Kansas Municipal News
Help wanted signs are popping up everywhere across the region including local government
Help wanted signs are popping up everywhere across the region including local government. Pottawatomie County Finance Officer Heather Gladbach says there are close to a dozen vacancies in the county offices, including six positions in public works. The public works administrator position has been vacant since December when former administrator Peter Clark announced his resignation. Dustin Newman served in the role on an interim basis, before he resigned in May. Commission Chair Greg Riat says many of the applicants for the position have lacked the necessary hands-on experience the county is searching for.
Source: 1350 KMAN
Kansas approves first express toll lane in Midwest
Gov. Laura Kelly and leading lawmakers on Thursday approved Kansas’ first express toll lane, breaking ground for relieving traffic congestion in the Midwest. The state Finance Council approved the $300 million toll lane that will serve a highly congested section of U.S. 69 in Overland Park from 103rd Street to 151st Street. Plans call for widening the highway to three lanes in each direction, using the additional lane for motorists who are willing to pay a toll to drive with less traffic.
Source: Sunflower State Journal
UG Commission approves amended Village East project
The Unified Government Commission on Thursday night unanimously approved an amended Village East project. The project area includes the former Schlitterbahn water park at 94th and State, and also includes an area east of 94th between State Avenue and Parallel Parkway. According to UG Administrator Doug Bach, the current deal include the sale of UG land to the developer. STAR bond financing was previously approved at $130 million, and as part of the project, there will be the sharing of Menard’s revenue. The developer has committed to make capital investments of $3.75 million in other parts of the community, he said. They have already spent $20 million in land acquisition and demolition at the site, he added.
Source: Wyandotte Daily
Opportunity zones will help residents pay student loans if approved by county commission
The Lyon County Commission will hear a resolution to designate the county as a Rural Opportunity Zone. Rob Gilligan of Ignite Emporia will discuss the ROZ along with program manager Rachell Rowland of the Kansas Department of Commerce. There are added benefits for residents in ROZ counties, including student loan payment assistance administered by KDC. KDC partners with cities, counties, employers and foundations to pay up to $15,000 in students loans over five years, according to the KDC website. Lyon County currently does not support the student repayment option.
Source: Emporia Gazette
Reno County Commission prepares for possible larger panel
The Reno County IT department has created a dozen different maps for how Reno County could be divided if voters should approve going from a three- to a five-member County Commission in November. Each map is drawn intending to create commission districts that are as equal in population and contiguous in boundaries as possible but that also follow existing voting precinct lines, said County Clerk Donna Patton. The commission on Tuesday asked county staff to send copies of all the maps to each commissioner to select their top three for consideration at the next commission meeting, to see if they could then reach a consensus on one.
Source: Hutch News.
‘It’s our right.’ Residents seek their own town outside controversial JoCo warehouses
They don’t need their own City Hall, but residents of what would become the newest town in Kansas said they must establish their own city limits to protect their endangered rural lifestyles. Dozens of those who live in the unincorporated outskirts of a sprawling industrial park in southwestern Johnson County asked to form their own city in hopes of stopping — or at least slowing — the ever-encroaching development of industrial warehouses. Opposition to the massive Logistics Park Kansas City intermodal facility has been brewing for months. But it has only boiled over as the industrial park hopped over Interstate 35, coming closer to the rural homes that people bought to be surrounded by fields and pasture — not giant warehouses and semi trucks.
Source: Joco 913 News
Despite consultant’s recommendation, this Johnson County pool will open for summer
The Lenexa City Council has rejected a consulting firm’s recommendation to close Ad Astra Pool near 83rd Street and Maurer Road. Instead, council members committed to maintaining an aquatics facility at that location. The June 15 action was a victory for residents who had mounted an online petition in 2019 after an earlier attempt to close the pool, won a reprieve and continued to advocate for Ad Astra as the city scoped out an aquatics strategy for the future. Ad Astra had been targeted for closure because of its poor condition and high cost to renovate; stability issues on the site; a lack of visibility, access and room to expand; and its distance of only a mile to Indian Trails Aquatic Center, which is centrally located in Lenexa’s most densely populated area.
Source: Joco 913 News
Bird scooters could be headed to Prairie Village after council advances pilot proposal
Bird Scooters could start showing up in Prairie Village in the coming months after the city council this week gave preliminary approval to a pilot program for the dockless electric vehicles. Prairie Village is the latest Johnson County city to enter discussions with a scooter company about bringing the vehicles to their streets. Overland Park also recently advanced an e-scooter pilot. The scooters have become a popular means of getting around in urban areas across the country since Bird debuted in 2017. While they’ve been welcomed as a more environmentally friendly way to make short trips than a car, they also pose safety and clutter concerns.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Mission Hills residents wanting play structures in their yards have 4 new guidelines to follow
The Mission Hills City Council has set new guidelines for yard play structures and clarified definitions for different types of residential play equipment. The city will now strongly recommend that residents who want to have play structures on their property follow four guidelines approved by the city council. The Architectural Review Board previously required a resident to move their play structure at the request of a rear neighbor, according to city documents.
