Kansas Municipal News
KDHE lifts boil water advisories, clears communities to use tap water normally
Derby, Valley Center, Kechi and Rose Hill residents can now drink and use their tap water normally. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment lifted Derby’s boil water advisory at 8:38 a.m. Friday. Valley Center, Kechi and Rose Hill followed suit later Friday morning, and Sedgwick County rural water district 3 was given the all clear at 1:38 p.m. Laboratory testing showed no evidence of bacteriological contamination in any of the water systems, KDHE confirmed. The only remaining boil advisory at mid-afternoon Friday was for Sedgwick County rural water district 2. KDHE spokesperson Matt Lara said jurisdictions that purchase water from Wichita couldn’t start sampling their water until Wichita’s boil advisory was rescinded, an all-clear that came just before 1 a.m. Thursday.
Source: Wichita Eagle
McPherson officers participate in Torch Run
On June 3, officers from McPherson Police Department participated alongside McPherson County Special Olympics Athletes for the 2022 Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run. The run started at Domino’s Pizza on the corner of Main St. and First St. and ended at Dough Co. Donuts on S. Main St. There was a brief ceremony on the Plaza, with County Commissioner Keith Becker speaking briefly. The ceremony was to honor the Special Olympics and local athletes Bethany Bigelow and Caleb Demaio who are participating in The Games in Orlando, Fla., through June 12. Bigelow and Demaio left for Orlando on June 4, with McPherson Police providing an escort out of town.
Source: McPherson Weekly News
Tornado damage reported as storms pass through Manhattan and Marysville, Kansas
Tornado damage was reported Saturday night after storms moved through the Kansas cities of Manhattan and Marysville. The National Weather Service in Topeka warned about 7:13 p.m. that a radar-indicated tornado was moving south toward Manhattan. Reports of damage, including downed trees and power lines, soon followed. North of Manhattan, the police chief of Marysville, Kansas, took to social media to report damage in the city’s downtown area. Marysville is about two and half hours northwest of Kansas City. TOP VIDEOS × In a Facebook Live video, Police Chief Matt Simpson asked members of the public to say away from the area.
Source: KC Star Local News
Emergency crews in Johnson County rescue man stuck in 10-foot trench
Emergency responders in Johnson County rescued a man stuck from the waist down in a 10-foot trench in Leawood, authorities said Friday afternoon. Authorities responded at 2:50 p.m. to the 10000 block of Meadow Lane in Leawood. The person who was stuck in the trench was awake and stable, said Alyson Angell, public affairs officer for Johnson County’s Department of Emergency Services. “These types of rescues are very tricky as we have to be very careful not to vibrate the ground in any way and trigger more dirt to collapse,” Leawood Fire Chief Colin Fitzgerald said in a news release.
Source: KC Star Local News
Friday was your chance to drag race a Wichita police officer
The Wichita Police Department and Mel Hambelton Ford are teaming up again this year for an event to help curb illegal street racing. The second-annual “Beat the Heat” event is Friday, June 10 at Kansas International Dragway at 7800 West 61st Street North, near Maize. Each racer will be charged a $20 entry fee and will be required to sign a waiver. It’s $8 per person for spectators and kids 12 and under get in free. …The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office will have a couple of patrol deputies participating as well.
Source: KAKE – News
Finney County/Garden City discuss blackbird mitigation in joint meeting
Finney County Commissioners and Garden City Commissioners discussed nuisance bird mitigation at a joint meeting on Monday. … County Commissioner Lon Pishny said he started investigating mitigation of the birds, which include species such as European starlings, common grackles, great-tailed grackles, red-winged blackbirds, American crows, Eurasian collared doves and pigeons over a year ago. The large bird population is damaging the area with feces accumulation from roosting, which causes a human health and safety hazard; damage to HVAC systems, electrical substations and power stations; damage to vegetation including trees and landscaping within city limits; lost crop yields; and economic loss for feedlots, dairies and granaries throughout the county. They are also noisy.
Source: Garden City Telegram
Backyard poultry leads to salmonella outbreak in U.S.
