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Municipal News & Jobs

Municipal News & Jobs2026-08-07T10:07:18-05:00

Kansas Municipal News

The past, present and future of Highway 77

For close to a century, U.S. Highway 77 has been a major highway in Cowley County. For a good deal of its length in the county, it is a four-lane highway from the Oklahoma state line to the north side of Winfield. However, from the north side of Winfield onward to the Butler County line, it is merely a two-lane highway. “The possibility of a future four-lane expansion for this section has not been prioritized at this time. Local consult meetings, which are held periodically, with the next round anticipated this fall, are an opportunity for communities to share input on transportation needs,” said JB Wilson, public affairs officer for KDOT. “While the idea of a four-lane expansion has been mentioned in the past, current priorities focus on addressing other critical needs identified through public feedback and assessments. We welcome community participation in the consultation meetings to help shape future projects.”
Source: Cowley CourierTraveler

Few public entities in Cowley County provide online access to meetings

Arkansas City residents who are unable to attend city commission meetings can now watch the meeting through a livestream or watch it later as a video. The city began broadcasting and posting recordings of the meetings earlier this month on YouTube. The new platform makes it possible for residents to stay informed by viewing meetings in real time or by accessing a recorded video at a more convenient time.
Source: Cowley CourierTraveler

County slows down energy storage talks

Allen County Commissioners agreed to a 180-day moratorium in regards to a proposed battery energy storage system (BESS) in the southeast part of the county at their meeting Tuesday. Zoning Director Terry Call discussed the project with the commissioners. The current proposal is for a 300-megawatt storage facility near Savonburg and Elsmore. An estimated 15 to 30 acres would be needed for the facility and it would cost $300 million.
Source: The Iola Register

‘Once in a generation’: Lawrence officials begin prep for World Cup in KC

Thousands of international soccer fans and millions of dollars are expected to descend on Kansas City next year as the city hosts six world cup matches. Lawrence officials and organizations have begun preparing to claim a slice of the pie. The impacts are expected to be huge. Six games will be played at Arrowhead Stadium, including a quarterfinal match. “For each of those, the impacts they estimate are similar to what a Super Bowl would be,” said Steve Kelly, vice president of economic development for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce. KC2026 is the organization in charge of planning for the World Cup in Kansas City. CEO Pam Kramer called the World Cup the “biggest event to ever happen in Kansas City.” In recent months, Lawrence organizations created a unified command, similar to what was formed for COVID-19 response, in preparation for the World Cup. Partners include the City of Lawrence, Douglas County, the University of Kansas, Explore Lawrence and the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.
Source: The Lawrence Times

Ellis mulls benefits vs. risks for golf cart legalization

Council President John Walz acknowledged that he may be in the minority in opposing golf cart legalization; however, his concern is safety. Council Member LaBarge reported that safety features as well as licensing and inspection would be required and that no problems have been reported in the surrounding communities, including Hays.
Source: Hays Daily News

Lawrence staff outlines financial tools that could generate new revenues for Parks & Rec

That includes creating a pricing policy, which could include resident and non-resident pricing; adding a position to the department that would seek out partnerships, sponsorships or grants to fund park programs; using part of the transitive guest tax to support programming and establishing a foundation for the department to generate private funding through donations.
Source: LJWorld

Olathe advances plans for new accessible theme park, hockey arena. See the renderings

After hang-ups over an additional gas station and convenience store, the Olathe City Council unanimously approved the zoning changes for a new ultra-accessible theme park and sports arena during its Jan. 7 meeting. Behind the plan is Lamar Hunt Jr.’s company Loretto Properties, which he runs alongside his son-in-law James Arkell. Hunt Jr., son and namesake of Chiefs’ founder Lamar Hunt, also owns the Kansas City Mavericks hockey team.
Source: Joco 913 News

A Kansas town’s fluoride fight could hint at what’s ahead

A fight over fluoride in drinking water in Abilene, Kansas, could preview battles likely to play out in cities across the country as the next presidential administration puts a spotlight on the issue. Plus: President-elect Trump’s immigration policies will likely affect the meatpacking industry, and in turn, the cost of food. Members of the incoming Trump administration want to remove fluoride from public water. It’s drawing more attention to the mineral many cities add to public water supplies to strengthen peoples’ teeth. As Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga reports, a town in Kansas just went through that debate last year.
Source: KCUR News

