Municipal News & Jobs

We now know the name of the man who died after a trench collapsed in the city Thursday. The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department (KCKPD) says 54-year-old Francisco Rodriguez, a resident of the city, died that day. The collapse happened at 16th Street and Metropolitan Avenue near the train tracks and the Kansas River.
Read more: KSNT 27 News

A local family is getting ready to embark on a new adventure in Burlingame with the opening of an ice cream parlor in an old bank. Robin Ridgeway is getting ready for the big day when Sweet Savings Bank Ice Cream Parlor opens its doors to the community. Ridgeway and her husband, Brett, along with her daughter Samantha Garrison and son-in-law David Garrison, will open the shop for business at 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 31 at 102 West Santa Fe in Burlingame.
Read more: KSNT 27 News

The City of Andover and residents celebrated a new city park opening on Tuesday evening. The park is unique in its relativity to the new Fire Station 2 and it’s positioning south of HWY 400. Fire Station Park, located at 650 S Andover Road, finally officially opened on Tuesday, July 22. The park was long-awaited by residents who reside south of HWY 400, as they haven’t had their own park with a children’s playground on that side of the highway until now.
Read more: Butler County Times-Gazette

A new four-legged recruit is rising through the ranks at Sedgwick County Fire District 1. She is a 15-month-old Belgian Malinois named Violet who is training to join the department’s search and rescue operations as a K9 crew member.
Read more: www.derbyinformer.com – RSS Results in news/area_news of type article

Amid recent allegations of bullying and verbal attacks, nearly the entirety of the McCune City Council and much of the city government resigned on Tuesday. Resignations included not only three of the five city council members, but also the mayor, city clerk, superintendent, assistant superintendent, and public works director, effectively leaving the small town of 350 without leadership or government infrastructure.
Read more: – Latest Stories

The declaration gives state and local governments, as well as certain nonprofits, the ability to apply for public assistance funds to repair and replace damaged infrastructure. The counties that can apply are Bourbon, Cheyenne, Edwards, Gove, Kiowa, Logan, Pratt, Reno, Scott, Sheridan and Stafford.
Read more: Hutch News

State officials have said the plant will draw employees from as far as Topeka in the west, Leavenworth in the north and reaching into suburbs east of Kansas City.
Read more: CJonline

Designating downtown as a CCA would allow participating establishments within the district to sell cereal malt beverages and alcohol in cups up to 16 ounces, marked with the business logo, that could be carried and consumed within the boundaries.
Read more: Harvey County Now

Originally, the county intended to ask voters to renew the 10-year, quarter-cent public safety sales tax in November, planning to use it on capital and operating costs for the county’s Med-Act ambulance service, sheriff’s office, district attorney, mental health crisis intervention and disaster response. Now, the question is expected to come to voters in March 2026 instead, and the wording of the question could be modified.
Read more: Johnson County Post

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of AA rated bond trades reported to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA® system. Every issuer’s credit is different, and other financing sources may be available. To obtain comprehensive Financial Advisory services for your local government, contact your Ranson Financial Municipal Advisor, Larry Kleeman, or Henry Schmidt.

K.S.A. 41-2911(b)(1) requires city ordinances authorizing Sunday sales of alcoholic liquor and cereal malt beverages to be published twice. If an adopted ordinance is defeated by protest petition but subsequently included in a new compilation of the city code that is only published once, the city has not validly authorized Sunday sales.
Read more: Kansas Attorney General Opinions

For assistance, updating or creating a new city code for your city, contact Larry Kleeman.

And if you are already a city code client, remember to email us each new ordinance so we keep your code up-to-date.

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of AA rated bond trades reported to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA® system. Every issuer’s credit is different, and other financing sources may be available. To obtain comprehensive Financial Advisory services for your local government, contact your Ranson Financial Municipal Advisor, Larry Kleeman, or Henry Schmidt.

In November of 2024, the Macksville City Library announced thankfulness for receiving a $15,000 grant from the South Central Community Foundation. SCCF is a regional foundation that manages charitable funds for seven counties in south central Kansas. Our “Libraries Unite” project allowed the libraries in Macksville, St. John and Stafford to divide the grant equally, each utilizing $5,000 to improve programming, accessibility and outreach to patrons across Stafford county (and beyond). At Macksville, we have finally spent all of our grant funds in some very impactful ways!
Read more: Homepage

At a pre-meeting on July 15, the Garden City Commission heard a presentation on welcoming signs, city limit signs and wayfinding signs. Tyler Patterson, Public Works Operations Manager, said one of the City Commission Goals for 2025-26 is welcoming signs. There are three Welcome to Garden City signs, not including one at the Garden City Regional Airport and Flight Desk Restaurant, in Garden City, Patterson said.
Read more: Garden City Telegram

Newton City Commissioners gave an initial go-ahead for staff to begin formalizing an incentive package aimed at drawing in another hotel. In recent years, the City of Newton has seen a decrease in bed tax revenue, as well as guest space at some local hotels. Bed tax revenue funds city programs such as the convention and visitors bureau. During large events like last year’s adaptive golf open, many attendees found themselves staying in Wichita or other locations.
Read more: Harvey County Now

A federal judge drastically limited a developer’s lawsuit over an Edwardsville ordinance that would ban heavy truck traffic on a street abutting a $100 million logistics center. Scannell Properties spent millions preparing and planning to build more than 2.1 million square feet of light industrial as part of its Compass 70 Logistics facility. It remains under construction and sits in Bonner Springs, along the border with Edwardsville, just south of Interstate 70.
Read more: Kansas City Business Journal – Local Kansas City News

Natalie and Alex Beauchamp have moved five times in the past four years.  They’ve fit their lives into apartments across Missouri and the Kansas City area. It’s only recently, when Alex Beauchamp’s promotion required a move to Wichita, that the 20-somethings thought to try their luck at buying a home. City leaders talk a lot about attracting people like the Beauchamps to Wichita: young professionals ready to establish roots. But planting here is harder now than 20 years ago. Especially for first-time buyers.  The Beauchamps did just about everything right, according to their real estate agent, Jayna Reece. They arranged their financing, tempered their expectations and became eager students of her guidance about the home-buying process and the Wichita market. Even so, they had a six-week whirlwind of house searching. 
Read more: KLC Journal

It was a night of celebration in Andover as the city officially opened its newest park and welcomed back a beloved community space. Fire Station 2 Park, located just south of Kellogg and Andover Road, sits next to the newly opened Fire Station 2, which inspired the park’s name. The park was funded by the Family Future Forward sales tax, approved by voters in November 2021.
Read more: KSN-TV

In the shadow of the world’s largest hand-painted Czech egg stands the Wilson Czech opera house, a more than 120-year-old building that has been a member of the Wilson community since the town’s beginning. It was built by hand by some of the original residents of this small Kansas community back in 1902. Ford and Kenny Beneba, the Opera House Corporation’s president, says it was built by 26 men and eight mules. However, in 2009, a fire engulfed the century-old structure, leaving its future looking bleak. But like a phoenix from the ashes, the opera house has new life after the community came together to renovate the space into an open-air theater for the entire town to enjoy.
Read more: KSN-TV

Early voting is underway for the primary election in Sedgwick County. Along with candidates, voters in Maize have a special question. The city is asking its residents to approve a 1% sales tax. Maize City Manager Nick Gregory says this sales tax will help reduce future property tax increases while still investing in much-needed infrastructure improvements.
Read more: KSN-TV