Kansas Municipal News
Students building bridges across the American divide (Dodge City featured on CBS Sunday Morning)
High school grads participating in the American Exchange Project are sent on a free, week-long trip to a hometown very different from their own – crossing boundaries of blue and red states to find grey areas of common ground…. Under a nearly full moon in the unpolluted darkness of the night sky over Kansas, a group of student stargazers sat in a circle taking turns on the telescope. “It’s weird. Like, some craters are super-tiny,” said one. It was a bonding experience that was out of this world, especially given that only a day before they were as foreign to each other as the lunar landscape itself. Franely Rodriquez, a Dodge City, Kansas, native, said, “Politically and just morally, what we believe is completely different. So I was like, are we gonna get along?” Kaya Woo, who hails from just north of Berkeley, California, said, “Everyone, they’re like, ‘What’s your summer plans?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m going to Kansas.’ And without fail everyone was like, ‘Why? Why would you go to Kansas?'” Why? The better question may be why not.
Source: Sunday Morning – CBSNews.com
Salina hosts state tennis for first time in 20 years. A community effort made it possible
Salina will host top high school tennis players from across the state this weekend for the first time in two decades. The Kansas State High School Activities Association’s 5A Girls State Tennis Tournament will be held in Salina for the first time since 2003, after the completion of a new state of the art tennis facility in town made it possible. For at least five years, the city, school district and community partners have been working on getting local tennis facilities up to a higher standard. The culmination of this effort resulted in updates to the Salina South tennis courts ahead of this season, as well as 12 new courts at a facility that has become the crown jewel of the Salina tennis community.
Source: Salina Journal
Overland Park Police completes international trust building initiative
Overland Park has taken a number of steps aimed at building trust in the community, all outlined in an international police pledge. The Trust Building Campaign initiative, which the department embarked on earlier this year, is through the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Despite completing the pledge, the Overland Park Police Department has faced scrutiny for what some have alleged are untrustworthy actions, particularly in regards to its handling of an officer who shot and killed a teenager in a mental health crisis in 2018.
Source: Shawnee Mission Post
Lane County using unique method to address housing issues
There has been a push in Lane County to build more homes, and the Lane County Community Foundation has an interesting way of achieving that goal. The foundation and the “Dighton Builds The Future” initiative are fundraising for the efforts with a $70,000 match from the Patterson Family Foundation. Logan Campbell, the executive director for the Lane County Community Foundation, said housing has always been an issue, but now, they are losing teachers and workers because of it. The method for solving the housing issue? If you build it, they will come, Campbell said.
Source: KSN-TV
Quindaro Ruins in Kansas City, Kansas, are one step closer to National Historic Landmark status
Before local preservationists focused attention on the decaying ruins of the town of Quindaro in the 1980s, the overgrown and largely forgotten site, hidden on the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River, was nearly turned into a landfill. Since then, community members and legislators have pushed for official recognition and the resources that come with it. Preservation advocates got one step closer to their goal on Tuesday. Three U.S. House representatives, two Democrats and one Republican, introduced a bill to further protect the ruins in northeast Kansas City, Kansas. Sharice Davids (D-KS), along with Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO) and Jake LaTurner (R-KS), introduced the bill Tuesday that would make the Quindaro site one of 2,600 National Historic Landmarks across the country.
Source: KCUR News
Stevens County Fire Department teams up for Fire Prevention Week
The Stevens County Fire Department is teaming up with the National Fire Protection Association® (NFPA®) — the official sponsor of Fire Prevention WeekTM (FPW) for more than 100 years — to promote this year’s FPW campaign, “Cooking safety starts with YOU. Pay attention to fire preventionTM.” The campaign works to educate everyone about simple but important actions they can take when cooking to keep themselves and those around them safe.
Source: Hugoton Hermes News
Kansas on track for $2.6 billion state revenue surplus, $1.6 billion stash in rainy-day fund
Kansas budget director Adam Proffitt said Tuesday the state government was on track to meet revenue projections necessary to create a $2.6 billion ending balance in the current fiscal year and reinforce the state’s financial position with $1.6 billion in a rainy day emergency account. He told participants at Washburn University’s economic outlook conference the state generated $2.2 billion in revenue during the initial three months of the fiscal year. That was a 0.5% or $10 million above the estimate issued in April. If all goes as assumed, he said, the state would spend only $9.4 billion of $10.3 billion in revenue flowing into the state general fund during the year ending June 30, 2024.
