Kansas Municipal News
INTRUST Bank gifts $150,000 to Newton Public Library
INTRUST Bank has gifted the Newton Public Library $150,000 as part of the Where Community Connects Campaign. “Libraries are a signature community asset, benefiting everyone in a community,” Newton INTRUST Bank President Kimberly Richtig said. “INTRUST Bank is part of the Newton community, and we are proud to be part of the campaign to help build a 21st Century Library for this growing community.” In 2018, the City of Newton, the Newton Public Library, and the Library Foundation formed a partnership to help fund and construct a new public library. After receiving this donation, the campaign has crossed the $1.6 million mark.
Source: KSN-TV
Should the next city manager come from Topeka? Efforts made to ensure Topekans have fair shot at job
Topeka’s last two permanent city managers, Brent Trout and Jim Colson, both left because there was someplace else they’d rather be. As Topeka elected officials recently laid the foundation for choosing a new city manager, they consequently left the door open for potentially finding a replacement who is from Topeka and wants to stay here. “I think there’s people here who are homegrown who may have more of an investment in this position,” said Councilwoman Sylvia Ortiz. Councilman Mike Lesser said he wanted to ensure qualified people who live here have a fair shot at the job. He suggested the mayor and council keep open the option of hiring a qualified, “proven business leader” to run the city, and not restrict the candidate field to people who have been city managers elsewhere.
Source: CJonline
Ark City seeks ideas
Arkansas City officials, hoping to bring new life to the downtown area, will ask local citizens for their ideas during a special public forum next week. The city, along with the Arkansas City Area Chamber of Commerce and Cowley First, the county’s economic development department, will host a public “visioning session” from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5, at the Burford Theatre. City Planner Josh White said that a group of students from Kansas State University plan to tour the downtown area Friday, visit several of the buildings and talk to business owners. “Just to see what is in our downtown, and what our downtown has to offer,” White said
Source: Cowley CourierTraveler
Fed could hike at every meeting this year, BofA says
The two biggest U.S. banks raised their forecasts of how quickly the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year, with Bank of America Corp. predicting a move at every meeting to tackle the highest inflation in four decades. “We now look for seven 25 basis point hikes this year and a peak funds rate of 2.75%-3.00%,” economists led by Ethan Harris wrote in a note Friday to clients. “This should affect the economy with a lag, weighing on 2023 growth.” JPMorgan Chase & Co. separately lifted its call to five hikes in 2022 from four previously. Chief U.S. Economist Michael Feroli said Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks following Wednesday’s meeting “were clearly intended to dissuade the market from expecting a quarterly tempo of rate hikes.”
Source: The Bond Buyer
Muni yields hit levels not seen since early April 2020
Municipal yields rose double digits Friday bringing levels to highs not seen since early April 2020. The short end of triple-A scales have risen more than 30 basis points over the past five sessions on elevated selling pressure and overall market volatility. Triple-A yields rose by six to 10 basis points and ratios increased again as U.S. Treasuries saw small gains.
Source: The Bond Buyer
Overland Park ‘sober living’ house can move forward, despite some opposition in Shannon Valley subdivision
A planned “sober living” house in Overland Park’s Shannon Valley Estates subdivision falls under federal Fair Housing Act protections and can be operated without additional use permits or hearings, city officials say. The decision has left neighbors no clear path to continue their opposition, which included a fundraising page for possible attorney fees, a website and, briefly, a petition against the plan. One of those neighbors, Rosalind Price, said concerns about safety and property values remain. The next steps are unclear but the group will hold at least one more meeting, she said. One possibility is to ask the city to provide some notification to neighborhoods in the future.
Source: Shawnee Mission Post
New mural goes up in downtown Pittsburg
Art students at Pittsburg State University have completed a 12-by-29-foot tiger mural on the south exterior wall of Main Street Axe Company, 216 S. Broadway. The mural was conceptualized, designed and painted by students in Jamie Oliver’s mural painting class. Past classes have contributed to “Southeast Kansas Love Story” at 310 N. Broadway and colorful crosswalks at Lakeside, George Nettels, Westside and Meadowlark elementary schools. … The tiger mural was funded by a grant from the Community Foundation of Southeast Kansas. It was designed by Hannah Kinsey, from Grove, Oklahoma. Students then spent several months turning Kinsey’s design into several panels that were painted on campus in Porter Hall and then transported downtown.
Source: www.joplinglobe.com
Hope springs from Kansas governor’s proposal to restore water funding
Connie Owen, director of Kansas Water Office, says the governor’s recommendation to restore funding for water projects has given her organization momentum as it considers a wide range of needs. Legislators since 2008 have not allocated the full $8 million that is supposed to go toward a State Water Plan established in 1989. During the past 14 years, Owen said, the state has shorted the plan by $80 million, jeopardizing efforts to address concerns with reservoirs, groundwater and water quality across the state. This year, Gov. Laura Kelly has proposed fully funding the water plan. If lawmakers agree, that would mean allocating $6 million from the state general fund and $2 million from an economic development fund.
Source: Kansas Reflector
Garden City appoints three to key administrative positions
The City of Garden City has appointed Jared Kuhlmann as Finance Director, Emily Burns as Assistant Finance Director, and Ellie Voepel as Human Resources Director. City Manager Matt Allen said the City advertised in 2021 for key leadership vacancies within its administrative ranks and did not feel certain about making an appointment to those positions from those candidate pools. Three existing employees (Kuhlmann, Burns and Voepel) stepped into interim roles in the Human Resources Department and Service & Finance Department while the City evaluated its situation, considered some reorganization options and made it through some important end of year responsibilities, Allen said.