Local Superintendents to Meet Over Potential Southern Cloud Dissolution

With the potential for Southern Cloud Unified School District 334 to dissolve, five area superintendents will meet on January 22nd in Glasco. Representatives from five surrounding school districts will attend, including, USD 379 Clay County (Clay Center and Wakefield schools), USD 273 Mitchell County (Beloit schools), USD 333 Cloud (Concordia schools), USD 224 Clifton-Clyde, and 239 North Ottawa (Minneapolis schools). The meeting will discuss the potential distribution of 334 school boundaries if their board votes to close Southern Cloud. USD 379 Superintendent Brett Nelson said that in previous situations, the state made decisions when all entities were not in agreement.
Source: KCLY Radio

Wichita bond issue draws supporters and opponents as campaign heats up

Groups on both sides of a proposed bond issue for Wichita schools have named leaders and launched campaigns ahead of the February election. Wichita United for Better Education, a political action committee formed by Republican strategist Ben Davis to oppose the bond issue, said on a new website that the Wichita district should focus on basic maintenance and student test scores rather than building new schools. Bradley Dyer Jr., a senior business development officer with Credit Union of America, is spearheading a “Yes for Wichita Kids” campaign in favor of the bond issue. He said the proposal is a responsible plan to make long-term improvements.
Source: KCUR News

KU research suggests wind power isn’t a red vs. blue issue in Kansas

New wind installations aren’t allowed in about one-fifth of Kansas counties, in part to protect the nation’s last, largest swath of tallgrass prairie.
Wind power can spark passionate reactions – at times dividing neighbors and communities – but unlike many other hot-button topics, how this one shakes out across Kansas may not follow political lines. Researchers at the University of Kansas have begun exploring the drivers behind the regulations that vary county by county and control where wind farms are – and aren’t – allowed. They’ve created a first-of-its-kind interactive atlas that pulls together rules for the state’s 105 counties, creating “a real gold mine” for analysts to plumb in search of patterns, urban planning associate professor Ward Lyles said.
Source: KCUR News

Kansas school districts request more bond money than can be given, first in state history

It’s a first for Kansas. School districts statewide have asked for more bond project money than the Department of Education can give out. This means some districts have to wait to make improvements. Dozens of districts are looking at their needs closely, meaning that historical questions put some district leaders in a position to table their requests. This puts their local votes on the back burner until at least July 1 of the next fiscal year.
Source: KSN-TV

Update: PowerSchool cyberattack impact on Winfield

Kansas schools that use PowerSchool are still looking into how a cybersecurity incident may have impacted their students and employees. Last week, Kansas school districts were notified that PowerSchool was the victim of a nationwide data breach from approximately Dec. 19 to Dec. 23. The company said the breach involved student data. Some Kansas school districts that use PowerSchool are Andover, Buhler, Haysville, Rose Hill and Winfield.
Source: KSN-TV

Liberal receives funding, looking to create railroad overpass

Federal funding is helping reconnect a southwest Kansas community. Liberal received over $1.6 million from the Federal Railroad Administration’s Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program. Currently, the city of 20,000 is split by the Union Pacific Rail Line. This money will be used to study sites where an overpass can be built so trains don’t tie up traffic.
Source: KSN-TV

Wichita passed new rules for golf carts on city streets. Here’s what you can & can’t do

Wichita now has one of the more restrictive ordinances in Kansas for golf carts on public streets. It will allow their use only on streets with posted speed limits of 30 mph or less. State statute already prohibits the use of golf carts on highways and arterial streets. Wichita also will prohibit their use in the core area — downtown, Old Town and Delano — as well as on sidewalks and walking and bike paths. To operate a golf cart, drivers must have a valid driver’s license and be at least 18 years old. Wichita is one of the only cities in the state that has an age restriction on operating golf carts.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle

Municipal Bond Trends for January 14, 2025

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.

State offers $3 million to complete Sand Creek dream

The State of Kansas called Newton and wanted to give $3 million to connect the two sections of its bike path. The catch? The Kansas Department of Transportation needed an answer by Jan. 15. The city’s first meeting after the offer was on Jan. 14. The project would connect the Sand Creek Trail from where it ends south of First Street at the Sand Creek Dam to where it picks up at SW 14th Street. From there, it runs near the new wetlands park and through the Sand Creek Station Golf Course.
Completing the trail has been on the city’s list of future capital improvement projects since 2007, but there was never the funding there to do so.
Source: Harvey County Now

Sedgwick has a trio of attorneys to work with

Sedgwick’s new city attorney, Jennifer Hill of McDonald Tinker Law Firm in Wichita, brings with her over 20 years of civil litigation work for governmental entities and another four years of experience as a city attorney. Hill, a Wichita native, began practicing law in her hometown in 2003 and joined McDonald Tinker in 2005. Working with Hill in Sedgwick will be Associate Attorneys Scott Ufford and Matt Gorney. Hill said that Ufford and Gorney will handle the prosecution docket and the monthly city council meeting on the first Wednesday of each month. Hill will attend the second monthly meeting on the third Wednesday of each month.
Source: Harvey County Now

Municipal Bond Trends for January 13, 2025

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.

