Kansas Municipal News
Tonganoxie will add a pet food nutrition manufacturing plant
Netherlands-based multinational corporation DSM plans to build a plant in Tonganoxie to produce nutritional premix for pet food. It plans to break ground in July and be operational by early 2025, according to a release. The plant will create 28 jobs. Nutritional premix includes vitamins and minerals that are assembled and later added to food to improve its nutritional value. The mix made in Tonganoxie will be used in branded pet food throughout the world. Tonganoxie was chosen strategically to be included in Kansas City’s Animal Health Corridor.
Source: Kansas City Business Journal
UG questions reuse concept for ex-Cerner Continuous Campus as developers seek rezoning
Officials with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, want more questions answered before they agree to allow former Cerner Corp. offices to become a mixed-use development. UG commissioners on Thursday agreed to a one-month hold on measures that would rezone the 63.5-acre former Cerner campus at 10200 Abilities Way. The rezoning would permit different commercial uses within the campus’ two nine-story towers, as desired by developers David Block, of Block & Co. Inc. Realtors, and Philip Goforth, of Genesis Realty & Development LLC.
Source: Kansas City Business Journal
Pittsburg book store celebrates its newest mural
A small, indigenous owned book store in Pittsburg, Kansas yesterday celebrated the unveiling of downtown Pittsburg’s newest murals. Books and Burrow officials say “this collaborative project titled Lenaswa Waayaahtanonki or Bison of the Whirlpool/ from the place of the Wea/Wea Homelands is an interpretation of the emergence of our ancestors from the waters of Saakiiweesiipiwi (St. Joseph River near present-day South Bend, Indiana), their homeland journey, and displacement to Kansas and finally northeast Oklahoma where our tribe is located today”. Officials say this mural was made possible by a grant from the KCAIC (Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission) and with support/assistance from the City of Pittsburg.
Source: KOAM News
Coyotes are on the move to more Kansas cities
Coyote numbers are on the rise in Kansas with some getting increasingly more comfortable living next to humans in residential and other urban areas. KSNT News spoke with Matt Peek, a wildlife research biologist with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP), about how coyotes are adapting to life in Kansas towns and cities. “They’ve [coyotes] adapted and are learning to live in the most urban of areas,” Peek said. “The green space of some of our cities now harbor not only coyotes but deer and other wild animals as well.”
Source: KSN-TV
Sedgwick County expands free public alert system
Sedgwick County Emergency Management (SCEM) is expanding the use of Civic Ready Alerts to include 17 more towns in addition to the initial test sites of Wichita and Mt. Hope. The free alert system notifies residents by phone or email of emergencies or important news in their area. As of Monday, May 1, citizens can opt-in to receive messages regarding public safety, health, weather or other community bulletins from these cities: Andale, Bel Aire, Bentley, Cheney, Clearwater, Colwich, Derby, Eastborough, Garden Plain, Goddard, Haysville, Kechi, Maize, Mt. Hope, Mulvane, Park City, Valley Center, Viola, Wichita. “Civil Ready Alerts allows each city to customize what kinds of notifications it sends out and when,” Julie Stimson, director of SCEM, said. “It’s an easy way to keep people informed of what’s happening in their own hometown, especially during times of danger.”
Source: KSN-TV
Hungry residents and disc golfers alike flood downtown Emporia for return of Glass Blown Open block party and Main Street Food Truck Festival Saturday
Local residents took to Commerical Street Saturday afternoon and evening to celebrate the return of the Glass Blown Open with good food, music and community. The Glass Blown Open Block Party took over the 800 and 900 blocks of Commercial with hundreds of hungry residents mingling with some of the best amateur disc golfers in the nation. GBO Tournament Director Jackie Morris says Dynamic Discs, and the local community, were ecstatic to have the GBO back after the 2019 event had to be canceled and the event was later named the Dynamic Discs Open. Unlike the DDO, the GBO this year was open only to amateur players. She tells KVOE News it is important to have an event that puts the amateurs back in the spotlight.
Source: KVOE Emporia Radio
Wichita officials seek dismissal in $2.4M lawsuit brought by deputy police chiefs
The city of Wichita, multiple city officials and the Fraternal Order of Police are asking a federal court to dismiss a $2.4 million lawsuit filed by former Police Chief Gordon Ramsay’s leadership team. In recent court filings, the city’s lawyers called the civil complaint filed by Deputy Chief Jose Salcido and former deputy chiefs Wanda Parker-Givens and Chester Pinkston “a press release in the guise of a pleading” that fails to state “who did what to whom.” City officials have declined to comment on the lawsuit since it was filed in February. The motion to dismiss is the city’s first official response to the lawsuit, which accuses the city manager, a former human resources director and the police union of undermining their attempts to clean up the department.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
After a tiny home is stolen in Colorado, deputies find it at a Kansas grain elevator
Three people were arrested after authorities recovered a stolen tiny home Sunday in western Kansas. Around 8 p.m., the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office was alerted by Colorado authorities that a stolen tiny home was possibly heading to Kansas, a social media post from the sheriff’s office said. The tiny home along with a stolen trailer and Bobcat skid steer loader were found at the Scoular grain elevator in Coolidge, Kansas, according to the post.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Roeland Park pushes to fill empty storefronts
On Monday, the city and chamber announced the launch of a new small business initiative called Project RISE. The vision for the economic development project is to support small businesses in Roeland Park by serving as a “one-stop shop” for local entrepreneurs looking to open in the city, according to a press release. “We want to see every store front, every office occupied,” said Mayor Michael Poppa. “It comes back to all of us. Those who live, work, play and shop here. We want to have a synergy across our City where businesses thrive.”
Source: Prairie Village Post
Fed Set to Raise Rates to 16-Year High and Debate a Pause
Federal Reserve officials are on track to increase interest rates again at their meeting this week while deliberating whether that will be enough to then pause the fastest rate-raising cycle in 40 years. “We are much closer to the end of the tightening journey than the beginning,” Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said April 20. Just how much closer the Fed is to that endgame will be a focus of internal debate because officials think their communications around future policy actions can be as significant as individual rate changes. Officials are likely to keep their options open as they finesse carefully calibrated signals in their postmeeting statement and remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell at a news conference after the meeting ends Wednesday.
Source: WSJ.com: US Business
Yellen Says U.S. Risks Default as Soon as June 1 Without Debt Ceiling Increase
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. government could become unable to pay all of its bills on time as soon as June 1 if Congress doesn’t first raise the debt limit. President Biden on Monday invited the top Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill to meet next week to discuss raising the country’s roughly $31.4 trillion borrowing limit, the White House said soon after Ms. Yellen’s warning.
Source: WSJ.com: US Business
Municipal Bond Trends for May 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, Beth Warren or Henry Schmidt.
Douglas County launches GIS ‘Geoportal,’ an information hub including interactive maps and other data tools
Douglas County’s Geographic Information Systems Department has launched a new “Geoportal,” a collection of GIS-related content like web applications, maps and data produced by county GIS staff. On the portal, the public can view interactive maps of road closures, properties, voting precincts, taxing districts, controlled burns and more. On top of that, users can download the data and maps available on the portal for free. Standard road maps and ownership maps, meanwhile, can be purchased.
Source: LJWorld
Douglas County Commission will soon decide on first solar project since new regulations were approved
The first application submitted under the county’s new regulations for solar energy projects may be just one step away from winning final approval from the Douglas County Commission. On Monday, the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission voted unanimously in favor of a conditional use permit application for the “Stull Solar Farm,” a small-scale solar project located on about 12.6 acres of a 117-acre parcel south of Lecompton. With that vote, the Planning Commission is sending the application to the County Commission and recommending that the county commissioners sign off on it. The County Commission is responsible for making the final decision on conditional use permits, and the project should appear on its meeting agenda in the coming weeks.
Source: LJWorld
Saline County organizations plan public forum on homelessness, criminal justice system
A public forum on topics surrounding mental health, homelessness and the criminal justice system will be held Wednesday at the Salina Grace Resource Center. The Saline County Community Improvement Team (CIT) Council is hosting the educational forum 6 to 8 p.m. May 3 as a way to help inform the public about how certain issues are affecting people locally and what efforts are being made to address them. Those who attend the forum will get more insight on how mental health, homelessness, substance abuse and interactions within the criminal justice system are at play locally. Local agencies that are part of the council will present various projects and programs being built and currently underway in the community.
Source: Salina Journal
Overland Park to review how city controls speeding on residential streets
It’s time to review Overland Park’s process for approving roundabouts, speed tables and other so-called “traffic calming” measures, an Overland Park city council committee has decided. The council’s Public Works Committee will take an in-depth look at the city’s 15-year-old set of rules on what requirements must be met, as well as whether some dedicated funding can be arranged. In particular, they’ll look at whether the current process is too restrictive and whether it should be easier for neighborhoods to get such measures okayed on their residential streets.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Ark City library finished with fines
Arkansas City Public Library has joined other public libraries no longer fining patrons for overdue books. “It’s a trend nationally,” said Mendy Pfannenstiel, Ark City’s library director. The fines have been found to be “not really effective” as a means of deterring people from turning in their books late, Pfannenstiel said. “What we want is for people to return the books.” Those people who can afford to pay the fines tend to do so; those who can’t afford them don’t. Fines range from 25 cents to $5 a day. Not paying the fines means patrons can’t use the materials, and “often they need them the most,” Pfannenstiel said. “It’s not equitable.”
Source: The Arkansas City Traveler
Macksville City Library announces grand opening of new wing
The Macksville City Library is hosting a grand opening celebration. “After 12 years of fundraising and nine months of construction, the new addition to our library is complete, and we are READy to Serve!” said Jody Suiter, library director. The public is invited to visit the library on Wednesday, May 3, for a “Come & Go & Check Out the Library” event from 1-6 p.m. “We are excited to share this milestone with our patrons, friends, benefactors and the community at large,” Suiter said. “Come see the new addition and learn about all the library has to offer with technology, resources, and programming for young and old.”
Source: Great Bend Tribune
Century II update shows tough decisions could be ahead
The company that took over managing Century II last year gave its first update to the Wichita City Council this week. And council members learned they face some future issues that could affect some popular, even beloved, groups and events. The City of Wichita turned over the management of Century II Performing Arts and Exhibition Center to ASM Global on Jan. 1, 2022. General Manager Chris Whitney said Century II is coming back from the lean pandemic years. “We’re finally, I feel like, back to a good solid event calendar load,” she said. “We’re seeing that in the industry. We believe the convention center business fully will come back around in ’23.”
Source: KSN-TV
De Soto needs more people, not just Panasonic, to lure big-name retailers and grocers, CRE experts say
De Soto already has a pretty good selling point — Panasonic’s $4 billion, 4,000-job electric-vehicle battery plant — but before the city can lure the likes of Target or Walmart to town, it will need to ramp up its population. Almost 1,300 apartments already are planned or under construction, thanks to Prairie Village-based Flint Development, Lawrence-based Alcove Development and other smaller builders, which at least gets the ball rolling on meeting current and future housing demand from the plant, which targets being operational in 2025. But it could take three to five years before residents occupy those spaces and have sufficient income to buy those future retailers’ products.
Source: Kansas City Business Journal