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Municipal News & Jobs

Municipal News & Jobs2018-08-05T16:28:50-05:00

Kansas Municipal News

Kansas ‘ahead of schedule’ as frustration continues over COVID-19 vaccine scheduling

The majority of Kansans are still waiting as they hope an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccination will become available. As of Monday, every Kansan age 16 and older is eligible to get a vaccine, but the state doesn’t receive enough vaccine to meet the need. It could be worse, according to state leaders. Dr. Lee Norman, Secretary for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said 43-percent of all Kansans are vaccinated. “We’re definitely ahead of schedule, especially when you consider we’ve done teachers and many high-risk populations,” Norman said during a Facebook Live with the University of Kansas Health System Tuesday.  This week, Norman said the state of Kansas will receive it’s largest allocation of COVID-19 vaccine to date. The increase will trickle down to metro counties, like the Johnson County Health Department, where they echoed a similar message Monday afternoon.
Source: fox4kc.com | FOX 4 – WDAF

Kansas City ranked among most lucrative metros for recent graduates

Kansas City ranks third in the nation in adjusted pay for recent college graduates, according to a report from Self Financial. According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, median earnings for recent college graduates working full time is about $50,000 a year. The median earnings for recent college graduates working in the Kansas City metro is $49,000, but it’s $52,802 when adjusted for relative cost of living. St. Louis is second, with actual median earnings of $48,000 and $53,274 adjusted. The report noted that computer science and engineering jobs earned the most. Data analysts focused on college graduates age 22-27 for the study. Only the 50 largest metropolitan areas were included in the analysis. States that ranked well after the adjusted cost of living include: Kansas, Texas, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and Ohio.
Source: fox4kc.com | FOX 4 – WDAF

Cowley County part of mental health pilot project

Cowley County is one of five locations that will share in a $4 million state grant to help people with serious mental illness to avoid incarceration and hospitalization. Four County Mental Health, which serves Cowley County, is among the entities that will be involved in creating pilot programs to help people with serious mental illness, according to a press release from Gov. Laura Kelly’s office. Greg Hennen, executive director Four County, said the organization is excited to be included in the pilot project activity. “This model fits well with the mission and purpose of our newly developed Assertive Community Treatment program, and we believe our ACT team could be a key partner in this needed effort,” he said. The grant is administered through the state, but comes from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services. It will make $1 million available annually for four years.
Source: Cowley CourierTraveler

Lawrence and Douglas County leaders call for more collaboration to address homelessness, other community issues

At a joint meeting Monday, elected city and county leaders said that the coronavirus pandemic made both the problem of homelessness and the need for local governments to work together to address it more clear. The pandemic led to various organizations working to house people quickly or shelter them temporarily in noncongregate settings, such as hotels. City Commissioner Lisa Larsen said that she had noticed, especially this winter, a lot of organizations doing good work to try to address homelessness, but a certain collaborative element seemed lacking.
Source: LJWorld.com.

Residents urged to take precautions as wildfires ramp up in Reno County

Hutchinson and Reno County residents are urged to take precautions this week as the area is under “Catastrophic” and “Very High” ratings on the Grassland Fire Danger Index through the week. The National Weather Service puts out the Grassland Fire Danger Index, which assigns a risk level for wildland fires based on the amount of dead grass, temperature, wind speed and humidity. Rather than predict how a fire will behave, the ratings correspond to the likelihood that fires will get out of control. Sunday and Monday kept area fire departments busy as several fires started in the county.
Source: Hutch News.

Latino Leaders In Southwestern Kansas Fight To Overcome Myths And Hesitancy About COVID-19 Vaccine

Even as much of the country thrills at the prospect of getting their COVID-19 shots, sizable pockets need convincing. In the immigrant and refugee communities of southwestern Kansas, cultural barriers and access to the shots could leave those hit hardest by the pandemic in ongoing peril. So town by town, county by county, public health officials find themselves shooting down unfounded fears about the shots that could finally beat back a virus that has killed hundreds of thousands of people in the United States and millions around the world.
Source: KCUR News

April Fool’s Day in Lucas, Kansas, will be therapeutic — seriously

After our long winter of COVID-19 despair, what could be better than a chance to come together to experience what is possible? That’s what is on offer on April Fool’s Day in Lucas. Many events will take place outdoors, distancing will be observed inside and face coverings will be required. In fact, a prize will be given for the most creative mask. The annual event began six years ago when Wilson artist Alan Vopat was looking for a place to store his accumulated art, and discovered his cousin was selling a building on Main Street. To celebrate the grand opening of the DaDa Muse’Um in 2016, Vopat and Jeannie Stramel put together the first April Fool’s event. “April Fool’s Day seemed like a good fit,” Stramel said. “It’s a funny, quirky day and it seemed like it made sense for Lucas.” Rosslyn Schultz, founder and co-director with Stramel of the Grassroots Art Center is the organizer behind a menu of arts delight from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on April 1 throughout Lucas, a grassroots art mecca named one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas Art.
Source: Kansas Reflector

New Douglass Activity Center opens to the public

The Douglass Activity Center represents more than just a new community center. “Today, history is preserved in the Black community and for all citizens of Manhattan,” Dave Baker, director of the Douglass Center, said on Thursday at the opening of the activity center. The facility is on Yuma Street, an important part of town for Manhattan’s Black community. The history began with the establishment of the Bethel A.M.E. Church by the Exodusters — Black migrants to Kansas — in 1879 and includes the Douglass School, which served as the local school for Black elementary school students prior to desegregation.
Source: themercury.com

