Municipal News & Jobs

Finney County educational staff received their first round of COVID vaccines Thursday and Friday. The vaccinations took place at the county’s mass vaccination clinic at the Finney County Fairgrounds exhibition building. The chance to get vaccinated stemmed from a community collaboration between the county, the local health community, and surrounding schools. “It’s so exciting to be able to collaborate with our community partners and offer vaccinations for all of the school employees here. We’re very excited to do this outreach for our community,” said Colleen Drees, Finney County Health Department Director.
Source: KSN-TV

One of the cities needing relief from the current astronomical prices is the city of Cheney. The whole year of 2020 the city of Cheney said they spent 256,000 dollars on natural gas. With the huge spike in prices, just in the month of February, the total amount is looking to be a million dollars. A huge expense for a city of just over two thousand people. “We need help it’s not just the city asking for help we are asking for help from our businesses and our customers,” said Danielle Young, Cheney City Administrator. When the price of natural gas started its dramatic and rapid rise, Young started crunching the numbers. “The reality of sending out these bills is just disheartening I don’t know what to tell customers other than we are doing everything that we possibly can to get the higher-ups to understand our situation,” said Young.
Source: KSN-TV

In a virtual world, the internet is key. However often in rural areas, it can be difficult to access. In Haviland, a local broadband company received a much-needed upgrade. The pandemic made it clear for many how important fast internet speeds are to get through the day-to-day virtual life activities But with that came challenges for small internet companies working to serve rural customers. Haviland Broadband, formerly known as Haviland Telephone is a small, locally-managed internet company. It serves areas in and around Kiowa, Kingman, and Sumner counties.
Source: KSN-TV

In a normal year, Winfield will spend $1.6 million on natural gas. During the recent arctic blast, the bill grew well over $10 million in a span of six days. “How does the community the size of Winfield pay for that gas supply?” Taggart Wall, Winfield City manager asked. Taggart says he has never seen a surge like this. He explained the cost of natural gas is 150 times more than normal. The city has been working to conserve energy by closing schools and factories but the cost still racked up. “It’s not like the city makes money off of this. This is simply just the price of the commodity,” he said.
Source: KSN-TV

Millions of federal transportation dollars are heading to communities across the state. The new money is geared toward improvements that won’t look like your typical road construction. Projects will focus on walking and biking. The biggest award of $5.5 million will go toward improvements on the Flint Hills Trail. Just outside of the city of Ottawa, the trail, which is 117 miles long and was created in place of old railroad tracks, will be connected so people won’t have to get off the path for a two-mile detour. Local officials say the trail brings people to the city from across the country.
Source: KSN-TV

Dodge City’s housing assessment studies show that in the next five years, the community will lack nearly 1600 homes for families in need. But there is hope on the horizon as a younger generation is coming together to build a stronger future. The Community Housing Association of Dodge City (CHAD) is a nonprofit organization focused on housing needs in and around the city. Through their Abandon Housing Program, the city has partnered with Dodge City Community College and is bringing in reinforcements from the Building Construction Technology class to construct and rehab vacant properties.
Source: KSN-TV

Sedgwick county officials announced Thursday that they are working with area superintendents to get teachers and school staff vaccinated. With additional doses of the vaccine expected to arrive next week, they are hoping to get the process started soon. “We believe that as we develop these plans we will be able to get staff vaccinated at least that first dose by the end of March meeting the governor’s goal,” said Tim Kaufman, Sedgwick County Deputy Manager. Kaufman said the county will receive an additional 3,500 vaccines each week for teachers and staff. “Within the next 4 weeks, maybe we get it all done or maybe even the state gives us more,” said Pete Meitzner, Sedgwick County Commissioner.
Source: KSN-TV

Quindaro, Kansas became a safe haven for liberated people who were traveling north from the south after the Civil War ended. Along the way, some newly freed slaves decided to make this town their home. Quindaro is now part of the Kansas City area. This community would eventually become home to a historic Kansas university where many of the freed people pursued their formal education.  Founded in 1865, The Quindaro Freedman’s School was the first Historically Black University—or HBCU—west Of The Mississippi. The only university of its kind in Kansas, it would later be named Western University. Even though it closed in 1943, its legacy lives on today.
Source: KSN-TV