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Municipal News & Jobs

Municipal News & Jobs2018-08-05T16:28:50-05:00

Kansas Municipal News

Crawford County landowners speak out against wind, solar

The Crawford County Commission room was packed on Friday as dozens of local landowners were present to show support for a moratorium on any further development of wind and solar farms in the county. Calling themselves the Crawford County Coalition Against Industrial Wind and Solar, county resident Ray Huff spoke on their behalf. Huff said he is not “anti-green” or a conspiracy theorist, but focused on the potential detrimental effects wind turbines have on local wildlife.
Source: Morning Sun

Historic Johnson County village is falling apart. Will Panasonic plant save or kill it?

Directly across from Clearview, spread along more than a half-mile of West 103rd Street, Panasonic’s $4 billion electric vehicle battery plant is rising on the grounds of the old ordnance works. Scheduled to open in 2025 with some 4,000 workers, nothing since World War II has so impacted De Soto, a mostly rural town of 6,500. That includes fueling rumors on the fate of Clearview and its 500 or so residents.
Source: KC Star Local News

Evinger feels call to serve leading fire/EMT reserves

For nearly 20 years, Mike Evinger has been a dedicated volunteer and mentor to the Arkansas City Fire/EMS Department, a role he never imagined would become such a significant part of his life. When he’s not rushing to aid in emergencies as the reserve captain for the department, Evinger can often be found caring for yards throughout the community. As the reserve captain, Evinger is responsible for coordinating and leading the reserve team, ensuring their readiness for emergency response. It’s hard to imagine that these two worlds could merge as one, but for Evinger, being a volunteer for the department is rooted in personal experience.
Source: Cowley CourierTraveler

Governor Kelly Announces Kansas Moving Forward with $451.7M High-Speed Internet Deployment Plan

Governor Laura Kelly announced federal approval of the state’s Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Initial Proposal Volume 2, providing an investment of more than $450 million to expand Kansas’ high-speed internet infrastructure. Funding will be granted to areas that have been identified as underserved through a competitive application process that will begin in July. … Eligible homes and businesses within the predetermined funding areas will be made public for 60 days before the application process opens. This transparency ensures that applicants have adequate time to become aware of opportunities and to prepare for the process. Preregistration for BEAD applicants is set to begin Monday, May 13.
Source: Kansas Department of Commerce

Pittsburg area growth continues

The Pittsburg State Kelce College of Business has released its economic summary for the first quarter of 2024. Overall, the Pittsburg Micropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA) is still growing, often at rates above the state and national averages. According to the summary, Pittsburg’s economy relies on small businesses, those with fewer than 50 employees, which make up more than 94 percent of all businesses in the area. Supporting these businesses requires a healthy local banking industry to supply capital for growth and expansion. On average, small, local banks approve 82 percent of small business loans, while larger, national banks average a 68 percent approval rate.
Source: Morning Sun

De Soto tackles major infrastructure upgrades amid development boom

Upgrading public infrastructure is the first hurdle De Soto must clear as city leaders navigate a generational boom in economic development. Panasonic’s plans to build an electric-vehicle battery manufacturing facility in De Soto kicked off a tight deadline to make water, sewer, road and electrical infrastructure upgrades before the plant’s production start date, City Administrator Mike Brungardt said.
Source: Kansas City Business Journal

Fort Scott Fire water rescue stay busy; Near record flooding City Manager says

Due to the heavy rains across SE Kansas the past two days the Marmaton River [pron: Mar-muh-ton] has grown out of its banks, cutting off a portion of Fort Scott to nearby Missouri and north to US-54. But it’s nothing new. It just doesn’t happened all the time. The Fort Scott City Manager Brad Matkin stated Sunday morning, “the city has had about 10-inches of rain in the past 48 hours and we have a lot of flooding.” He continued by asking citizens to stay home Sunday.
Source: KOAM News

Governor Kelly signs train setback bill

The train safety bill originally pushed by State Senator Carolyn McGinn was signed by Governor Laura Kelly. House Bill 2501 requires trains in Kansas to park 250 feet back from the railroad crossing, unless the Department of Transportation requires a different distance at a location. “I am glad that we were able to pass the set backs for trains,” McGinn said in an email. “The 250-foot setback will help drivers have the opportunity to see approaching trains.”
Source: Harvey County Now

