Kansas Municipal News
Emporia discusses rental registrations, vacant property ordinance
City commissioners were undecided on how to proceed with possible rental registrations and updates to the vacant property ordinance on Wednesday afternoon. According to the Director of Building and Neighborhood Development, Kory Krause, the city last discussed rental registration “364 days ago,” but it has come up several times over the last few years. Krause said a rental registration program would help ensure safer rental properties and improve accountability of rental units within the City of Emporia. “We’re still having problems,” Krause said. “We do have issues with rental properties. We’ve had some bad landlords here in town.” He mentioned that about 51% of the single-family homes in Emporia are rental properties. The problem arises when people purchasing the properties aren’t transparent about their intentions and aren’t completing work up to code. “What they’re doing is buying them, flipping them, and renting them out,” Krause said. “Sometimes we don’t hear about it. We’ve come across shoddy work. … Most of these are unpermitted.” This means people are doing the work without pulling the appropriate permits with the city first.
Source: Emporia Gazette
Power back on for most of Emporia after ‘equipment failure’
The lights are back on for nearly 3,000 Evergy customers in Emporia after an “equipment failure” took power offline for more than two hours Thursday afternoon. The outage, caused by a downed power line, knocked power out for 2,739 customers in Emporia according to the Evergy Outage Map. The outage was first reported just before 3:30 p.m. The outage stretched along U.S. Highway 50 from just west of Prairie Street and east to Sylvan Street, along parts of 12th Avenue, down Commercial Street, and south on Highway 99 past the David Traylor Zoo. As of 5:40 p.m., about 56 customers were still reported to be without power and Evergy was “reassessing” the situation.
Source: Emporia Gazette
Proposed overnight homeless shelter in Butler County causes controversy over location
For years some in the Butler County community of El Dorado have had no choice but to live on the street. But that could change when the El Dorado City Commissioners vote on a special permit for a proposed new building. The Butler County Homeless initiative applied for the new building. However, the Planning Commission recommended to the City Commission 7 to 1 to deny the application. But one homeless man we spoke to could use an overnight shelter in El Dorado. “I had a shower today, the first time I had a shower in three months,” said Richard Clark. Clark has been on the streets in El Dorado since he was 29. Now six years later, he talks about how this all began. “My family just pretty much disowned me, I lost a lot of love for them. My dad died before my 28th birthday, he died in 2016 and ever since then, I’ve been going downhill,” said Clark. Then came another tragedy in April. “My mom passed away this year and I didn’t even get to go to her funeral,” said Clark. Now, yet another setback for Clark and others like him. City Planning Commission members recently rejected a plan to turn this vacant building on West Central Avenue into El Dorado’s only homeless center. It came after complaints from residents who didn’t want it so close to their homes. The head of the group that wants to open the shelter, The Butler County Homeless Initiative says she thinks the fears are unwarranted. “Homeless people are not dangerous people, they are unhoused people,” said Debbie Hill, executive director of the Butler County Homeless Initiative.
Source: KAKE – News
Plan would turn former Kansas prison into tourist attraction
It’s a place where thousands of men paid for their crimes. One Leavenworth County city hopes to rescue an old prison from the wrecking ball and turn it into a tourist destination and a testament to local history. City leaders in Lansing hope to save a large section of the Lansing Correctional Facility, the state’s oldest penitentiary, which has roots that date back to the 1860s. The Kansas Department of Corrections still uses some of the campus. Plans to demolish the old state pen may go on hold for history’s sake. “There’s so much history here. Just like they saved Alcatraz,” Debra Bates-Lamborn, president of the Lansing Historical Society, said. Bates-Lamborn supports a proposal to preserve the old prison, including some inmate cells and the prison auditorium, where country music legend Johnny Cash played a concert for inmates. “I think it gives people a place to come and see a prison in a prison town. For years, we’ve been known as a prison town,” Bates-Lamborn said. At one point in time, Leavenworth County had five prisons at different security levels. Historians here point to a widespread interest in tourism based on defunct penitentiaries. Nowadays, Jermaine Wilson is the mayor of nearby Leavenworth, Kansas. However, times were different for him in 2008, when he was sentenced to three years in the Lansing lockup after being convicted of drug possession. Thursday was his first return to the old prison since his release. Wilson now works for a prison ministry, helping counsel and guide active inmates.
