Kansas Municipal News
New grant program intends to revitalize historic buildings in rural Kansas
A new grant program announced by the Kansas Department of Commerce intends to revitalize historic buildings in rural Kansas communities. The Historic Economic Asset Lifeline (HEAL) grant program is designed to renovate downtown buildings that are underutilized to boost community engagement. “We have a shortage of ready to occupy buildings across the state, but also an abundance of historic buildings with good bones that make them great candidates for rehabilitation,” Lieutenant Governor and Secretary David Toland said. “The HEAL program provides an immediate opportunity to close financial gaps in restoring these properties and making downtown districts throughout our state more economically vibrant, while also creating new jobs and services for Kansans.” The HEAL program has two categories for funding, emergency and non-emergency. Emergency HEAL grants will provide immediate relief for buildings at risk of collapse, and applications will be accepted from Nov. 8-19, with awards being announced on Nov. 23.
Source: KSN-TV
WSU institute launches advisory board for economic growth
Wichita State University’s Institute for the Study of Economic Growth has named a seven-person advisory board to help the institute chart a path for boosting business regionally. … “These pioneers have helped grow their businesses and their communities with great success,” Genin said of the selected board members in a press release. “I know with their insights, we can make an even greater impact on students and the economy of the Wichita region.” The group will help ISEG with strategic planning and will provide input on programs and opportunities.
Source: Wichita Business Journal
Topeka city manager Brent Trout announces his resignation at the end of 2021
Topeka city manager Brent Trout said he will leave Topeka feeling like he belonged to the community. “I went to many, many events within this community and made very good friends here,” Trout said. Trout said Thursday he will resign at the end of 2021 from the position he has held since Oct. 30, 2017. Trout spoke at a rapidly called news conference that followed a news release about Trout’s departure…. Trout, who turned 55 in May, said he opted to resign after a recent vacation to Virginia and North Carolina, during which he and his wife, Kelly, realized their desire to be closer to family, including grandchildren.
Source: CJonline
It started as a grocery store. Now this cutting-edge library is a gem in Olathe
Olathe’s Indian Creek Library has received a 2021 American Architectural Award. The library is among 125 recipients of what’s considered to be the most prestigious building awards program to honor new and cutting-edge design across the country. The new library, which opened in the fall of 2019, was created inside a former grocery store at 16100 W. 135th St. on the east side of Olathe. “We are ecstatic that Sean Zaudke and his Gould Evans design team are receiving national recognition for their beautiful creation,” Bob Miller, Indian Creek Library manager, said in a news release. “The Indian Creek Library is a true community gathering place, an anchor in the community where people can connect, explore, learn, and create…”
Source: Joco 913 News
Miami County’s decision to not incorporate new city of Golden will be appealed
The debate over the proposed city of Golden will be moving across the street. Jennifer Williams, who filed a petition April 9 to incorporate about 9 square miles north of Hillsdale Lake into a city to block the march of intermodal warehouses into Miami County, said the County Commission’s decision to deny incorporation of Golden will be contested. The County Commission voted 3-1 against incorporation of Golden at its Oct. 13 meeting. At their meeting Wednesday, Oct. 27, commissioners voted to approve a resolution adopting the order denying incorporation of the proposed city. Later that afternoon, Williams confirmed an appeal will be filed in Miami County District Court. Williams’ April petition had 287 signatures, collected in four days. She estimated with a little more time the petition would have had over 300 signatures.
Source: Local News | republic-online.com
Marion approves hike and bike trail proposal
A community committee’s proposal for a two-mile hike and bike trail was unanimously endorsed Monday by Marion’s city council. If the state approves a city grant application, the gravel and crushed limestone trail will cost the city $20,000. The remainder of the $160,000 cost would be paid by the grant. Member Donna Hett said the seven-person committee looked at several options for location and length of the trail. “We believe that this trail will improve our community for several reasons, including continuing to attract families to town through active tourism as well as providing a safe alternative to walking and biking on the streets,” Hett said.
