Municipal News & Jobs

Valley Center Municipal Court has found a home. At least for now. While court was held in the Public Safety Building on East Fifth for years, it was shut down for a while during COVID. Officials tried to have it at City Hall, but that didn’t work. Now it’s in the community building in Lions Park. Officials said it works much better in the larger space, but some in the community don’t like it. The problem is, the public library shares the same building. The arrangement brings prisoners and library patrons together in one space, though library and court hours have been adjusted to alleviate much of the conflict. Some complain that the public’s open access to the community center could set the stage for a nefarious plot. But police and court officials said court is safe, and the city has no plans to move it anytime soon.
Source: Ark Valley News

Douglas County is in the early stages of imagining an Open Space Plan for preserving natural landscapes located throughout the county. Such a plan seeks to help guide the protection and management of natural lands. That can include areas like trails, native prairies, wetlands, wildlife habitats, agricultural lands and heritage sites. The specific areas in Douglas County that might end up a part of that realized vision aren’t clear quite yet, county Zoning Director Tonya Voigt and interim Sustainability Director Kim Criner Ritchie told the Journal-World in a Zoom interview last week. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some broader ideas already on the table.
Source: LJWorld.com

Another group of workers employed by the City of Lawrence has voted to unionize. The city’s maintenance and Parks and Recreation workers voted this week to join Teamsters Local 696 in Topeka. The 70-worker unit is “seeking improved working conditions and wages, respect on the job, and fair and consistent work rules,” a news release from the Teamsters on Wednesday said. In January, Teamsters organizer Dale Crane told the Journal-World that key issues for the employee group were pay and policies. Crane said that employees have gotten small and infrequent raises in the past, and that pay for some employees did not reflect the hazardous conditions they sometimes have to work in. He said employees would also like to see clearer and more consistent policies.
Source: LJWorld.com

Progress with a new tennis facility in Kenwood Park is underway. The facility will be located where the old municipal swimming pool and rodeo arena stood ground. The new facility will have 12 tennis courts with lights along with repurposing the pool house as a clubhouse with restrooms, showers and other amenities. The Salina City Commission unanimously passed a resolution on March 1, 2021, to partner with Unified School District 305 and Salina Tennis Alliance Inc. for the project that will cost $2.6 million. Naming rights for the complex are still available.
Source: Salina Journal

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.

Crawford County Emergency Medical Service (CCEMS) personnel are driven by a desire to serve their community. Like police and firefighters, these men and women are there
to care for and comfort those in need. According to Randy Sandberg, director of Crawford County EMS, the county has eight ambulances at its disposal. Three of these are typically in service at any given time. The remainder are used as back-up vehicles in case of technical issues or if they are needed to cover a call when all other crews are out. He
says they are also rotated in and out of service to keep mileage down on individual ambulance.
Source: Morning Sun

Streaming services have grown tremendously since the start of the pandemic in 2020, and while that’s good news for viewers who appreciate their options, it’s not such good news for local government. Cable companies have seen a significant drop in revenue during the past couple of years and that’s had a corresponding impact on franchise fees collected by cities. After peaking at $21,725 in 2017, the annual franchise fee collected by the City of Scott City has began to decline over the next two years before plunging to just $5,359 in 2020. This past year, it slipped to $3,985. Municipalities across the state are experiencing a similar loss of revenue, which has prompted them to look at some means by which they can tap into the revenue shift toward streaming services. The loss of about $13,000 in franchise fees paid to Scott City means that revenue has to be generated elsewhere (e.g., about one-half mill in property taxes) or the budget will have to be cut by a similar amount. “We have no idea how much revenue the streaming services are generating and what the potential could be for a franchise fee if that were to be allowed (by the state),” says City Administrator Brad Pendergast.
Source: Scott County Record

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly is the latest official to join central bankers ready to support a 50-basis-point interest-rate increase if necessary to cool inflation. “We’re prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure that we get price stability,” Daly says. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, who supports raising the benchmark rate to 2.5% by year-end, says, “I don’t want to presuppose every meeting from here to July, but I do think we need to be more aggressive earlier rather than later.” St. Louis Fed President James Bullard predicts a benchmark rate of more than 3% by year-end and says, “We have to think bigger maybe than we have in the past.”
Source: Bloomberg

An uncertain situation in a grocery store parking lot has an Andover woman thankful for a way to text for help. Her story is making the rounds on Facebook as she tries to bring more attention to the state’s Text-to-911 system, which many don’t know about. Earlier this week, Karisa Spooner reached out to 911 after someone drove alongside her car and blocked her in. … Not wanting to signal to the pair that she was reaching out for emergency assistance, Spooner texted “Help” to 911. “It was perfect to act like I was looking for change and then text, and it was so fast,” she said. Dispatchers in Andover were able to ping her location and an Andover police officer nearby responded within two minutes.
Source: KWCH