Kansas Municipal News
Municipal Bond Trends for March 3, 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.
Kansas to loan up to $100M to cities with huge energy costs
Driven by pleas from desperate local officials, Kansas legislators on Wednesday quickly created a state low-interest loan program to help cities cover spikes in costs associated with providing heat and electricity to their residents during last month’s intense cold snap. Lawmakers sent Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly a bill that would allow the state to loan out $100 million of its idle funds immediately to cities that operate their own electric and natural gas utilities, to cover “extraordinary” energy costs last month. Cities would have up to 10 years to pay off the loans. The bill was introduced Tuesday, had a hearing, cleared a House committee Wednesday morning and passed the House less than two hours later, 124-0. The Senate approved it, 37-1, in the afternoon, and Kelly signed it Wednesday night, her office said.
Source: Wichita Eagle
A new casino nearly 30 years in the making opens in Park City
Wichita slots fans have a new place to try their luck as of this week. After years of legal wrangling followed by a quick construction process, the new Crosswinds Casino, owned by the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma, opened to the public Tuesday night at 777 N. Jackpot Way, which is just south of I-135 off the 77th Street exit in Park City. It’s set up in a 20,000 square-foot one-room building and is filled with 500 slot machines, 200 VGT machines with red spins. There’s also a separated-off area with high stakes slot machines. Most of the blinking, glowing machines have small Plexiglass barriers separating them from their neighbors.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Higher bills on the horizon
Steel yourself. Higher energy bills are on the way. With the recent spike in electric and natural gas usage due to wintry weather, it’s likely that electrical rate increases will follow suit for Iola residents. “We are seeing an extremely high jump in usage,” confirmed city clerk Roxanne Hutton. (For example, one resident who used 27 units of energy in January, used 32 in February. The rest of the year, they average 7 British Thermal Units.)
Source: The Iola Register
Rural county fire detected, reported from space satellite
Sunday afternoon, firefighters responded to a 600-acre wildland fire near Lincolnville. Chance Hayes, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service Wichita, spotted the fire using satellite thermal imagery on Sunday. Hayes was monitoring satellite feeds from the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service Group – a subsidiary of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. “Once we recognize a hotspot, we can use our software to drop a pin on that location. That will send out a text to all the individuals in that county that want to be notified of a possible wildfire,” he said.
Source: Hillsboro Free Press
Sedgwick County partners with local churches to bring vaccines to communities of color
Churches in east Wichita, like Tabernacle Bible Church, have already served as COVID-19 testing locations during the pandemic. The move allowed for people like Gloria Wallace to get tested monthly and provided her some peace of mind. Soon Tabernacle Bible will go a step further. The church, along with St. James Missionary Baptist Church, will serve as community vaccination sites the next two Sundays as part of a wider effort by Sedgwick County to increase access to communities of color.
Source: KAKE – News
Ogden coffee shop sets out to support local youth
In downtown Ogden, you won’t find a major coffee chain, but rather a locally owned not-for-profit coffee shop. The House Cafe has a mission to serve its community. “A lot of times if kids aren’t shown how to be employable or have a work ethic, how can you expect them to have those things,” Christopher Jacobs said. Jacobs and his wife set out on a mission to give youth in the Ogden community the chance to not only learn the skills they would need when they leave Ogden but to also provide a space for youth in the community to gather and stay out of trouble.
Source: KSNT News
City of Manhattan launching online survey for “CrossroadsMHK” strategic plan
The City of Manhattan is launching an online survey for its new “CrossroadsMHK” strategic plan. Anyone who lives, works, or goes to school in Manhattan can take part in the survey. This is part of an eight-month strategic planning process. Assistant to the City Manager Jared Wasinger said the survey is the first step in the public engagement process. “It’s a brief survey just to kick off the process,” Wasinger said. “We’re asking folks to talk about their vision for Manhattan over the next 10 to 20 years as well as what they see as the core services this city should offer.” This comes as the city of Manhattan is going through a budget crisis.
Source: KSNT News
Effort to revamp city park in Peabody raises $110,500
An effort to revamp Peabody’s City Park has raised $110,500, placing it within $69,500 of its $180,000 fund-raising goal. The deadline for the second phase of the project is April 30, less than two months away. The new playground equipment will meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards. Volunteers will help install the new equipment when it is delivered.
Source: Marion County RECORD
Overland Park task force will consider alternatives to controversial chip seal road resurfacing
Chip seal on Overland Park roads is going ahead for this year, but city councilmembers plan to take a hard look at whether they’ll continue the controversial resurfacing method in the future. The city council voted Monday to move ahead with resurfacing projects for this year that were previously bid for chip seal, but a consensus also agreed to set up a task force to take a look at future infrastructure issues, with an eye to finding a viable chip seal alternative. The task force would look at how the city could pay the increased cost of using another type of resurfacing, as well as poll residents on how they feel about possibly paying more in taxes for a different type of road surface.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Parsons Police Department gains K-9 officer
The Parsons Police Department is going to the dogs, but in this case – that saying is a good thing. Robert Spinks, Parsons Police Chief, said, “That’s the key thing in rural Kansas, we have to work together or we just are not effective.” And to do this, the Parsons Police Department has been working on a very special project for over 20 years. On Monday night, it finally came together. “This is exciting for our department, we received approval last night from our city commission to purchase our first canine.”
