Kansas Municipal News
Abilene comprehensive plan, parks plan help secure grants
The city of Abilene is creating a new comprehensive plan and master parks plan. The benefits of having the plans are to set long-term goals, give projects’ purpose and set direction for city staff and commission, said Ron Marsh, city manager. The city’s actions should relate back to the plan. “We want it to be useful for every citizen, and I’m not sure the current plan is,” Marsh said. “Things evolve and change overtime, and formats for comprehensive plans have changed over time.” The city is required by state law to have a comprehensive plan, Marsh said. The state does not require cities to have a master parks plan.
Source: Abilene Reflector Chronicle
Seward County welcomes new treasurer
After working at a pair of local car dealerships, Mary Rose knew more than a few things about the process of tagging a vehicle. With that in mind, Rose was hired about eight years ago by then Seward County Treasurer Kitty Romine to help motorists with registering and renewing the license plates on their automobiles. Rose had worked previously for local car dealerships Stu Emmert’s Automotive Center and Richard Rose Pontiac, giving her a significant background in vehicles and accounting. After Romine announced her retirement late last year, Rose was chosen by the Seward County Republican Party to fill the rest of the outgoing treasurer’s term through 2024, at which time she will be up for election.
Source: Liberal First
‘What does that next phase look like for Lawrence?’ Big questions arise with requests to add hundreds of acres to city
After seeing minimal expansions of its boundaries in recent years, the City of Lawrence could be poised to increase by as much as 300 acres in the next year. However, as those requests come up, so will questions about where and how the city grows. The city received four applications to annex land in 2022, totaling 295.05 acres altogether. Three of those applications were filed in the last half of the year. For comparison, there have been only six annexations into the city since 2015. Planning and Development Director Jeff Crick said the rise in annexation requests in recent months could represent the beginning of a return to the more sustained levels of growth that the city saw prior to the 2008 recession.
Source: LJWorld
Fed’s James Bullard pushes for faster rate hikes, sees ‘good shot’ at beating inflation
St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard expressed confidence that the central bank can beat inflation and advocated Wednesday for stepping up the pace in the battle. Bullard told CNBC that a more aggressive interest rate hike now would give the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee a better chance to bring down inflation that, while falling some off the precarious levels of 2022, is still high. “It has become popular to say, ‘Let’s slow down and feel our way to where we need to be.’ We still haven’t gotten to the point where the committee put the so-called terminal rate,” he said during a live “Squawk Box” interview. “Get to that level and then feel your way around and see what you need to do. You’ll know when you’re there when the next move could be up or down.” Those comments come a week after Bullard and Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester both said they were pushing for a half percentage point rate hike at the last meeting, rather than the quarter-point move the FOMC ultimately approved.
Source: CNBC – Bonds
Municipal Bond Trends for February 21, 2023
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman, Beth Warren and Henry Schmidt.
How tiny saddles and youth rodeo might help keep another generation in rural Kansas
For rodeo families — most of whom, she said, come from agricultural backgrounds — the cost of competing is worth every penny as they look for ways to sustain their traditional way of life and their town’s population of young folks. In a place where farms and ranches go back generations, rodeo is sewn deep into the cultural fabric of rural Kansas. But the number of people living in the region’s small towns has been shrinking for decades as young adults leave the rural life for bigger cities. Most counties in western Kansas have been steadily emptying since the Dust Bowl. And parents like Vander Hamm, who lives in the neighboring town of Ingalls (population 288), hope that introducing more kids to the rodeo world might spur them to fall in love with their hometowns’ cowboy culture. Then maybe when those kids grow up, they’ll want to get back in the saddle again. “The ones that do love it,” Vander Hamm said, “are inclined to come back and be part of the family farm.”
Source: KCUR News
BABs subsidy cuts legal under sequestration, federal judge rules
Build America Bond subsidy payments are subject to federal budget sequestration, and public power agencies that floated the bonds are not eligible for refunds, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Friday. The ruling stems from a three-year-old lawsuit brought against the United States by six Midwestern public power agencies, led by the Indiana Municipal Power Agency. The agencies together issued more than $4 billion in direct-pay Build America Bonds before 2011.
Source: The Bond Buyer
City approves new cybersecurity agreement
In the wake of the recent network disruption (still under investigation) and a review by the Department of Homeland Security last year, efforts were taken to meet the city’s growing IT needs. The city approved a one-year agreement with Adams Brown Technology Specialties for IT and cybersecurity support at its Feb. 14 meeting. Cybersecurity insurers continue to push for additional program and infrastructure standards to mitigate potential threats, while DHS also made some recommendations for improvements.
Source: Derby Informer | News
Overland Park starts work on U.S. Highway 69 express toll project
State and city leaders broke ground Thursday on a much anticipated change in Overland Park. Overland Park approved a plan to add toll lanes to U.S. Highway 69 in 2021. Road crews will spend the next two years building express lanes along the highway from 103rd to 151st streets. The Kansas Department of Transportation said U.S. 69 is the busiest highway in the state, making congestion a problem. Traffic can back up for miles during rush hour.
Source: Kansas City Business Journal
Pittsburg Public Safety Tax Voting
Pittsburg residences will vote whether to continue a public safety sales tax in the next election. The tax went into effect in March 2014. Pittsburg police Chief Brent Narges told KOAM that the public safety sales tax allows the department to better enhance their services to the community with technology, equipment, and more. “As far as staffing goes we’ve had a number of patrol officer positions budgeted along with stand alone drug enforcement unit, additional dispatchers, a crime annalist position, along with a drug prosecutor,” said Pittsburg Police Chief Narges.
Source: KOAM News
Shawnee can’t develop this 12-acre prairie plot
Twelve acres of undeveloped land in western Shawnee will remain that way now that a Kansas City-area conservation group has gained control of the property. The final remaining tract of an old farm just southeast of the junction between Shawnee Mission Parkway and I-435 features a variety of habitats, like woodland, savanna and wetland, that the Platte Land Trust wants to protect.
Source: Prairie Village Post
City of Lawrence staff members want to increase diversity of community events
City employees outlined goals related to diversity in local events at Tuesday’s Lawrence City Commission meeting, with a focus on increasing outreach to diverse communities. Porter Arneill, communications and creative resources director, shared data from community surveys, joined by Derek Rogers of Parks and Recreation, Kalenna Coleman of Equity and Inclusion, and Steve Nowak, director of the Watkins Museum of History. The ETC Institute was commissioned for this survey, and analyzed several performance indicators related to the city’s events.
Source: The Lawrence Times
Meet-and-greet planned for Ottawa city manager candidates
Ottawa residents will get a chance to meet the individuals vying to be the next city manager during a meet-and-greet event next week. The reception is scheduled from 5:30 – 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, at the Bottle House, 204 S. Walnut. Commissioners will spend two days, Feb. 28 and March 1, to determine who will be one step closer to filling the vacancy. Ottawa City Manager Richard Nienstedt announced his intent to retire in mid-October after 15 years spent managing the city’s day-to-day operations. His last day will be March 31.
Source: The Ottawa Herald
First roundabout in southwest Kansas, resurfacing project to begin in Ford County
The first Southwest Kansas highway roundabout and a resurfacing project to begin in Ford County. Traffic changes are scheduled to start Monday, March 6, for two roadway projects in Ford County. The first project will take place at the U.S. 56/283/400/South 2nd Avenue intersection to construct a roundabout. Then, the second is a resurfacing project that will extend from the 112 Road/U.S. 56/400 intersection one mile south to the intersection of 112 Road/Outlaw Road and then extend one mile west to the U.S. 283/Outlaw Road intersection.
Source: Western Kansas News
City extends funding agreements with WIBA, Greater Wichita Partnership
Wichita’s City Council voted Tuesday to renew agreements and provide funding to two organizations geared toward supporting businesses and growing the economy. The Council approved $400,000 annually for the next three years for the Greater Wichita Partnership, along with $100,000 for one year for the Wichita Independent Business Association, or WIBA.
Source: Wichita Business Journal
Airport touts grant programs, new routes in contracting service consultant
Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport has contracted a consulting firm the airport’s leader says could help add new routes from the city and get Wichita in the game on a federal grant program. The Wichita City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved signing Ailevon Pacific Aviation Consulting to a three-year deal for consulting services, continuing a previous partnership between the airport and the firm.
Source: Wichita Business Journal
Wichita changes zoning code to increase capacity of home daycares
In an effort to improve access to child care, Wichita’s City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to increase the capacity of home daycares from 10 to 12 children. More specifically, the vote was to approve an amendment to the Unified Zoning Code, which is shared by Wichita and Sedgwick County and includes regulations for home occupations and daycares. The effort is in response to a desperate need for child-care availability in the Wichita area that officials say has a significant impact on the local workforce.
Source: Wichita Business Journal
Investors Worry Too-Hot Economy Will Put Fed on More Aggressive Rate Path
The U.S. economy doesn’t look anywhere close to a recession. Investors are starting to worry that may ultimately be bad news for markets…. In ordinary circumstances, that run of strong economic data should be good news for markets as well. Yet investors have been viewing almost everything the past year through the lens of how it might affect the Fed’s interest-rate policy. Their growing fear is that if the U.S. economy remains too hot, it will force the Fed to raise interest rates higher and hold them there for longer than they anticipate. That would raise the chances of a sharp downturn, which in turn, would likely lead to more pain for markets.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Bill banning plastic bag restrictions runs into Senate hurdle
A bill barring local governments from regulating plastic grocery bags and other material ran into a roadblock in the Senate on Thursday morning. The Senate Commerce Committee voted down the bill that had been backed by the business community, including the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, the state restaurant association and the National Federation of Independent Business. It was the second consecutive year that the ban ran into difficulty although it has had widespread support from lawmakers in the past.
Source: Sunflower State Journal
$350M project in Newton will be region’s largest private investment in 5 years
Newton’s City Commission on Tuesday approved a development agreement for the construction of a new manufacturing facility for GAF Materials, a New Jersey-based roofing manufacturer with 26 plants across the U.S. Local economic development leaders in the area have called it the largest private sector investment in the Wichita region in the last five years. Under the agreement, Newton will provide up to $350 million in industrial revenue bonds, including a sales tax exemption on construction materials and equipment, as well as a 100% property tax exemption for 10 years. In order to receive the incentives, GAF must invest at least $75 million in improvements on the site.
Source: Wichita Business Journal