Riley County commission approves $87,000 payment to Home Depot; discusses local impact

Riley County commissioners discussed the impact on local government entities and taxpayers from recent the Board of Tax Appeals case. County Clerk Rich Vargo presented the impact per the request of other local government entities.  Before the BOTA case, Home Depot was being taxed in 2018 over $239,000.  That number now is around $150,000, which was the previously reported number the county owed.  The county actually owes $87,000 which is the difference between the two values. The costs of the refund will be split three ways: $29,186 from Manhattan, $24,194 from the County, and $33,582 from USD 383, the only school district impacted. 
Source: 1350 KMAN

10-year Treasury yield hits 14-month highs, topping 1.77%

The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield topped 1.77% on Tuesday, as coronavirus vaccine rollouts and planned infrastructure spending boosted hopes of a broad economic recovery, but added to inflation fears. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note jumped to 1.772% at 4:40 a.m. ET, a 14-month high. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose to 2.456%. … The move comes a day ahead of President Joe Biden revealing details of his infrastructure plan. The recovery package will include up to $3 trillion in spending across a swathe of sectors in an effort to bolster the U.S. economy.
Source: CNBC – Bonds

Local leaders discuss tax rebate program and future of sales tax

The Atchison County and City Commission met for the first time in three years to discuss a pair of hot button topics and the state of the city and county as a whole last Thursday at the Atchison Event Center. The two talking points of the meeting was the renewal of the Neighborhood Revitalization Program before the end of October and the future of the 1% Sales Tax. The tax rebate program is a five-year deal that is set to expire October 31, 2021 after going into action October, 15 2016. The goal of the program is stated to hope to provide communities with a long-term increase and stabilization in their property tax base by encouraging rehabilitation or new construction which might not otherwise occur.
Source: Atchison Globe Now

Remote work isn’t going away. Can it bring a new generation of workers to Wichita?

A focus on attracting and retaining workers to Wichita isn’t new. But the pandemic has spurred urgency for those efforts, as some large companies in major cities like Salesforce and Dropbox transitioned to allow employees to work from anywhere. Wichita’s talent experts are asking: What would make those workers want to move to Wichita? Is that even likely to happen? “I think some people really buy into the idea that there’s gonna be this mass change in where people live and work,” said Scot Rigby, director of development services and assistant city manager for the city of Wichita. “There may be some, but I think they previously had that ability.”
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle

Kansas opens up vaccinations to all adults starting March 29

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly announced Friday that anyone in Kansas age 16 or older will be allowed to get a coronavirus vaccine starting Monday because the state expects to get enough of the medicine to speed up its inoculation process for the second time in two weeks. Kelly’s announcement means the state will enter the fifth and final phase of its vaccine distribution. The move to make vaccines available to another 400,000 people comes after weeks of criticism from Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature that the effort is not moving quickly enough and not organized enough for people to easily learn where and when they can get shots.
Source: The Iola Register

Iolan calls program ‘a godsend’

Thrive Allen County’s transportation program is changing lives. “To me it’s been a godsend,” said Iolan Loren Mitchell, in reference to the local initiative. The 83-year-old said his daughter had been giving him rides to his dialysis treatments in Chanute, but her busy schedule often makes that impossible. Fortunately for Mitchell, while attending dialysis one day, an employee there told him about Thrive’s free, non-emergency transportation program, which is currently being piloted. In no time, he was getting a lift to Chanute pro bono, sometimes multiple days per week.
Source: The Iola Register

City of Pittsburg and Crawford County partner to launch new text-to-9-1-1 system

The City of Pittsburg and Crawford County have partnered to purchase a new state-of-the-art emergency call handling and management system that will allow residents to text urgent alerts to 9-1-1. For the last two years, the city and county have collaborated to replace antiquated telephone systems with a Next Gen 9-1-1 solution based on Internet Protocol, which are designed to keep up with the rapidly evolving communication habits of today, such as mobile calling, texting, sharing data, and more. “The new system will allow dispatchers to text with people and help us better locate mobile phone calls,” says Deputy City Manager Jay Byers. “More importantly, it’s the platform for future technologies that will be coming down the road, like being able to send pictures and video from your mobile phone directly to 9-1-1 and other emerging public safety advances.”
Source

Source: City of Pittsburg

Overland Park committee gives nod to $5.2 million streetlight replacement project

A program that will replace most of Overland Park’s older high-pressure sodium streetlights with LEDs is expected to save the city $407,000 a year for the next decade, according to the city’s staff. The council’s public works committee moved ahead Wednesday with the $5.2 million project. Most of that will be paid for with bonds, but $750,000 will come from the city’s general fund, said city traffic engineer Brian Shields. Replacing the sodium lights with the more energy-efficient light-emitting diodes is a part of the city’s five-year capital improvements plan.
Source: Prairie Village Post

Electric scooters roll into Great Bend

A new mode of transportation is rolling into Great Bend. but it isn’t a plane, train, or automobile, it’s a scooter. Last year, before COVID hit, Matt Hiss and his wife traveled to Austin, Texas. While exploring the city, they stumbled upon electric scooters and it planted an idea in their mind. Coming from a small community, the scooters were a new experience for the Hiss’. They say it was a fun and inexpensive way to get around. So when an ad for Bird Scooters popped up, they thought why not bring the business to Great Bend? “The first chance we had to potentially bring them, we jumped on it,” said Matt Hiss, Fleet Manager.
Source: KSN-TV

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