Source: KSN-TV
Fort Scott officials working to maintain local ER access
Fort Scott officials are still working to make sure Bourbon County residents still have local access to an emergency room after December 20th. That’s the date Ascension Via Christi has given for when they’ll cease operations of the emergency room in Ft. Scott. Fort Scott Mayor Matthew Wells said they’ve been working with U.S. Senator Jerry Moran’s office to give the current facility the Rural Emergency Health Care (REH) designation. When an eligible facility converts to an REH, it allows them to provide emergency department services, observation care, and additional outpatient medical and health services that don’t exceed an annual per-patient average length of stay of 24 hours. Wells said without Moran’s bill, they may not be able to get the REH designation. “As everyone knows, it was stated that on December 27, 2020, if you’re not an active hospital, you would not be able to apply. That has put our hospital and up to 100 other, I’m told, in the position where they can’t reopen or apply for that REH designation,” said Wells. Wells adds they’ve been working with the county to ensure there’s an increase of EMS services and extra ambulances available, as well as ensuring the helipad stays completely operational. Wells adds they’ve been working with two different strategic health care initiative partners who believe they’ll be able to reopen the ER after the first of the year.
Source: KSNF/KODE
Topeka City Council votes to extend interim city manager’s contract
The Topeka City Council approved multiple items at its Dec. 5 meeting. City leaders voted to extend the contract of Interim City Manager Richard Nienstedt. He will stay in this position until a permanent city manager can be hired. Nienstedt has held the position since June, following the sudden departure and later termination of former City Manager Stephen Wade. The city has enlisted the help of a recruiting company from Texas to fill the role. The council also signed off on a street project near the Oakland neighborhood. The voted unanimously to spend $1 million for mill and overlay work on Northeast River Road between Northeast Crane and Northeast Emmett streets. The work must be completed in 2024 so the road can be used as a detour while the Polk Quincy Viaduct construction work closes the Kansas Avenue and Topeka Boulevard bridges. This project will be funded by the city’s half-cent sales tax. The council also approved an amended version of the funding requested for the 2023 Alcohol and Drug grants. Topeka’s Special Alcohol and Drug (SAD) program requested $670,000 for programs across the city. Councilmembers approves Councilman Spencer Duncan’s motion to give PARS $169,000, the same funding it received in 2023, instead of the $131,000 recommended by the SAD committee. All participating agencies will now be funded through 2024 either the same or more than what the committee recommended.
Source: KSNT 27 News
Uniontown SD receives hydroponic farm from Leafy Green Farms
Last week the Uniontown district received a hydroponic farm from Leafy Green Farms. The district is partnering with Leafy Green Farms for five years to have a hydroponic farm classroom on campus so students can learn how to grow organic vegetables. This is a phase one initiative to place a hydroponic farm at ten schools in southeast Kansas. The project is a partnership between Leafy Green Farms and Community Green Farms. Leafy Green Farms is providing everything the school needs for the first three months of operations, including training, all equipment, seeds, and nutrients. Superintendent Vance Eden says they’re planning to use some of the produce in their food services. “We do plan on having it up and running at least the food service side of it in early January and then again we’ll have some community open house dates. And then also we’ll do the same thing in a similar scale for teachers, where teachers can come in and kind of see oh this is what it does, this is how it looks,” said Eden. Eden said their plan is to have an expert teach faculty and staff how to utilize the farm.
Source: KSNF/KODE
Municipal Bond Trends for December 7, 2023
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. 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.
Bel Aire finds manager at City Hall
Bel Aire looked no further than City Hall to find its next city manager. The city council on Dec. 5 chose current finance director and assistant city manager Ted Henry to replace Ty Lasher on April 1. Henry has served as the city’s finance director for seven years. Mayor Jim Benage said the governing body’s confidence in Henry and its familiarity with him made the decision not to spend money searching for other potential candidates an easy one. Lasher’s final day will be March 29, 2024. Lasher has been considering retirement since 2022 and was asked to give the city a six-month notice when he made the decision to step down. He gave that notice in early October. Lasher was hired by the city in 2007 after serving as city administrator in Cheney about six years. He was awarded the Buford Watson Excellence in Public Service award by the Kansas Association of City/County Managers in 2020.