Source: HILLSBORO Star-Journal
Fed votes not to raise interest rates
The FOMC voted not to raise interest rates from their anchor near zero, a move also expected by the market. The tie between interest rates and tapering is a vital one, and the statement stressed that investors should not view the reduction in purchases as a signal that rate hikes are imminent. “We don’t think it’s time yet to raise interest rates,” Powell said. “There is still ground to cover” before the Fed reaches its economic goals. He added he wants to see the labor market “heal further, and we have very good reasons to think that will happen as the delta variant declines, which it’s doing now.”
Source: CNBC
The real news out of the Federal Reserve on Wednesday was not in what it did, but in what Chair Jerome Powell didn’t do. … The thing that Mr. Powell didn’t do was give any hint that persistently high inflation in recent months was leading him to rethink his patient approach to raising the Fed’s interest rate target. Rather, he repeated his longstanding belief that high inflation was mostly caused by disruptions in global supply networks and other ripple effects of the pandemic — problems that the Fed can’t do much about.
Source: NY Times
Salina votes ‘Yes’ on city ordinance
The citizens of Salina have made their voices heard and voted yes to enact a new ordinance in the city. The ordinance, which will limit the Salina City Commission’s power to impose restrictions on businesses and citizens during a declared state of emergency, was passed by a 5,005 to 3,809 vote Tuesday night. Though a majority of voters chose yes, the ordinance still has the possibility of not being enacted. In addition to placing it on the ballot following a petition, the city commission also sent the ordinance to the Saline County District Court for summary judgement.
Source: Salina Journal
Reno County Commission expands
It appears the Reno County Commission will expand to five members after nearly 54% of Reno County voters casting ballots approved the change on Tuesday. But, while the election outcome was clear, when and how the change occurs may be a subject of future debate. Under a plan adopted by the current county commission which put the issue on the ballot, the expansion won’t physically occur until 2023, when the two new seats are filled. That’s because the commissioners wanted to fill them with candidates running for election, rather than the governor appointing them, as is the standard practice.
Source: Hutch News
Garden Rapids wins award for innovations
Garden Rapids at The Big Pool is now an award winning pool. Jennifer Cunningham, Garden City assistant city manager, said the pool was awarded the World Waterpark Association’s Leading Edge award at the Garden City Commission meeting Monday. Cunningham said she didn’t realize how big of a deal the award was until she and Aaron Stewart, Garden City Parks and Recreation director, got to the WWA’s annual Symposium & Trade Show, which ran from Oct. 19-22 in San Antonio, Texas. All of the other projects on the slate cost between $30 million and $50 million, one of them was in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which looked like something out of a magazine, Cunningham said. Garden City was the only municipality receiving this award.
Source: GC Telegram
Garden City passes sales tax to fund airport terminal and park improvements
Residents in Garden City passed a new sales tax to fund airport terminal and park improvements. The vote was 76% to 24%. The .15% tax … would generate an estimated $1 million annually. The terminal project is expected to cost $30 million; $22 million would be funded by federal and state funds. The remaining $8 million is bonded as the city’s local obligation.
Source: KSN-TV
Cartwright brings investigative, teaching experience to the City of Sedgwick police department
Sedgwick’s newest part-time police officer, Clint Cartwright, brings a wide variety of experiences to town. He started as an officer in 2005, patrolling the same neighborhood he grew up in south Wichita for four years. He served in Haysville for seven years, working as a detective in sex crimes for much of that time. For the last three years, he’s taught at WSU Tech in the police science program. When Cartwright was contacted about teaching in 2018, he said his wife was all for the switch and he was ready for a change of pace. He has three children and his job caused him to miss a lot of birthdays and holidays with his family.