Olathe puts finishing touches on ‘significant’ trail project’s latest phase

Olathe recently put the finishing touches on the much-anticipated second phase of its Cedar Creek Trail. Last week, city leaders officially celebrated the completion of this phase of the trail with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. This most recent round of work on the Cedar Creek Trail fully connects the nearly 260-acre Lake Olathe Park on the city’s western side to Cedar Lake Park in southern Olathe.
Source: Johnson County Post

Why Wichita’s Century II is salvaged but not quite saved

Even as workers finished replacing the distinctive blue roof of Century II, the flying saucer of a convention center that landed in downtown Wichita in 1969, the fate of the landmark and the area surrounding it remains strangely murky. After a master plan that pushed to replace it, a grassroots campaign to save it, and political and legal fights that amounted to a battle for the future of Wichita – and the past’s place in it – five long years of discussion haven’t brought much clarity. For now, Century II has avoided the fate of its predecessor, the Forum. But its endurance seems less a victory than a stalemate, based on interviews with community members and architecture experts.
Source: KLC Journal

Duplexes a possible way to make home ownership more in reach in Wichita

The Moores are among hundreds of homebuyers turning to duplexes in lieu of pricier, single-family homes. Although statistics don’t distinguish between duplexes built for lease and those for sale, permits for “two-family” housing have tripled for Wichita area in the last six years —from 250 in 2018 to 754 in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Professor Stan Longhofer, director of Wichita State University’s Center for Real Estate, said the reason for this growth is simple: buyers want to save money and developers want to profit from their investments at a time when construction costs have increased 47% since the pandemic. Wess Galyon, president and CEO of the Wichita Area Builders Association, estimated that 10% of the new duplexes get sold to individuals and not, as still happens, to large investment firms that lease them by the hundreds.
Source: KLC Journal

How High Wall Street Thinks the Fed Will Keep Interest Rates

At the start of 2024, investors expected the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates substantially this year as inflation cooled. But price increases have been surprisingly stubborn, and that is forcing a rethink on Wall Street. Investors and economists are questioning when and how much Fed policymakers will manage to cut rates — and some are increasingly dubious that Fed officials will manage to lower them at all this year. Inflation was coming down steadily in 2023, but that progress has stalled out in 2024. The Fed’s preferred inflation index climbed 2.8 percent in March from a year earlier, after stripping out volatile food and fuel costs, data on Friday showed. While that is down substantially from a 2022 peak, it is still well above the central bank’s 2 percent goal.
Source: NYT > Business

City hopes new initiative will help solve affordable housing problem in Wichita

Shanna Ramey has lived in a city-owned rental home for nearly two decades. It’s where she raised her three kids and created a lifetime of memories, so it was devastating when she heard the news that the city of Wichita was selling all of the 300-plus homes it owns, including hers. “It was a lot of ups and downs. It was a lot of tears, because I thought I was gonna have to start all over,” said Ramey. “It was hard. Horrible. Because I didn’t know what to start.” The city is giving all current renters the first right to buy the house they live in, which is something City Property Manager Sarah Gooding says isn’t always easy. “To qualify for public housing, and then to qualify as a homebuyer is a very challenging process. Public housing typically serves households at or below 50% of the area median income,” Gooding explained. However, Ramey desperately wanted to keep the home where she had raised her family, so she worked with the city to make it happen. “With those who have been interested in home ownership, we’re doing everything in our power to get them to a closing date,” said Gooding. With entire city-owned neighborhoods full of abandoned homes, some full of bullet holes, the city faced some scrutiny about the lack of affordable housing when it chose to sell them all off. To help offset this problem, the city recently approved a $5 million Affordable Housing Fund. This offers builders up to $40,000 per unit to renovate or build new affordable single-family homes.
Source: KAKE – News

Newton Open Streets aims to bring community together

Newton Open Streets shut down several roads between East 5th and East 6th, the intersection of Broadway and Oak and more. The City approved the request to close down roads from the Harvey County Health Department in order to hold a new community open streets event. “I think it just shows, like, what kind of community that we are, and I think it’s good for the kids to get out and do something. Like, we’re a small town, so sometimes there’s not a lot to do. So, it’s really cool that we’re doing that this year,” said Jordan Enriquez, a Newton resident. The goal of the event was to bring the community together.
Source: KSN-TV

