Municipal News & Jobs

Kansas Municipal News

Pit Bull supporters want Junction City to lift ban

Pit bull supporters are calling for the military town of Junction City to lift its ban of the breed.
The Hays Post reports that Kim Bradney of Legalize Bully JC says the ban forces some people in the community near Fort Riley to choose to live in surrounding communities with friendlier pit bull policies. She said the more than 20-year-old ban has left animal shelters flooded with dogs that aren’t adoptable. She said several other cities in the state already have removed their bans.
Commissioner Ronna Larson asked city staff last week to check into different ordinance options.
(Read more: KAKE – News)

Johnson County looks to cut bus routes, grow microtransit. But not all officials agree

Johnson County leaders are looking to reduce bus routes with low ridership and expand other parts of the public transportation system — including the Uber-like microtransit system, which officials say has been growing in popularity each month.

But some worry the plan will cause more harm than good, eliminating a transportation option for some elderly and disabled residents, as well as low-wage workers. They have concerns that the county isn’t doing enough to build a more robust, effective transportation system to better serve the burgeoning Kansas City suburbs.

“I urge you to not cut these routes until you have a plan in mind to assist all of the individuals whose bus routes you would be removing,” Sheila Styron, a visually impaired Kansas City resident, told the board of commissioners at their Jan. 30 meeting. “These people cannot afford Ubers. They cannot afford taxis. If you don’t have something in place to serve them, I urge you to please keep the bus routes until you do.”

(Read more: Joco 913 News)

House panel debates, advances KPERS plan

Members of a House panel wrestled Monday with how best to dispose of Gov. Laura Kelly’s plan to refinance the pension system for state workers.
They settled on advancing the proposal without recommendation to the House floor, where the Republican-dominated chamber can amplify rejection of a cornerstone in the Democratic governor’s budget.
Kelly’s plan for reamortizing the state’s decades old debt to the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System would extend the payment plan from 15 to 25 years, lowering annual payments before they balloon in the coming years. Opponents of the plan gawk at the $4.4 billion in interest that would be added to the debt.

Small town charm at Edgerton Library

Edgerton is unique among Johnson County Library’s 14 branches in that the Library system doesn’t own the building. Instead, the building is leased from the city. Edgerton had lacked library service since the early 1980s. In 1999, the city acquired the vacant bank building at 319 E. Nelson St., and Johnson County Library agreed to a partnership. Many Edgerton citizens turned out to help gut the building and turn it into a wonderful Library space, which opened July 29, 2000. It was a community labor of love.
John Keogh, Library branch manager for Gardner, Spring Hill and Edgerton, spends most of his time at Gardner but always enjoys his visits to the Edgerton branch. “The thing I love about Edgerton is this is a community that still feels like a small town. And they take a lot of pride in that,” he says. “I really love this building. I love the space. I love the architecture. It’s a calming space to be.”
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

Overland Park looking at 18-month pilot test of e-bikes on recreational trails

Bicycles that get an extra boost from electric motors may be allowed on Overland Park recreational trails soon in an experiment to see how they coexist with other trail users.

The city’s Community Development Committee is moving forward with a plan to run an 18-month pilot project that would allow certain types of motorized bikes on trails. If there are no significant problems, they could be allowed permanently.

E bikes, as they are known, are a fast-growing segment of the bicycle market as the population ages. Proponents say they allow more people with mobility issues like bad knees or low physical fitness get out and enjoy the outdoors and a healthier lifestyle.

(Read more: Prairie Village Post)

City, county officials object to Kansas Senate’s property tax ‘transparency’ bill

Garden City Mayor Troy Unruh considers a Kansas Senate bill touted as a boon for property tax transparency to be a hamstring on the capacity of local public agencies to create jobs.

The bill targeting tax revenue increases resulting from higher property valuations led Harvey County Commissioner Randy Hague, of Newton, to declare it an erosion of municipal government autonomy. Andover City Council President Troy Tabor said the process outlined in the bill was overly burdensome and complex enough it could result in the opposite of transparency. The bill won’t do anything to limit the state’s collection of property taxes, said Garnett city manager Christopher Weiner.

