Kansas Municipal News
Wichita works to strengthen licensing ordinances for bars, nightclubs
The City of Wichita recommended changes to the city’s entertainment establishment, cereal malt beverage (CMB), drinking establishment, and private club and tobacco licensing ordinances on Tuesday. The discussion comes a month after 11 people were injured in a mass shooting at City Nightz nightclub in Old Town. The recommendations to the Wichita City Council focused on the inconsistent processes to suspend or revoke such licenses. The city said current policies are inconsistent on grounds for a suspension, who can issue the suspension and for how long. For example, not all ordinances allow for an immediate suspension of an establishment if there’s a credible threat of violence. The new ordinance would require all bars and clubs in the city to have a safety plan. Currently, the requirement only applies to bars in Old Town.
Source: KWCH
Lawrence City Commission does not reach consensus on proposed changes to public comment
Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday could not come to a decision on how to change general public comment procedures and, therefore, opted to make no change. Mayor Lisa Larsen had asked her fellow commissioners on Aug. 1 whether they would like to again discuss making changes to public comment procedures. She proposed the commission move its general public comment to the end of meetings; only hold general public comment on the first Tuesday of the month; and designate a specific area in City Hall where the public can record video during meetings. Commissioners heard from about two dozen people about the proposed changes, most in opposition.
Source: The Lawrence Times
Great Bend uses ordinance to deal with council vacancies
Using for the first time an ordinance created to deal with council vacancies, Great Bend City Council Monday night declared the Ward 4 seat currently held by Brock McPherson vacant due to his continued absences and lack of participation. Now, Mayor Cody Schmidt “with advise and consent of the council” will begin the process of finding a suitable elector for appointment at the next council meeting Monday, Aug. 21. …The reason for the ordinance approved in June by the council was the repeated lack of attendance by McPherson. Each of the city’s four wards has two council representatives, leaving Ward 4 with only one who attends meetings regularly, Natalie Towns.
Source: Great Bend Tribune
Lawrence City Commission approves ban on single-use plastic bags
Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday approved a revived ordinance banning single-use plastic bags citywide. The ordinance has been in discussion for years, and the Sustainability Advisory Board has suggested multiple versions of it. It aims to reduce the use of plastics in the city, which in turn could help reduce the city’s dependence on fossil fuels and prevent some pollution from the bags, contamination through microplastics from bags’ degradation, and animal deaths from eating the bags, among other concerns. Commissioners in a 2-2 tie on June 20 voted down the ordinance that would have banned the use of single-use plastic bags in city limits. Mayor Lisa Larsen was absent from that meeting. She asked city staff members last month to bring it back on a future agenda. The approved iteration of the ordinance states that “Unless otherwise exempted under this Article, the use of Single-use Disposable Plastic Bags is hereby prohibited within the City limits.”
Source: The Lawrence Times
New bus route connects Lenexa to Mission
Johnson County has launched a new bus route that serves the 87th Street corridor — a central artery through Lenexa. The zero-fare Route 487 operates between Lenexa City Center (west of I-435) and the Mission Transit Center on Johnson Drive in Mission. This east-west connecting route also travels through downtown Overland Park and the western edge of Prairie Village. The Johnson County Transit RideKC service began Aug. 7, 2023. The bus route runs Monday through Friday from around 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., with buses scheduled an hour apart. There are five bus stops along the route. Route 487 connects to several other routes, including Route 495 at Lenexa City Center, which traverses 95th Street. The new bus route helps locals and visitors access a variety of amenities and opportunities.
Source: What’s New News Summary
City Council approves penalties for illegal gambling machines in Wichita
Wichita City Council members have given unanimous approval to an ordinance with penalties for certain businesses that are found to have possession of illegal gambling machines. The penalties apply to businesses that have city licenses for tobacco, liquor, cereal malt beverages and entertainment, as well as private club licenses. Assistant City Attorney Jan Jarman told the Council during its Tuesday meeting that illegal machines have skyrocketed across the city, and in many cases as police remove machines, new ones are brought in. She said the machines target low-income areas, they have no guaranteed payout and no oversight, and they are operating without any of the rules that a casino has.