Source: Derby Informer | News
Winfield City Lake at lowest level since 1992, new way to track levels
Winfield City Lake is at its lowest level since 1992. The City of Winfield says this is because of the extended drought conditions in Cowley County and the Upper Timber Creek Watershed Area. “The City of Winfield addresses its short-term water shortage problems through a series of stages based on conditions of supply and demand with accompanying triggers, goals and actions,” said Winfield. “Each stage is more stringent in water use than the previous stage since water supply conditions are more deteriorated.” The City Manager is authorized by ordinance to implement the appropriate conservation measures. There is a new way to track the water level at Winfield City Lake. Data is added weekly, if not more often, to the new tool.
Source: KSN-TV
Wichita has 9 active TIF districts — where they are, how they’re performing
Tax increment financing, one of the tools in the city’s economic-development toolbox, has supported several notable commercial projects locally. The Wichita area has nine active TIF districts that have helped finance a range of projects, including the construction of Riverfront Stadium, the renovations at Union Station and a housing development in Riverside, among others. So, what is a TIF? TIF districts are designed to fund redevelopment costs in blighted areas of the city through the incremental increase in property taxes that occurs over time because of the investment. The incremental increase is used to reimburse bonds that were sold to finance the project, or to reimburse the developer on a pay-as-you-go basis. The funding can go toward costs such as land acquisition, site preparation, infrastructure, parking structures and other related costs.
Source: Wichita Business Journal
Panasonic details its hiring to date and future plans for De Soto plant
Panasonic is ramping up hiring for its $4 billion electric-vehicle battery factory in De Soto. To date, the company has hired 70 people for the plant and has filled out its senior leadership team, said locally based Kristen Walters, vice president of human resources. The newly hired employees are roughly a 50/50 split between area residents and outside hires, she said. New hires and open positions are across the board, and include areas such as human resources, finance, supply chain and logistics, procurement, production/operations and engineering. Some engineers will be training in Nevada and Japan before working at the De Soto plant. The company also is collaborating with area universities to train the future workforce it needs.
Source: Kansas City Business Journal
What’s next for Wichita’s housing market?
Wichita’s housing shortage will likely get worse in 2024, according to a new forecast from the Wichita State Center for Real Estate. Home prices are expected to stay high, and fewer units will be sold next year than in 2023, said Stanley Longhofer, the center’s founding director who pens annual analyses of Kansas’ major real estate markets. At least that’s his best guess, based on local and national economic indicators. “Housing markets have been so crazy over the past few years, it can be hard to see through the distortions to understand what ‘normal’ really is,” said Longhofer, who will present his findings at the Kansas Association of Realtors Annual Conference in Manhattan on Thursday. The center projects that home sales in Wichita metro area will end the year down by 10.4% with 9,470 units sold and that that figure will drop another 80 units in 2024.
Source: KLC Journal
Municipal Bond Trends for October 5, 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.
Wichita East High School celebrates 100 years
Wichita East High School is celebrating 100 years with celebrations and events on Friday and Saturday. The event is open to the public. “We’ve got band show, choir show, dancers our jazz band,” Principal Sara Richardson said. “We have self-guided tours going on and just kind of a fun atmosphere all the way up until three o’clock that really everyone and anyone in the community is invited to.” Wichita High School opened in 1873, but on Oct. 8, 1923, Wichita High School opened at Douglas and Grove. It then became Wichita High School East when Wichita High School North opened in 1929. “We take a lot of pride in being the original, the heart of the city, heart of the community,” Richardson said. “Our current kids, the legacy of multiple generational families that come through here, are very excited to celebrate their family’s history, their school’s history, and then we’re doing, I think a nice job of bridging the gap between the past and the present and then on to the future.”
Source: KSN
Sedgwick County working on AI policy for employees
Sedgwick County is adding employee guidelines for using artificial intelligence. Their information technology department met with commissioners Tuesday to discuss the artificial intelligence policy in the works. Chief Information Officer Mike Elpers explains their concern is on Generative AI, which takes in information to create content in the form of text or images. The policy will help prevent issues with security and inaccurate information. While AI is growing rapidly in professional industries, “There’s no guidance on how to use it in business,” said Elpers. “It’s going to be a very good time to sit down and understand what AI does, what it can do, and what the positive and negative really are,” explains Bill Ramsey, CEO of Soteria Solutions.