Source: Ark Valley News
Matt Jensby to lead City of Kechi
Matt Jensby has been named Kechi’s new city administrator. Jensby replaces Kamme Sroufe following her resignation this fall. Jensby served as the police chief in Maize for 18 years after growing up in Valley Center. He is a 1990 Valley Center High School graduate and worked for the Valley Center Police Department for three years before transferring to Maize in 1996. Jensby said he witnessed incredible growth in Maize while working in the city and was inspired to pursue a second career in public administration.
Source: Ark Valley News
Committee working to revise Lawrence’s Land Development Code talks incentives, energy
While members of the Land Development Code Update Steering Committee didn’t take a look at any new sections of the revised rules for how Lawrence should grow on Thursday, they did participate in plenty of discussion about incentives and energy. … Those topics, in part, included a discussion of what types of zoning incentives could work in Lawrence. That resulted in a decently-sized list, including ideas like providing more options for developers through less linear incentives, waiving system development charges for affordable housing projects and offsetting the costs for developers creating open spaces or other public amenities.
Source: LJWorld
Municipal Bond Trends for December 6, 2023
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. 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.
Johnson County might buy this $6M hotel to convert into a long-needed homeless shelter
Johnson County is considering spending $6.5 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding to purchase a Lenexa hotel to be converted into a permanent homeless shelter. It would be a major step forward to meet a growing need in Kansas’ most affluent and populous county, after years of debates and inaction. Next week, the Johnson County Board of Commissioners is expected to consider purchasing the Lenexa property at 9461 and 9471 Lenexa Drive, the site of La Quinta Inn and Suites off of Interstate 35.
Source: Joco 913 News
A Wichita young professional dreams of living downtown, but it’s tough to overcome high rents
Kyle Ritterbush is one of the young, entrepreneurial professionals Wichita politicians talk so much about wanting to keep. At just 20 years old, he started his video production business last year after graduating high school. He wants to grow it – hiring someone part-time, taking on bigger projects – all while here in Wichita. On the side, he pursues his dream of filmmaking through the city’s Tallgrass Film Festival. He’s currently working on a horror short film to submit next year. But there’s an obstacle to launching his career and becoming a fully fledged adult: moving out of his family’s home. … Due to inflation, increased home prices and a lack of new development in the past several years, rents in Wichita have grown steeply since the COVID pandemic. According to a 2023 report by NAI Martens, this past year alone saw an “aggressive increase” in rental rates: 10.2%, the highest in Wichita in the last decade.
Source: KLC Journal
Amazon’s Park City warehouse: Delivering millions of orders and community investment
The Amazon fulfillment center has already delivered millions of orders this year and it says the busy season just started. It’s been a busy year at the massive warehouse in Park City. 900 workers have been sorting through shelves as far as your eye can see and processed six and a half million orders this year. Manager Dillon Cole says busy season has only just begun. Cole says Amazon’s involvement in the community means a lot more than just fast deliveries. The company says it’s created more than 8,500 jobs across the state and invested $6.2 billion through infrastructure and employee compensation.
Source: Fox Kansas
Great Bend OKs local lake kayak rentals
Kayak rentals will come to Veterans Memorial Park and Stone Lake after the Great Bend City Council Monday night approved an agreement between the Great Bend Convention and Visitors Bureau along with the Great Bend Recreation Commission. The rental kiosks will be managed by Northville, Mich.-based Rent.Fun LLC. “This was a very, very big team effort,” CVB Director Christina Hayes said. The CVB received a grant of $12,200 to help pay $10,000 for this project and extra to help advertise and market them. The majority of this is taken care of and paid for by the GBRC. The activation fee of $26,000 for the five-year agreement and it will be split between the city and GBRC. The city will pay $10,000 (covered by the CVB grant) and GBRC will pay $16,000. There will be four units at Veterans Lake and four at Stone Lake under this master services agreement with Rent.Fun LLC. Now, the city and Rec Commission just have to pick a date to get things started.
