Kansas Municipal News
As virus shuts schools, experts debate if that curbs spread
As families across the United States scramble to care for children sent home from schools closed due to the coronavirus, experts disagree on whether such closures protect kids — or even the community.
The question of whether to close schools in not a no-brainer, said Marc Lipsitch, an epidemiologist at Harvard’s public health school. On one hand, children clearly can be infected and can transmit the new virus, he said; schools are poorly ventilated and “not very sanitary.”
But he said the case is much clearer for other social distancing measures like canceling large public events, and the downsides of school closures include the hypothetical risk of children infecting their grandparents or other older caretakers who step in when school is closed.
“I don’t envy the public officials making these decisions,” Lipsitch said.
(Read more: KSN-TV)
County government sets budget game plan
The budget season is about to widen as another round of discussions between commissioners and department heads focus on the wish lists and needs of county government.
During a workshop Tuesday, elected and appointed officials gathered to initially plan their schedule for the 2021 budget season.
A review of the 2021 budget calendar has been top of their minds since the county’s organizational meeting Jan. 13.
(Read more: Atchison Globe Now)
Sedgwick County taking steps to inform citizens on the coronavirus
Sedgwick County and its health department are working on communication efforts to get more information to the community about the coronavirus.
County manager Tom Stolz told county commissioners Wednesday there have been weekly meetings with local agencies at the emergency operations center, and meetings have been held with department heads. He said county health officials will also take part in a panel discussion scheduled for March 16th on KWCH. County commissioners will also get a briefing each week at their regular meeting, and there are discussions about a telephone town hall meeting to get information to citizens.
Stolz said county officials are also looking for unique ways to connect with the most vulnerable population, people over 60 with chronic health conditions. County health director Adrienne Byrne said the county will be working with long-term care facilities and reviewing their infection control procedures. She said there will also be discussions with local pharmacies on ways to get information to people on the coronavirus.
(Read more: KFDI 101.3)
Municipal bonds see large correction in volatile times
Volatility continues to hang over financial markets due to COVID-19, and after a Monday that had all stocks down at least 6%, stocks rebounded Tuesday and muni yields were down as much as 16 basis points — [on Tuesday] munis saw a correction.
Munis were weaker on Tuesday on the MBIS benchmark scale, with yields rising six basis points in the 10-year and by six basis points in the 30-year maturity. High-grades were also stronger, with yields on MBIS’ AAA scale decreasing by six basis points in the 10-year maturity and by six basis points in the 30-year maturity.
(Read more: The Bond Buyer)
Municipal Bond Trends for March 10, 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.
Topeka airbnb ruling could have far-reaching effects
Hundreds of Topeka homes rented out on a short-term basis as “Airbnbs” could come to be affected by Monday’s Topeka Board of Zoning Appeals’ vote requiring the owners of one such facility to get a permit to continue to operate it, that couple’s property manager said.
Travis Maurath, property manager for Rental Management Solutions, said he found 291 listings Monday of properties in Topeka that were available for short-term rental at the website Airbnb.com.
Maurath told zoning appeals board members that if they were to require Don Phillippi and Candi Bryant to get a conditional use permit to continue to rent out the house they own at 229 S.W. Edgewood Ave. on a short-term basis — which they subsequently did — the owners of those 291 other properties should also have to do that.
(Read more: News – The Topeka Capital-Journal)
Merriam Community Center set to open for all on June 8, staff present move-in plan
The Merriam city council on Monday evening heard the latest update on the new Merriam Community Center, 6040 Slater Street, including an official opening date: June 8.
Assistant City Administrator Meredith Hauck presented a transition plan from the Irene B. French Community Center to the new community center that included details for moving out and moving in, as well as an opening plan.
(Read more: Shawnee Mission Post)
Dust control program to resume after one-year hiatus
After a one-year suspension, Miami County has dusted off last year’s magnesium chloride purchase agreement as it prepares for the upcoming season.
County commissioners have voted 5-0 to purchase a combined 265,000 gallons of MgCI-2 and magnesium chloride at a cost of $257,335 for its 2020 dust control program.
Project Manager Matt Oehlert said Scotwood Industries plans to honor its 2019 quantities and prices. Scotwood was the only bidder for the 2020 contract.
“This agreement was offered last year at this same time,” Chairman Rob Roberts told the audience at the commission’s meeting Wednesday, Feb. 26. “However, the county did not purchase any magnesium chloride, so the firm was willing to honor last year’s prices.”
(Read more: The Miami County Republic)
New technology helps Topeka law enforcement investigations
The Shawnee County Attorney and Topeka Police Department are purchasing a Cellabrite Universal Forensic Extraction Device, new technology that will help law enforcement in their investigations.
Once law enforcement obtains a search warrant to look for evidence, the device helps gather evidence by unlocking passwords, converting encrypted information and translating different languages on devices like cell phones.
Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay said that between the two departments, law enforcement sees thousands of phones that have incriminating evidence, but new technological advancements make it difficult to access that information.
(Read more: KSNT News)
Almost 1 year since being shot 4 times, Rice County undersheriff back on job
pproaching one year after being shot four times in the line of duty, Rice County Undersheriff Chad Murphy says he’s lucky to be alive as he returns to service for the first time since it happened.
Murphy returned to work Monday, following about 10 months of recovery.
“I knew I was going to live, but there for an hour or two, it was touch and go,” Murphy says of injuries he suffered in response to an April 30, 2019 standoff in Rice County. “Nobody really knew for sure how much damage was done.”