Source: Harvey County Now
Sedgwick County adopts $500 fine for recreational shooters whose stray bullets menace neighbors
After complaints of bullets flying through a Derby neighborhood, Sedgwick County has approved a crackdown on recreational shooting in unincorporated areas. On a 4-1 vote, the County Commission approved a measure that will still allow shooters to shoot in their back yard target ranges, but sets a penalty of $500 if bullets stray off the shooters’ property. The issue came to the commission after complaints from residents of the Northbrook Addition, a fairly new development that is part of the city of Derby, off Woodlawn south of 55th Street South.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Moundridge Chamber plans mural project
The Moundridge Chamber of Commerce kicked in $2,000 of seed money for a mural project for the community. “It’s become a very popular thing in communities around the state, and it’s a good way to add more color to your community and to tell the story of your community,” said Murray McGee, Moundridge city administrator and chamber board member. McGee said the chamber and city had been talking about commissioning murals for several years. The Kansas Sampler Foundation in Inman sponsored a Mural Do-Alogue in Wamego, and similar movements have gained momentum in other cities like Clay Center, Hays and Salina. He said Moundridge was in the early stages of trying to raise funds. An average mural costs between $4,000 and $5,000.
Source: McPherson Weekly News » Feed
Derby’s city manager leaves after giving and gaining in the experience
… Derby has some natural benefits that make growth easier here than in other communities. It just feels like Derby is the right community in Kansas, in the right location, at the right time in history. But to have successful growth, it takes people with the ability to manage it so the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. One of the people who has been involved with that management is Kathy Sexton. Sexton, Derby’s current city manager, will be leaving her post next month on Dec. 10. And no matter what you might think of her performance, Kathy Sexton has made things happen for Derby.
Source: Derby Informer | News
Lyon County sales tax extended 15 years
Lyon County voters had a penny for their thoughts Tuesday. They decided to keep it. The 1% county sales tax won a 15-year renewal by a 67.6 % majority. Final unofficial returns showed 3,438 for it, while 1,650 were against. “Those things are pretty popular among our voters,” Tyler Curtis, treasurer of Vote Yes Lyon County, concluded Tuesday night. Curtis says since the county sales tax took effect in 2009, it’s produced more than $50 million for Lyon County. He doesn’t expect much will change now.
Source: Emporia Gazette
Kansas sees ‘tons’ of unused drugs, medicine turned in for national disposal month
Nearly four tons of unused drugs and medicines were disposed of in last month’s National Drug Take-Back Day, the Kansas attorney general announced Wednesday. Derek Schmidt said medicine was collected at 69 locations across the state during the Oct. 23 event. The disposal effort saw a total of 7,742 pounds of unused drugs handed over, according to a federal Drug Enforcement Administration report…. Local law enforcement locations and a limited number of other places collect unused medicine year-round.
Source: KSNT News
Looking at Wichita water pipe maintenance and where it failed
When a 36-hour boil advisory wreaked havoc in Wichita on Oct. 7 and 8, Alan King, the city’s public works director, wanted to make one thing clear. “This was a failure of the distribution system,” he said. In other words, the boil advisory came about as the result of a water main break in the pipes that carry drinking water to more than half a million people in Wichita and eight surrounding municipalities — not because of the city’s 80-year-old water treatment plant.
Source: Derby Informer | Area
Three sales tax questions pass in Great Bend
Voters in Great Bend approved three retail sales tax additions Tuesday. A sales tax was also approved in Ellinwood. Collection of the new taxes will commence on April 1, 2022. … The City of Great Bend sought a total 0.45% retail sales tax increase, divided into three propositions. This raises the city sale tax to 1.2%. Added to the state sales tax of 6.5% and the Barton County sales tax of 1.0%, the total after April 1, 2022 will be 8.7%. Proposition 1 (Yes: 1,067 – No: 884) will impose a permanent 0.15% city-wide sales tax “to pay the costs of quality of life purposes, improvements, and initiatives throughout the city, including the payment of financing costs related thereto, and to provide property tax relief.” Proposition 2 (Yes: 1,382 – No: 573) imposes a 0.10% city-wide sales tax for 20 years, “to finance the costs of police station improvements,” including plans for a new building to house the Great Bend Police Department and the Municipal Court. … Proposition 3 (Yes: 1,365 – No: 604) will impose a permanent 0.20% city-wide sales tax “for the purposes of financing the operations of the city’s police and fire departments.” This includes the funding of pension plans for first responders.
Source: Great Bend Tribune