Municipal News & Jobs

If there were any qualms about support for rebuilding a local nursing home destroyed in a Friday fire, those were answered emphatically when more than 70 locals crammed into the fire station for a special Yates Center City Council meeting. Yates Center Health and Rehab was destroyed after a nearby grass fire, fueled by wind gusts in excess of 50 mph, quickly consumed the facility. All 38 residents were safely evacuated, and transported to other nursing homes in the area. Monday’s meeting, as much as anything, served as a rallying cry for the community, and for a brainstorming session as to what a new facility — if it’s rebuilt — would entail.
Source: The Iola Register

Experiences of local tenants prompted Lawrence city commissioners to pursue creation of a tenant bill of rights, and to explore what it would take to ensure tenants can have legal counsel. Those discussions — among other possible actions — are still in early stages, but the first step came with a presentation to the commission Tuesday evening. Lea Roselyn, the city’s affordable housing administrator; Christina Holt, assistant director of KU’s Center for Community Health and Development; and Vince Munoz, of Lawrence Tenants, presented results of a Lawrence and Douglas County tenant survey. The survey is the work of LiveWell Douglas County’s Sexual Violence Prevention Work Group. The group launched the survey in 2023 to find out about tenants’ experiences with security deposits, screening and applications, maintenance, nonrenewals of leases, evictions and more.
Source: The Lawrence Times

Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday voted to change occupancy limits to allow a maximum of four unrelated adults per household in the least dense areas of town, and a maximum of five in the rest of town. The city’s new land development code was created over a two-plus-year process, with a 14-member steering committee and several public meetings. Commissioners approved it in November, and it’s set to go into effect in April. The code aims, among other things, to improve affordability and availability of housing. One way it intended to do that was by increasing the occupancy limit in some neighborhoods from three to five unrelated adults who can live in a home together. 
Source: The Lawrence Times

The Kansas Senate Committee on Assessment and Taxation restored the revenue-neutral transparency protections to a bill passed by the Kansas House of Representatives by a vote of 115-6. The bill would have rewarded local governments for raising taxes while stripping those provisions from property tax increases. House Bill 2396 removed the “Truth in Taxation” bill’s revenue-neutral requirements — which require county clerks to send notices to taxpayers of every taxing subdivision notifying them of a proposed increase and the time and date of a hearing at which the entire tax increase would be voted upon. HB2396 instead would have replaced those requirements with a “protest petition” in which voters would have 30 days “Qualified voters of a taxing jurisdiction would have 30 days following the date the governing body of a taxing jurisdiction certifies to the county clerk the amount of property tax to be levied to sign a protest petition.”
Source: The Sentinel

Sunflower Electric Power Corporation announces the construction of its newest renewable energy resource, the Sunflower Electric Solar @ Russell facility, is complete. The commissioning process and initial synchronization to the electric grid are now underway, marking a significant step forward in Sunflower’s commitment to supplying reliable, cost-effective energy to its member utilities.
Source: Homepage

A tower of 100 empty plastic gallon jugs might seem an unlikely object in a museum exhibit. But the tower presents an effective monument, making the often invisible clear to see: the importance of water in our history and everyday lives. “Ripples. Water, Community and You” will be on display at the Johnson County Museum through Jan. 10.
Source: Johnson County KS News & Sports |

Kansas students are spending fewer days in school than they did decades ago, and the state’s top education leader wants that to change. Education Commissioner Randy Watson is urging districts to cancel breaks or extend the school year to make up for days that were canceled because of inclement weather. Most districts lost about eight days of school this winter because of snow or bitterly cold conditions. Watson recently told the Kansas State Board of education that districts should also consider half-day summer school in June and July, at least for kindergarten through third grade students who are below grade level in reading or math. He said the boost is needed to make up for learning losses that began before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: News