‘Life and death’: Rescuers use tractors and a helicopter to reach people stranded in snow

A volunteer fire chief picked up a stranded, terminally ill man with his tractor and delivered him safely to a hospital. A Kansas Highway Patrol helicopter rescued motorists stuck in the snow. It all happened near Hope, Kansas, which got around 15 inches of snow during last weekend’s winter storm. “It was life and death,” said Billy Lininger, who was on the way to the emergency room with his wife and son when they got stuck in the snow and called Dickinson Co. Fire District No. 2 Chief Chad Lorson. “My kid might not have made it if it wasn’t for Chad.”
Source: Wichita Eagle

Frontenac reviews new ordinance on shipping containers

The Frontenac City Council held their first meeting at their new time on Wednesday evening, which is now at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month. On the docket was a new ordinance concerning large shipping containers like what is often found on construction sites. In recent years, these containers have become popular building material for new homes. Frontenac says they are not up to residential code and cannot be used for that purpose.
Source: Morning Sun

A Bond Selloff Is Rocking the World. You Might Want to Take the Other Side.

Wall Street is really worried about bonds. It might be time to buy some. On Friday, a jobs report that blew past expectations pushed yields on 10-year Treasurys to 4.772%, the highest close since Nov. 1, 2023, and those on 30-year paper to 4.962%. What is spooking markets, however, is that much of the recent rise in yields doesn’t appear to reflect expectations of stronger economic growth. Rather, it might be the result of investors applying a higher discount or “term premium” to hold long-term bonds, estimates by the Federal Reserve suggest. Some analysts attribute this to the possibility of Donald Trump’s promised tariffs derailing the global economy and leading to a jump in inflation, while his tax cuts bloat budget deficits further.
Source: WSJ.com: Markets

Should Cities Open Their Own Grocery Stores?

By now, most people are familiar with the concept of food deserts — areas where residents lack ready access to fresh foods. Should local governments step in to operate grocery stores in neighborhoods that don’t have them? Aside from ideological questions over whether governments should get involved with operating retail establishments, there are a number of practical hurdles that are difficult to overcome.
Source: Governing

Kansas landowners are renting out yards as puppy playgrounds

Sniffspot, a short-term rental website and app, lets property owners rent out their yards or other spaces as private dog parks. So far there are about 200 Sniffspots in Kansas, but the number is growing. More than 40% of Kansas households have a dog, but not everyone has a place where dogs can run, explore and burn off energy. Enter Sniffspot. The website and app lets people list their backyards or other spaces to rent by the hour as puppy playgrounds. The site began in 2018 in Seattle, where David Adams lived with a couple of energetic mixed-breed dogs named Toshii and Soba.
Source: Garden City Telegram

City develops policy for pets of homeless people in shelter

The City of Wichita said a policy at the emergency winter homeless shelter will allow for pets to be housed for a period of time during severe winter storms and cold snaps. The issue came up during a discussion Tuesday at the regular City Council meeting, after Wichita police reported that 76 out of 110 homeless people contacted by the Homeless Outreach Team had refused to go to shelter during the past weekend’s winter storm. Vice-Mayor Maggie Ballard said people don’t want to be separated from their pets and more work needs to be done to get the word out on the pet policy. The city said unhoused residents staying in the emergency winter shelter are able to bring pets to the Wichita Animal Shelter for where they will be held for 72 hours and taken care of at no cost until the winter storm has passed. After leaving the shelter, pets will also receive free spay/neuter service and vaccinations.
Source: 101.3 KFDI

Leon eliminates dog and cat permit fees

The City of Leon City Council voted on January 6 to eliminate permit fees for dogs and cats in an effort to alleviate costs for residents and encourage them to spay/neuter their animals to reduce population. Previously Leon required dog and cat owners to permit each animal at $5 per animal if they were spay/neutered and $15 per animal if they weren’t spay/neutered. Residents often spoke to the council on rising cost of living expenses and felt they were being nickel and dimed after the water rates were raised to support new infrastructure. Jodie Laidler, City/Court Clerk for the City of Leon said the council listened. She thought of the proposal to eliminate dog and cat fees as well as lower other animal fees as a response to concerned citizens. She said the Council was in full support of the proposal.
Source: Andover American

Olpe accumulates $2.5 million in fundraising in Phase One for new fitness park

Olpe has accumulated $2.5 million in fundraising for Phase One of a three phase project intended to create state-of-the-art fitness facilities and parks for the enjoyment of the community. Phase One will fund the creation of a football field and track on the school grounds of USD 252, while Phase Two and Three will create a splash pad, a park, and softball and baseball fields.
Source: Emporia Gazette

