Kansas Municipal News
Across the county, local governments have seen more internal disagreements bubbling to surface
Little eruptions have been breaking the surface lately, at council and board meetings across the county: an eye roll here, muttered oath there, a veiled suggestion that leaves someone demanding a point of order.
Then the Johnson County Community College trustee board went a step further by deciding to rebuke one of their own with a censure. With that vote came a rare public airing of differences and a glimpse into what can happen when personalities clash hard and no one meets half way.
The JCCC vote followed several tense meetings about the intent of the member in questioning school policies to state legislators. It was an extreme step, and opinions are divided about whether it could have been avoided. But the question remains as to whether other censure votes could become more common, now that JCCC has broken the ice.
(Read more: Shawnee Mission Post)
Attorney General’s office says school district had right to keep review of $50 million iPad/Macbook program closed to press
The Kansas Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday issued an opinion saying that the Shawnee Mission School District did not violate the Kansas Open Meetings Act when it barred the Shawnee Mission Post from observing a meeting of its Digital Learning Task Force last year.
The publication filed a formal complaint against the district after its communications office denied a request to attend and report on a meeting of the group charged with reviewing implementation of the district’s $50 million-plus 1:1 technology initiative, which provides an iPad or Macbook to every student K-12.
In a letter outlining the decision, Assistant Attorney General Lisa Mendoza said the office’s open government enforcement unit had determined that the Digital Learning Task Force created by Superintendent Mike Fulton was merely an advisory group and did not fit the definition of the type of “subordinate group” subject to the state’s open meetings law.
(Read more: Shawnee Mission Post)
Chanute City Manager Steps Down
A southeast Kansas city manager is stepping down from his position.
City Commissioners confirmed that on Wednesday, Chanute City Manager Jeff Cantrell announced that he will be leaving.
He has accepted a position as the new city manager in Hutchinson, Kansas. Cantrell started his current position back in 2015. His last day on the job will be May 14th.
(Read more: KSNF/KODE – FourStatesHomepage.com)
First coronavirus fatality in Kansas City region: a 70-year-old Wyandotte County man
Coronavirus claimed its first fatality in the Kansas City region Thursday, a 70-year-old man who lived in a long-term care facility in Wyandotte County, Kansas officials announced.
The death was announced by Gov. Laura Kelly, who also declared a state of emergency, allowing officials to activate certain emergency services to assist local communities.
State officials said the man was transported to Providence Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas with acute cardiac symptoms and a fever. He died Wednesday morning. A post-mortem examination revealed that he was infected with virus.
Healthcare officials are investigating who might have been in contact with the man over the course of the past 14 days, Kelly said. Those who have been in contact will be quarantined by the state, officials said.
(Read more: Kansas City Star)
First death from coronavirus in Kansas City area reported in Wyandotte County
The Kansas City area’s first death from the coronavirus was announced Thursday night by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly. A male in his 70s died in a long-term care facility in Wyandotte County, she said.
The announcement came hours after Mayor David Alvey of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, had told residents they did not have a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the county.
No cases of the respiratory illness have been confirmed in Kansas City, but three new cases were identified earlier Thursday in Johnson County. In Missouri, Gov. Mike Parson announced the state’s second “presumptive positive” case, found in Greene County.
(Read more: KC Star Local News)
Overland Park looking to buy more body cameras to equip all police officers
The 200 new body cameras Overland Park police have used since November have worked so well the city council may buy another 58 so all of its officers can use them.
The council’s Public Safety Committee gave its blessing to the purchase of the new cameras Wednesday night, along with a new bomb truck.
Only uniformed officers have used the cameras to date. Buying a second batch would allow every commissioned officer access to a camera, said Captain Kyle Livengood. That way an officer working overtime at an event or directing traffic could also be using a body cam.