The Wichita City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to create a municipal ID, the City of Wichita ID, in an effort to lower barriers for Wichitans who lack standard documentation for a state-issued ID, such as people who are homeless. IDs will be issued at City Hall and the Multi-Agency Center, where services for the homeless are being consolidated. The ID will display a person’s name, photo, address, date of birth and ID number, making it I-9 compliant to verify an individual’s identity for employment.
Source: KLC Journal

Wichita has a rich history of hosting one of basketball’s biggest events. The NCAA Tournament has tipped off in the city 12 times since the 1950s. Eight of the dozen were played at what is now Charles Koch Arena. One was at the old Kansas Coliseum, and the remaining have been hosted at Intrust Bank Arena. The tournament first visited the Air Capital in 1956 at the Roundhouse, which was then called the University of Wichita Field House.
Source: KSN-TV

A lot of preparation has gone into getting Wichita ready for tens of thousands of fans, and that includes safety. KSN’s Derek Lytle sat down with a Wichita Police Lieutenant, Stephanie Neal, to learn how they are keeping Intrust Bank Arena and the surrounding area safe. Lt. Neal said anytime fans gather for a large sporting event, law enforcement is on high alert.  “We’re going to have the drones, the mounted unit, officers on foot, officers on bikes, the SWAT team will be down there, the bomb squad will also be down there, explosive detection K9s that will be doing sweeps every day, and throughout the day, just to make sure everyone’s safe down there,” said Neal. 
Source: KSN-TV

Parts of central Topeka have a history of high crime and low overall neighborhood health, but it’s motivating people to inspire positive change. The Central Topeka Grocery Oasis, Omni Circle and Keep America Beautiful are leading an effort to clean trash and repaint outdoor amenities in the Capital City. “It’s nice when people see the need and are ready to jump in and fill the need, which is to tidy up the community,” said Omni Circle COO Nikki Ramirez-Jennings. “We’re going to be repainting the playground equipment with the help of Shawnee County Parks and Rec. Stormont Vail is going to lead that charge. Schendel Lawn and Landscaping will be planting beautiful flowers and will help us maintain them.”
Source: KSNT 27 News

It may not be every council member’s favorite time of the meeting, but purchase requests are part of the job. On Monday, the Arma City Council reviewed and approved multiple requests from city superintendent Austin Spragg with one pertaining to utility poles. Earlier this year, a utility pole failed and caused the loss of power to an entire neighborhood in the midst of a winter storm. To stay ahead of the game and avoid future hefty costs and repairs, Spragg and city electrician Chuck Burns recently patrolled the city and compiled a list of utility poles that need to be replaced entirely, noting the ones that are of the highest priority.
Source: – Latest Stories

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.

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.

Governor Laura Kelly joined federal, state and local officials this past Saturday to officially mark the opening of Hilmar Cheese Company’s new production facility in Dodge City, Kansas.
“I am pleased that Hilmar Cheese Company chose to build its new production facility in Dodge City,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “This investment in our state is a strong signal to industry leaders around the globe that Kansas has the workforce and infrastructure for companies to be competitive.” Hilmar Cheese Company, Inc. is one of the world’s largest cheese manufacturers and a global supplier of high-quality whey ingredients. Hilmar’s new Dodge City facility makes American style cheese which is then sold wholesale to customers and used in a variety of nutritious foods. The site also produces a wide range of high-quality innovative proteins to meet the needs of customers worldwide. “We are grateful to the state and local officials who supported this project and are thrilled to celebrate with them today,” Hilmar’s President and CEO David Ahlem said. “We chose to build in Dodge City because of the local and skilled labor force, supportive and expanding agricultural region, and excellent transportation network. The superior collaboration with local, regional, and state leaders in Kansas has further confirmed that we made the right choice.”
Source: Press Releases – Kansas Department of Commerce

The City of Wichita has taken steps to clear a homeless encampment from a park in the Riverside neighborhood, shortly before a cleanup event takes place. Notices were posted at Sim Park and homeless residents there were given until the end of the day Thursday, and the Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Team has been working to move them to shelters and into services and programs. The city has reported a number of complaints online and by phone about the encampment. The city is working to enforce an illegal camping ordinance after the City Council voted to approve changes in December. The changes provide for faster cleanup of camping sites on public property, and some penalties have been lowered, but some in the community feel the ordinance criminalizes homelessness.
Source: 101.3 KFDI