One person has died and 27 have been hospitalized in over 38 states, including Kansas, as a salmonella outbreak linked to backyard poultry sweeps the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning people after recording 219 cases of salmonella across the country. Illnesses started appearing in February of 2022 and spiked on May 5, 2022, but were still being recorded as of May 22. Kansas has been fortunate with only one recorded case, while Texas, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin have all seen 10 to 15 cases.
Source: KSN-TV
Community comes together to preserve Altamont Flag Day
A Southeast Kansas community came together to keep a tradition alive. Today marked the return of the annual Altamont Flag Day. It almost didn’t happen this year. A committee is usually in charge of putting the whole event together, but they were all unable to due to other commitments. Altamont city clerk Heather Beasley took it upon herself to rally volunteers together, and in just three weeks Flag Day was ready to go. “Luckily there was a whole notebook of stuff that they were able to give us, so we kind of had a starting point to go to, and just using all of my network people, we were able to reach out and throw something together, so it was really exciting to watch it all fall into place,” says Heather Beasley, Altamont City Clerk.
Source: KSNF/KODE
Topeka FD camp empowers women to get involved firefighting
The Topeka Fire Department is hosting the annual Camp Courage for women this week. Camp Courage is offered for women ages 14-20 who want to learn about the world of firefighting from a woman’s perspective. The camp is a way to encourage women to get involved in fire service and show what firefighting entails. During the weeklong camp that started Monday, campers participate in different real-world activities to teach them different experiences. This includes deploying hoses, search and rescue, medical protocols and more. The instructors for the camp come from all over the state of Kansas to teach women about being a firefighter.
Source: KSNT 27 News
Wichita will look to eliminate extra 1% sales tax at K-96, Greenwich early
A community improvement district anchored by the Wichita Sports Forum near K-96 and Greenwich Road has been collecting an extra 1% sales tax since October 2015, and has so far accumulated $1,836,810 in revenue. City economic development officials say that’s enough to reimburse the special assessment bonds used to help cover the costs of K-96 interchange improvements. Wichita’s City Council will decide Tuesday whether to terminate the CID early — eliminating the 1% sales tax effective Oct. 1. The CID up for consideration was established in 2013 in partnership with K-96 Destination Development Inc., developers of Greenwich Place shopping and dining district, and was set to expire in 2036. One of two CIDs in the area, the district encompasses the Sports Forum, Dave & Buster’s, Duluth Trading Co., Academy Sports and other businesses.
Source: Wichita Business Journal
Three bike tours coming through Kansas
While Biking Across Kansas will send about 600 cyclists streaming through the area next week, the annual non-competitive ride isn’t the only bicycle-related event that passes through central Kansas this month. With three riders killed while traveling through the state over the past five years, cyclists and event organizers are asking motorists to be aware and share the road. State law requires at least 3 feet of space between a cyclist and a vehicle when passing, so drivers should pass like any other vehicle, only when it is safe to do so with sufficient space. Two races — the Trans Am and the RAAM — should reach the western Kansas border around the third week of June, if not sooner. Those races follow different routes.
Source: Hutch News
100th Anniversary of Otis Volunteer FD
This year the Town of Otis and the Otis Volunteer Fire Department will be gearing up for a huge celebration on the 4th of July Celebration for the 100th anniversary of the Otis Volunteer Fire Department. … There will be a first Responder’s Parade down Otis Main Street starting at 9:30. This is something new to recognize all agencies of emergency responders.
Source: Otis Telegraph.
Municipal Bond Trends for June 10, 2022
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.
As part of budget cuts, Lawrence school district plans for a third of elementary classes to be multigrade next year
Current Lawrence school district estimates call for about a third of the district’s elementary classrooms to be multigrade next school year, and one school has opted to convert all its elementary classrooms to multigrade. The number of multigrade classrooms won’t be finalized until August, but the district is currently estimating that 40 of its 119 elementary classrooms, or about 34%, will combine grade levels. Which students end up in a multigrade classroom will vary between schools and grades, and at least two schools have already begun notifying parents of plans to combine classes. Parents will be notified of official placements in August.