(Read more: KWCH News)
Lake Sherwood district makes pitch to Senate for special sales tax
Trustees of the Lake Sherwood residential development southwest of Topeka sought permission Tuesday from the Kansas Senate for a public vote on a sales tax increase of no more than 1% to finance maintenance work on the housing district’s roads and drainage systems. Nearly all revenue from the special sales tax for the Sherwood improvement district would be generated at a Dillons grocery store, said Doug Mays, treasurer of the development’s board of trustees.
(Read more: News – The Topeka Capital-Journal)
Proposal in Kansas Senate would end raid on highway funds
Sen. Kevin Braun on Tuesday took a jackhammer to a proposed constitutional amendment that would protect highway funding from being swiped by the Legislature for other uses. The Kansas City Republican said he agreed it was irresponsible of the Legislature not to spend tax dollars as they were intended, but he took issue with having his hands tied in the event of unforeseen economic hardships. About 63% of the state’s revenue is directed toward public education, as …
(Read more: News – The Topeka Capital-Journal)
More than 100 tires slashed in Wellington, number of cases could still rise
Wellington Police Chief Tracy Heath calls it a tire slashing spree.
Chief Heath called Monday morning a tough start to the week after four teens, who have been arrested, slashed more than 100 tires on at least 35 cars.
“It pretty much took all day to fix — two of them yesterday and mine today,” said Kelci Owens.
(Read more: KSN-TV)
‘You’ve got to be kidding’: Wichita home value jumped 40% with massive power pole
The Sedgwick County appraiser is calling for some northeast Wichita homeowners to appeal their property valuations after the county failed to consider the giant metal power poles Evergy planted in their yards.
The recommendation to appeal came after The Wichita Eagle found two properties in the neighborhood had increased in value after 105-foot-tall steel poles were put in their yards. One of the homes jumped 40% in appraised value.
An oft-photographed, two-floor home at 1147 N. Green increased in value after a pole was installed, from $11,640 to $16,300, according to appraisal records.
(Read more: Local News |)
Municipal Bond Trends for March 9, 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.
KU Hospital admits Kansas’ first confirmed case of COVID-19
The first confirmed case of coronavirus in Kansas has been admitted to a special treatment unit for emerging infectious disease at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan., state and hospital officials said Monday.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment confirmed the patient was the woman from Johnson County identified Saturday as the first case of COVID-19 diagnosed in Kansas. She likely contracted the virus while traveling on the East Coast. Her family has entered voluntary quarantine.
“We will have more cases in the state of Kansas,” said KDHE Secretary Lee Norman. “It’s going to be hard … to contain it.”
He said Kansas health officials continued to track about 80 people with symptoms of the virus who emerged in China and spread to about half the world’s countries.
(Read more: Local – The Hutchinson News)
Labette County restricts wind testing towers
A Labette County committee studying wind energy took its first formal action related to wind farm development on Monday morning, recommending restrictions on meteorological evaluation towers in the county.
Four members of the five-member committee — Sandy Krider, Lori Whitworth, Mel Hass and Kevin King; Rod Landrum was not able to attend — agreed on Monday to recommend the towers that measure wind characteristics at various locations would be no taller than 200 feet. The towers must be set back from structures and public roads the distance of 2 1/2 times the tower height and fences must enclose the guy wires at ground level.
(Read more: Parsons Sun)
Making Kansas stronger one small town at a time
After growing up on the land her ancestors homesteaded in 1874, and then leaving for more than a decade, Marci Penner does not want to move away from her native soil again.
With a master’s degree and a career in counseling, Penner came home to Inman, and along with her father, Milferd, a farmer who wrote photo essay books on Kansas, the two began a journey of a lifetime — to discover rural Kansas one town at a time.
“Our roots run deep to Kansas,” Penner said. “We realized Kansans don’t know their state very well, and they don’t network.”
The father/daughter journey began with a tour of every town in Kansas. And when the townspeople said they had nothing to offer, Penner found each community’s genuine beauty that keeps rural towns alive. Each town has unique qualities, she said, and they need support.
(Read more: Local – The Topeka Capital-Journal)
Bond rates plummet amid virus, oil fears, Dow closure
The municipal market fell as much as 10 to 12 basis points at one point on Monday amid the COVID-19 crisis and its ricocheting effects on the global economy.
But the municipal market is lagging the rest of the world because munis as an asset class are fundamentally more difficult to monitor and evaluate.
Given the fragmented state of the municipal market with more than 50,000 issuers, many different structures, low liquidity, archaic benchmarks, delayed and non-standard financial filings, the market is having to deal with this crisis moment by moment.
As participants unpack what is unfolding globally, there is room for caution and also opportunity, sources said.
Read more: Bond Buyer.
Not in my lifetime: How the Treasury yield collapse surprised nearly everyone
Investors who thought U.S. Treasury yields could not get any lower received another shock Monday.
A plunge in oil prices combined with worries about the spreading coronavirus combined to drive market participants into Treasuries, accelerating a years-long rally that has taken yields on the 10-year Treasury to below 0.5%, a number few investors thought they would see in their lifetimes.
Bond yields fall as their prices rise. Other key factors that have stoked the move higher in U.S. government bonds include unprecedented asset purchases by the Federal Reserve, stubbornly low inflation, changing U.S. demographics and slower growth.
Read more: Reuters.