Municipal News & Jobs

At Tuesday night’s meeting, the City Commission began discussion of possible changes to the City’s form of government, including having a directly elected mayor. At Commissioners’ request, City Attorney Chris Towle prepared a memo outlining the different forms of municipal government in Kansas – Commission, Mayor-Council, Commission-Manager, and Mayor-Council-Manager. Newton currently operates under a Commission-Manager form, with five elected at-large City Commissioners…. A mayor is appointed each year from within the Commission. … Commissioners expressed interest specifically in the Mayor-Council-Manager form of government, which is used in our region by Wichita and Derby. The mayor is a directly elected position with some additional administrative authority compared to the Commission-Manager form. Commissioners said they see value in a mayor serving a longer term, providing continuity of leadership and more time to accomplish goals.
Source: City of Newton

A bigger home is a better home. That is a notion that has won the day many times in Lawrence, but it’s not doing much to help the community win its battle for affordable housing, Rebecca Buford, executive director of Tenants to Homeowners, said. “Some of what has to happen here is a change in mindset,” Buford said. Indeed, Buford’s Lawrence-based nonprofit has filed plans at City Hall for a new affordable housing development in eastern Lawrence that intends to add about a half-dozen new homes to the market but also change some minds about smaller homes.
Source: LJWorld

Lawrence Municipal Court staff says the city has been implementing reforms to how the court operates, and that additional changes will continue to be discussed. … The presentation included trends regarding cash bonds posted, the number of people being held in the jail on municipal offenses, and traffic citation costs, among other data points. Court data indicates that the amount of money the city has collected for cash bonds has decreased significantly in recent years, the average number of people serving time in jail on a daily basis for municipal offenses has declined, and that traffic citation costs in Lawrence are lower than several nearby communities.
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.

Topeka’s city government in January 2020 banned pedestrians from interacting with vehicle occupants at 23 specific Topeka intersections. But people on foot still sometimes ask drivers for money at those crossings, according to members of the Topeka and Shawnee County News & Police Scanner Facebook group.
Source: CJonline

It was a normal spring school day in Topeka USD 501 when district technicians noticed something suspicious in their network activity. The districtwide computer network that allows the district’s students and teachers access to the internet was seeing a huge spike in traffic. Normally, Topeka USD 501’s bandwidth can easily handle the average network load of students turning in online assignments and teachers checking email, with the district rarely using up more than 30% of its bandwidth, said Scott Gowan, chief information officer for the district. But there was no mistaking the signature of the spike in activity, and after the surge brought down the district’s internet access for about five minutes, the technicians were sure of one thing. The district was under a DDoS attack.
Source: CJonline

A typical Reno County home listed for $99,900 in March, up 5.3% from a month earlier, an analysis of data from Realtor.com shows. The median list home price in March was down about 7.7% from March 2021. Reno County’s median home was 1,464 square feet for a listed price of $81 per square foot. The Reno County market was busy, with a median 36 days on market. The market added 64 new home listings in March, compared with the 64 added in March 2021. The market ended the month with some 49 listings of homes for sale.
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.

A multi-use trail project along more than three blocks of Midland Railway tracks will soon be moving forward in Baldwin City, and city officials will also be seeking $20 million in grants for a project that would link the city with a 51-mile trail that connects Ottawa and Iola. On Friday, Baldwin City Administrator Glenn Rodden said the Kansas Department of Transportation would soon be starting the bidding process for construction of a concrete multi-use trail on the east side of the Midland tracks. The trail will be 8 feet wide and will run from the existing multi-use trail on Elm Street to the old Santa Fe Depot just south of High Street. KDOT approved the city’s grant application for the trail two years ago. The bidding process will take place in the summer or early fall, Rodden said, and KDOT will then decide whether the trail will be constructed this year or in the spring of 2023.
Source: LJWorld.com

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.

For Ryan Jones, home in Wabaunsee County feels a lot like Philadelphia. In a literal sense, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The City of Brotherly Love remains one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the U.S. and its population of 1.5 million is a far cry from the roughly 800 residents in Alma, a town best known for its creamery. But outside of an internship in Philadelphia, Jones said his downtown apartment here is the most urban living arrangement he has ever had. The bank and post office are a short walk away, as is his job at the nearby Volland Store outside town.
Source: CJonline

Hutchinson has more than 40 murals that bring pride to the city. These murals boast of Kansas wildlife, the street art movement, the beauty of Kansas and its state symbols, Hutchinson landmarks and community stories. Mural tourism has become a fascination for many, and interest has increased in part because influencers have posted their photographs on popular social media. “It’s becoming a big deal,” said Jordan Roemerman, marketing manager for Kansas Tourism, “a movement that began outside the state, but Kansas has picked up on it and run with it.” She said, for example, music artist Taylor Swift had a butterfly mural painted in Nashville and now people will line up and wait their turn to have their photo taken by the mural.
Source: Hutch News

Downtown Hutchinson gained more than 50 new businesses in the last five years, filling the storefronts that had been empty for decades. The growth exceeded the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce, downtown business owners and residents’ expectations — but there is still more than an estimated 140,000 square feet of open retail, restaurant and commercial space on Main Street. According to Reno County’s property records, the estimated value of these empty properties that are owned by private residents is $1.4 million, while businesses own another $1.6 million in empty storefronts.
Source: Hutch News

The city of Topeka wants to hear your voice in the search for a new city manager. A survey has been shared to the city website where residents can answer questions and guide the governing body on what qualifications they want to see in the next city manager. The governing body was to begin to preview the responses Friday, and the survey will end on May 13.
Source: CJonline

The City of Lawrence is seeking feedback from community members on two proposed changes to the city’s governmental structure, as city leaders consider adding a question to the November election ballot. One of those changes would see a nonpartisan mayor elected directly to a four-year term, a change from the current arrangement where the commission chooses one of its own members each year to serve a one-year term as mayor. The other would create six voting districts in Lawrence, bumping the size of the commission up from five to six members, each serving staggered four-year terms.
Source: LJWorld.com

Following a vote of approval from the Douglas County Commission on Wednesday night, regulations for possible future solar farms in the county are now official. … those regulations set specific limits for elements like the maximum size of a solar farm — 1,000 acres — and how far they must be set back from roads, homes and other structures. With the commission’s approval, solar energy firms and others wishing to develop solar farms here will be able to file applications for conditional use permits.
Source: LJWorld.com

Major changes are being considered at the state’s pension fund, ones that could impact its fiscal outlook and relations with the Legislature — even as lawmakers voted to add $1 billion to its coffers. The KPERS Board of Trustees is weighing a controversial decision to reduce the estimated profit generated by the pension fund’s investments, a metric dubbed the assumed rate of return. Kansas currently projects its investments will bring in 7.75% each year. Officials voted to reduce the assumed rate of return in 2016, dropping it from 8% previously. But even with that move, Kansas has the highest assumed rate of return in the country, according to data compiled by the National Association of State Retirement Administrators.
Source: Salina Journal