Kansas Municipal News
‘Crown jewel’ of Kansas trails among $16.8M investment in alternative transportation projects
Kansas officials on Thursday announced plans to fix a gap in the Flint Hills Trail near Ottawa to avoid a two-mile detour around active railroad tracks and overgrown brush. The project is expected to boost tourism in downtown Ottawa as the launch point for rides along two trails that intersect there, as well as communities along the trails. Described by the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism as the “crown jewel of Kansas trails,” the Flint Hills Trail extends 117 miles from Herrington, in Dickinson County, to Osawatomie, on the south edge of the Kansas City metro area in in Miami County. Portions of the trail follow the Marais Des Cygnes River, offering views of rushing waters, towering bluffs, rolling farmland, and riparian woods.
Source: Kansas Reflector
Topeka firefighters save dog while battling house fire
Topeka firefighters saved a dog while battling a house fire Thursday evening. The Topeka Fire Department asked the public to avoid the area. Dispatch received multiple calls about a visible plume of smoke coming from a home near Southeast 13th and Lawrence Street. No person was inside the home, but there was a dog inside during the fire, according to emergency crews at the scene. They were able to get the dog out safely and used CPR to revive it. They are putting the fire out now. Investigators are looking into the cause of the fire now.
Source: KSNT News
Roeland Park considers banning smoking in public parks — which Johnson County cities already do?
Roeland Park could soon become the next Johnson County city to ban smoking and all tobacco products in or near its public parks. Five councilmembers at a city council workshop this week voiced support for bringing such a measure to the full council for consideration. Ward 2 Councilmember Jennifer Hill said she preferred a smoking ban in all parks “as we would in any public domain, any public property.” “Really, I think at this point in 2021, the only place that smoking is allowed is in your own home, and that is to protect other people and the environment,” Hill said. If enacted, Roeland Park wouldn’t be the first Johnson County to ban smoking in its public parks.
Source: Shawnee Mission Post
New Home Turf: Great Bend wants to move on Sports Complex
The City of Great Bend would like to proceed with plans to install artificial turf at its Sports Complex. That was the consensus of the City Council following a Tuesday night work session. The city seeks a partnership with the Great Bend Recreation Commission and Unified School District 428 for the project, City Administrator Kendal Francis said. The city is willing to kick in a tick over 60%, or $920,000, of the $1.4 million endeavor, with the rec commission ponying up $200,000 (as well as annual maintenance of the turf) and the school district $280,000.
Source: Great Bend Tribune
Atchison adopts ordinance to create a vacant property registry
Atchison City Commissioners unanimously adopted Ordinance No. 6650 during Tuesday’s regular meeting, which is designed to make it more difficult for property owners to leave buildings vacant and in disrepair. The ordinance creates a vacant property registry, which has a fee associated and penalties for non-registration. The ordinance requires the owner of a vacant building to register within 60 days of vacancy. The registration fee is $25 for residential buildings and $100 for commercial buildings – unless the property is bank or commercially owned foreclosure property. If the property is a foreclosure, the registration fee is $1,000 per residential building and $2,000 per commercial building.
Source: Atchison Globe Now
Fed officials see economy ‘far from’ where it needs to be, meaning easy policy won’t change soon, minutes show
Federal Open Market Committee members at their most recent gathering reaffirmed that the central bank will be keeping policy loose well into the future, according to meeting minutes released Wednesday. With the economy continuing to shake off the effects from the Covid-19 pandemic, the committee, which sets monetary policy for the Federal Reserve, kept policy unchanged. That meant holding benchmark short-term borrowing rates near zero and maintaining the minimum $120 billion of asset purchases each month.
Source: CNBC
Muni yields finally rise, but record inflows linger
Municipals sold off Wednesday after a weeks-long steady period during which they barely budged a basis point or two up or down, even as U.S. Treasuries pared back recent losses and equities were mixed. The municipal secondary gave way to higher-yield trades on high-grade names and triple-A benchmarks rose two to five basis points as a result. New deals still fared well, though some issues moved to the day-to-day calendar as participants wait to see whether the correction Wednesday was a one-off event. The fundamentals are strong, though, with supply still light on a relative basis.
Source: Bond Buyer
Finney County mulls unauthorized dumping
Unauthorized dumping has been occurring in Towns Riverview South, and the Finney County Commission discussed the dumping at its regular meeting Tuesday. No action was taken on the issue, other than agreement to look into solving the problem. Roger Calkins, Finney County Public Works director, said the location of the dumping has been involved in the countywide spring and fall cleanup events.
Source: GCTelegram.
Wastewater plant lost power during rolling blackouts. Fire station couldn’t open door. Evergy apologizes.
Oakland’s wastewater plant lost power and Fire Station No. 6 was unable to open its garage door to respond to a call if one had come in as rolling blackouts came to Topeka on Tuesday. Jeff Martin, vice president of customer and community operations at Evergy, apologized to frustrated Topeka City Council members for how the company handled rolling blackouts as some neighborhoods were without power longer than others. “Is water and wastewater treatment not a priority to keep powered up?” Councilmember Neil Dobler asked Martin at Tuesday night’s meeting. Martin said it was essential to reduce power as quickly as possible and that Evergy will learn from this event.
Source: CJonline.com.
Municipal Bond Trends for February 17, 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.
Wamego power plant helps fuel city’s energy through rolling outages
The Wamego community was able to use its own power plant during rolling blackouts from Evergy this week. It’s something the city manager says she and her colleagues are proud to have. Stacie Eichem, city manager of Wamego, said it used to be more common for towns to have their own power plants decades ago. While many were removed or are out of service, Wamego’s is used when needed. The harsh weather and power outages presented an opportunity to turn it on. The town was hit twice during the series of rolling outages, and at one point contributed to powering the entire town. The first blackout came without warning, on Monday morning.
Source: KSNT News
Johnson County Drivers Skeptical Of Adding Toll Lanes On U.S. 69 — Could That Change?
The notion of paying a toll to use designated express lanes on U.S. Highway 69 will take some selling before it’s widely liked by Johnson County motorists. That’s according to focus groups held by the engineering firm studying potential solutions for one of Kansas’ most congested highways. Only about a third of focus group participants said they liked a proposal to use tolls to help pay to expand the capacity of U.S. 69 in Overland Park. Others said they’d like to see the traffic flow improved, but would rather other types of taxes be used to add lanes.
Source: KCUR News
Interest rates will continue to rise, but don’t blame it all on inflation, economists say
Interest rates are expected to continue their upward march, but for now they’re not expected to get high enough to harpoon the stock market. Treasury yields have been rising quickly in the last week, and the benchmark 10-year yield has been on a tear – reaching 1.33% in the early morning hours Wednesday before retreating below 1.30%. Yields move opposite price, and the 10-year has risen from about 1.15% just a week ago to levels that are close to where they were when the pandemic started hitting the economy last February.
Source: CNBC – Bonds