Kansas Municipal News
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
How a movie shot 40 years ago in Kansas changed the trajectory of the nuclear arms race
More than 100 million people gathered around their television sets 40 years ago to watch a mushroom cloud rise over a Midwestern town. The ABC broadcast of “The Day After” was one of the most watched television movies of all time. The film won two Emmy Awards, was nominated for 10 others and is widely credited with changing public opinion about the arms race during the Cold War. The grim portrayal of the aftermath of a full-scale nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union shook up audiences at the time. The message even reached then-President Ronald Reagan. “It has Lawrence Kansas wiped out in a nuclear war with Russia,” the former actor later wrote in his diary. “It is powerfully done — all $7 mil. worth. It’s very effective & left me greatly depressed.” A new documentary directed by Jeff Daniels details the making of the film. Liberty Hall in Lawrence will host a screening and discussion of the documentary, “Television Event,” on Monday evening. It explores the 1983 movie’s impact and legacy, and looks back at the many challenges the cast and crew faced during filming. Daniels’ new work also digs into the many battles with network censors and politicians as the film was being made. Filmed on-location in Lawrence and Kansas City, the movie made use of more than 2,000 local residents who played extras alongside well-known actors like Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams, and John Lithgow.
Source: KCUR News
Wichita approves spending to ensure there aren’t any lead pipes in water system
The City of Wichita is taking an inventory of its water system. City Council members approved spending nearly half a million dollars to finish that process. One goal is to make sure there aren’t any lead pipes in the city’s water system. In 2021, the EPA introduced requirements water utilities have to meet by October of next year. That includes requiring cities to identify which pipes have lead in them. The City of Wichita has started looking for lead pipes that might still be in the system. The City has been replacing lead lines since the 90s as they found them but has never had a complete inventory. The program manager with Public Works and Utilities says they need to hire outside consultants to finish the inventory and create a plan to replace any lead lines they find. They’ll also be testing for lead in running water inside homes. “We want to make sure everything from the meter to the house is not lead, and that’s where the testing comes in,” said City Councilmember Brandon Johnson. Johnson says the city is focusing on older parts of town that are likely to include parts of Districts 1, 3, 4 and 6. The city is only required to replace lead pipes leading up to a home’s water meter. Anything past that is the responsibility of the homeowner. The city is also expanding the amount of testing it’s doing inside homes. Currently, 50 homes are being sampled every three years. That’s set to increase to 100 homes every six months.
Source: KSN-TV
Wichita to spend nearly $10 million to increase police pay, boost recruitment
Wichita Police Department officers are set to be among the best paid law enforcement officers in Kansas. The Wichita City Council approved nearly $10 million in unplanned pay hikes and bonuses over the next two years while increasing investment in a rewards program that police consulting firm Jensen Hughes said should be ended. In exchange, the Fraternal Order of Police has agreed to implement one Jensen Hughes recommendation, no longer requiring the city to let officers review an entire internal-investigation file before answering questions about their conduct. That change will remain in effect until the end of next year, when a new FOP contract is expected to be ratified by the City Council. The council last month delayed a vote on a $5,000 retention bonus for all commissioned officers, with a majority of the council siding with Mayor Brandon Whipple. The mayor said he would not vote for the bonuses unless they were presented alongside policy changes recommended by Jensen Hughes that aim to improve police culture. The new amendment to the FOP contract includes the $5,000 bonuses, which will cost the city at least $3.4 million. The bonuses are slated to go to eligible employees by Friday, Dec. 8, on top of a $1,000 retention bonus already scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023. Employees do not have to stay with the department beyond this week to receive the bonuses. Under the FOP contract approved in 2021, police officers were scheduled to receive a 1.5% raise in 2024. The new proposal will give them 13.27% raises effective Dec. 23.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Two equipment failures caused sewage water to pour into Wichita creek, spiking E. coli
Two failures at a Wichita sewage site caused 1.7 million gallons of sewage to overflow into a nearby creek, spiking the levels of E. coli in the water, Wichita Public Works and Utilities Director Gary Janzen said Tuesday. “There’s no public health risk expected but residents are being urged to stay out of the creek and pond areas and keep their pets away from the water,” he said. “There’s no public health risk to the city’s drinking water or anyone walking or living by the creek, nor is there any anticipated impact to aquatic life or local wildlife.” A resident reported the overflow of sewage Sunday morning. It happened in northeast Wichita. On Saturday, a pump failure at a sewer lift station west of North 127th Street East, near Founder Circle, caused a manhole to overflow and pour into Four Mile Creek, near the Redbud Path. The pump has been fixed and is working properly, he said. “To add to that … our alert system that would normally alert staff that there was a problem was also not working at the same time, resulting in this overflow, unfortunately,” Janzen said during a news conference.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Fitness installation planned for city park named after Wichita veteran
