Municipal News & Jobs

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 and Beth Warren.

Salina area schools started their first week of classes, and while all districts say they are confident about the year ahead, some are still in the process of hiring faculty and staff. As reported across the state, and in pockets nationwide, there have been fewer applicants to schools for teaching positions. It’s an issue that reflects a greater gap in the overall labor market, which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Salina, though, is in a unique position where its schools are not in dire need of staff, like other parts of the state. But their comfortability now comes from quick action in the early stages of the hiring process – which usually begins in March and into early summer – in the form of hiring and recruiting incentives.
Source: Salina Journal

Housing in Salina is a difficult thing to find. Although there’s a unique option in downtown, it’s just about as scarce. More than 50 lofts can be found above the various businesses and restaurants along Santa Fe Avenue and surrounding streets, and the owner of more than half of those said every unit he has is currently filled. Brian Richardson got involved in renovating upstairs units along Santa Fe 15 years ago. … He said it started with some of the old Brown Mackie College buildings that were downtown, which sat vacant for nearly 10 years by the time he began work on them.
Source: Salina Journal

A predicted crisis in Kansas schools’ ability to staff classrooms with teachers may not be quite at emergency levels. But high levels of burnout and stress are leading to a dwindling pool of candidates to fill positions that do open up, and researchers worry the effects of continued attacks on the profession could snowball into few people becoming teachers in the first place. A Kansas Department of Education Teacher Vacancy and Supply Committee report from the spring showed that across the state, there were a little under 1,400 teacher vacancies in March 2022. A few months after the report, state education commissioner Randy Watson cautioned that Kansas schools could be bracing for “an educator shortage that may be the worst we have seen” in Kansas.
Source: CJonline

A new ceiling tile installed in Wellington City Hall could reduce the cost of cooling. The tile, called passive thermal energy storage ceiling tile, is best described as a sponge, said Barry Dicker, president of Decent Energy Inc. and project leader. The ceiling tile absorbs heat. Then, after temperatures drop, the tiles release the stored heat. The new tile was placed above the existing tile and under the fiberglass insulation already in City Hall.
Source: Wichita Eagle

After working to bring other projects, including the “Mural at the Mill” at the HD Flour Mill, the Salina Kanvas Project wants to continue to bring works of art to downtown Salina, with the Boom! Street Art and Mural Festival coming to the city in October. The festival is bringing artists to Salina beginning Oct. 6 to paint murals on five walls in downtown Salina to celebrate and enhance the visual landscape of the city. Eric Montoy, one of the co-founders of the Kanvas Project, said the idea behind both the project and the festival is to bring people from all over to downtown Salina.
Source: Salina Journal

A typical Reno County home listed for $125,000 in July, down 5.7% from the previous month’s $132,500, an analysis of data from Realtor.com shows. The median list home price in July was down about 10.7% from July 2021. Reno County’s median home was 1,666 square feet for a listed price of $81 per square foot.
Source: Hutch News

Topeka Deputy Mayor Spencer Duncan’s mother, Kathleen Duncan, questions his assertion that the city should do away with its residency rule requiring city employees to live in Shawnee County, he acknowledged at Tuesday evening’s city council meeting. Spencer Duncan wants to repeal that requirement, but input from his mother has left him willing to “look at every variable” as the city considers how to go about doing that, he said. So when fellow Councilman Neil Dobler suggested making the requirement’s proposed repeal temporary, Spencer Duncan said he’d be willing to arrange for the repeal to expire on Dec. 31, 2027, unless the mayor and council voted to extend it beyond then.
Source: CJonline