Source: Greater Garden City » Feed
End of an era: RCPD Director Dennis Butler calls it a career
After 42 years of service to the public, Riley County Police Department Director Dennis Butler is officially retiring. Monday will be his last day on duty. Butler began his policing career in 1979 when he was hired as a cadet. After about a year, he went to the academy and was hired as a police officer in 1980. Through his many years of service, Butler says he has made many memories and has seen a change in policing. Reflecting on his 25 years of service in Alexandria, Virginia before coming to Kansas, where he was Chief of Police in Ottawa before coming to Riley County. Butler says he began his first stint in Virginia during a time of much racial strife and violence. “When I got hired there was about 105,000 people living in Alexandria, a much smaller area than Riley County, it was only 15 square miles and we had 105,000 people. But, that first year that I was a police officer, 13,000 part one crimes were reported in the city of Alexandria. Just most recently, it’s been less than 3,000.”
Source: 1350 KMAN
Winfield arts council receives $50,000 national award
The Winfield Arts & Humanities Council has been awarded $50,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the American Rescue Plan. Winfield Arts & Humanities Council is one of five Kansas organizations to receive an NEA grant through the program. “We are honored to be recommended to receive this assistance and grateful for NEA’s appreciation for the struggles we face as an arts organization in a small community,” arts and humanities council director Cheri Kindt-Gonzales said. “Although they struggle as well, our supporters have been faithful to keep the arts vibrant in Winfield.” The grant will go toward helping community arts and culture recover from the pandemic. The funding can be used to save jobs and to fund operations and facilities, health and safety supplies, and marketing and promotional efforts to encourage attendance and participation.
Source: Cowley CourierTraveler
‘Just the beginning’: Wyandotte County to establish public defender’s office by 2024
Wyandotte County will establish a public defender’s office, a week after several residents spoke in a public hearing on why the county needed one. The Kansas State Board of Indigents’ Defense Services voted on Friday to create the office, said Jonathan Carter, a spokesperson for Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree. Eight of the nine board members voted to install the office. One board member abstained from the vote, Carter said. The public defender’s office is expected to be up and running by 2024, Carter said.
Source: KC Star Local News
Wind energy proponent says Senate bills would kill development in Kansas
Wind and solar farms would be banned in more than half of Kansas counties — and made nearly impossible in the rest — under a trio of bills heard by legislators this week. One of the bills would require leases presented to landowners to come with a message in 16-point font urging them to hire a lawyer. One would deem projects “abandoned” if construction doesn’t commence within three years. The last would ban wind and solar farms on any land not zoned for industrial use — forcing 60 Kansas counties to consider zoning if they want to allow wind development. And it would require wind developers to get a permit before they file signed leases with the county. But according to a renewable development attorney, a developer can’t get that permit until they’ve leased the ground.
Source: Kansas Reflector
Despite missing councilman, Johnson County mayor appoints new leader amid controversy
The beleaguered Spring Hill City Council appointed a new member Thursday night over the objections of a councilman who has vanished from the public eye in a failed bid to thwart the move. New Councilman Chad Young was appointed after the council discovered a technicality allowing them to fill the seat, regardless of Councilman Steve Owen’s ongoing protest, as fallout from the mayoral election last fall continues to dog the small town.
Source: KC Star Local News
Manhattan Levee upgrades to cost nearly $30 million
The City of Manhattan and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are getting ready to start a nearly $30 million construction project to upgrade the Manhattan Levee. The levee system is 6.2 miles long and protects around 7,600 people and $1.2 billion worth of economic development. The project will raise around half of the levee up to three feet in some locations. However, Stormwater Compliance Engineer Bill Heatherman said some of the most important upgrades have nothing to do with height. “Many of the gate wells, which are the big concrete structures that allow us to control water in and out, they’ll have concrete work to strengthen the walls and the integrity of them,” Heatherman said. “Then the biggest part of the work is we’re doing a lot of work to protect against groundwater seepage during the flood fight that might undermine the levees.”
Source: KSNT News
Shortages in qualified police officers impact local departments
Rural police departments in Kansas are feeling the pinch of staffing shortages. Many rural communities have found it difficult to find enough officers to keep a full roster of employees. According to the National Police Foundation, which conducted a national survey of police departments, the problem stretches across the country.
Source: Times-Sentinel Newspapers » Feed
Over 1,000 Wichita school workers out because of COVID-19
More than 1,000 staff members in the state’s largest school district are in quarantine because of COVID-19, but currently all Wichita schools are open. The Wichita Eagle reports that district records show that nearly 14% of the school district’s staff — some 1,033 people — were off because of COVID-19 illnesses or exposure as of Friday. That is up from 912 and 646 in the previous two weeks. Earlier this month, the district had to temporarily close several schools, including one of its high schools, because of staff shortages as the highly contagious omicron variant of the virus spread, but at the moment, the district is keeping all schools open even as the staff absences set a record for the school year.
Source: www.joplinglobe.com
Municipal Bond Trends for January 28, 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.
Johnson County Charter Commission recommends no changes after fielding some hot-button proposals
The Johnson County Charter Commission decided in a meeting Wednesday to wrap up its work next month leaving the county’s governing document pretty much as is. With their last votes on substantive issues, commissioners confirmed that no changes will be put on the ballot for voter approval, and there will not be any recommendations for the county commission to consider. The charter commission meets once a decade to decide whether the county’s foundational operating rules need fixing.
Source: Shawnee Mission Post
Garden Plain hires first city administrator
Brian Gartland has been selected as the City Administrator of City of Garden, Plain Kansas. Brian will serve as the City’s inaugural administrator to lead the community through strategic growth. About his new role, Brian says, “Together we will continue to serve Garden Plain by increasing economic development and innovative efforts; and by transforming public services for all who live, work and play in our City.”
Source: WSU Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs