Municipal News & Jobs

Starting Friday, Kansans can gather in slightly larger groups, take in a movie, go to an art museum and bowl a few frames. But concerts, festivals, summer camps and parades will remain shut down. And you still won’t be able to get a drink at a bar. At a news conference Tuesday a day before a meeting with President Donald Trump in the White House, Gov. Laura Kelly announced another round of gradually eased restrictions aimed at stemming the spread of COVID-19. “We may be transitioning to Phase 2,” the governor told reporters, “but we still have a long ways to go before arriving at anything bordering on normal.”
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

The Roeland Park city council Monday evening approved a resolution setting a 2025 goal to reduce the city’s carbon emissions by 28%, in addition to a solar-ready ordinance. Roeland Park’s 28% reduction goal and date complies with Paris Climate Agreement recommendations, and the city intends to achieve its goal by implementing suggested strategies from Dynamhex — the company tracking the city’s carbon emissions — and the Climate Action KC Playbook. Mayor Mike Kelly, Climate Action KC leader, said he appreciated the council’s unanimous approval of the resolution. “I’m excited for all the great co-benefits that will come with [lowering the city’s emissions], public health, economic prosperity and better quality of life for our residents,” Kelly said.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

The Leawood City Council on Monday night voted unanimously to open the city’s aquatic center in June. The target date for opening the center, at 10601 Lee Blvd., is June 8, but that could be pushed back to June 15 based on necessary time to train lifeguards, Parks and Recreation Director Chris Claxton told the council. Councilmembers and staff discussed several logistics details without making final plans — including how many people at a time to allow in the pools, restrictions on people entering and leaving the facility, social distancing enforcement, the use of masks by lifeguards, schedules for swimming lessons and other training. City Administrator Scott Lambers asked the council to allow only Leawood residents with reservations to use the center, saying that would be easier to administer. If a non-resident has a complaint, “they need to go to their city council.”
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

With less than two weeks to go before its contract runs out, the Johnson County Household Hazardous Waste program has hit a snag at the county commission. Discussion of a contract with a new provider – Heritage Environmental Services – was delayed to May 21 after some commissioners questioned whether the county should investigate making it a metro-wide program to become more efficient and save money. “I’m not advocating we get out of this business but I’m questioning whether or not there’s some better way of doing it,” said Commissioner Steve Klika, who noted that he had been “bombarded” with emails about the program since the commission brought it up as part of an agenda review session May 7.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

Overland Park Pools will not open this summer, the city council has decided. Councilmembers discussed an option of opening just one of its five pools – Tomahawk Ridge Aquatic Center – with a list of attendance and distancing restrictions. But in the end, a majority decided risking the safety of the pool staff and possibly spreading the coronavirus was not worth it. “Unfortunately until we defeat the coronavirus this is one year I think we’ve just got to bite the bullet and go through this, I’m sorry to say,” said Councilmember Faris Farassati. Councilmember Logan Heley agreed, noting the distancing measures in Johnson County have prevented a higher death toll.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

The Prairie Village city council has rejected a proposed ordinance that would have required people to wear a facial covering in stores and other public spaces. The idea, which had been introduced by Ward 1 Councilmember Jori Nelson earlier this month, had drawn passionate response from residents and business owners in the days leading up to Monday’s remote council meeting, with many telling city officials they believed it would be an overreach and difficult to enforce. Others, however, said that with wide lack of adherence to public health officials’ strong recommendation to wear masks in public, the city should put the rule in place to protect the well-being of those within the city limits. In the end, concerns about enforceability and effectiveness were enough to dissuade seven of 12 councilmembers from supporting adoption.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

When Kansas lawmakers left for an early spring break in mid-March, the state was projected to have a healthy savings account of nearly $1 billion in reserves come June. They passed an $8 billion budget as the coronavirus pandemic was just beginning, not knowing whether they’d even come back to Topeka. Since then, the virus caused thousands of businesses across Kansas to close and more than 200,000 people to file for unemployment. Tax revenues started falling off a cliff — income taxes are expected to be down more than 15% and sales taxes by 4% — and there’s now an estimated $650 million budget deficit for the fiscal year that starts July 1. It’s up to lawmakers and the governor to fix the financial situation, and it could take wide-ranging budget cuts.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

The city of Westwood last week released a four-and-a-half phase reopening plan, but like the city of Merriam, Westwood has yet to make a firm decisions about Woodside Pool opening this year or not. Although Woodside Pool acts as the city pool, it is still part of the private Woodside Club and is reliant on the club’s ability to safely open, according to Westwood’s announcement. Woodside is currently working on a reopening plan, but the city is not accepting pool pass applications due to the uncertainty of a facility opening. The city will provide updates on the pool and pool passes as they come, according to the announcement. Other cities such as Roeland Park, Prairie Village, Mission and Fairway have decided not to open their pools for the summer. The Overland Park city council will consider a committee recommendation to keep the city pools closed this summer, as well.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

County election officials are getting set to spend $1 million soon to add tabulation devices to its two-year-old voting machinery – a move election officials say is necessary because of concerns over the spread of COVID-19. But the change also renders redundant the built-in tabulation function that was the star feature of the $10.6 million purchase in 2018. That year the county was first in the country to use the voting machine/tabulation combo that had just been developed by vendor Election Systems and Software, of Omaha. The existing machines will now basically become ballot markers instead. Voters who use them to make their choices will then walk their marked ballots over to a separate tabulator to be counted, said Connie Schmidt, who is election commissioner through this year’s ballots, after which the Secretary of State’s appointee Fred Sherman will take over.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

As part of a phased approach to reintroduction of services after Stay at Home orders are relaxed, Johnson County Library is excited to announce the resumption of drive-thru holds pickups at the Blue Valley, Lenexa City Center, and Monticello branches. Beginning Monday, May 18, patrons may return their materials to the Blue Valley, Lenexa City Center and Monticello book drops only, and can also begin placing new holds at jocolibrary.org for pickup at these locations.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

A Johnson County partnership has launched a new program to address the additional food insecurity experienced across the region following COVID-19. The Johnson County Food Policy Council, Department of Health and Environment and the K-State Research and Extension are partnering for a curbside food drive to benefit local food pantries, which have reported a 30 to 40% increase in need. JCDHE Public Information Officer Barbara Mitchell said the curbside food drive addresses the misconception that food insecurity isn’t an issue in Johnson County, where nearly 60,000 residents were food insecure prior to the pandemic.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)