Kansas Municipal News
Wichita adds CROWN Act to non-discrimination ordinance
The Wichita City Council approved changes to the city’s non-discrimination ordinance to include the adoption of the CROWN (Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) Act. It adds definitions of race and protective hairstyles, prohibiting discrimination based on hair texture or styles like braids, afros, twists, or tightly coiled hair. “If we aren’t offending anyone else, personally, financially or with bodily harm, I think that we all should be supportive of allowing people to be themselves,” said Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau. A similar ordinance has passed in Lawrence. Sen. Faust-Goudeau is pushing for it to be passed by lawmakers next legislative session.
Source: KSN-TV
Renewed battle over eminent domain in energy sector starts taking shape
The stage is being set for a battle in the Legislature over how eminent domain is used to construct new electric transmission lines across Kansas in the aftermath of a controversial line approved for construction from Kansas into Missouri. The state’s leading agricultural groups – the Kansas Farm Bureau and the Kansas Livestock Association – signaled Tuesday that they may very well seek changes next year in how eminent domain is used in Kansas. Left hanging last session, the issue stands to be one of the bigger debates on the energy front when the Legislature convenes in 2024.
Source: Sunflower State Journal
Topeka City Council finalizes hotel purchase
City leaders have agreed to pay for Hotel Topeka, in full by the end of October. At Tuesday’s meeting, Topeka City council members passed a resolution finalizing the purchase of Hotel Topeka at City Center. Councilmembers approved paying the remaining $6.9 million needed to buy the property seven to two, with council women Christina Valdivia-Alcala and Sylvia Ortiz voting against it. The governing body approved the purchase in May of this year for $7.6 million. Before tonight’s meeting, $767,000 has already been deposited for the hotel. The city’s ultimate goal is to secure an entity that will purchase, operate, and manage the hotel.
Source: KSNT 27 News
Topeka ahead of nation’s ‘murder capital’ with per capita homicide count
Topeka police recently marked a grim new milestone for the Capital City with the announcement that the all-time homicide count has been broken. In 2023, the Topeka Police Department is investigating 31 homicide cases with the most recent being reported on Oct. 15. This broke a previously established record set in 2017 for 30 homicides. As Topeka reaches this new record, how does it stack up when compared with other cities in Kansas along with other U.S. cities with traditionally high homicide counts? Earlier this year, Chicago was named the “murder capital” of the U.S. with 697 homicides in 2022. The city with the highest homicide rate per capita was New Orleans at 74.3 per 100,000 people at 280 reported homicides in 2022. Chicago’s per capita rate was only 26.2.
Source: KSNT 27 News
Was private info accessed in Kansas courts security breach?
A security breach is prompting a statewide shakeup for Kansas courts. The Kansas Supreme Court issued a new order on Monday, putting all electronic filings and payments on hold. All filings for courts will have to be on paper or by fax, with paper filings to be hand delivered or sent by mail. “Reverting to a paper process, it is going to be a little slower after we’ve relied on technology for so long,” Lisa Taylor, a spokeswoman for Kansas Capitol Bureau said. “Hopefully, this won’t last too terribly long, we’re hoping to find out what’s wrong and fix it.” The new rules will impact all courts, except Johnson County. This comes after the Judicial branch experienced a security incident last week. The incident impacted court systems statewide, which are used to file and process cases and paperwork. Taylor said the incident left “more questions than answers.” So far, the state is still trying to figure out what happened, how it happened, and how far it reached.
Source: KSNT 27 News
Municipal Bond Trends for October 16, 2023
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. 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.
Push to ‘deconsolidate’ Wyandotte County Unified Government threatened
Key political leaders in Wyandotte County threaten a push to deconsolidate the Unified Government if they don’t see changes. Kansas City, Kansas Mayor Tyrone Garner gave a laundry list of complaints saying the UG could be on the path to bankruptcy by 2028. The mayor of Edwardsville, Carolyn Caiharr, said starting in November they’re forming citizen focus groups to hear from resident on ideas including deconsolidation. “If the Unified Government had been working as promised, I personally don’t believe we would have inherited a billion dollars’ worth of debt,” Caiharr said. Garner shared a long list of complaints with the current form of government in Wyandotte County launched 25 years ago.
Source: fox4kc.com | FOX 4 – WDAF
Rising rates shouldn’t scare off issuers
Cities and states should “keep calm and issue bonds” despite sticker shock from rising interest rates and a volatile municipal bond market. That was the message from panelists speaking Thursday at the Government Finance Officers Association’s annual MiniMuni event, a three-day online event for issuers. The rise in rates “makes our jobs as debt managers that much trickier and that much more painful,” said Paul Chatalas, capital markets manager for the state of Illinois. But there’s a silver lining, Chatalas said. “Volatility creates opportunity for the investor and opportunity for the investor is not necessarily bad for the issuer,” he said. “Fundamentals still apply, just as much now as they do in easier times. So, keep calm and issue bonds.”
Source: The Bond Buyer
The Wichita projects supported by 14 community improvement districts
Perhaps you’ve spotted the signs or noticed the extra tax on your receipt. Fans who buy Wind Surge merchandise at Riverfront Stadium, for example, will notice an extra 2% sales tax, outside of the usual 7.5% rate. Similarly, there’s also an added 1.5% sales tax at Chicken N Pickle. That’s because there are 14 community improvement districts across the Wichita area that are leveraging an additional sales tax — anywhere from 1-2% — to support certain commercial development projects. A CID is an incentive program that provides funds to a development project through the levy of additional sales tax within the district boundaries, or special assessments on real property.
Source: Wichita Business Journal
Places to go, sites to see, tales of yore keep Atchison tourism on the Kansas Map
For the curious, history lovers, adventurists, and naturalists near and far, they might tell Atchison is the place they like to go for good time experiences. Kansas Tourism recently announced that the Atchison Area Chamber of Commerce was recently awarded a $10,000 Marketing Grant in the 2023 Tourism Marketing Grant Awards Program. The grant awards announced on Aug. 28, are designed to assist local tourism or attractions in new or first-time innovative marketing initiatives. Atchison Chamber is one of the 22 projects that the Kansas Tourism Award will provide funding throughout the state to enhance and expand advertising efforts to attract new visitors to the state and destinations throughout.
Source: www.atchisonglobenow.com
Security breach in Kansas court network system
The Kansas Supreme Court issued an order today declaring all court clerk offices inaccessible for electronic filings through Sunday, October 15th. This order comes after the court’s network experienced interruptions on Thursday. Courts remain open according to the news release issued by the Kansas Judicial Branch on Thursday. The courts will continue to accept paper filings and fax filings. By declaring the courts inaccessible for efiling purposes, certain filing deadlines may be extended under applicable rules and statutes.
Source: KSNF/KODE
With funding for Kansas schools higher, the attorney general wants to close their lawsuit
Kansas’ Republican attorney general asked the state’s highest court to reward the GOP-controlled Legislature for following through on a decade’s worth of court-mandated education funding increases by making it harder for local school districts to force higher spending in the future. Attorney General Kris Kobach’s office wants the Kansas Supreme Court to close a lawsuit that four school districts filed against the state in 2010. The request was filed Wednesday by Tony Powell, a former state Court of Appeals judge who now serves as Kobach’s solicitor general. The state Supreme Court issued seven rulings from 2013 through 2019 requiring the Legislature to increase funding for public schools and to make its formula for distributing its funds fairer to poorer areas of the state.
Source: KSNT 27 News
Thousands of local governments fail to report how they’ve spent COVID-19 relief funds
States and local governments have spent about 45% of the $350 billion given out through one federal COVID-19 relief program, but tracking that money has been difficult and 4,268 local governments – about 14% – have yet to submit reports on how the money was used. The U.S. Department of the Treasury hasn’t publicly released the names of the small local governments that have failed to report back on what they did with the money because it doesn’t want to put “undue pressure” on them, according to a report released Wednesday. When Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, it created the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program. The U.S. Treasury allocated $350 billion in State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to tribal governments, states, the District of Columbia, local governments and U.S. territories. The money was to help cover a broad range of costs stemming from the pandemic, including revenue replacement.
Source: www.chanute.com
Does Wichita have secrets? New book highlights more than 80 of them
Vanessa Whiteside is spilling Wichita’s secrets. Whiteside, a travel blogger and writer, again draws on her natural curiosity and the love of her hometown for her second Wichita-centric book published through Reedy Press. In the introduction to “Secret Wichita: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure,” Whiteside writes that she took on the task of sharing Wichita’s secrets “because I wanted to learn as much as possible about the city’s hidden gems, forgotten stories, and intriguing spaces.” The book highlights more than 80 people, places, artifacts, collections and things in Wichita that fall in the category of being weird, wonderful, obscure and maybe, in some cases, odd. Some will be familiar to locals, while some are likely lesser known, such as a museum dedicated to military tanks, a buried robot, a steampunk village in a west Wichita residential community, and a giant rollercoaster that was part of an amusement area on an island in the middle of the city.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Therapy dogs are making pawsitive impact in Parsons Schools
Students in the Parsons School District have an extra resource to provide support and comfort. For the past six years the district has had a therapy dog inside just one of its schools. Now every school in the district has a certified therapy dog. “I tell the kids he’s here for you guys. When you guys are down and you’re upset and you need you just need to pitch someone. You just need to hug someone. And he gets plenty of hugs and kisses,” said Jo Rae. Administrators say the dogs are a benefit for the schools in ways such as reducing negative behavior in the students, as well as dealing with stress. “It helps with students anxiety as they come into the room with just managing things at home and coming to school in a brand new class. But also when something is tough and they feel stressed out, they can come pet Sofia and there chill,” said Wendy Vaughn.
