Municipal News & Jobs

Kansas is the only state or local government to pass a plan to fund a Kansas City Chiefs or Royals stadium project. Dysfunction in the Missouri General Assembly might also mean the Show Me State has nothing to offer. A last-minute plan by Gov. Mike Kehoe to help finance stadium projects for the Royals and Chiefs wasn’t even debated in the Senate. Missouri lawmakers return June 2 for a special session to, among other things, pass a stadium proposal. But as it stands now, Kansas is in the driver’s seat to get, in theory, both the Royals and Chiefs. Notably, an affiliate of the Royals recently purchased a mortgage in Overland Park secured by the Aspiria campus, which is at 119th Street and Nall Avenue.
Source: Johnson County Post

The city of Westwood has bought more time for a new plan to emerge to repurpose the old Westwood View Elementary School property off Rainbow Boulevard. Still, it remains to be seen whether some residents’ hopes the school site can become part of a larger park will come to fruition.
Source: Johnson County Post

The Overland Park City Council on Monday unanimously approved a resolution that names the Johnson County Post’s print edition as an official city newspaper. The move clears the way for Overland Park to begin publishing legal notices in the Post, which has the biggest community news audience in Johnson County, reaching approximately 200,000 users each month.
Source: Johnson County Post

The first of many public discussions about a new billion-dollar project in Overland Park will kick off next month. Global engineering firm Black & Veatch proposed a redevelopment plan for its headquarters and the surrounding area including multiple forms of housing, retail and a park. The first public hearing — scheduled for July 7 at 7:30 p.m. — will focus on tax incentives and creating a community improvement district for the proposed area, which could add special taxes to pay for special services or upgrades in the district, located off 115th Street and Lamar Avenue.
Source: Homepage

Clay Center was incorporated 150 years ago on June 11th, 1875. To celebrate the town’s 150th birthday, this year’s Piotique theme will be “Stars, Stripes, & Small-Town Pride.” The event will take place on Saturday, September 27th.
Source: KCLY Radio

Round after round of rain led to widespread flooding in south central and eastern Kansas on Tuesday. Water pooled on roads as drivers tried to make it through, only to stall their cars out. One part of Wichita that always floods is Bleckley Drive. Tuesday was no different. The city is currently working to fix the issue, but many people got stranded in high water, including a woman in her 80s. Right in the middle of the storm, cars were stranded in every direction. The Wichita Fire Department moved boats in to rescue those trapped in unreachable cars. The water sometimes flooded up through the windshields, and people were still driving through.
Source: KSN-TV

Tuesday’s flooding prompted evacuations in Butler County. There have been evacuations in southwest El Dorado, with firefighters going from house to house by boat to pull people out of their homes. Even a senior living center was evacuated. As of 10 p.m., the rain has mostly died down, but waters are still high north of El Dorado. Cars on the streets look more like ships on the ocean. With the raging rapids on what used to be Main Street, reaching homes further down the hill is almost impossible without boats.
Source: KSN-TV

Wichita’s Intrust Bank Arena is punching above its weight, ranking as the 18th busiest arena in the world among venues of its size, according to Billboard Magazine’s Midyear 2025 Report. Among arenas with a capacity between 10,001 and 15,000, Intrust also ranked 10th in the continental U.S., thanks to strong ticket sales from October 2024 to March 2025.
Source: KSN-TV

A Manhattan-based development company is setting its sights on a small town in rural north-central Kansas this year where it plans to inject life into some aging historic structures. Tyler Holloway with Frontier Development Group (FDG) has some big ideas for downtown Marysville. Specifically, he and his workers hope to transform a block of historic structures tied to the local Koester family into new living areas for local tenants called the Broadway Lofts.
Source: KSNT 27 News