A park in Wichita’s North End named after a Hispanic veteran from the neighborhood is on track to be developed after sitting empty for 14 years. The park, at 25th Street and Wellington, will have fitness equipment, artificial turf and a flagpole to honor veterans. “I just know that the whole thing would mean a lot to my dad. Being a North Ender, a Hispanic and a veteran,” Patrick Garcia II said in a phone call. “That checks all the micro groups that one can be a part of and this thing would just put a really put a giant smile on his face because he liked spending time outside.” Patrick D. Garcia grew up in the area of 23rd Street and Park Place after moving from Garden City with his family. He served in the U.S. Army from 1968-70, then returned home to attend Wichita State University. His work in the public sector included being an assistant to former U.S. Rep. Daniel Glickman and a U.S. Department of Justice Immigration officer. He died in April 2000 at the age of 50 from complications of a brain tumor.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
100 electric scooters, child car seats, other items pulled from Arkansas River in Wichita
About 100 electric scooters, roughly 50 skateboards, child car seats, shopping carts, bicycles, light fixtures, speakers and other items were pulled from the Arkansas River near downtown Wichita last week. The city lowered the river roughly 2 feet to make “some minor modifications to the fish ladder/boat pass in order to reduce long term sediment build-up,” the city said in a news release. Veo took advantage of the lowered river to get out its rental scooters and other items. Veo operations manager Steven Miller said they also had volunteers from Boats & Bikes and Kansas Alliance for Wetlands and Streams help with the cleanup on Tuesday and Wednesday. They spent about 250 person hours. Miller said some of the scooters were several years old. There were also about 100 skateboard and a 12-foot chain link fence that they weren’t able to get to with a grapple hook. Walking out into the muddy slush would be nearly impossible, he said. “It’s not a scooter problem. It’s just a problem with bad actors doing bad things, and it’s unfortunate,” he said, adding he wishes he had an area of river like Wichita does where he lives in Oklahoma. “It’s such a pretty area to go out and enjoy time with your family and friends. I don’t know what drives people to do those kinds of things but it is just sad to see that people want to destroy the nice parts of the city and/or vandalize property. It’s just sad.” He said the scooters had been accumulating for as long as five years.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Frontenac’s new mayor and councilman get to work
As soon as they were sworn in, Steve Morrison and Nick Hansen got to work. Morrison begins his two-year term as mayor, replacing David Fornelli, while Hansen has taken Mike Snow’s position as a councilman for the First Ward for the next four years. First up on the agenda was approving payment of the first $750 annual membership fee in the Southeast Kansas Library System. Library Director Seth Nutt said this is the first step in getting the library operational as it allows him to access software to process and label the 6,000 books the library currently holds. Nutt said there will be a further courier fee after the library opens that facilitates inter-library loans. Councilman Joe Martin asked about progress on blueprints for the library. Nutt said he has been waiting on cost estimates from the architect but is hopeful that blueprints will be forthcoming within a couple of months. The council moved on to public hearings on two condemnations. Courtney Phillips, the owner of 104 N Labette, provided the council with before and after pictures. The property has been occupied by squatters who vandalized the home, even stealing the heating and air-conditioning unit.
Source: Morning Sun
More people are moving to and staying in rural areas, but that’s true only for parts of the Midwest
Brad Gabel, a native of California, came up with the perfect catchphrase for his bakery. “Bringing big city tastes to a small town, Iowa,” Gable said. Gabel now lives in Orange City, a community of about 6,000 people in the northwest corner of the state and runs Brad’s Bakery Bistro. “I was able to adapt easily to Orange City, even though I was born and raised in Los Angeles, because I got involved in the community, whether it was with the church, community organizations or local businesses,” he said. A recent study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture called Rural America at a Glance shows the population in rural areas is rising after a decade of decline. The average growth across the country was a quarter of a percent for rural counties – defined as those with cities of up to 50,000 people – from 2020 to 2022. However, not all areas experienced the same increase. John Cromartie, a geographer in the USDA’s Resource and Rural Economy Division and one of the study’s authors, said the trend is more visible in the South, the Northeast and West and less in the Corn Belt or Great Plains. “Because the population is, on average, much older, you don’t have as many younger people having kids, and it’s harder to attract those kinds of families,” Cromartie said. “They have higher rates of natural decrease compared to other states due to an older population.” Cromartie’s research shows only part of the rural Midwest saw gains, mainly fueled by people leaving major cities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Others retired and moved to resort areas, including the Upper Great Lakes and Ozarks.
Source: KCUR News
Municipal Bond Trends for December 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.
Municipal Bond Trends for December 4, 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.