Source: KSNF/KODE
SEK sounds off on transportation
The Kansas Department of Transportation heard from Southeast Kansas residents during a Local Consult meeting to seek public input on IKE, the Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program. The event at the Bowlus on Thursday morning included discussion on needed improvements to state highways. Truck drivers hauling material to and from Monarch Cement Co. in Humboldt face a particularly troublesome stretch of road on K-39 west of Chanute toward Fredonia. Kent Webber, president of Monarch, shared his concerns about the road at a special meeting organized by the Kansas Department of Transportation at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center on Thursday morning. KDOT officials met with more than 100 residents, county and city officials, business leaders and non-profit representatives to discuss projects under IKE, the Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program.
Source: The Iola Register
Union Pacific sued over chemical spill affecting Wichita neighborhoods near 29th, Grove
Wichita residents living above a chemical spill from Union Pacific Railroad face property damages and a loss of property value as a result of the company’s negligence, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week by law firms across the country. The class-action lawsuit addresses a chemical spill at a Union Pacific rail yard near 29th North and Grove, which many Wichita residents learned about last year. The spill – which contains trichloroethylene, a carcinogenic degreasing agent – contaminated the groundwater beneath about 2,800 addresses. The groundwater plume runs about 3 miles, from 29th Street to the north to Murdock to the south, through many historically Black neighborhoods. “We’re concerned about the … impact on people’s home values,” said Chris Nidel, a lawyer with the Maryland-based Nidel & Nace firm, which helped file the lawsuit.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Some seniors, disabled Wyandotte County residents to be exempt from fee on BPU bills
Wyandotte County residents of a certain age and income, or who are disabled, will soon be able to seek exemptions from a Unified Government fee on their utility bills. The Board of Commissioners, Wyandotte County’s governing body, on Thursday passed PILOT relief for people ages 65 or older who have an income of $37,750 or less. The exemptions for qualifying residents will start in 2024. Ratepayers have long complained of the UG fee on their bills from the Board of Public Utilities, the publicly-owned utility that provides water and electricity to Wyandotte County. The PILOT fee, which stands for payment in lieu of taxes, helps the Unified Government manage revenue losses from property taxes that are not collected from the BPU, since the municipal utility is tax exempt. The money is used to help fund city operations. Residents unable to pay the PILOT fee face having their water or electricity turned off.
Source: KC Star Local News
Merriam begins appraising downtown properties for flood control project
Merriam is taking steps to buy properties in its flood-prone downtown. Kansas City-based real estate appraisal company Bliss Associates won a contract with the city to begin evaluating properties along Turkey Creek. Last summer, Merriam entered into a design agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Upper Turkey Creek Flood Risk Management project. Before USACE can finish designing the project, Merriam is surveying downtown properties to determine whether it will need to purchase land to build levees or flood walls. “Just because we complete an appraisal, it doesn’t mean that the acquisition will occur. It will just help us for planning purposes,” Public Works Director Celia Kumke told the City Council on Monday.
Source: Kansas City Business Journal
Johnson County tests hundreds after Olathe tuberculosis case
The Johnson County Health Department spent the day testing hundreds of people for tuberculosis at a local high school. It comes after an Olathe Northwest student recently tested positive for the disease. The Kansas City Start reports health officials tested over 250 people on Thursday, determining if there are any other cases. Tuberculosis is spread through the air by coughing, sneezing, laughing or singing, but the only way to contract the disease is through frequent or close contact with someone who has an active case. “This is a disease that is not passed easily from person to person,” said Charlie Hunt, Johnson County health director. “The unique aspect of a school is students are together for an hour at a time during their classes day in day out, week after week, so there’s a risk for transmission there.” Health officials have also been working to identify people the student has been in contact with and that any others are identified and treated.
Source: fox4kc.com | FOX 4 – WDAF