Municipal News & Jobs

Douglas County leaders were unanimous Wednesday in supporting a project that would increase the quality of internet access in rural areas of the county. At its meeting Wednesday, the commission approved internet provider Midco’s request for $5,000 to support a grant proposal that Midco plans to submit to a state office. If Midco ultimately is successful in securing the grant, the company’s project would deploy fiber broadband in Kanwaka Township west of Lawrence and Palmyra Township to the south, affecting 176 homes and businesses.
Source: LJWorld

In order to prepare officers for what [Scott City Police Chief David] Post says is the “unthinkable,” an active shooter training program was held on Monday at Scott Community High School. Led by instructors from the Garden City Police Department, the session brought together 21 officers representing the local police department, Scott County Sheriff’s Department, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and Kansas Highway Patrol.
Source: Scott County Record

Stephen Wade, the city of Topeka’s administrative and financial services director, is among four finalists to become Topeka’s next city manager. The others are Abbe Yacoben, deputy finance director and treasurer for the city of Las Vegas; Mike Harmon, former city administrator for Fairfield, Iowa, and Spearfish, S.D.; and David Johnston, former city manager for Covington, Ky., and Maple Valley, Wash., and former village administrator for Rantoul, Ill. Gretchen Spiker, communications director for Topeka’s city government, announced the names of the finalists in a news release late Tuesday afternoon, saying they’d been chosen by the city’s mayor and council.
Source: CJonline

The Garden City Commission received an update on the Fitness Court mural selection for Southeast Park at the Commission’s regular meeting Tuesday. Aaron Stewart, Garden City Parks and Recreation director, said a Request for Proposals has been released to “capture a local artist” to create a mural design. The rear wall is where the largest focal pieces of the park will be, it’s approximately 32 ft. by 7 ft. Additionally, there are four areas for graphics called the Front Wall Windows. Stewart said the mural will not be painted directly on the apparatus, the submitted design will be digitized and transferred to a vinyl wrap that will cover the rear wall and front wall windows of the Fitness Court.
Source: GC Telegram

Throughout Hutchinson’s history, some of the city’s oldest businesses continue today — some through innovative technology and others with consistent business practices. These businesses range from grocery stores to mining operations, many from the 1920s or earlier in or around town. “A lot of the business owners, especially the early ones, really focused on the county and their immediate customers and focused on giving the best service to the community,” said Reno County Museum chief curator David Reed.
Source: Hutch News

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman and Beth Warren.

Douglas County leaders will decide this week whether to contribute toward a local internet provider’s bid at improving broadband internet access in two rural areas of the county. Internet provider Midco is asking the Douglas County Commission to provide $5,000 in support of a grant proposal to the State Office of Broadband Development’s Capital Projects Fund Program. The commission will decide whether to do so at its meeting Wednesday.
Source: LJWorld

City leaders will soon ask residents their opinion about a policy that generally requires property owners to help pay for repairs to sidewalks bordering their homes and businesses unless their income qualifies them for city assistance. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission received information about how other municipalities handle sidewalk repair, expansion of the city’s repair assistance program, and a plan for asking residents for input through a community survey. After discussing the wording of some of the survey questions, commissioners agreed to have the final draft of the survey come back to them as part of the city manager’s report and thereafter move forward.
Source: LJWorld

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman and Beth Warren.

With government workers’ pay raises lagging the private sector’s, state and local officials will need to navigate through different measures of inflation to fairly calibrate wage and pension increases. Government employees have drawn the short straw lately when it comes to inflation adjustments to their pay. The gap in pay increases could be closed in the coming year if cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) are awarded by formula to public employees, but that’s a big if. And don’t be surprised if there are debates about which inflation index to use and how.
Source: Governing

Art was on people’s minds Friday and Saturday as the 2022 Banner Arts Walk returned to Garden City. Twenty-two artists created 23 banners for the Arts Walk and participants in the event Aug. 12 and 13 where they had the opportunity to see all the banners up close before they’re installed on downtown light poles and to vote for their favorite ones. … Katy Guthrie, executive director of Garden City Arts, which partnered with event host Garden City Downtown Vision, said in the past the Banner Arts Walk has been a scavenger hunt, but this year it was changed to a voting competition which included a map of the businesses where the banners were displayed.
Source: GC Telegram

Multiple people from Hutchinson helped to establish its 150-year history. Several were known as city founders. From C. C. Hutchinson founding the town in 1871 to Frank Colladay beginning a century-old hardware company, many members of the early Hutchinson community created a city to last.
“(Hutchinson) wasn’t worried about just establishing a town as quick as he possibly could — he was interested in setting up a town that was going to continue to grow without having growing pains,” said Reno County Museum chief curator David Reed.
Source: Hutch News

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman and Beth Warren.