizing the bond formed between the surrounding community and the Algerian Men’s National Team, which has been based in Lawrence during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The team, too, says it won’t forget the city’s welcome.
Read more: KSNT 27 News

A growing petition urging Pottawatomie County leaders to hit pause on a proposed high‑impact data center has already gathered more than 500 signatures, with organizers arguing the project is moving forward without enough transparency. John Watt, a local resident and organizer, is leading a local petition calling for a three‑year moratorium on the data center proposal in Pottawatomie County. Watt said the goal isn’t to stop the project outright, but to slow it down so residents and officials can fully understand its potential impact. The petition claims high‑impact data centers pose risks to public health, safety and infrastructure. Watt says the biggest concern is the approval process itself.
Read more: KSNT 27 News

It might be the most forgotten ordinance throughout all of the communities of Harvey County: curfew. All of the communities in the county, excluding Burrton, do have some form of curfew ordinances on their respective books. However, violations are few and far between. “Generally speaking, it’s an education thing, and officers routinely tell the juveniles to get home and make sure the parents know they were contacted and are headed home,” Newton Deputy Police Chief Scott Powell said. “That being said, the curfew violation does give us authority to stop and speak with juveniles out past curfew to make sure they are OK and see what they are doing. The vast majority of contacts we have are very positive, educational and enforcement action is not taken.”
Read more: Harvey County Now

Work on Beale Infrastructure’s De Soto data center is officially underway, and much to many residents’ dismay, the project scope has nearly doubled in size since it was announced last August. California-based Beale Infrastructure began construction in April on the 300-acre site at the northwest corner of 103rd Street and Edgerton Road, just south of Kansas Highway 10 and west of the Panasonic plant. That same month, the De Soto Planning Commission approved significant changes to the scope of the $3 billion project. What was originally four buildings totaling 1.14 million square feet is now four buildings totaling nearly 2.9 million square feet that will house rows of computers meant for storing, processing and transmitting data.
Read more: Johnson County Post