Source: Prairie Village Post
‘We have to pay for it’: DA’s office faces high turnover, low salaries, lots of work
Lawyers in the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office are making low wages for their field and taking on “insane” caseloads, DA Marc Bennett said Wednesday, adding that it’s affecting the office’s ability to hire and retain employees. Attorneys are increasingly leaving the job behind for other public sector legal positions with better incomes that can help them pay off their student loan debt, Bennett said. “It’s tough to keep the balling rolling and keep cases moving when you have that kind of turnover,” Bennett told county commissioners.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Emporia commission discusses wage scale concerns for city staff
The Emporia City Commission began a discussion regarding wages scale increases for city workers during its joint study/action session Wednesday morning. Human resources director Jo Lynne Herron said that the last official compensation study was completed in 2007, and in that time the consumer price index had increased by 24%. There was only one wage increase for city staff during that period, a 2% cost of living adjustment in 2014. “We are 22%, 23% behind changing our wages since the last time we did a compensation study,” Herron said. “We looked at increasing that to get to what we could be, should be comparatively. That was prohibitive, costly. There was no way we could do that.”
Source: Emporia Gazette
Municipal Bond Trends for June 23, 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.
Johnson County cities change liquor laws to allow for Sunday morning sales of booze
Cities around northeast Johnson County are beginning to change their laws to allow for the purchase of beer and other alcoholic beverages at an earlier time on Sundays. The moves conform with a law passed by the Kansas Legislature earlier this year and signed by Gov. Laura Kelly, House Bill 2137. That law garnered attention this spring primarily for permanently allowing the sale of cocktails to-go, which was allowed last year on a temporary basis during the pandemic. But HB 2137 also allows for the sale of beer and alcoholic liquor to begin as early as 9 a.m. on Sundays. Previously, liquor license holders could not sell alcohol on Sundays until noon, a vestige of the state’s strict prohibition laws dating back to the 1800s.
Source: Shawnee Mission Post
Sedgwick County to receive over $100M in COVID-19 funds, asks for input
Sedgwick County will receive $100,235,109 from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and is asking for the community’s input in how to spend it. ARPA was passed earlier this year to continue recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The county says the funds can be used provide financial support to individuals, families, and businesses, and cover specific costs for school and local governments. “Your participation in this brief summary will help the Sedgwick County Board of County Commissioners develop an effective spending plan that focuses these funds where they are needed the most,” the county said in a news release.
Source: KAKE – News
Parsons OKs land bank plan
Land banks allow cities to hold property in trust for the purpose of transferring title to someone who will repurpose the land. The property involved usually has assessments and back property taxes attached, but as they come into land bank ownership, the taxes and fees are forgiven. Oftentimes on abandoned properties, those assessments and taxes go unpaid for several years until they are sold at a sheriff’s auction, at which time most of the taxes and fees are forgiven anyway after they sell for nominal prices. Having a land bank will allow the city to transfer such properties more quickly. “I consider this the opening salvo in a lot more programs to revitalize all the empty properties and the abandoned houses and everything in our town. This is the start. This is the first piece of the puzzle,” Commissioner Leland Crooks said.
Source: Parsons Sun
“Guardrails” added to state’s STAR bond incentive program
In April, Gov. Laura Kelly signed the bill that adds some guardrails to the program, such as requiring third-party feasibility studies, community engagement and other transparency measures. The bill also expands the program, allowing rural communities to more easily qualify. The current program has faced bipartisan criticism, as it has warped beyond its original intent of subsidizing large, unique tourism destinations attracting visitors to Kansas. The program has been used to fund more mundane projects such as adding turf to soccer fields in Wichita. And one STAR bond-funded project in Overland Park, Prairiefire, has largely failed to meet expectations.
Source: Joco 913 News
Lyons police officer shot in October back on job, talks about recovery
Lyons police sergeant Cory Ryan is back to work. Not on the streets, but doing other jobs around the office, getting back into a routine. He’s been back since early May after months of physical therapy that helped him recover from being shot multiple times last October. “I didn’t know if I was going to go home or if I was going to die,” Ryan said. Ryan was responding to a 911 call of a citizen being threatened when he was shot, first in the face, knocking several teeth out, and then in the chest and his protective vest.
Source: KAKE – News
Salina plans park smoking ban
Smoking may soon be banned in parks across the city of Salina after a vote by the city commission Monday. The ban, which saw its first step forward by a 3-2 vote by the commission Monday, will apply to smoking, the use of electronic cigarettes and other tobacco products in outdoor recreational areas in the city. … ‘You have to set the norm somewhere,’ Commissioner Trent Davis said. He said it is similar to other places in the city, like at Salina Stadium. ‘We don’t have police walking up and down the aisles, it’s just accepted that you don’t smoke (there),’ Davis said.
Source: Salina Journal.
Baldwin City Council looks to ban private water wells in city
The Baldwin City Council is moving forward with an ordinance to ban private water wells in the city, but the action may come too late to prevent the first active well from being dug. … The ordinance was drafted in the wake of two recent applications to dig water wells in the city. The permit applications by the owners of the new car wash on U.S. Highway 56 and by resident Dan Nelson, 102 Dearborn St., were made with the county health department, which has the jurisdiction to issue well permits in Baldwin City because there is no local ordinance giving the city jurisdiction over water wells. That was a concern to council members because the county’s control of the permit process created doubt about whether the city could monitor backflow devices designed to prevent untreated well water from mixing with city-treated water in the “cross connected” systems of residents or businesses.
Source: LJWorld.com.
Municipal Bond Trends for June 22, 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.