Kansas Municipal News
Manhattan City Manager Ron Fehr announces retirement
Manhattan City Manager Ron Fehr has announced his retirement after more than two decades in the position. Fehr spent seven weeks in Houston, Texas earlier this fall undergoing treatment for cancer, something that factored into his decision. He says the cancer was caught early and so far the prognosis is good and he hopes to keep it that way. Hired in January 1982 as the Forestry and Parks Supervisor, for the newly formed Manhattan Parks and Recreation Department, Fehr has spent his entire professional career with the City and was appointed City Manager in April 2000, succeeding Gary Greer. Other roles he’s held include Park Superintendent, Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation and Assistant City Manager. He also has served as Acting Zoo Director, Acting Director of Human Resources and twice served as Acting Director of Utilities. Fehr has overseen many developments over the years, including the Flint Hills Discovery Center and nearby Blue Earth Plaza, a project that came about through the use of Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) bonds. In recent years, Fehr has led Aggieville redevelopment, changes within the Edge District (north campus corridor) to support the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility and growth efforts at Kansas State University. The city has also experienced modest growth since 2000, when the population surpassed 50,000, though that growth has been slow in recent years, primarily due to fluctuations at both Fort Riley and K-State.
Source: 1350 KMAN
WPD bus program has helped nearly 1,000 stranded homeless get off streets
“You kind of just have to grit your teeth and push through whatever you have to push through to get yourself out of that situation. Because if you don’t, you increase your chances of just, I’ll put it bluntly, death. It kills out there,” Joey Walters said. Walters says after the foster system failed him in Nebraska, he moved to Wichita to stay with family, but his life quickly fell apart. “Made some mistakes along the way. Done some stuff that I regret a lot. I put me in a situation where they couldn’t really house me anymore. So I ended up homeless,” said Walters. With nowhere else to turn, Joey Walters was on the streets and lived with a group of other young homeless people under a bridge at Murdock and Waco. After about a year of living this way, he met Officer Mariah McCrea with the Wichita Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Team. “It’s good seeing you. You look a lot better than how I found you under the bridge,” McCrea said during a video call with Walters. McCrea says for a variety of reasons, people like Walters often come in from other cities and end up stuck on the streets with no one to help and no way to get home. But she says that’s why the city has a grant-funded program through the Beach Foundation called Finding Your Way Home, and Walters was the perfect candidate. “Ms. McCrea brought to my attention that they could get a bus ticket for me if I had anywhere to go that would be safer off the streets,” Walters said.
Source: KAKE – News
Wichita has an affordable housing gap. Could microMansions help fill it?
Mary Lull, 22, is starting to look at buying her first house. But she says her and her fiancee’s budget limits them to older homes in need of a lot of work. “Anything that we could afford right now, we would have to fix up quite a bit, which would be a lot of extra costs,” she said. Lull is also the design coordinator for a company called microMansions, which sells ready-made tiny homes. The three-person business operates a warehouse in Columbus, a southeast Kansas town, that packages the homes into kits for individuals or developers to assemble. One of the homes was built in Wichita’s Delano neighborhood, where Lull operates it as an Airbnb. After spending so much time there, she’s considering buying one as a starter home. “My fiancee and I are actually … discussing after we get married, building one,” Lull said. “If we built one of these, it’s still cheaper than buying a house, renovating it.” Like much of the nation, Wichita and Kansas are struggling with a limited stock of affordable housing. On top of that, inflation and rising interest rates have pushed new home prices higher. Though microMansions is just getting started – only three of the homes have been built – founder Abby Nelson is hoping her tiny houses can fill a big affordability gap in the market. It’s a gap she says she experienced herself when she looked to buy a house in Wichita more than five years ago. It inspired her to start the business.
