Kansas Municipal News
New downtown boot project under way in Abilene
Abilene Forward is the communities’ organized group of people that work on beautifying and promoting all businesses to bring revenue downtown. As a recent addition to bring tourism to local businesses, the idea of colorful boots placed at different locations downtown was raised.
The very first one has finally arrived in Abilene.
“This first boot will be painted by Karen Cooper and then sent to Holm Automotive for a protective clear coat,” said Allison Blake, co-facilitator of Abilene Forward. “It will either be placed in front of the Visitor’s Center or the city building, the exact location has not yet been confirmed.
Read more: Reflector-Chronicle.
Blanca Soto: Did you know southwest Kansas is a hard-to-count community?
Under counting is particularly common in Latino communities, which presents a problem for towns in southwest Kansas like Garden City and Dodge City, where according to census data, Latinos account for more than 60% of the population. Under counted minorities, such as Middle Easterners, East Africans, Asians and of course Latinos, list language barriers, fear, confidentiality concerns and a distrust of our government as pressing concerns that keep them from participating in the census.
Many Latinos residing in southwest Kansas who are hesitant of participating in the census feel that sharing personal data with anyone from the government means worrying what might happen to their information or themselves.
Considering what is at stake for southwest Kansas, local organizations aggressively are working to ensure an accurate count.
(Read more: News – The Garden City Telegram)
Garden City community recalls Katherine Hart’s work, compassion
Garden City lost a piece of its heart Sunday when local humanitarian Katherine Hart died. Hart was 95.
…
Jeremy Gigot, director of the Garden City Community College Endowment Association, said Hart was instrumental in making Garden City and Finney County a wonderful area to live.
“People need to realize what a tremendous advocate she was for Garden City,” he said. “Her life and career was about advancing the community … She was involved in so many things with the Finnup Foundation and in her personal life … she is directly responsible for the quality of live in our community.”
(Read more: News – The Garden City Telegram)
Discussion held on future of downtown Chanute
Community leaders met for round-table discussions Wednesday evening on the future of downtown .
About 30 to 35 people attended the 2 1/2-hour meeting in the Alliance Room of the Memorial Building that was organized by Main Street Chanute. Main Street Director Ruthann Boatwright said Thursday morning she was very happy with the turnout, which included a good cross-mix of building owners, business owners and interested residents.
“I couldn’t have been more pleased,” she said, noting that the turnout was what she had been hoping for.
(Read more: www.chanute.com)
Firefighters conduct mitigation burns to help prevent wildfires in Reno County
Firefighters brought out the torches north of Hutchinson this morning. They’re using fire to help prevent wildfires.
“We’re out here doing some mitigation work,” said Hutchinson Fire Division Chief of Operations, Doug Hanen.
The Hutchinson Fire Department, Kansas Forest Service, and Reno County Emergency Management worked together on small controlled burns along 82nd Avenue and Plum Street Thursday afternoon.
(Read more: KAKE – News)
Municipal Bond Trends for February 6, 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.
Prairie Village becomes latest to drop pit bull ban. KC area has some holdouts
Prairie Village has joined a growing list of cities across the Kansas City metro that have repealed bans on pit bulls.
This week, the City Council voted 9-2 to end the prohibition on the breed — a move the Council tried and failed to accomplish in 2016. Prairie Village follows the lead of nearby cities, including Shawnee, Roeland Park and Fairway. Kansas City, Kansas, and Liberty both removed their ordinances this past year.
Now, only a few cities in the area have maintained their bans, including Overland Park and Independence.
(Read more: Joco 913 News)
Johnson County says Chiefs Super Bowl parade shuttle service was ‘overwhelming success’
The shuttle bus system set up to get Johnson Countians to the Chiefs parade was an “overwhelming success,” with around 20,000 people moved Wednesday, said Josh Powers, business liaison for the county.
The system went off without a hitch, Powers told the county commission this morning, adding that there were no failures or incidents while it was in place at Oak Park Mall parking lot.
The longest wait to get on a bus was 40 minutes at the peak busiest time, Powers said, but the average was closer to 20 minutes. The 70 buses in operation made around 300 round trips.
(Read more: Shawnee Mission Post – Community news and events for northeast Johnson County)
Valley Heights board chooses Kennedy as superintendent
Valley Heights USD 498 has selected Melissa Kennedy as new superintendent to replace John Bergkamp, who will retire on July 1.
Kennedy is currently grade school principal in the Buhler school district.
Valley Heights’ school district issued a news release that said Kennedy’s broad educational experience as a teacher, curriculum director and principal appealed to the school board.
(Read more: The Marysville Advocate)
Pratt to build regional fire training facility
Pratt City Fire Department Chief David Kramer’s vision to build a regional fire training facility in Pratt moved from the drawing board to an action plan when Pratt city commissioners on Monday unanimously approved $13,360 for the purchase of four storage containers that will be delivered from Kansas City.
“Our firefighters really enjoy the training,” Kramer said. “It is a critical aspect of the job, and we want to be able to attract regional departments who would like to train as well.”
(Read more: News – The Hutchinson News)
Florence brings back standards board
Florence city council reestablished a standards board Monday to combat nuisance vehicles and houses, with councilman Mary Shipman serving as the city’s representative.