U.S. 54 project in western Kansas delayed
A project on U.S. Highway 54 near the Ford/Kiowa County line has been delayed. The Kansas Department of Transportation says the project to install new passing lanes one mile east of the Ford/Kiowa County line and west of Mullinville began in October. However, a portion of that work that was going to require detouring traffic off of the highway scheduled to begin in the middle of December has been pushed to start on January 8. The work involves a roughly two-mile stretch of the highway. Starting around Jan. 8, drivers on U.S. 54 will be directed to a detour onto Kansas Highway 34 and U.S. Highway 400.
Source: KSN Local News
Another drop in Kansas sales tax on groceries is coming January 1
Kansas is about to implement another drop in the state’s sales tax on groceries next month. Gov. Laura Kelly signed the “Axe the Food Tax” legislation in May 2022. The law dropped the tax from 6.5% to 4% in January 2023. It will drop again to 2% on January 1, 2024 and to zero in 2025. Kelly said previously that the lower sales tax will save taxpayers about $740 million over the three-year reduction. She said a family spending $200 a week on groceries was expected to save $208 in 2023. The lower rate applies to food, food ingredients and certain prepared foods. Shoppers can expect to see two tax rates on their receipts, one for qualifying items and one for other items. The state’s rate does not account for additional city and county taxes.
Source: KAKE News
Fed Chair Powell calls talk of cutting rates ‘premature’ and says more hikes could happen
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday pushed back on market expectations for aggressive interest rate cuts ahead, calling it too early to declare victory over inflation. Despite a string of positive indicators recently regarding prices, the central bank leader said the Federal Open Market Committee plans on “keeping policy restrictive” until policymakers are convinced that inflation is heading solidly back to 2%. “It would be premature to conclude with confidence that we have achieved a sufficiently restrictive stance, or to speculate on when policy might ease,” Powell said in prepared remarks for an audience at Spelman College in Atlanta. “We are prepared to tighten policy further if it becomes appropriate to do so.” Expectations that the Fed is done raising rates and will move to an easing posture in 2024 have helped underpin a strong Wall Street rally that has sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 8% over the past month to a new 2023 high.
Source: CNBC – Bonds
Kansas and Missouri have 256,000 lead pipes. EPA wants them removed within 10 years.
An individual holds a lead pipe, a steel pipe and a lead pipe treated with protective orthophosphate. The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a rule requiring water utilities to remove lead pipes decades after new ones were banned. (EPA) Utilities in Kansas and Missouri would have to pull hundreds of thousands of lead pipes out of the ground within 10 years under a proposed rule the Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday. The EPA announced a proposed update to the lead and copper rule strengthening President Joe Biden’s earlier goal of eradicating lead pipes. The proposed rule also would lower the limit on lead in water by one-third. “Lead in drinking water is a generational public health issue, and EPA’s proposal will accelerate progress towards President Biden’s goal of replacing every lead pipe across America once and for all,” EPA administrator Michael Regan said in a news release. For much of the 20th Century, utilities were permitted to install lead service lines, the pipes that carry water from water mains under the street into homes. The EPA banned them in 1986, but utilities have never been required to remove existing pipes. In fact, some utility companies don’t know where the remaining lead service lines are. Estimates as to how many remain vary widely. The EPA estimates Missouri has 202,112 remaining lead service lines while the environmental nonprofit the Natural Resources Defense Council estimates more than 330,000. In Kansas, the EPA estimates 54,107 lead pipes remain while the NRDC believes there are more than 160,000.
Source: Kansas Reflector
Colwich residents asked to avoid flushing “flushable” wipes
Residents in Colwich are being asked not to flush “flushable wipes” because of a backup in the city’s sewer system. The city reported the problem on Tuesday and put a post on social media showing the effect of flushable wipes on sewer systems. The post is asking residents to flush only toilet paper. The city also posted a graphic saying that such items as paper towels, disposable diapers, dental floss, plastics and cigarette butts should not be flushed down the toilet.
Source: 101.3 KFDI
Municipal Bond Trends for December 1, 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.
Overland Park developing pilot to encourage more diverse housing
Overland Park, like many other Johnson County cities, is exploring ways to encourage more diverse housing options for its current and future residents. City staff and a team of consultants from MBL Planning are developing a pilot program that aims to make it easier to get such projects through the planning process with something called pattern zoning. Under the pilot program, Overland Park would keep a collection of 24 pre-designed homes that are “permit-ready,” Planning and Development Services Director Leslie Karr said. Those designs would be available for any resident to use for free on any lot in the city that carries the corresponding residential zoning designation. She said that this pilot, once it’s active, can really simplify the process and open the market up to smaller developers or private citizens who want to build this type of housing but might lack the money to get through the traditional permitting process.
Source: Prairie Village Post