Municipal News & Jobs

The FOMC voted not to raise interest rates from their anchor near zero, a move also expected by the market. The tie between interest rates and tapering is a vital one, and the statement stressed that investors should not view the reduction in purchases as a signal that rate hikes are imminent. “We don’t think it’s time yet to raise interest rates,” Powell said. “There is still ground to cover” before the Fed reaches its economic goals. He added he wants to see the labor market “heal further, and we have very good reasons to think that will happen as the delta variant declines, which it’s doing now.”
Source: CNBC

The real news out of the Federal Reserve on Wednesday was not in what it did, but in what Chair Jerome Powell didn’t do. … The thing that Mr. Powell didn’t do was give any hint that persistently high inflation in recent months was leading him to rethink his patient approach to raising the Fed’s interest rate target. Rather, he repeated his longstanding belief that high inflation was mostly caused by disruptions in global supply networks and other ripple effects of the pandemic — problems that the Fed can’t do much about.
Source: NY Times

The citizens of Salina have made their voices heard and voted yes to enact a new ordinance in the city. The ordinance, which will limit the Salina City Commission’s power to impose restrictions on businesses and citizens during a declared state of emergency, was passed by a 5,005 to 3,809 vote Tuesday night. Though a majority of voters chose yes, the ordinance still has the possibility of not being enacted. In addition to placing it on the ballot following a petition, the city commission also sent the ordinance to the Saline County District Court for summary judgement.
Source: Salina Journal

It appears the Reno County Commission will expand to five members after nearly 54% of Reno County voters casting ballots approved the change on Tuesday. But, while the election outcome was clear, when and how the change occurs may be a subject of future debate. Under a plan adopted by the current county commission which put the issue on the ballot, the expansion won’t physically occur until 2023, when the two new seats are filled. That’s because the commissioners wanted to fill them with candidates running for election, rather than the governor appointing them, as is the standard practice.
Source: Hutch News

Garden Rapids at The Big Pool is now an award winning pool. Jennifer Cunningham, Garden City assistant city manager, said the pool was awarded the World Waterpark Association’s Leading Edge award at the Garden City Commission meeting Monday. Cunningham said she didn’t realize how big of a deal the award was until she and Aaron Stewart, Garden City Parks and Recreation director, got to the WWA’s annual Symposium & Trade Show, which ran from Oct. 19-22 in San Antonio, Texas. All of the other projects on the slate cost between $30 million and $50 million, one of them was in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which looked like something out of a magazine, Cunningham said. Garden City was the only municipality receiving this award.
Source: GC Telegram

Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday agreed to use the gymnasiums of two city recreation centers for overnight shelter of the homeless, despite the city’s fire chief expressing concerns about the safety of the idea. Commissioners at their weekly meeting unanimously approved a plan to use the Community Building, 115 W. 11th St., and the East Lawrence Recreation Center, 1245 E. 15th Street, to each house up to 75 people experiencing homelessness during cold winter nights. The plan, though, required the city to temporarily suspend portions of the city’s fire code meant to protect life and safety, and Fire Chief Shaun Coffey told commissioners he didn’t support the plan due to those changes.
Source: LJWorld.com.

The Barton County Commission Tuesday morning agreed to help fund Great Bend Economic Development Inc. in the amount of $250,000 in a decision hailed by commissioners as a historic cooperative effort between the county and the City of Great Bend. “Today marks a special day in our community,” said District 3 Commissioner Shawn Hutchinson. “For the first time in recent history, Barton County is joining forces with the City of Great Bend and Great Bend Economic Development to develop a countywide initiative focused on growth.” The city already funds GBED for $250,000. Now the county will jump in at the same level.
Source: Great Bend Tribune

Construction of a proposed multiuse trail along the GVI drainage ditch north of Kisiwa Village Road will not proceed, city leaders agreed Tuesday after the city’s parks director confirmed the city did not own sufficient right-of-way to construct it as planned and a landowner to the north was not willing to sell. To proceed without buying the land would require altering the drainage ditch or building a retaining wall, which Park Director Justin Combs said was cost-prohibitive, or using eminent domain to take the land, which none of the city council members expressed support for.
Source: Hutch News

The KMU Executive Committee has named Brad Mears as Interim Executive Director when Colin Hansen steps away from the association in early January. Hansen is joining the Kansas Power Pool (KPP) on February 1 as the agency’s CEO/General Manager. Mears has been with KMU since 2007 and has served as the organization’s Assistant Executive Director since 2014. In that capacity, he has been involved in both the strategic positioning and day-to-day operation of the association.
Source: KMU Dispatch.

KDHE data through Saturday show case rates have been falling across the state for the past eight weeks while positive test rates have remained mostly steady. School-aged children — especially those too young to get vaccinated — have the highest case rates and positive test rates of any age group. Kansas and all of its counties have either “high” or “substantial” community spread, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The improving indicators now contrast with last year’s fall wave, when Kansas was in the midst of its worst surge of the coronavirus pandemic. Many schools were forced to move online only as the virus sickened students and staff.
Source: Dodge Globe

Residents heard more details Monday about a proposed redesign of the city’s bus routes that includes an Uber-like “microtransit” option. Lawrence Transit has proposed two options for a long-awaited redesign of the city’s bus routes and held the first public meeting Monday to present the proposals and get input from residents. Transportation consultants explained that both proposals use traditional routes complemented by a microtransit service that uses a van or a smaller bus that riders can request on demand.
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.

Lawrence city leaders will soon consider suspending certain building and fire codes to enable the city to use two recreation centers to provide overnight shelter during the winter for up to 150 people experiencing homelessness. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider a resolution to temporarily suspend enforcement of certain provisions of the city’s land development code, international building code and international fire code from Nov. 3 to March 31 to allow the recreation centers to be used as emergency overnight shelters during that time period.
Source: LJWorld.com.

The gap between yields on shorter- and longer-term Treasurys narrowed at month’s end, reflecting the tension between investors’ expectations that interest rates will climb and their concerns about the prospects for longer-term growth. Yields on longer-term Treasurys, which tend to fall when investors expect cooling economic growth, have retreated since approaching their 2021 highs earlier in October. The slide came after new data showed tepid growth and lingering inflationary pressures, intensifying some investors’ expectations that the Federal Reserve will hasten interest-rate increases, slowing the economy. Yields on shorter-term Treasurys, meanwhile, have continued to rise. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which tends to climb when investors expect rates to rise, settled at new yearly highs throughout the past week.
Source: Wall Street Journal

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.