Source: LJWorld
De Soto plans suggest Panasonic could build two megaprojects at former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant
Even before Panasonic Corp. makes its reported decision between Kansas and Oklahoma for a new electric vehicle battery plant, officials in De Soto have started making proactive incentive moves to facilitate not just one, but two potential $4 billion megaprojects. At a five-minute special meeting Monday evening, the De Soto City Council agreed to a July 7 hearing date for two separate, but substantially similar, $4 billion project plans near the north entrance to the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant, southeast of a Kansas Highway 10 bend. The two project plans both outline advanced manufacturing facilities of at least 2.5 million square feet, as part of about 4 million square feet of total site work. The first 309-acre project site sits directly north the 296-acre second, at the southeast corner of 103rd Street and Dual Drive. The initial megaproject is expected to deliver as many as 4,000 new jobs.
Source: Kansas City Business Journal
Overland Park considers short-term rentals; Hens allowed in Spring Hill
Overland Park has posted an online survey as it studies short-term rentals like Airbnbs or Vrbos, which are rented for short periods of time. Mayor Curt Skoog announced the study in March after a Wichita woman was shot to death during a party at a short-term rental property in the 9700 block of West 145th Terrace. “Short-term rental operators need to be considerate of their neighbors in the community and we need to ensure our residential neighborhoods will continue to be safe and welcoming,” Skoog said at the time. … More Spring Hill families will be able to have female chickens on their property, after the City Council on May 26 approved an ordinance regulating the practice. A previous council rejected a similar ordinance last year. Previously, chickens were legal only on lots of 3 acres or more. The new rules allow hens on single- or two-family properties of at least a quarter-acre, and the number of hens allowed varies by the size of the property…
Source: Joco 913 News
Inflation rose 8.6% in May, highest since 1981
Inflation accelerated further in May, with prices rising 8.6% from a year ago for the fastest increase since December 1981, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The consumer price index, a wide-ranging measure of goods and services prices, increased even more than the 8.3% Dow Jones estimate. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core CPI was up 6%, slightly higher than the 5.9% estimate. On a monthly basis, headline CPI was up 1% while core rose 0.6%, compared to respective estimates of 0.7% and 0.5%. Surging shelter, gasoline and food prices all contributed to the increase.
Source: CNBC – Bonds
Communities collaborate on boutique crawl
Business promoters of several area towns have come together for a special shopping event to showcase speciality shops in their communities. Residents of Winfield, Arkansas City, Dexter and Wellington will soon have the opportunity to explore local businesses and win prizes in what is being called a Boutique Crawl from June 10 through June 18. Visit Ark City Director Jill Hunter said the crawl is designed to encourage local communities to work together and draw shoppers in to discover what their businesses have to offer. “There are a lot of really nice boutiques in the area that people really don’t know about,” she said. Winfield Chamber CEO Sarah Werner said Monday said that she is excited about the event.
Source: The Arkansas City Traveler
Hutchinson plans a big welcome for cyclists
More than 600 riders participating in Biking Across Kansas should start arriving in Hutchinson around 10 a.m. Tuesday, as the 49th annual ride makes an overnight stop here for the first time in more than 20 years. The planned route will bring the riders into town on Fourth Avenue and then up to Washington Street to Harley’s Bicycles on Seventh Avenue. The street will be blocked off there and vendors set up to welcome and celebrate with the riders.
Source: Hutch News
National glider competition brings pilots to Kansas
Glider pilots from across the United States are competing in the 2022 Standard and 20-Meter Multi-Seat National Glider Competition from June 7-16 at the Sunflower Glider Port on the retired Naval Air Station near Yoder. The event is hosted by the Kansas Soaring Association. On the first day of the competition, 22 gliders were towed into the sky by tow planes. The competition began at 3 p.m. for the standard gliders and at 3:05 p.m. for the 20-meter, multi-seat gliders. Each pilot was given the flight task, which is a cross-country triangle course that they have to follow and then return to the glider port.
Source: Hutch News