Source: Great Bend Tribune
Zoning hearing set for Park City casino
Plans are moving forward on a second casino in Park City, according to The Ark Valley News, with Ruffin Properties officially applying for rezoning of the former Wichita Greyhound Park property northwest of the 77th North/Hydraulic intersection. A zoning hearing will be held Dec. 18. The zone change would shift the property from commercial to a combination entertainment/business district and allow the developer to apply for a special-use permit to construct the previously announced Golden Circle Casino, which would feature historical horse racing (similar to slot machines). Other plans for the property include construction of a bar, restaurant, dance hall, hotel and more.
Source: Derby Informer | Area
Wichita city council to vote on ‘retaliatory eviction’ ordinance
Incidents of retaliation against tenants by landlords are catching the eye of the Wichita city council. “We are aware of a couple of slum lords that continue to do these things,” says District 1 city council member Brandon Johnson. “And unfortunately, there’s only state law, but there’s no state enforcement. And that’s why we’re looking at trying to do something on the local level to give some form of municipal justice to this injustice.” The council is set to vote on a proposed ordinance to fine landlords found to be using retaliatory practices. The fine would begin at $250 on the first offense, and would continue to go up if the landlord kept retaliating. Nate Johnson with the city’s law department says, however, that this wouldn’t just be for retaliatory evictions. “Things like diminished services, increased rent, and all of that done in response to normally a request to make the place more habitable,” Johnson said. Brandon Johnson said that while the issue of retaliatory evictions is important, it’s only one of many problems with hosing in Wichita. “Hopefully, these types of ordinances will allow people to push back in a way that gets those slumlords to stop acting that way, or eventually get somebody who’s a better owner or manager of property to buy those properties from,” Johnson said. Johnson said that he intends to vote for this new ordinance at the full meeting on December 19th.
Source: KAKE – News
Macksville library program fills preschoolers with happiness
The Macksville City Library hosted 21 excited local preschool students in the new library addition recently to celebrate Kansas Reads to Preschoolers month. This initiative takes place each November as part of a statewide project through the State Library of Kansas to ensure that all public libraries in the state promote early literacy. The featured book for 2023, “My Heart Fills With Happiness,” by Monique Gray Smith, was a perfect read-aloud during Native American Heritage Month, with its spotlight on Native American family life and culture. Thanks to a $400 donation from the Midwest Energy Community Fund, the Macksville City Library was able to offer some extra special activities for the local Pre-K students to enjoy. After listening to the story, everyone brainstormed and shared something that made them happy. From baby cats and family, to basketball and reading books, the list was long (and could have gone on and on!). Then, we divided into three groups so students could decorate a bookmark with something that made them happy, “fill” their new scarecrow bear with stuffing, and create a nametag for their bear. Some of the many unique names chosen were: Teddy, Clifford, Heart, Bob, and Tree. Finally, we all sampled some Bannock (Native American bread) that was mentioned in the story. Made with only flour, salt, baking powder, canola oil and water, it was a chance to try something new.
Source: Great Bend Tribune
Arkansas City police chief Eric Burr retiring after three decades in law enforcement
After nearly three decades serving in various capacities with the Arkansas City Police Department, Chief Eric Burr has announced his retirement, effective January 1. Burr has been with the department since 1996, initially as a patrol officer, and then working his way up to becoming the D.A.R.E. Officer for Arkansas City schools, detective, sergeant, lieutenant, accreditation manager for CALEA (the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies), and support services captain before becoming Chief in 2021. Burr began his journey in law enforcement in 1993, when he worked for the City as an assistant code enforcement officer while also attending Butler County Community College. He then started his career in Anthony in 1995, and attended the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center the following year. “During my career, I most enjoyed teaching students in the classroom about making good decisions and staying safe by delivering the D.A.R.E. program. The relationships I was able to build with students and staff had a positive effect on me. So much so that I recently went back to the classroom to teach one last time before retirement. The concepts taught in the D.A.R.E. program help students build a framework for avoiding dangerous situations in the future,” Chief Burr said. In addition, Burr founded the Suicide Prevention of Cowley County Coalition, and is an advocate for prevention work with youth through the Hope Squad program, as well as being a Big Brother through the Bigs in Blue program.
Source: KAKE – News