The board will include Shipman, resident Darla Spencer, who was the driving force, and two additional community members.
“Whatever we decide we’re going to do to get this town cleaned up, we’re backed by everything,” Spencer said. “Once we get the standards board enacted, the team I put together is ready to start.”
(Read more: Marion County RECORD)
Muni Bonds Go Wild. Could 1% 10-Year Yields Be Far Behind?
The $3.8 trillion U.S. municipal bond market, sometimes called a sleepy asset class, has been partying awfully hard lately.
Consider that investors poured $1.8 billion into muni mutual funds in the week through Jan. 29, the 56th consecutive week of inflows, according to Refinitiv Lipper US Fund Flows data. Then, on Jan. 31, the biggest high-yield muni exchange-traded fund, the VanEck Vectors High-Yield Municipal Index ETF, drew in $150.2 million, the largest one-day increase in assets since inception in 2009. The amount of state and local debt on the books of Wall Street banks has dwindled to the least since late 2014. Overall, the market returned 1.8% in January, its strongest month in six years.
Read more: Yahoo/Bloomberg Opinion.
A look back at the Great Kansas Bond Scandal of 1933
Kansas Gov. Alf Landon called out two officers of the Kansas National Guard in 1933 to protect the treasury at the Kansas Statehouse as authorities investigated a scandal involving the forgery of $1.25 million in municipal bonds….the Great Kansas Bond Scandal, which came about in the midst of the Great Depression after bank examiners questioned the authenticity of bonds held as collateral by a bank in Topeka.
Investigators concluded State Treasurer T.B. “Tom” Boyd had given access to the treasury vaults to 34-year-old Ronald Finney, the son of wealthy Emporia banker W.W. “Warren” Finney, who was also part of the scheme.
Ronald Finney took bonds from the treasury, forged them and distributed them as collateral.
(Read more: Local – The Topeka Capital-Journal)
Municipal Bond Trends for February 5, 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.
Winfield power plant could mean more jobs, big savings
The Winfield power plant was chosen by the Kansas Power Pool for an expansion project because it already has an experienced power plant staff, with a possibility of more plant workers being hired, Winfield City Manager Taggart Wall said.
The expansion will help generate energy that will be sold to other Kansas Power Pool members cities.
Installation of the $80 million addition is expected to begin in December 2022, around the time the KPP’s power purchasing contract with Evergy expires.
(Read more: The Arkansas City Traveler)
Phillipsburg Airport runway project awarded KDOT funding
The Kansas Department of Transportation recently announced that a project to extend the runway at Phillipsburg’s Municipal Airport has been selected for funding.
The airport will receive $332,500 through the Kansas Airport Improvement Program to design a 600-foot runway extension. The city’s local match will be $33,250.
Phillipsburg Public Works Director Tim Driggs informed the city council about the grant on Monday and said he will begin working with a design firm on a proposal and will have contracts prepared for the council within the next month.
(Read more: Phillipsburg, KS news)
City’s subsidized contributions to Lenexa Public Market decrease as it grows revenues
As the Lenexa Public Market continues to grow in popularity and revenue streams, city staff report the market is inching closer to the city’s goal of self-sufficiency.
The Lenexa city council in December 2018 had agreed to subsidize public market operations for two years using transient guest tax revenues generated by hotels. Mike Nolan, assistant to the city manager, said the city will consider making a similar transfer during upcoming budget discussions.
Expenditures for the public market were about $369,000 in 2019, and revenues were about $225,000, so the city transferred roughly $143,000 from the tourism and convention fund to make up the difference.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post
Johnson County Commissioner says investments in sewer system will improve water quality, protect environment
It’s easy to take the water systems that bring clean water to and from our homes and businesses for granted.
Johnson County investments to improve water quality and protect water include the Tomahawk Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility improvements, which involve building an expanded plant in Leawood to treat all tributary flows. This project will have water quality benefits for Indian Creek, as well as the downstream waters of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. It will address nutrient removal as excessive nutrients can be harmful by degrading habitats and decreasing the amount of oxygen in the water.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post)
Riley County commissioners show opposition to proposed Kansas senate bill
A new proposal in the Kansas legislature, Senate Bill 294, is drawing criticism from the Riley County Commission.
The bill, if approved, would add additional prerequisites to the county budgeting process, which in the commission’s eyes, would add additional costs and even affect how they budget their services.
At Monday’s meeting, County Counselor Clancy Holeman presented a letter of opposition to SB 294 be sent to the Kansas Associations of Counties, listing four different defects of the bill and the negative impacts they would pose to the county.
The first defect relates to new additional costs from the state on the county. These new costs derive from a required new software and new notices. The county clerk’s office would be required to mail out individual notices to every Riley County taxpayer with real property whenever the county “certified tax rate will be exceeded.”
(Read more: 1350 KMAN)
Bourbon County discusses policy for county roads
Bourbon County Commissioners on Tuesday discussed creating a policy to deal with what Commission Chairman Lynne Oharah referred to as “a 100-year-old problem” – requests for closing or opening county roads.
Richard Wolmesdorf attended the meeting to request closing a road near 115th Street and Tomahawk Road that he said “goes nowhere” and has not been maintained by the county for several years.
(Read more: Fort Scott Tribune)