Municipal News & Jobs

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that Kansas is receiving funding to help address “forever chemicals” in drinking water. More than $9.4 million in grant funding is now available to eligible communities Kansas to reduce PFAS and other chemical contaminants that are linked to cancers. PFAS stands for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. They are found in a variety of household products and are also used in some manufacturing processes.
Read more: KSN-TV

On Founders Day, the city of Pittsburg celebrated its 150th anniversary with a ribbon cutting ceremony and a group photo of residents and visitors.
Read more: KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com

Hillsboro City Council offered city clerk Danielle Bartel the position of city administrator after two executive sessions totaling around 40 minutes Tuesday. “It is my pleasure to announce that we are extending an offer to Danielle Bartel to be our next city administrator,” Mayor Lou Thurston said. “We couldn’t be more excited.” Council members unanimously approved Bartel’s employment agreement and authorized Thurston to sign it.
Read more: Marion County RECORD

A community garden in Derby is part of a growing Kansas effort to address food insecurity as rising grocery costs and shrinking aid programs strain families. Carefully walking between rows of sprouting plants, Donavan Lawrence gives a tour of the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church community garden in Derby, Kansas. The caretaker points out the spiral-shaped herb garden and elevated plots for people with mobility issues. He stops by a group of raised mounds where the church is using a technique called the three sisters. It’s an indigenous technique where corn, pole beans and squash sustain each other on one plot. “When you set things up correctly, they can all benefit from each other and help support each other,” Lawrence said. After a pause, he considers that the growing method is a metaphor for their garden.
Read more: The Iola Register

Chanute police officers are looking into a reported sighting of a bear, and have advised residents to use caution if they encounter the animal. The Chanute Police Department posted the alert after a resident released a video on social media, purportedly of an apparent black bear sauntering down a city street. Anyone who sees the bear should not approach the animal, but instead report the sighting by calling (620) 432-5768. Residents also are reminded to keep a safe distance from wildlife and avoid attempting to feed, follow or otherwise interact with bears.
Read more: The Iola Register

Chanute’s energy portfolio just got greener. A new 6-megawatt solar farm at 4302 S. Plummer is now online and producing energy. Evergy will own and operate the facility, while the City of Chanute has agreed to purchase power directly from the site for at least the next 30 years. The city has the option to purchase the facility after six years. 
Read more: The Iola Register

Spring Hill, Kansas, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the Kansas City metro area, and a major driver in that growth is a housing boom. “It’s kind of an untapped resource, or it’s kind of a secret part of the metro area that has steadily been growing over the past few years,” said Mike Mallon, Spring Hill’s community development director. “It’s a prime position between Highway 169, Highway 69 over to the east, really trying to accommodate the growth that’s just naturally happening in southern Johnson County.” Spring Hill is split between Miami and Johnson counties but a bulk of the development is taking place on the Johnson County side. As urban sprawl continues to put pressure on the southern portion of the county, Mallon says, the city is competing with its neighbors, and they’re trying to stay ahead of the game.
Read more: KSHB 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.

Olathe Public Schools has long been an attractive school district for families living in the Kansas City area — and its steadily growing enrollment numbers reflected that. But Superintendent Brent Yeager said that trend has changed in recent years, citing the rising cost to buy a home and declining birth rates for families. “Our incoming kindergarten classes are substantially smaller than our exiting senior classes,” Yeager said. “The first many, many, many years of our district from about 1965 to about 2019 it was just the opposite.” In Kansas, the amount of funding that school districts receive is tied to enrollment numbers. Yeager said the Olathe School District is missing out on $22 million annually it would receive if it had the same number of students as it had in 2019.
Read more: Johnson County Post

One year ago, the towns of Grinnell and Plevna were in clean up mode after tornadoes tore through. On Monday, KSN News went to Plevna and spoke with city leaders who say the burden of the storm is still weighing heavy.
Read more: KSN-TV

The Kriss family was out of town and watching the storms on radar. What they returned home to was unexpected and severe.
Read more: KSN-TV

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.

Various tornado warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings were issued, but no injuries or deaths were noted on the website of the weather service’s Topeka office.
Read more: CJonline

Riley County’s six-month moratorium on data centers and battery energy storage centers has a scheduled end date. The Riley County Commission agreed last month to adopt a moratorium, but the implementation process didn’t start until commissioners signed a resolution Monday. The resolution will go into effect from the time it’s published in The Mercury until Nov. 12.
Read more: News Radio KMAN

Arkansas City commissioners will consider a resolution tonight authorizing the purchase of radar-controlled traffic lights. If approved, the Radar Vision system will be installed by Gades Sales Co. Inc. to serve the intersection of US 77 and Summit Street, the last stoplight on South Summit Street, for an amount not to exceed $21,175. The city currently has three radar traffic systems in operation. Radar systems are able to function more reliably in bad weather and darkness than the current camera-controlled systems. Radar systems allow traffic lights to adjust in real time instead of using fixed timers to reduce waiting time and improve safety and efficiency.
Read more: www.ctnewsonline.com

Firefighters across southwest Kansas are preparing for another dangerous day as massive wildfires continue burning. After four straight days of fast‑moving fires across Kansas and Oklahoma, some departments are now dealing with injuries within their own crews while still trying to protect communities.
Read more: KSN-TV

The City of Topeka is looking for public comment to improve its housing and community development efforts. The City of Topeka announced in a press release on May 18 that it’s expecting $12 million over the next five years in federal funding to support housing, neighborhood improvements, public services and community development projects. City officials now want feedback from residents to guide how to best use the funds.
Read more: KSNT 27 News

The Reno County Planning Commission reviewed possible changes to parking and off-street loading requirements in county zoning rules during its Thursday, May 14, meeting. County Planner Mark Vonachen said the proposal was spurred by how often the planning commission waives those requirements as part of conditional use permits because a business doesn’t need as much parking as county rules normally require. To alleviate that, he suggested removing parking minimums from the baseline requirements and instead making them part of conditions for approval of permits. That would give the planning commission the ability to tailor parking requirements to each project.
Read more: The Hutchinson Tribune

A few spaces are exempt from Kansas’ new bathroom law that requires people to use the facilities in government buildings that match their sex assigned at birth, Attorney General Kris Kobach said in an opinion he released Wednesday. Kobach’s opinion, which carries no legal authority, exempted some government spaces — such as skilled nursing rooms at the Kansas Office of Veterans’ Services — from complying with the bathroom law that went into effect in February.
Read more: The Lawrence Times

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.