Source: 101.3 KFDI
Historic building owners, public invited to meeting to learn about state’s preservation program
The Fort Scott City Commissioners will hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. Friday at City Hall to discuss the Certified Local Government program. Historic building owners and others in the community are invited to learn more about the program from Katrina Ringler, grants manager/CLG coordinator with the Kansas Historical Society.
Source: Fort Scott Tribune
OP Historical Society lands state grant to launch tourist attraction in downtown
A $100,000 grant from Kansas is helping move the Overland Park Historical Society closer to its vision of transforming 8001 Santa Fe into an interactive museum that also restores the city’s train depot, built in 1906. The state grant aims to drive tourism and economic development. OPHS was the only entity in Johnson County to receive the State Park Revitalization and Investment in Notable Tourism (SPRINT) grant. Locally, Children’s Mercy Park and Azura Amphitheater also received grants totaling $5 million and $1 million, respectively.
Source: Kansas City Business Journal
28% of rural Kansas hospitals at risk of closure: report
The Center for Healthcare Quality & Payment Reform (HQPR) Rural Hospitals at Risk of Closing report found 28% of Kansas hospitals at risk of closure. With pandemic aid now ended, closures are likely to increase, according to HQPR. The HQPR report found 600 rural hospitals in the U.S. at risk of closing. HQPR attributed the risk to problems such as health Insurance plans not paying hospitals enough to cover the cost of delivering service to patients and low financial reserves. The losses are expected to be greater in the future due to higher costs attributed to inflation, according to the HQPR report.
Source: KSNT 27 News
City of Great Bend to raise entry-level wages for its employees
The City of Great Bend is raising its entry-level wages for its employees. The entry-level wage increase to $15.50 per hour will begin on Aug. 20. The City of Great Bend says it also provides a great benefit package. Current open positions, both part-time and full-time, with the City of Great Bend, include: City of Great Bend Police Department custodian, Firefighter/EMT – paramedic, Police officer, Seasonal mower/maintenance.
Source: KSN-TV
Municipal Bond Trends for August 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.
Program in Saline County will help teach rural businesses how to grow
Business owners in Saline County will have the opportunity to learn from faculty and staff from Wichita State University’s Center for Entrepreneurship about sales and growth strategies, marketing, branding and more through a certificate program offered locally this fall. The Salina Area Chamber of Commerce, NetWork Kansas and WSU’s Center for Entrepreneurship partnered to offer the “Growing Rural Businesses” program in Saline County starting Sept. 7. The program is an eight-week training tailored to meet the needs of existing rural businesses that are ready to grow.
Source: Salina Journal
Investors Bet That High Rates Will Linger
The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note has surged close to its highest level in more than a decade, lifted by new bets that a strong economy could support years of higher interest rates…. The recent climb in longer-term Treasury yields—which play a role in determining the cost of everything from mortgages to stocks—comes even as yields on shorter-term bonds have stalled. That is a sign investors think cooling inflation and resilient economic growth will allow the Federal Reserve to stop raising rates, then leave them unchanged at least until the end of the year.
Source: WSJ.com: Markets
Kansas Attorney General Opinion 2023-5: Designating city website as “official city newspaper”; exceptions
K.S.A. 12-1651(a) requires second and third class cities to designate an official city newspaper for the publishing of official city business, provided the newspaper meets the qualifications set forth in K.S.A. 12-1651(b). However, under the home rule provisions of the Kansas Constitution, Kan. Const. Art. 12, § 5, which allows cities to exempt themselves from nonuniform acts of the legislature, a city may exempt itself by charter ordinance from the requirements set forth in K.S.A. 12-1651 because the statute is not uniformly applicable as it applies only to second- and third-class cities. … As to the question of whether a city of the second class may instead designate its webpage as its “official city newspaper,” we see nothing in state law that prohibits a second class city, once it has exempted itself from K.S.A. 12-1651 by charter ordinance, from publishing official city business on its own website. However, we would note that publication by website would not be sufficient where some other form of publication is specifically mandated.