He said it confuses people in the community and the officers. He added that the 30 mph for unmarked residential areas doesn’t suit every situation. “You have to look at what’s happening in your community to see if that’s a safe speed,” Hall said. He said people would be upset if they wrote tickets for three or four miles an hour, people would be upset. “That 30-mile-an-hour zone effectively becomes a 38 to 40-mile-per-hour zone before officers are writing tickets,” Hall said. “That’s way too fast.” Last year, Wamego passed an ordinance to drop all of its unmarked city streets to 20 miles per hour. Hall said he thinks 20-25 mph in Sedgwick’s neighborhoods is reasonable because they weren’t going to stop people for three to four miles over.
Source: Harvey County Now

A line recently greeted Jessica Warkentin at Tractor Supply. Warkentin showed up, planning to expand her family’s very small flock of backyard chickens in Newton, which a neighbor gifted them in November. “We said if they survived the winter, we were going to get chicks,” she said. “Last week, we spent several days calling stores to see when their chickens got in.”
Tractor supply promised chicks at noon for sale. She arrived at 11:30 a.m. to be the fourth in line. She said one woman had been waiting since 9:30 a.m. While plenty of people are starting backyard flocks in Harvey County, city rules vary depending on where you live. Both Newton and Halstead allow up to 12 chickens with the proper coop and issue permits. In total, Newton had 12 active permits. Halstead had seven. There are more chicken flocks on the down low, however. Harvey County Now sought chicken permits, looking for contacts, after a number of people declined to speak to not draw attention to their chickens. Usually, most neighbor complaints, from this reporter’s experience covering local government, come from keeping roosters. Sedgwick limits the number of chickens to six and doesn’t issue permits. Hesston allows eight chickens in a flock on lots smaller than 10,000 square feet. It allows an additional chicken for every 1,000 extra square feet on larger lots. North Newton allows for birds but has no ordinance. “We encourage residents to be responsible and try to keep them in a fence and preferably only one rooster,” City Clerk Pat Redding stated. “So far, we haven’t had issues that require us to pass an ordinance.”
Source: Harvey County Now

North Newton City Administrator Brad Harris told city council members one of the city’s strategic-plan goals that has to do with land development will be a year-long process. They want to identify and rank available land for development. “It’s an ongoing process,” Harris said. “We are starting to talk to some landowners, and we’re starting to get some interest to start talking about what that looks like, so we’re pretty pleased that they’re coming forward to us and beginning this conversation, so we’re going to keep working away at that throughout the year and see which pieces of land are available for development in town and what lies just outside of town.” He also talked about another strategic-plan goal for this month. “Looking into March, the two items that were initially put here were to develop opportunities for the city council and staff to collaborate with community organizations, and we kind of talked about packaging that into our work session, re-exploring those, so that’s something we’ll talk about later this month,” Harris said. North Newton Mayor Ron Ratzlaff asked Harris to provide a strategic plan chart quarterly to the council.
Source: Harvey County Now

The Hillsboro City Council meeting was interrupted on Tuesday, March 4 on the Zoom side when a pornographic image began flashing across all of the screens. The meeting, which is held in person and streamed live across Zoom to allow more people access to the meetings and provide a recording for future viewings, was paused as Hillsboro City Administrator Matt Stiles worked quickly to figure out where the cyber attack was coming from while Hillsboro Mayor Lou explained to the council, guests and Zoom attendees what was going on. “We are getting cyber-attacked via Zoom,” said Thurston. “I think that’s a first.” Eventually Stiles kicked a Zoom caller named John off, and the images ended. Thurston asked City Attorney Andrew Kovar if he had ever encountered anything like that, and he said he had heard about it but had not. “It’s just because anybody can log in. There’s no password,” said Kovar.
Source: Hillsboro Free Press