County commission approves redistricting plan

A plan to redistrict the county by adding two additional county commission districts was approved by Bourbon County Commissioners Monday night. Commissioners reviewed three maps presented by Surveying and Mapping LLC (SAM), a company that was contracted to assist the county in the redistricting process. The boundaries for the districts are based on the county’s population.
Source: Fort Scott Tribune

Sedgwick hopes to decrease the number of stray cats in town

Sedgwick’s City Council took action Wednesday evening to slow the growth of the population in the city during 2025—the population of stray cats. The council unanimously approved a contract with Caring Hands Humane Society in Newton for their Trap, Neuter, and Release program for 2025 for $3,000.
Source: Harvey County Now

Sedgwick EMS off and running calls

When the newly formed Sedgwick EMS went live on the first of the year, it was a few days later before it fielded its first call on Jan. 4. Since the first call, the department has ran several others and EMS Chief Jaime Anderson couldn’t be happier.
Source: Harvey County Now

Olathe OKs amusement park STAR bond district plan — and makes room for gas station

Details for a planned $320 million “ultra-accessible” sports and entertainment district in Olathe backed by state STAR bonds have started coming together. On Tuesday, the Olathe City Council unanimously approved a zoning amendment and a preliminary site development plan that paves the way for the first part of the development within the boundaries of a special incentive district at 119th Street and Renner Boulevard.
Source: Johnson County Post

What Kansas City, Kansas, residents want the nation to know about their community

Over several weeks in the fall, reporters from those 10 NPR stations hosted small groups of three to six people who had something in common and were comfortable sharing their stories — in Orlando, Fla., western Colorado, Kansas City, Kan., and many more communities, big and small. We asked every group the same set of open-ended questions: about their sense of community, what they thought people from other communities did not understand about them and what they wanted to learn about other people.
Source: KCUR News

Wichita to begin stronger enforcement of illegal camping law despite concerns from some

Some Wichita City Council members made a last-ditch effort Tuesday to prevent a revised ordinance for stronger enforcement against illegal camping from going into effect. The ordinance passed on its second reading along the same lines of its first vote. Council members Mike Hoheisel, Maggie Ballard and Johnson voted no. The new limits, which go into effect this month, allow for rapid removal of reported encampments by law enforcement, city workers and contractors by eliminating the need to post notices to vacate. A particular focal point will be locations that “pose health and safety concerns” such as doorways, sidewalks, areas near bridges, bus shelters, playground and the multi-agency center campus.
Source: KLC Journal

Pittsburg Police offering sign-on bonus to bolster its force

The Pittsburg Police Department is looking to add to its force. Officials say they haven’t been fully staffed for almost a decade — despite seeing an increase in interested applicants. The department has had to get help from other agencies — but continues to recruit through high school and college visits. The department is offering a sign-on bonus for new officers — as well as incentives for current ones who help in the recruitment process.
Source: KSNF/KODE

Fort Scott Schools partner with solar farm company

The Fort Scott School District makes an agreement with an anticipated solar farm in the county, hoping to help bring in more funds for local schools. USD 234, or the Fort Scott Board of Education, signed an agreement with KingBird Solar Energy LLC. This comes after the solar farm company reached out to the school district to contribute an annual amount back into the school district.
Source: KSNF/KODE

Prefiled bill would release millions in school bond funds from Kansas attorney general’s grasp

Two Kansas legislators prefiled a bill that would deliver millions in voter-approved school bonds that were blocked earlier this year because of a strict ruling from the Kansas attorney general. Voters in the Greeley County school district approved in May a $4.6 million school bond that was to be used for upgrades and renovations, but because the county — the smallest in Kansas with a population of just less than 1,200 — doesn’t have an elections website, the Kansas Attorney General’s Office refused to release the funds. The Attorney General’s Office, which is responsible for validating every bond election in the state, decided the bond election didn’t meet legal standards. County officials didn’t adhere to a recent law requiring them to publish notice of a bond election three weeks in advance on a county elections website, in addition to a traditional newspaper notice, the office said.
Source: The Lawrence Times

Scannell Properties sues for fraud after city bans truck traffic

One of the area’s most-active developers is suing the city of Edwardsville and its mayor for fraud after the passage of an ordinance to ban truck traffic on an avenue fronting its under-construction project. At issue is an Edwardsville ordinance passed in September banning truck traffic on 110th Street between Riverview Avenue and Kansas Avenue. Such a move would cut off truck traffic along the industrial park’s eastern border.
Source: Kansas City Business Journal

Municipal Bond Trends for January 9, 2025

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.

Municipal Bond Trends for January 8, 2025

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.

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