Emergency response teams conduct water rescues in Fort Scott

Water rescues kept emergency personnel from several agencies busy – earlier today. As of earlier this evening – city officials confirmed to us a total of five people had to be rescued throughout today. Officials say two of those five live in what is known as the “Belltown” neighborhood – which is just south of Highway 54 and north of Humbolt Street – near 215th Street. Fort Scott Fire Chief Dave Bruner says his department had some help from neighboring water rescue groups. “Once we were working on those, we actually called two other departments, Vernon County Water Rescue and the Pittsburg Fire Department to assist us with any other emergencies that could arise while we were doing that. While we did have them there, we did check in areas north of town that has some residential areas – that had some residents in that area – to make sure that they were ok and inform them on what was going on,” said Dave Bruner, Fort Scott Fire Chief. Officials say no injuries have been reported.
Source: KSNF/KODE

Newly renovated fire station in Shawnee will re-open Saturday. What’s changed?

A once-outdated fire station in Shawnee will re-open as a state-of-the-art facility for firefighters in the area. Located at 6805 Hedge Lane Terrace, Fire Station 73 will host a grand opening from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday for people to check out the building’s upgrades. The renovations are part of a roughly $26 million project to upgrade the station, as well as the John B. Glaser Fire Station Headquarters, set to open later this year, at 6501 Quivira Road. “When you look at fire services around the country, these will be considered cutting-edge fire stations,” said Fire Chief Rick Potter. Built in 1987, Fire Station 73 was originally intended for two full-time employees. Now, there are four firefighters per shift and three ambulance employees. The building had problems that long predated Potter, who was sworn in as fire chief in 2020. “It had been minimally meeting the needs (of the department),” he said. “But I think it became more pronounced when we went through the [COVID-19] pandemic in 2020. It’s when it really became almost untenable.” Citing problems like cramming four firefighters into one room to sleep, as well as alarms that would abruptly wake them up, regardless if it was their call; areas where they would be exposed to contaminants in the air and general health concerns, Potter said changes were needed. “Our firefighters live here a third of their lives, so (we’re) trying to do as much as we can to take care of our staff,” he said.
Source: Prairie Village Post

Kansas attorney general concludes Junction City Commission broke open meeting law

An investigation by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach revealed the Junction City Commission violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act by convening a closed-door meeting to discuss an economic development project that included a livestock slaughter facility on the outskirts of the city. Public opposition to the once-confidential project, which could have forced sale of farmland for construction of roads and a traffic exit from Interstate 70, appears to have derailed the meatpacking project that was to have been built by Foote Cattle Co. During debate on the proposal, landowner Michelle Munson filed a two-part complaint in July 2023 with the attorney general containing allegations against the city commission. Munson, part of the Munson Angus Farms family, said the commission didn’t take steps during a public meeting nearly three years ago to approve expenditure of $5,000 used to secure a right of first refusal for the option to buy 150 acres of real estate for the project. That land on the west side of Junction City was bought by Foote Cattle, but the city had their eyes on adjacent land owned by the Munsons. In addition, Munson asserted the commission broke the open meetings law two years ago by failing to precisely describe the subject to be discussed in an executive session. That closed session was also about the meatpacking facility project. Amber Smith, first assistant attorney general in Kobach’s office, issued a letter to Munson’s attorney that said the “preponderance of the evidence” indicated the commission didn’t violate KOMA while considering the $5,000 option. However, the attorney general’s office found the commission failed to follow the law in a later meeting by trying to limit public knowledge about the project.
Source: Kansas Reflector

Kansas Tourism Announces Participating Attractions for the Sunflower Summer Program for Kansas Families

Kansas Tourism is pleased to announce the lineup of attractions participating in the 2024 Sunflower Summer program. Designed as a benefit for Kansas families with school-age children, Sunflower Summer offers a way to explore and fall in love with Kansas by providing complimentary access to tourism attractions across the state. The 2024 Sunflower Summer season will run from May 25 through August 11. More than 220 tourism attractions are participating in the program – a 97 percent increase from 2023. In order to participate in the program, Kansas families with school-age children must download the Sunflower Summer app and claim tickets to participating attraction venues. The digital tickets are redeemed at participating venues upon their arrival. Each user can only use tickets once per venue during the 2024 season. “The Sunflower Summer program plays a pivotal role in making in-state travel affordable for Kansas families,” Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland said. “It offers amazing opportunities for parents to nurture their children’s love for travel and appreciation for our incredible state and everything it has to offer.” Participating attractions are located in all regions of the state and include museums, discovery centers, historic sites, arboretums, water parks, amusement parks, zoos, guided trolley tours, live theater events and professional sports events.
Source: Kansas Department of Commerce

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