McPherson Fire Chief T.J. Wyssmann said the “truth in taxation” legislation restricted the city’s ability to fulfill obligations to public safety because it wouldn’t exempt fire, medical and police agencies. Compliance will force acquisition of computer

Not connected and no Netflix: ‘It’s frankly embarrassing’ in these Kansas towns

The internet service was so bad at Citizens State Bank in Cottonwood Falls that its computers could hardly handle a routine update from Microsoft.

So not too long ago, bank vice president Matt Lindamood loaded up the PCs and drove them over to Emporia, 30 minutes away. There, he connected the desktop computers to a fiber internet connection.

“What we couldn’t get done here happened in a matter of minutes there,” he said.

“There is no better time than now to issue long-term debt”

The municipal market is taking down new-issuance with ease while taxable bonds continue to be a growing portion of the calendar. With rates low and demand significantly outpacing supply, some see a market in uncharted territory.
“This is truly a golden age for our market,” said Dan Heckman, senior fixed-income strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “There is no better time than now to issue long-term debt, both in terms of the current rates and the out-of world-demand — it’s a perfect storm for munis right now.”
…
Heckman added that the market has been and will continue to be under-supplied, even though he senses there will be an uptick in issuance at these new lower rates and yields, but it still won’t be enough.

(Read more: The Bond Buyer)

Municipal Bond Trends for February 7, 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 Advisors.

Armenian police trainers pick up some lessons at KLETC

An effort to reform the police force in the country of Armenia got a little help from officers and trainers more than 10,000 miles away.

Nine high-ranking trainers from the Republic of Armenia completed a two-week visit to the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center near Yoder on Friday.

“Recently our prime minister decided to create a division for police reform,” said Col. Tigran Yesayan, Deputy Head of the Police for Armenia, who led the delegation.

(Read more: Local – The Hutchinson News)

Cheap meth driving down some property crimes in Wichita, police official says

Wichita’s burglary, automobile larceny and gun theft from vehicle rates were down last year.

The reason? Cheap meth.

That’s according one police official who said at a public meeting last month that the Wichita Police Department is attributing “a very significant drop” in those property crime categories to record-low methamphetamine prices.

(Read more: Local News |)

General Mills chooses Cheney Reservoir for restorative farming project

A major food corporation has selected Kansas wheat as the best in the nation for a three-year pilot project.

The restorative farming project will discover ways farmers can save water, increase soil health and decrease carbon footprints.

General Mills, with the help of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium, selected the 650,000-acre Cheney Reservoir region as the project’s location.

This region includes farms in five counties — Kiowa, Reno, Pratt, Kingman and Stafford. Water from the reservoir where the runoff from these farms goes is used by residents of Wichita. By way of application, 24 farmers were chosen for this pilot project.

Topeka officials to discuss creating housing market strategy

Topeka’s mayor and city council plan Tuesday to see a consultant’s presentation about creating a citywide housing market strategy.

The Shawnee County Commission will meet at 9 a.m. Monday in its chambers in Room B-11 of the Shawnee County Courthouse, 200 S.E. 7th, while Topeka’s City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in its chambers at 214 S.E. 8th.

The mayor and council will hear a report from Development Strategies, the St. Louis-based urban planning and real estate consulting firm to which the city is paying $95,000 to carry out a study aimed at creating a citywide housing market strategy.

Wichita likely ‘most exposed’ metro in U.S. by Boeing 737 Max crisis, economists say

Wichita’s economy is likely the “most exposed” in the United States by the Boeing 737 Max grounding, economists say. And it could be years before the city fully recovers.

A report by Wells Fargo Securities Economics Group released last week concluded that Boeing’s strong order backlog and the tight labor market for skilled aviation workers is likely to limit layoffs across the county to a handful of areas.

Unfortunately for Wichita, it’s the area that will be hit the hardest.

“It’s bad news for Wichita,” said Mark Vitner, senior economist for Wells Fargo Securities and co-author of the report. “It’s a significant impact and hopefully it’s a temporary one.”