Source: KSN
State tourism magazine features true crime exhibit at Finney County Historical Museum
The True Crime Exhibit at the Finney County Historical Museum in Garden City is featured in the latest edition of Kansas! Magazine. The magazine’s fifth edition of 2023, just released, includes a collection of articles under the topic of “Notorious, a chronicle of the state’s extraordinary criminals,” with three pages devoted to the exhibit. The display, which opened in 2018, focuses on the way local and area law enforcement agencies ended the crime spree of the Finney County-based Fleagle Gang in the 1920s; and brought justice after the 1959 murders of the Herb and Bonnie Clutter family in Holcomb, which led to the ground-breaking novel, “In Cold Blood” by the late Truman Capote. The new article by Cecilia Harris was published with photos by Julie Mead, as well as images from the exhibit and the museum’s files, resulting from a visit the writer and photographer made to the museum earlier in 2023.
Source: Greater Garden City
Great Bend Police Department and Barton team up for mutual benefit
Christian Rivas wanted real-life experience in law enforcement before he sought to attain his long-time goal of teaching college-level criminal justice. He was able to get that experience at the Great Bend Police Department (GBPD) and now is the instructor/coordinator for the Criminal Justice Program at Barton Community College. “I am grateful to the police department for the opportunity to be part of the real world of law enforcement,” said Rivas, a long-time Great Bend resident. “I am so fortunate they were willing to invest in me even though everyone knew my ultimate goal was to teach. I know the value of education and want to give back to students.” Rivas retains his law-enforcement commission as a part-time officer and is credentialed as a hostage-crisis negotiator Level I. He teaches 20 students in four classes at Barton while coordinating the program.
Source: Barton Community College
Important link between Sumner and Cowley Co. has reopened
A bridge replacement project on Kansas Highway 55 between Belle Plaine and Udall is finally complete. The barricades and signs were brought down Thursday afternoon, and the road is now open for traffic. Construction to replace the bridge began in September of 2022. During the bridge replacement, traffic between the two communities was detoured at U.S. Highway 81 up to K-53, east on K-53 through Mulvane to K-15, and south on K-15 down to Udall. That is 23.6 miles, with an average drive time of 28 minutes, according to Google Maps. Now that the bridge has been replaced, the distance is back down to just 9.3 miles. The new bridge is much wider with new 8-foot shoulders.
Source: KSN
With limited housing options, city-owned houses draw interest in Wichita
At a time when affordable housing is scarce, the city of Wichita hopes that the sale of homes once used for public housing will provide more options for prospective homeowners. Over the past week, the city offered open houses for the first 13 homes it is selling after receiving permission from the federal government. The city announced in 2022 that it would split up its 352 single-family public housing units into several groups and sell them. The units come at a time when buyers face a tight market. A report by the Wichita State Center for Real Estate found that sales of houses are down, but prices will continue to rise. The report found that a lack of available housing is the main factor behind these issues. It’s hoped that the sale of the units would “add back to the housing stock for homeowners,” Megan Lovely, the communications manager for the City of Wichita, said in an email.
Source: KSN
Prairie Village’s housing recommendations have split the city
When it comes to housing in Johnson County, all eyes are currently on Prairie Village. The Kansas City suburb — one of the most affluent in the county — is at a crossroads about what role city government should play in addressing a lack of attainable housing stock in the city. Over a period of months, Prairie Village went from scratching the surface of what it could realistically accomplish to being caught in a fierce debate about who belongs and what types of housing make sense for the landlocked city with very little undeveloped land remaining. Last summer, after the county released its 2021 housing study that urged cities to take action to address the regional housing crisis, Prairie Village became the first city in Johnson County to bring tangible solutions to the table.
Source: Shawnee Mission Post
Overland Park sets $15 minimum wage for city workers. How does it compare in the metro?
Last week, Overland Park raised its minimum wage for city employees to $15 per hour — a move that city officials touted as a way to remain competitive and retain city workers. The city government is currently hiring for 71 open positions, according to its jobs page. Most of the jobs impacted will be in the city’s parks department, although some other positions will see their pay increase as well. Overland Park is the latest city in the metro to adopt a minimum wage for its government employees that’s higher than the statewide minimum. Kansas City and Kansas City, Kansas, also pay their employees at least $15 per hour, while Lee’s Summit has an even higher wage floor. A wage of $15 per hour is more than double Kansas’ minimum of $7.25, which is also the federal minimum. This new pay floor is still below the living wage for Johnson County.
Source: The Kansas City Star