Municipal News & Jobs

Ryan Bradbury took a moment Saturday to celebrate an achievement that took years to reach. All of those hours spent in meetings, researching, checking and double-checking had come down to this moment, and he was going to relish it. Standing in the shadow of the newly renovated entrance to Wellsville High School, Bradbury, USD 289 Wellsville School District superintendent, watched as board members cut a blue ribbon, formally opening the doors on an $18.1 million facilities project. “This is an exciting time for our students and our community,” Bradbury said. “Generations of Wellsville families have been educated within these walls. This project preserves our schools for many more generations to come while also addressing the community’s long-term needs.” On Saturday, Bradbury described the event as a celebration not just of the years of work it took to get there, but of the progress and commitment made to the future.
Source: Ottawa Herald

People in Salina may notice some unusual sights and sounds coming from the sky near the airport as the U.S. National Aerobatic Championships take place this week. The championships, hosted now for the fourth year at the Salina Regional Airport, features 85 pilots competing in the air sport of aerobatics. This is the fourth time in the past five years, with one year taken off due to COVID, that the U.S. National Aerobatic Championships has taken place at Salina Regional Airport. “There are a lot of things that factor into the right place to have it,” said Shad Coulson, the contest director this year. “Location is certainly one. We want it to be as central as possible in the U.S. which makes it as enticing for folks from across the country to come to the national event.” In addition to being centrally located, Coulson said it’s important to have the resources available to the competitors and the support staff and volunteers at the airport. “The airport here is amazing, with good facilities (and) good hangar space to keep all these beautiful, valuable airplanes protected from the elements,” Coulson said.
Source: Salina Journal

Here, in this overlooked brick building now serving as a post office, was a general store that was a center of trade for the sleepy town of Tecumseh, Carter Vincent points out. Right next door, an old barn structure is all that remains of the original medical practice, whose physician has long since passed but whose legacy is best seen in the hundreds of babies he helped deliver through the turn of the 19th century. Less than a block away are the sites of several firsts for Shawnee County — a first courthouse, a first church — that served as the foundation for the area’s eventual future as the seat of Kansas’ state government. These pieces of history could be easily missed when walking by, much more so when driving. But it’s history that Vincent, a freshman at Shawnee Heights High School, is keen to preserve through his Eagle Scout project. … ‘During COVID, my family and I traveled around the state, and we learned about the history in these little towns,’ Vincent said. ‘I combined my love of history and my love of walking, which I grew during COVID, to feature historic Tecumseh.’
Source: CJonline

Tensions flared as state and local politicians clashed over property taxes, setting the stage for what is likely to be a heated tax dispute next legislative session. The area of agreement is a mutual desire to cut property taxes. The dispute is over whether the state should put money into a fund intended to help pay for local property tax cuts, or if the state should cut its own property taxes. A movement has been growing to fund the local ad valorem tax reduction fund, or LAVTR, for the first time in 20 years. The LAVTR remains part of state law, but the Legislature regularly opts to strip its funding, as is the case for the current fiscal year. Without further legislative action, the state would transfer $27 million into the LATVR next fiscal year.
Source: CJonline

Kansas will add 54,000 jobs that require some level of college education this decade, but the state is poised to fall well short of that demand, one of the state’s top labor economists told the Kansas Board of Regents. To meet the demand, Kansas would need to produce an additional 34,000 degrees by 2030 — a tall order as Kansas continues to see many of its young college graduates move out-of-state for higher paying jobs. … “Given the increase in technology, artificial intelligence and robots, most jobs are going to require some credential,” the distinguished economics professor told the Regents. “The days of jobs for high school graduates only are going away.”
Source: CJonline

Topeka is full of historical treasures dating back to the founding of the state, but many of the city’s most iconic buildings have faced uncertain futures. Advanced decay and disrepair, a lack of funding and the absence of interested buyers are roadblocks to preservation efforts. Private citizens purchased and funded the rehabilitation of properties with significant historical ties to Kansas, including the Charles Curtis House, the Thacher Building and the Jayhawk Theatre.
Source: CJonline