(Read more: Local News |)

St. John grocery store to be part of NBC documentary

A visit of the “NBC Today Show Weekend” with Willie Geist to St. John’s White’s Foodliner grocery complex in St. John didn’t go as planned last week. Footage filmed, however, will be part of a special television documentary in the near future.

Residents and travelers through St. John have taken advantage of the food products, prescription medications and fuel island options at the White’s Foodliner since the complex was built two years ago in St. John.

The successful establishment of a grocery store in a rural Kansas community caught the attention of “NBC Today Show Weekend,” and a crew from NBC planned to be in St. John on Thursday to film a segment that will be included in a larger NBC story on shrinking rural access to necessities like food, gas and medication. The entire segment will highlight the success of small grocery stores. It will likely last about 3 minutes.

Pool of rural high school grads smaller

Sitting amid wheat and milo fields in western Kansas, the challenge for Fort Hays State is recruiting rural high school graduates to enroll, according to FHSU president Tisa Mason.

“We are really working hard to get students here but it’s not easy to grow the on-campus population,” Mason said Tuesday morning at an informal gathering of Hays and Ellis County commissioners.

“It used to be several years ago it was said the population that is not going to college are students of color,” Mason said. “Well, now the biggest population not going to college are rural students.”

MSRB opposes withdrawing its submission calculator (which tracks continuing bond disclosure)

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board does not want to withdraw a proposal to more visibly track the timeliness of secondary market disclosures in the midst of opposition from analysts and issuers.

In a letter filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday afternoon, the MSRB said the SEC should not reject its “submission calculator” despite criticism from muni market participants. The tweak to EMMA would help efforts to improve transparency in the market, the MSRB said.

“The MSRB believes the proposed rule change is complementary to such efforts and so the proposed enhancements should not be withdrawn or disapproved at this time in anticipation of the outcomes of ongoing industry initiatives,” said Gail Marshall, MSRB chief compliance officer.

The MSRB proposed the “submission calculator” in November and would show the number of days between the posting of an annual financial disclosure and the end date of the financial period. The calculation would be triggered once the submission is made on EMMA. It would not require extra work from issuers.

(Read more: The Bond Buyer)

Finney County to add county park

Finney County Public Works director Roger Calkins is excited about the creation of Finney County’s newest county park — Wildwood Park.

Located two miles southwest of Garden City, just west of the fairgrounds, Wildwood Park will offer new recreation opportunities to area residents, Calkins said.

“We’re just excited to give the community an option,” he said. “It’s not necessarily a revenue generator, although it may create some revenue for the community, it’s more about quality of life, giving (people) an option.”

(Read more: News – The Hays Daily News)

Midwest Energy issues credit for overcharged Larned consumers

Midwest Energy customers in the city of Larned may be eligible for a refund credit due to a miscalculated rate last year.

Friday, the City of Larned released a statement providing information to residents about a miscalculated market rate, and their right to a refund.

Larned entered into a new contract with long-time provider, Midwest Energy, in March of 2019.

Midwest Energy is a customer-owned cooperative electric and natural gas company that serves 93,000 customers in 40 counties in western Kansas according to the company website.

According to the City of Larned, the new contract with Midwest Energy had a miscalculated market rate for customers, which both city staff and Midwest Energy noticed. Afterwards, both entities jointly began working on getting to the root of the issue.

(Read more: KSN-TV)

Sedgwick County shares damage estimates from Jan. 18 County Courthouse fire

Remediation and repairs are progressing in the County Courthouse following the fire on January 18, according to a Friday news release from Sedgwick County.

On Wednesday, February 5, Commissioners approved an emergency Resolution which allowed staff to work with on-call contractors to do the work rather than using a competitive bid process.

Currently, staff are conservatively estimating $750,000 in damages for an insurance claim. Invoices from on-call contractors have not yet been submitted to give a final amount.

The fire on the fourth floor of the Sedgwick County Courthouse was due to an electrical short.

(Read more: KSN-TV)