Source: Kansas Attorney General Opinions
Sedgwick County, Wichita address opioid crisis
The city of Wichita and Sedgwick County are pooling money they’ll receive from opioid settlement funds in order to strategically distribute them throughout the area. In a request for proposal, the local governments are looking for an agency that will create a strategic plan for how to distribute an estimated $15.5 million from the settlements over the next 13 years. “Our goal with this RFP is to be able to inform the commission and the council, the best way to spend that money to have the biggest, greatest impact on the opioid problem,” Deputy County Manager Tim Kaufman said.
Source: Derby Informer | Area
Valley Center schools busting at the seams: bond issue could fix problem
Middle school teachers gear up for the upcoming school year as they engage in team building exercises on Monday at Valley Center Middle School. As they prepare, they also have concerns about overcrowding within Valley Center schools. According to Valley Center School District Superintendent Greg Lehr, passing the $73.9 million bond issue will allow the district to make necessary changes. “Part of that will be a new elementary school so we’ll have four elementary schools in the district. We’ll add twenty classrooms up at the high school and then we have a bunch of little additions to our middle school,” said Lehr. Lehr said an April 2022 study revealed they would have about 3100 students by 2027. They exceeded that with 3200 students at the end of the 2022-23 school year.
Source: KAKE – News
City of Wichita cracking down on illegal slot machines
There is an evidence section for Wichita police that has nearly one thousand illegal slots. More are likely on the way as the WPD continues to confiscate the machines. “For probably close to ten years in Wichita, we have seen an increase in gambling, illegal gambling,” said WPD Captain Travis Rakestraw. City Council Member Jeff Blubaugh said the city will take up tougher penalties and a way to get tough on business license holders on Tuesday. “It’s time to do something,” said Blubaugh. “They’re a real problem throughout the city, specifically in my district. And they really prey on people that maybe are lower income.”
Source: KSN-TV
Winfield storm cleanup still weeks away from completion
The City of Winfield is working to clean up damage from Saturday’s storms. Many neighborhoods still have large amounts of debris. City Manager Taggart Wall says completing the process will likely take many weeks. Lots of residents have joined in on the efforts. “In a town like Winfield, I’m never surprised to see neighbors come together and help neighbors. We’ve got folks from the rural areas that have come into town to help people pull together and try to get back on their feet,” explained Wall. For some, Saturday’s storms left them devastated. The Cowley County Fair had multiple trailers destroyed and chicken cages thrown across the barn.
Source: KSN-TV
110 mph wind causes damage in Kansas town of Almena
The National Weather Service in Goodland said a high-end supercell thunderstorm produced straight-line wind of 110 mph in the town of Almena in northwest Kansas. The storm moved over the town in Norton County around 7:45 p.m. on Saturday. As it moved into town, the storm intensified. The storm also had hail ranging from golf ball to tennis ball-sized hail. The wind caused damage to trees ranging from limbs being blown down to tree trunks being snapped.
Source: KSN-TV
Kansas sees smallest wheat crop in half a century
This summer’s wheat harvest is finally coming to a close in Kansas after weeks of delays, and it’s the smallest crop for the state since 1966. Farmers were up against weather-related challenges this year. Wheat needs a lot of moisture when it’s planted in the fall and actively growing in the spring. However, in the summer, it needs to be dry for harvesting. This year, the weather did the opposite of what was needed. The fall and spring were dry, which made some crops so stunted farmers gave up on them entirely. About 15% of crops were abandoned, compared to the 5% abandoned in a typical year, according to the Kansas Wheat Commission.
Source: KSN-TV