Source: KLC Journal
Bringing Amtrak back to Wichita – KDOT wants input
It has been more than four decades since Amtrak had service in Wichita, and the push to bring it back continues. The Kansas Department of Transportation is analyzing what expanding the service would mean for south-central Kansas. It wants to hear from Kansans, Oklahomans, and Texans. KDOT, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, and the Texas Department of Transportation are interested in extending the Heartland Flyer daily passenger rail service from Oklahoma City to Newton, where it would connect with the Southwest Chief national route. The Heartland Flyer currently provides service between Ft. Worth and Oklahoma City. The Southwest Chief offers daily roundtrip service between Chicago and Los Angeles. If transportation experts decide it is feasible, the extended Heartland Flyer route would add stops in Wichita and Arkansas City in Kansas. It would also add stops in Ponca City, Perry, Guthrie, and Edmond, Oklahoma. KDOT is in the process of getting another Service Development Plan done on the idea. It completed one in 2011, but the plan fell short due to lack of funding. This time, KDOT says there is more federal interest in passenger rail service, including new funding opportunities. One possibility is the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor ID Program. KDOT, ODOT, and TxDOT applied for the funding in March. The FRA is expected to announce the recipients as early as this week.
Source: KSN-TV
1920s era mural adds to Hiawatha building
The Hiawatha World mural made a drastic step toward completion this fall – however, the artists and owner of this historic downtown building say there is more to come. This past summer, a group of mural artists who have been making a colorful splash around the community connected with Richard and Pam Tesoriero, owners of the Hiawatha World. Last fall, these five artists completed a Welcome to Hiawatha mural on the south side of the old Maple Lanes Bowling alley (now owned by Andy and Wendy Pederson) on South First Street. They added another in downtown Hiawatha on the east side of Dan Lierz’s building at 9th and Oregon where Shelter Insurance and Waddell & Reed are located. The Tesorieros purchased the World building this past spring and almost immediately connected with the mural artists – Chase Hunter, Michael Trujillo, Whitney Kerr and Mark Manning, who are based in Kansas City, but come from as far as Alabama and Los Angeles. Tesoriero had a specific design – he wanted paperboys representing every era of the newspaper since the building was built in 1925. The newspaper was actually founded in 1907, but was located elsewhere prior to 1925.
Source: Local News | hiawathaworldonline.com
Prairie Village formulates plan to reach zero carbon pledge by 2050
Prairie Village recently took a first step towards achieving its commitment to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The Prairie Village City Council last month approved a municipal operation climate action plan, the first citywide plan aimed at helping Prairie Village achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions — per its Cities Race to Zero commitment first approved in 2021. The commitment calls for the city to reach net zero emissions in its municipal operations — including emissions from public buildings and city vehicles — by the 2040s or sooner. The city worked with Indiana-based sustainability consultant Keramida to conduct a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and craft a city-specific climate action plan. Two big potential construction project could be opportunities for lowering municipal emissions, Keramida officials told the city council at its Oct. 16 meeting. Nick McCreary, a senior sustainability analyst with Keramida, said the firm recommends that a prospective new city hall be built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, Platinum standards.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Walkability Enhancement: Pittsburg’s plan for school route sidewalk
The City of Pittsburg is looking to install a sidewalk near Meadowlark Elementary School. Pittsburg city staff applied for a “Safe Routes to School Grant” to install a sidewalk on the south side of East 20th Street from Meadowlark Elementary School to Rouse Street. The city’s Active Transportation Advisory Group identified the need for a sidewalk through parents and students. The Kansas Department of Transportation has a Safe Routes to School program to help support connectivity to schools and walkability. “This sidewalk helps identify a need for a safe route if you will for walkability from Meadowlark Elementary to our one of the city’s fire stations, which is a meeting point in case of emergency,” said Matt Bacon, Director of Public Works & Utilities, City of Pittsburg. Bacon adds the grant is a planning grant that will help the city start the design work and engineering to submit for construction at a later date.