City leaders are looking to put $291,000 more into Hotel Topeka. Following two executive sessions in a special meeting on Monday, the Topeka Development Corporation decided it will move forward with requesting another round of funding. Since the city owns the hotel, it is required to make up for any operational losses from Hotel Topeka. At the end of last year, the TDC approved the budget with a net operating loss estimated at $870,000. Since Hotel Topeka is not generating enough revenue to cover its expenses, the city needs to invest more money into the hotel to help make up the deficit.
Source: KSNT 27 News

Despite hearing from more than a dozen people in opposition, Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday voted 3-1 to stop livestreaming their meetings on YouTube. The Kansas Legislature this session passed a change to the Kansas Open Meetings Act (in HB 2134) to state that “A public body or agency that voluntarily elects to live stream their meeting on television, the internet or any other medium shall ensure that all aspects of the open meeting are available through the selected medium for the public to observe.” The law goes into effect July 1.
Source: The Lawrence Times

University of Kansas and state legislative leadership broke ground on major renovations at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center near Hutchinson on May 23, part of a bold campus master plan to support its competency-based curriculum and to expand programs to meet the training needs of partners in public safety.
Source: KU News

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of AA rated bond trades reported to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA® system. 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.

Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday will consider adopting a resolution to no longer livestream their meetings on YouTube rather than stream the entire meetings, including the general public comment periods. The Kansas Legislature this session passed a change to the Kansas Open Meetings Act (in HB 2134) to state that “A public body or agency that voluntarily elects to live stream their meeting on television, the internet or any other medium shall ensure that all aspects of the open meeting are available through the selected medium for the public to observe.” The law goes into effect July 1.
Source: The Lawrence Times

Two new firefighters are set to join the Pittsburg Fire Department.   After two weeks of hands-on and classroom academy training, Aaron Ruth and Rendan Russell completed their final exercise on Friday.
Source: – Latest Stories

Wichita police officers Donald Bailey and Shawn Isham were watching a suspected drug house in 2020 when Gina Wilson parked a vehicle in the driveway, entered the residence, reappeared a few minutes later and drove away. The officers followed Wilson before pulling her over on Greenfield Street, allegedly for twice failing to properly use a turn signal. Wilson denied committing the traffic infractions, but informed officers she didn’t have a valid driver’s license. What happened next as Wilson stood on the curb with police officers was closely examined by the Sedgwick County District Court, Kansas Court of Appeals and Kansas Supreme Court. In the end, Wilson lost her bid to exclude evidence of a drug offense and the state’s highest court exposed a disagreement regarding constitutional rights of individuals subjected to searches and seizures by law enforcement.
Source: The Lawrence Times

Merriam city leaders are assessing whether to tear down its entire historic downtown as it mulls new flood risk management plans for Turkey Creek nearby. For nearly 25 years, the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been working on flood risk mitigation efforts along Turkey Creek, which runs along the border of the downtown area.
Source: Johnson County Post

The Olathe Police Department is moving forward with plans to build a new police shooting range near Interstate 35 and 167th Street, after receiving the city council’s approval earlier this month. The Olathe City Council approved rezoning to make way for the new shooting range at its meeting on May 6.
Source: Johnson County Post

When Derek Buckridge rides a mountain bike down a trail through the woods, there’s a type of reverie that comes with putting all of his focus toward staying on two wheels. “You just kind of get lost in that blissfulness of nature and the adrenaline,” he said. “I get that (feeling) with trail building too.” As a construction supervisor for the Johnson County Park & Recreation District, that’s the type of feeling he wants to recreate for others as he supervises the building of biking and hiking trails across Johnson County. In his role with JCRPD, Buckridge helps volunteers with a local nonprofit Urban Trail Co. build and maintain the county’s system of single-track trails used by both hikers and mountain bikers.
Source: Johnson County Post

The Geary County Food Pantry officially opened its new facility to the public on Thursday, May 29th, welcoming a long line of guests eager to access food resources. Located in Junction City, the new 3,800-square-foot building, built by Hutton Construction, more than doubles the size of the previous location.
Source: KCLY Radio