Kansas Municipal News
Run to benefit Marion police dog
A 5K run Sept. 11 in Marion will raise money for a Marion police dog who ate an electric cord. Officer Aaron Slater, Blue’s handler, told city councilmen that not much money was left from a 5K run last year because part of it had to be used to pay for emergency surgery after the Belgian Malinois ate an electric cord in February. A consultation with Spur Ridge Vet Hospital followed by emergency surgery at Kansas State University’s veterinary hospital took a $2,357.67 bite out of funds raised for Blue’s care and needs.
Source: HILLSBORO Star-Journal
Wichita landlords inundated with applications as rental demand surges
“Usually, we’ll get a house leased within a couple of hours after posting it on Facebook marketplace. And I think that in the last year, the longest that a house has sat for us has been three days after posting it,” said Dohm. Dozens of people posting on social media saying they’ve been looking for rental houses for months but keep getting beaten to them. Dohm said while, on the one hand, it’s nice not to have to worry about finding people, it’s also hard that he has to turn so many people away once the lease is signed. “You know, only one of those people are going to be able to rent the house. And I know that the rest of the people are going to have to continue their search in a crazy market, likely not going to be able to find a house in the next month or two,” said Dohm.
Source: KAKE – News
Douglas County Commission to consider rural landowners’ request to divide property into residential lots
The Douglas County Commission at its meeting Wednesday will consider allowing two rural landowners to convert their 25 acres of land into residential lots. According to planning documents provided to the County Commission, property owners Patrick Halpin and Erin Callahan-Halpin are asking for permission to divide the land into up to five residential lots. The land is located at 981 East 1549 Road, roughly 3 miles south of Lawrence. To allow for the subdivision, the commissioners would need to rezone the land to cluster preservation, a zoning designation that allows nonagricultural residential development. Currently the land consists of two parcels; one is zoned as agricultural, or AG-1, and the other is zoned as transitional agricultural, or AG-2.
Source: LJWorld.com.
Municipal Bond Trends for June 29, 2021
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.
Governor Laura Kelly Announces $28 Million Investment, 37 New Jobs in Manhattan
Governor Laura Kelly today congratulated Bev-Hub on its new facility in Manhattan. Bev-Hub, a Wichita-based manufacturer, is investing more than $28 million into the Manhattan community to renovate a former brewery to meet manufacturing demands, creating 37 new jobs. “Bev-Hub’s expansion is proof that Kansas’ pipeline of talented, educated workers and pro-business environment can compete with anyone to recruit dynamic companies,” Governor Kelly said. “We’ll continue supporting and attracting innovative, growing companies like Bev-Hub to strengthen our economy and keep Kansans and their families in our state. Congratulations to Bev-Hub on this exciting announcement.” Bev-Hub assists beverage manufacturers through the co-packing process. Services include processing and testing beverages, canning, labeling, shipping, and storage. Products handled include nitro cold brew, still cold brew, nitro cold brew lattes, cold brew lattes, tea, and water.
Source: Kansas Department of Commerce
New use-of-force policy issued by KCK police weeks before 2 fatal police shootings
The police department in Kansas City, Kansas, issued an updated use-of-force policy in early June, just a few weeks before two deadly police shootings. The policy, effective June 2, says officers are allowed to use deadly force “to insure the safety of themselves and others from imminent death or great bodily harm.” A previous policy was similar, saying lethal force was authorized “to protect life.” On June 20, a chase that began in Kansas City, Missouri, crossed the state line. Police said Dario Dominguez, 25, shot at officers, who returned fire, at 18th Street and Parallel Parkway.
Source: KC Star Local News
Why Managing Federal Aid for Small Towns Could Be a Burden
The shot clock to distribute more than $19 billion in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to small towns and counties has started and states and municipal organizations are working to ensure these localities gets their share and understand the rules for spending the funds. But not every town wants the money. “When I ask, it’s generally they just don’t have the infrastructure to support the reporting requirements required under the law,” said Emily Brock, director for the Government Finance Officers Association’s Federal Liaison Center. “Which is understandable. They don’t want to be in a position where they [spend it and then] have to give it back.” … states are responsible for distributing funding to the more than 19,000 “non-entitlement units,” or NEUs, with populations smaller than 50,000. Most states didn’t receive that money until this month and are just now pushing it out to their small towns.
Source: Route Fifty – All Content
For assistance in applying for, administering, and complying with the reporting requirements of ARPA funding, please contact Rose Mary Saunders or Crystal Hinnen.
Riley County planning to place sales tax question on November ballot
Riley County Commission John Ford said Monday that the county will put a sales tax proposal on the November ballot to pay for road and bridge improvements. is planning to ask voters in November whether they want a roads and bridges sales tax measure to replace the combined county-city sales tax measure that expires in 2022. “That’ll be up on the horizon and should be on the November ballot,” Ford said at a monthly intergovernmental luncheon. “It would be something that we really, really need to be able to do moving forward.” Formally, the commission would have to approve placing it on the ballot, which it hasn’t done yet.
