Kansas Municipal News
Natives of a small Kansas town transform rundown burger joint into regional destination
The restaurant scene in Douglass, Kansas, — a town of around 1,500 that sits 30 miles southeast of Wichita — has been a tad depressing over the past decade. Around 2014, the town’s favorite burger joint — Craig’s Drive-Inn, at 833 E. First St. — closed after more than 30 years in business. Then, in November of 2021, the Triangle Restaurant — a cafe that also served Mexican fare — also closed, leaving the town with nearly no dining options at all. A couple of months ago, the town’s Pizza Hut closed, and that was a real blow. In a small town, Pizza Hut is usually the last to go.
Source: Wichita Eagle
Governor Kelly signs bipartisan omnibus budget bill
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has signed an omnibus budget bill that was approved with bipartisan support. The bill signed on Monday will increase funding for higher education, expand mental health resources for students, and it provides a pay raise for state workers. The governor said the budget is fiscally responsible and will improve the state’s workforce, improve roads and expand high-speed internet. The bill increases pay rates for state employees who are earning below the market rate for similar jobs in the private sector. The bill also includes the Build Kansas Matching Grant Fund which will provide state matching dollars to communities for projects approved under the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation.
Source: 101.3 KFDI
Great Bend residents support backyard chickens
A large number of Great Bend residents flocked to the City Council meeting Monday night, supporting the idea of raising chickens within the city limits, as well as voicing their frustration with what they called a vague ordinance governing backyard fowl. However, not all on the council were keen to the idea that arose during the public comment section of the City Hall meeting. No action could be taken, but it will be on the agenda June 5.
Source: Great Bend Tribune
Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office buys new $2.5M airplane you’ll probably never want to ride in
As the sheriff of the Air Capital of the World, one of the most important and little-known tools for Jeff Easter’s department is its own private airplane, and it’s time to make a big upgrade. “The Sheriff’s Office here has had an airplane since the late 70s,” said Easter. In 1987, the department flew a Cessna T210, but its needs quickly outgrew what the small plane could do. So, in 1991, it upgraded to a Cessna C340A. Just six years later, the department traded up again for the airplane it still flies today – the Commander 690-A.
Source: KAKE – News
Rural electric co-ops to get $10.7B in USDA funds for clean energy grants, loans
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin to administer two loan and grant programs worth nearly $11 billion to boost clean energy systems in rural areas, administration officials said Tuesday. Congress approved the federal spending — $9.7 billion for a grant and loan program the department is calling the New Empowering Rural America program, or New ERA, and $1 billion for a Powering Affordable Clean Energy program that will provide partly forgivable loans — in the energy, health and taxes law Democrats passed last summer.
Source: Kansas Reflector
Pittsburg gives housing vouchers to those facing homelessness
The Pittsburg Housing Authority was chosen to receive some additional funds to provide support for those facing homelessness. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded $43 million to 62 agencies throughout the country, for “stability vouchers” to address unsheltered and rural homelessness. The Pittsburg Housing Authority received five Stability Vouchers to help those individuals and families obtain permanent housing. The total amount of the vouchers depends on the number of people living in the household.
Source: KSNF/KODE
Officials predict record wheat shortage for Kansas
There has been an abundance of rain in this past week, but has it been enough to save the state’s wheat after last month’s drought? The Kansas Wheat Commission is starting it’s Wheat Tour across the state Tuesday, May 16 and top leaders tell KSNT 27 News that they expect the smallest crop in 60 years. The commission will embark on a two day tour across the state, making over 500 different stops at different wheat fields across Kansas, to determine what this year’s crop may look like. Due to the drought, they expect to find a small crop, and even many abandoned fields, leaving them to predict a potentially record low wheat crop.
Source: KSNT 27 News
Johnson County chair wants citizen panels on diversity, sustainability
A proposal to create new citizen advisory groups on diversity and sustainability are moving forward after county commissioners last week discussed – sometimes testily – how they should be set up. The groups, which will be called coalitions rather than committees, were requested by Chairman Mike Kelly and are intended to bring in opinions and expertise from the community. Each group would have up to 15 members, appointed by Kelly pending approval from the rest of the commission.
Source: Shawnee Mission Post
Municipal Bond Trends for May 15, 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.
Abbyville Frontier Days PRCA Rodeo to begin
The Abbyville, Kansas, hometown rodeo is about as American as apple pie. With 17 flavors of homemade pies, including apple, lots of home-cooked barbecue and cowboys and cowgirls from across the nation competing, this central Kansas rodeo packs the bleachers each night. “They make over 100 pies and 17 different flavors,” said Jeff Welker, the treaurer of the board for the rodeo. “If they don’t have your flavor, then I want to know what it is.” This year’s Abbyville Frontier Days and PRCA Rodeo begins at 8 p.m. May 19 and 20. Mutton Bustin’, for the 3 to 6year-old crowd, starts at 7 p.m. each night, with sign up at 6 p.m. Since 1962, this rodeo has brought in top performers. And this year is no exception. Last year, the Abbyville Frontier Days and PRCA Rodeo won the 2022 PRCA Small Rodeo of the Year award.
Source: Hutch News
Winfield may shorten time for holding stray animals
Request made due to shelter overcrowding. Winfield City Commissioners will consider a request from the Cowley County Humane Society to reduce the number of days stray animals must be held by the shelter before they can be put up for adoption, in response to ongoing capacity challenges at the humane society. The State of Kansas requires municipalities to hold stray animals for a minimum of three days before they can be released if an owner is not located. Winfield’s current ordinance states animals impounded by the city animal control officer must be held for five days. If they are not claimed in that time, they can be released for adoption, euthanized or disposed of in another manner.
Source: Cowley CourierTraveler
Dancing with a fading past: Why hundreds flock to tiny Kansas town on Saturday nights
While the fiddle player sawed off the dizzy opening notes of Bob Wills’ “Take Me Back to Tulsa” on the stage in the back room, Charles Blagg was browsing the refreshments cooler up near the checkout counter. It was a rainy Saturday night in April, and in a few hours, Blagg — 78, with a white Stetson to match his mustache — would be driving not quite to Tulsa but to his home outside Nowata, Oklahoma, about 110 miles south. He’s made the four-hour round trip to The Mildred Store several times over the past few years. The century-old general store hosts a country music dance on the third Saturday of each month that regularly draws hundreds from across the region to this southeast Kansas town of 17. … In the dance hall, surrounded by Wrangler-clad farmers two-stepping underneath a wagon-wheel chandelier, these Saturday-night shindigs feel like some long tradition here in Mildred. In fact, they’re a relatively new development. Regena and Loren Lance started hosting the shows shortly after they bought Charlie Brown’s Grocery nine years ago.
Source: The Kansas City Star
Kelly Signs Bill to Attract Healthcare Professionals to Rural Kansas
Governor Kelly signed a bipartisan bill that will provide students with medical school financial assistance. House Bill 2060 expands financial aid programs through the University of Kansas School of Medicine (KUMC) for students who practice primary care medicine or psychiatry in rural Kansas. The bill doubles the number of available agreements for KUMC students for the Kansas Medical Student Loan program and adds obstetrics-gynecology to the list of allowable practice areas.
Source: 101.3 KFDI
Wichita Fire Department recommends city remove 6-foot firework height limit, legalizing most consumer-grade products in city limits
Believe it or not, the Fourth of July is less than two months away, and people are already making plans and saving up for those fireworks. But this year, the Wichita Fire Department is hoping to convince the city to change its laws, making it much less strict on what you can legally shoot in city limits. … “We came up with the possibility of a two-phase process for the next couple of years. But the first phase that we just proposed is allowing aerial fireworks,” said [Jose Ocadiz with the Wichita Fire Department]. Ocadiz says the department put together a fireworks committee late last year that went to vendors, each district’s advisory board, and the community to figure out if the city should make changes to the fireworks laws.
Source: KAKE – News
Kansas governor vetoes bill to strip power from public health officials on vaccines, quarantines
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed legislation Friday that would have stripped the power to enforce quarantines from public health officials and squashed COVID-19 vaccination requirements for children attending childcare or schools. “Preventing Kansas’ local and state health officials from providing even basic testing for contagious human and zoonotic diseases — including measles, meningitis, Ebola, and polio — will hurt our ability to stop unnecessary outbreaks in the future,” Kelly said in a news release. The bill proposed limiting the clout of state health officials by restricting their ability to enforce testing and quarantines.
Source: KAKE – News
Going once, going twice, gone! Auctions are moving online and changing a rural tradition
Tractors, four-wheelers, a truck, a skid-loader and more are neatly parked in rows outside a northeast Nebraska farmhouse. The farmer who owns this equipment is retiring and is holding an auction on this chilly spring day to sell to the highest bidder. About 200 people, including Anthony Thoene, crowd into a machinery shed to browse. Thoene was hoping to get some fishing rods for his grandkids but was outbid. … For rural communities, auctions like these are often a social event to see neighbors and friends. But it’s not just the bundled-up neighbors looking for a deal. Internet bidders are logging on from as far away as Montana to make an offer. “There’s about 200 people here, but on the internet you’re talking thousands,” Thoene said. He occasionally helps Creamer Auction Company, the local business running this sale, set up their auctions. “So it definitely has improved the sales. But it’s harder to buy!”
Source: KCUR News
Weskan community comes together to clean up after severe storms tear through town
The Weskan community is picking up after severe storms hit the town Thursday, uprooting trees and damaging homes and buildings, including the high school. Earlier in the day, there was tornadic activity happening just across the Colorado state line. “It was terrifying,” said Sandy Miller, Weskan resident. “It was shocking, like ‘Oh man, it really did happen,'” said Jeff Montero, Weskan High School Principal.
Source: KSN-TV
Municipal Bond Trends for May 12, 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.
Pittsburg Police utilize What 3 Words app
The Pittsburg Police Department is encouraging citizens to start using a cell phone app in their spring safety campaign that could help them help you. They recently began using the free cell phone app What 3 Words. This app provides a way for emergency responders to help locate you when you are not certain of your exact location. If you’re going camping or out on a hike, you might not know the closest crossroads, or even a way to describe your location. When you download the app it divides the world into a grid of 10 feet by 10 feet squares, then it will generate three words. Those words will give first responders your exact location.
Source: KSNF/KODE
The highest and lowest-paying school districts in Kansas
Kansas ranks in the bottom third for teacher salaries nationwide and average pay by district ranges from $41,318 to $74,989, according to government records. In 2021, Kansas ranked 36th in the nation for public school salaries with an average public school salary of $53,932 or $11,158 less than the nation’s average, according to the Kansas Department of Education. Some of the higher-paying districts in Kansas include Shawnee Mission, Olathe and Lawrence which offer salaries over $60,000 per year, according to govsalaries.com. The districts with higher pay tend to be in more affluent areas of Kansas with higher property values and tax revenues.
Source: KSNF/KODE