(Read more: Shawnee Mission Post)
Unprecedented times bring muni yields to new lows
Michael Zezas, managing director of research at Morgan Stanley, notes that muni yields have not fallen as quickly as the Treasury equivalents and recession risk climbs the longer the coronavirus persists. Layer on top of those items the incipient oil competition and quite a storm is brewing. Even liquidity is becoming “disorderly.” John Hallacy hosts.
(Read more: The Latest)
‘It was not a good evening’: People in Hesston recount experiences with the tornado
Count to five. One…two…three…four…five. It’s not much time if you’re doing something fun, but it can be a great deal of time if you’re going through a traumatic event.
That’s how long it took for what was then classified as an F5 tornado to go over the Hesston Pizza Hut in 1990, taking the dining room, but leaving two drinks and straws on the counter, as well as leaving everyone hiding in a restaurant bathroom and cooler with their lives.
“It sounded like 10 freight trains all at once,” said then-assistant manager at Pizza Hunt Jon Anderson of Newton. “It’s very loud. I looked up at the ceiling, and you could see what appeared to be the ceiling move. You could tell we were being hit. It was very quick.”
(Read more: Harvey County Now)
This morning Treasury yields fall as stocks reel in wake of Europe travel restrictions
U.S. Treasury yields fell sharply on Thursday as the White House decision to impose a 30-day ban on travel from Europe to the U.S. sparked selling across global equities, spurring inflows into haven assets like government paper.
The 10-year Treasury note yield fell 12.2 basis points to 0.700%, while the 2-year note rate was down 7.1 basis points to 0.425%. The 30-year bond yield tumbled 9.7 basis points to 1.218%. …
Stocks sold off overnight after President Donald Trump announced a ban on travel from Europe to the U.S. by foreign nationals to stem the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, adding to worries that the move could hurt cross-border economic activity. Analysts say the U.S. government will need to enact more aggressive and targeted fiscal stimulus measures to arrest the economic damage from the coronavirus epidemic.
(Read more: MarketWatch.com – Top Stories)
Municipal bond yields rose on Wednesday amid COVID-19 fears
The municipal market was hammered Wednesday by the rapidly spreading COVID-19 global pandemic with a more than quarter point correction in AAA benchmarks, issuers pulling deals off the shelves and more reports of pricing and evaluation confusion in an already complicated market.
High-yield was being hit hard in the secondary market while several issuers put their new-issues on the day-to-day calendar amid what some are calling an “irrational” market. Three large negotiated deals that were scheduled to price Wednesday were pulled as muni yields skyrocketed up 28 basis points on the MMD AAA and other benchmarks were not far from those figures.
(Read more: The Bond Buyer)
Municipal Bond Trends for March 11, 2020
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.
Lawmakers consider extending privacy law to more public workers
Former Topeka police chief Ed Klumpp is convinced hundreds of Kansas corrections employees and court service officers must be covered by the same privacy-protection blanket offered judges and attorneys.
Klumpp, who represents three law enforcement organizations in Kansas, said state statue ought to be amended to extend prohibitions on release of information about home ownership and home addresses to a larger category of public employees, including state and local corrections officers, who work with offenders.
(Read more: News – Cherokee County News Advocate)
Senators consider expanding psychiatric services in western Kansas
A Kansas Senate bill would allocate $11.8 million to open and operate hospital beds for youths requiring short-term psychiatric care in Hays, Garden City and surrounding areas, officials said Wednesday.
Sen. Richard Billinger, R-Goodland, spoke Wednesday in favor of the bill, which would create two dozen new acute psychiatric beds in western Kansas. He said currently, families in those areas drive two to three hours to Wichita or as far as Kansas City to get lifesaving psychiatric services for their children.
“We’re waiting for one of these children to hurt themselves or someone else, and then it’s going to be too late for a bill like this,” Billinger said.
(Read more: News – Dodge City Daily Globe – Dodge City, KS)
Dodge City part of 33 transit projects
Three projects for the City of Dodge City were announced as part of the more than $7.4 million awarded to transit projects across the state.