Source: themercury.com
Insurance pool will save USD 428 more than $36,000
Great Bend USD 428 will save more than $36,000 next year by purchasing its property and casualty insurance from the Kansas Educational Risk Management Pool (KERMP), Superintendent Khris Thexton said. The school board held a special meeting Tuesday morning to approve the policy and make budget transfers and expenditures to wrap up Fiscal Year 2020-2021, when ends today. Only Kansas Association of School Boards members may join KERMP, which was started several years ago by 15 schools. The member-owned consortium is comprised of public K-12 school districts in Kansas, and last week Barton Community College became the first Kansas community college to join. Barton was attracted by lower rates and better deductibles overall. “I like it because it is for schools, by schools,” Thexton told the board. “It’s definitely a benefit for us to be a part of it.”
Source: Great Bend Tribune
Wichita mulls using COVID money to restore grocery access where Save A Lot ducked out
The city of Wichita has begun exploring the potential in using COVID-19 relief money to bring fresh food to northeast and south Wichita neighborhoods suffering from the closures of their Save A Lot grocery stores, the mayor said Tuesday. That may or may not include bringing in another grocery store operator to replace the three Save A Lots that have closed or are closing, said Mayor Brandon Whipple. “Can we use this really bad situation as a way to improve the overall problem of access to food in the short term and also in the long term?” he said. “We’re looking at other options at this moment with local entrepreneurs, folks that already kind of work in delivering food in a variety of different communities to see if there’s another opportunity that could even expand services beyond just grocery stores.”
Source: Wichita Eagle
Little Free Libraries set up around Salina
Little Free Library boxes have been set up at three locations across Salina after the Salina Education Foundation approved a grant to fund nine earlier this year. The Outside the Box grant to create the free libraries offers children the opportunity to pick up books from their local schools during times when the schools are closed, such as the summer or holidays. It also saves children and their parents from having to make the trip to the Salina Public Library.
Source: Salina Journal.
Municipal Bond Trends for June 28, 2021
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.
WPD looking to crack down on violent crime with Operation Triple Beam
After multiple shootings in the last week, Wichita police Chief Gordon Ramsay is hoping a new initiative will help crack down on violent crime. WPD is partnering with the US Marshals Service for Operation Triple Beam. The two-month-long program will focus on bringing in people with warrants for violent crimes, like aggravated assault, homicide or drugs. Police Chief Gordon Ramsay said that the operation allows officers to work overtime in order to focus on outstanding warrants for felony drug and weapon offenses. U.S. Marshalls will assist, using their crews in cities and states surrounding Kansas. The end result will be a reduction in crime.
Source: KAKE – News
Storm cleanup continues in Newton as NWS forecasts more rain in Kansas
Rain chances and the potential for flooding will persist this week as cleanups continue from Friday’s storms. The National Weather Service in Wichita reported “an extremely moist airmass” on Friday erupted with storms along a stationary front. The storms were efficient rainfall producers, leading to 3-4 inches of rain per hour in some areas. Friday’s storms “produced pockets of severe downburst winds with the town of Newton taking the brunt of the wind damage,” NWS Wichita reported. Marion County had the worst flooding, “with numerous evacuations and water rescues,” though southeast Kansas also had serious flooding along the Neosho River.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Newton got hit hard by weekend storm that damaged schools, dropped trees
The Newton school district and city public works continued digging out Monday from a weekend storm that a government meteorologist described as a giant water balloon pelting the city. The storm, blowing 60-70 mph winds Friday night, littered streets with tree limbs and peeled the roof off the school district’s maintenance and storage building, causing equipment and supplies to be inundated and ruined. The storm also peeled brick facing off a school gym.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Wichita police finding ways to track catalytic converter thefts
Catalytic converter thefts are at an all time high. Wichita police say just this month over 100 parts have been reported stolen. People can bring in anywhere from $200 to $1,000 per part. The department is looking for ways to put a stop to this multimillion dollar problem. “We’re on par in June for a record number of catalytic converter thefts for this particular month,” says Lieutenant Casey Slaughter with the Wichita Police Department. Police say in 2020 there were 541 total catalytic converter thefts, already in 2021, nearly 600 cases have been reported.
Source: KAKE – News
Rejiggered plans for $695M sports-anchored WyCo development slide into home plate
Homefield LLC has rounded the bases with revised plans for segments of its gargantuan $694.5 million sports-anchored redevelopment of Wyandotte County’s former Schlitterbahn water park. The Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, on Thursday approved revisions for three of six project areas in the longtime Village East STAR bond district that will support the Homefield project near 94th Street and State Avenue.
Source: Kansas City Business News
Bridging the access gap
A new resource center at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library aims to bridge a gap that exists when it comes to accessing popular business and legal information. Meredith Snepp, the library’s business and career librarian, knows not everyone in the community is able to easily look up information online about housing programs, job resources, how to access legal forms and more. “Computer access is so important for anybody who wants to do anything these days,” Snepp said. “(It’s) hard for those people who don’t have those skills, who don’t have that computer access or that time. It impacts the daily aspects of all parts of their lives.”
Source: Salina Journal.
Shawnee County Parks and Recreation Department to advocate for higher season staff wages, including lifeguards
The Shawnee County Parks and Recreation Department will ask for more money in its 2022 budget to raise seasonal staff wages, including lifeguards, as pools and aquatic centers rely on long workweeks from lifeguards. “Something needs to change,” said Seth Campbell, a lifeguard at the Blaisdell pool. “Next year the fear is that there are going to be no returning guards.” The county was 83 lifeguards short of being appropriately staffed weeks before it prepared to open its eight aquatic centers and pools on Memorial Day.
Source: CJonline.com.
Municipal Bond Trends for June 25, 2021
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.