Source: KSNF/KODE
Shawnee Airbnb owners push back against banning rentals
After months of discussion, the Shawnee City Council remains in a holding pattern on whether to regulate short-term rental properties or ban them outright. At a Shawnee City Council committee meeting on Monday, councilmembers asked city staff to explore the idea of issuing special use permits for short-term rentals, like Airbnb and VRBOs. Since the meeting was only meant to gather feedback from the community, no vote or motion was taken by the council. While previous committee meetings about short-term rentals have mostly centered on feedback from neighbors who say they have been negatively affected by Airbnbs in Shawnee, Monday’s meeting drew more short-term rental owners defending their properties. Shannon Doser, a real estate agent who runs an Airbnb with her husband in Shawnee, said banning short-term rentals would be a mistake. “If you ban these, what you’re saying is, ‘We don’t want you here. We’re not going to have tourism. We’re going to simply send those tourists to Lenexa and over to Overland Park,’” she said.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Jolene Graham selected as City of Andover Assistant City Administrator
Jolene Graham became the new Assistant City Administrator for the City of Andover as of Monday, November 27, 2023. She was chosen after interviews conducted by City Council members and City of Andover department heads. Graham served the City of Maize since 2014, most recently as the Deputy City Administrator for the past four years. During her time at Maize, she coordinated economic development for Maize Industrial Park, managed competitive grant & federal transportation awards to over $4.4 million, led multiple cross-departmental teams for policy and infrastructure planning, development and implementation and oversaw seven staff members. “We are thrilled to have Jolene join the City of Andover family,” said Jennifer McCausland, City Administrator. “She is coming onboard at a great time and has already offered fresh ideas as we look ahead to 2024 and beyond.” Graham is a Certified Public Manager from the University of Kansas, has a master’s degree in theological studies from Newman University, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Kansas State University. “I am very excited to have this opportunity to serve the City of Andover and work alongside the amazing staff,” said Graham. She is the proud mom of Chloe, Hannah and Vincent and enjoys working out, long walks, and good food with great conversation.
Source: City of Andover
Municipal Bond Trends for November 28, 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 November 27, 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.
With zoning change, this car lot would sell 5 at a time
A proposed Topeka car dealership would give new meaning to the term “small business.” The most vehicles that dealership would have for sale at any one time would be five. DreamMakers LLC would operate the business in a 12-space parking lot just north of the building it owns at 2900 S.E. Kentucky Ave, which is the site of businesses that include a real estate office. The Topeka Planning Commission voted 9-0 late Monday to recommend Topeka’s mayor and city council approve a zoning change that would enable the dealership to operate there. … DreamMaker’s application included an image showing how five available cars for purchase could be displayed in the lot, leaving its seven other spaces available for use by customers and people working at its office.
Source: CJonline
Pawnee County adopts commercial solar farm regs
The Pawnee County Commissioners, as part of agenda business Monday, adopted zoning regulations for privately developed solar farms in Pawnee County. The regulations were developed by the Pawnee County Joint Planning Commission, which conducted a public hearing on Nov. 9 to discuss changes and submit the recommended final result to the Commissioners for approval. As approved, Resolution 2023-R-10 provides a “regulatory scheme for the construction and operation of Commercial Solar Energy Conversion Systems (CSECS) and/or Commercial Solar Energy Facilities (CSEF) in Pawnee County,” subject to reasonable restrictions which will preserve the public health and safety. Both operations will be subject to the conditional use permit process.
Source: Great Bend Tribune
Great Bend wayfinding signs progressing
The final hurdles for the installation of new wayfinding signage around Great Bend has been cleared, said Christina Hayes, community coordinator and CVB director, addressing the City Council Monday night. The project has been in the works since earlier this year. “The permits from the state were just approved so we’re hoping to have all those wayfinding signs installed by spring,” she said. They had hoped to have them in place by year’s end, but the licensing took longer than anticipated. The CVB will work with Mark’s Custom Signs and the Street Department. Before things can get started, though, they had to secure permitting and licensing from the Kansas Department of Transportation, necessary since some of the installations will be on state highways. There will be 15 at first (replacing the current ones which she said desperately need replaced) in different areas of the community promoting different attractions and points of interest. Thematically, the new signs will match the new large entrance signs on North Main and near Railroad Avenue and U.S. 56.
Source: Great Bend Tribune
New Marion County treasurer brings nearly a decade of experience
Tina Groening stepped to a lectern Friday morning, raised her hand, and swore an oath of office to serve as county treasurer. She comes to her position with 9½ years of experience in the treasurer’s office. She was appointed to serve out the unfinished term of Susan Berg, who died Oct. 4 of cancer after two years as treasurer. Groening had been deputy treasurer since February. More than 50 people came to watch the swearing-in, including family, friends, county commissioners, county employees, and former treasurer Jeannine Bateman, who retired in October 2021 after nearly 38 years in the office. “The dynamic T and T,” commission chairman David Mueller said. “Tina the treasurer and Tina (Spencer) the clerk.”
Source: HILLSBORO Star-Journal
Hospital wants zoning to block rivals
Hillsboro Community Hospital is asking for a zoning change that would prohibit outside out-of-town medical facilities from locating facilities within the city limits. … “When other health care organizations propose entering the local rural community to provide additional services, they are often looking to duplicate profitable service lines that are already provided by the local community hospital. These organizations call their entry into our local rural community a ‘strategic move’ or ‘plan.'” The strategy often is to create additional revenue streams back to their facility, which does not support the local rural community or county and threatens the long-term sustainability of our local community hospital.” Rooker said two out-of-town medical providers — Newton Medical Center and Herington Hospital — had come into Hillsboro. The first time, the community was told a clinic would use HCH for expanded services and admissions, but that didn’t happen, Rooker said.
Source: HILLSBORO Star-Journal
Stafford PD officer recognized for life-saving event
When a life needs saving, it does not matter what size the responding department is. What matters is that there’s one level head and quick action. Andrew Buzako, who graduated from the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center in March, was on duty as a full-time member of the Stafford Police Department on Oct. 8, when a report came in of an unresponsive female at a residence in town. According to Stafford Police Chief Carl Wettstein, officer Buzako was unable to make contact with anyone inside the residence upon arrival, so he broke down the front door and observed an unresponsive female on the floor. After determining that she was suffering from an apparent overdose and not breathing, he quickly administered two shots of Narcan and began resuscitation. The female was then transported to the Stafford County Hospital. “It was a fine example of quick thinking and understanding what needed to be done,” noted Chief Wettstein.
Source: Great Bend Tribune
See the unique playground in this Johnson County park opening after 6-month renovation
A popular Johnson County park will reopen soon after being closed for several months while undergoing an extensive renovation. Visitors to Gum Springs Park in Shawnee will notice lots of improvements at the park when it reopens later this year. The park at 67th and Flint Streets has undergone a $3.7 million face-lift. Renovations include the removal of an old asphalt trail and installation a new eight-foot wide concrete walking path around the perimeter of the 9.7-acre park. In addition to the walking path, improvements were made to the four baseball fields which include new fencing, updated backstops and new dugout boxes. A 30-foot-tall hot air balloon play structure, dubbed, “Lunia” is the centerpiece of a new, modern playground with play and climbing equipment from Berliner Play Equipment. Bonded rubber safety surfacing surrounds the new playground, which includes several other brightly-colored climb and play structures. A recently installed restroom building, which opened in September of 2022, is steps away from the new playground.
Source: Joco 913 News
More Johnson County residents can now keep this feathered pet in their backyards
The Overland Park City Council has agreed to permanently allow residents to keep chickens in the backyards of smaller, single-family homes. The council on Monday voted 7-3 to approve an ordinance allowing hens on lots as small as 0.2 acres, with certain regulations. The city also is establishing a permit fee to raise chickens, which would be $100 for the first year and $50 to renew it. The decision comes after a two-year pilot program, where the city tested out allowing homeowners to obtain permits to keep chickens on lots as small as a quarter-acre. Overland Park previously only allowed backyard chickens on lots that were 3 acres or larger. A growing number of cities have allowed backyard chickens since the fad picked up more than a decade ago, including Kansas City, Lee’s Summit, Prairie Village, Roeland Park, Mission and several others. Proponents argue keeping chickens offers residents a healthier alternative to buying eggs in a grocery store. They contend that as long as coops are well-maintained and the fowl are taken care of, the birds can go almost unnoticed.
Source: Joco 913 News
Mulvane talks solar panel field proposal
During its Nov. 6 meeting, the Mulvane City Council considered a proposal from the Kansas Power Pool to set up a solar panel field in the city, according to The Mulvane News. While there would be no cost to the city, council would need to find 12 to 13 acres where a large array of solar panels could be located – to help reduce the cost of power for local residents. No official action was taken, but it was reported that the council was interested in the project. The Mulvane City Council directed staff to scout potential sites for the solar panels before bringing the item back for consideration.
Source: Derby Informer | Area