Source: KSNF/KODE
Parsons PD receives award for 5th year in a row
A Southeast Kansas Police Department has been recognized – again – for keeping its city safe. And it’s more good news for the Parsons Police Department. It’s earned the Platinum Award for traffic safety from AAA. This year, the award has only gone to 43 out of the 350 law enforcement agencies in the state of Kansas. The one for Parsons is thanks, in part, to the road and traffic safety programs the department runs year-round. Jordan Tomlinson, Parsons Police Department Corporal, said, “We also do programs to educate teen drivers and even adult drivers about the consequences of distracted driving such as trying to operate your cellphone while driving.” This is the 5th year in a row the department has received the award.
Source: KSNF/KODE
Study: City, county lack cheaper family housing
The Garden City and Finney County commissions took a close look at housing needs during Monday’s joint meeting. Carol Davidson, Neighborhood Development Services director, gave an update on the Rural Housing Incentive District and the housing needs assessment study, or CHAT, that was completed. Davidson said the housing study tells where the housing needs are and how many homes are supposed to be built each year to keep up with demand. As of 2019, the total need is 1,200 homes for the next 10 years, so 120 need to be built each year.
Source: Garden City Telegram
Governor Laura Kelly Announces Main Street Program Additions
Governor Laura Kelly announced the selection of Atchison, Baldwin City, and Junction City as the newest members of the Kansas Main Street program, bringing the total number of designated Main Street communities in Kansas to 28. These three communities are the first new additions to the state’s Main Street program since its reintroduction in Kansas in 2019. “To aid our economic recovery from COVID-19, we must provide every Kansas community with the resources needed to prosper now and into the future,” Governor Kelly said. “The Main Street program is a key tool for future growth and economic development, and I am glad to see the addition of Atchison, Baldwin City, and Junction City.” Kansas Main Street is a self-help technical assistance program administered by the Community Development Division at the Kansas Department of Commerce. The program targets preservation and revitalization of downtown districts through the development of a comprehensive strategy based on the four points of Organization, Design, Promotion and Economic Restructuring.
Source: Kansas Department of Commerce
Municipal Bond Trends for March 2, 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.
Pott. County discusses St. George comprehensive plan
Leroy Bailey, Pottawatomie County resident, expressed concern to the county commission Monday over the City of Saint George’s comprehensive plan. He says he is concerned that the plan is going to change zoning designations and increase certain costs. “It looks like a fair plan,” Bailey said. “However, we worry about a thing called taxation. What’s it going to do to us? Is it going to jack our taxes up?” Stephan Metzger, county planner, explained that the plan will not change zoning or increase taxes. He also explained that the plan will not tell land owners what to do with their property.
Source: 1350 KMAN
Atchison to sell Wilburn Park to potential ‘Family Fun Center’ Developer
City Commissioners, in their duties as Landbank Commissioners, unanimously approved the sale of Walt Wilburn Park to Franklin Family Enterprises, LLC for $20,000 on Monday as the potential future site of a “family fun center.” … Derek Franklin, who applied to buy the property and was at the meeting representing Franklin Family Enterprises, told commissioners and other concerned residents in attendance that there was not a certain timeline for the potential facility, but that the purchase of the property was the first step in the process. The application said there could be about a 6,000 square-foot building constructed as part of the venue.
Source: Atchison Globe Now
Wichita gets outside help with new ethics policy
After a mayoral election filled with scandal and dirty politics, the City of Wichita decided it was time to put some teeth into its ethics policy. Tuesday, more than a year into the process and after some fireworks, the city council got some help with that from the National League of Cities. “I think it certainly helps when you can look at best practices done in other communities,” said councilman Bryan Frye. The league’s review suggested tweaks but no major changes to what the council members have come up with. “I liked that they were looking at really in the details of things that we could be fixing,” said Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple.
Source: KAKE – News
Lawrence City Commission to consider repealing requirement for many top city officials to live in Lawrence
City leaders will soon decide whether to repeal residency rules that require many of the city’s top officials to live in Lawrence, potentially maintaining the requirement only for one position. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider repealing the residency requirements for all city employees except the city manager, effectively allowing employees in about a dozen high-level positions to live elsewhere. City staff are recommending the changes in part to help the city attract more qualified and diverse candidates for the upcoming recruitment for several department director positions, according to a city staff memo to the commission.
Source: LJWorld.com.
‘A deeper look’: Lawrence Police Department installs new software for tracking complaints against officers, use of force
In the near future, if a Lawrence police officer uses a taser, firearm or other form of force a during a certain period of time — such as three times in six months — the Lawrence Police Department will be able to automatically flag those incidents to be further reviewed. That would be an increase in oversight over such instances for the department and is how LPD plans to use a new software program installed earlier this month.
Source: LJWorld.com.