As part of the Kansas Department of Transportation’s new Access, Innovation and Collaboration program, 33 projects were selected at the statewide Transit Day news conference Tuesday at the Capitol.
“Transportation is the supporting fiber of our lives – and too often – we assume that always means driving a car,” said KDOT deputy secretary Maggie Doll in a news release. “But thousands of Kansans do not have access to a car, are unable to drive or would prefer not to.
(Read more: News – Dodge City Daily Globe – Dodge City, KS)
Wichita airport and Century II use static cling to fight coronavirus COVID-19
Opposites attract and likes repel. And that’s the physical principle Wichita is deploying in its efforts to try to control the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19.
The city has begun a program of “electrostatic spraying” at Eisenhower National Airport and the Century II Convention and Performing Arts Center, which handle some of the city’s biggest crowds.
Essentially, workers use special equipment to spray an electrically charged disinfecting solution into the air.
(Read more: Wichita Eagle)
Sedgwick County labs now can test for Coronavirus, health director says
Sedgwick County now has the capability to test for coronavirus locally, which is expected to dramatically reduce the time it takes to get patients’ results, county Health Director Adreinne Byrne reported Wednesday.
This week, two local labs, Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp, got approval to process tests for the virus, also known as COVID-19, she said.
Although no one has yet had a COVID-19 test by the local labs, it will reduce the wait for results from days to potentially hours, she said.
(Read more: Wichita Eagle)
Is Kansas prepared for a recession? Coronavirus, market swings spark fear of downturn
Just two days after taking office, Gov. Laura Kelly delivered a damning assessment of Kansas’s fiscal condition.
“Another recession will soon be upon us. It’s not a question of ‘if’. It’s a question of ‘when’ and ‘how bad,’” she told the Legislature in January 2019, adding that “Kansas finds itself now completely unprepared. We have no margin for error.”
Fears of a recession are growing in the United States amid the spread of the new coronavirus. As the number of cases mount, events have been cancelled, classes moved online and businesses are exploring ways for employees to work from home.
(Read more: Wichita Eagle)
KSU, KU extending spring break, moving to online teaching as virus spreads
Kansas State University said Thursday it would mirror key elements of the University of Kansas’ response to spread of coronavirus into the United States by delaying resumption of classes after spring break and granting faculty time to migrate course content and instruction to online platforms.
KSU President Richard Myers said in-person classes on all its campuses would be suspended from March 16-20 and as of March 23 courses at the land-grant university would be taught remotely.
“Right now, the K-State community is dispersed throughout the nation and globe during spring break,” Myers said. “When everyone returns, it could increase the risk of the spread of the novel coronavirus.”
(Read more: News – The Hutchinson News)
Kansas colleges, universities bracing for influx of COVID-19
University of Saint Mary stepped up health safety procedures for benefit of students and employees on the private Catholic school’s campus in Leavenworth.
The 1,400-student university in northeast Kansas is among dozens nationally contemplating or implementing changes in wake of the likely spread of COVID-19. Some colleges and universities have delayed restart of classes after spring break, transitioned to online rather than in-person instruction, limited travel and restricted attendance and larger events.
John Shultz, vice president for marketing and admissions at University of Saint Mary, the university’s command team was monitoring the coronavirus and relying upon guidance from the Leavenworth and Johnson county health departments.
(Read more: News – The Hutchinson News)
Overland Park looking to buy more body cameras to equip all police officers
The 200 new body cameras Overland Park police have used since November have worked so well the city council may buy another 58 so all of its officers can use them.
The council’s Public Safety Committee gave its blessing to the purchase of the new cameras Wednesday night, along with a new bomb truck.
Only uniformed officers have used the cameras to date. Buying a second batch would allow every commissioned officer access to a camera, said Captain Kyle Livengood. That way an officer working overtime at an event or directing traffic could also be using a body cam.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)