Kansas Municipal News
22,000-square-foot research facility opens in Wamego
A major agriscience company with global reach has announced the opening of a 22,000-square-foot research facility in this Pottawatomie County town of nearly 5,000 people.
Corteva Agriscience, an American-owned agriculture company that employs more than 21,000 people globally, announced Thursday that it has opened a research facility in Wamego’s industrial park, located on the east edge of the city.
The facility, which officially opened Jan. 17, will serve as a research center focusing on discovering new traits for corn, sorghum, wheat and soybeans.
(Read more: Local – The Topeka Capital-Journal)
Lawmakers, officials discuss future of passenger rail in Kansas
Nearly a hundred people came to the Kansas Capitol to meet with lawmakers and stress that Kansas needs to invest in passenger rail.
Sedgwick Senator Carolyn Mcginn hosted the meeting. People attending included Kansas legislators, out-of-state officials with a vested interest in rail, an Amtrak official, and a Kansas Department of Transportation official.
McGinn said this is the third meeting she has hosted on updating where the state sits, and it keeps getting bigger.
She said expanding train service would benefit the economy and Kansans.
(Read more: KSNT News)
Reno County eyes study of rural fire departments
Though anticipating it may not be well accepted by some departments in the county, the Reno County Commission this week indicated support for hiring a consultant to evaluate the county’s eight volunteer fire districts.
Emergency Management director Adam Weishaar sought the look by an outside agency to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the exiting services and their future needs.
“Several fire chiefs want to expand, remodel or build new fire stations,” Weishaar told the county commission, noting at least three departments have requested or are studying the issue. “We’re looking at costs into the millions.”
(Read more: Local – The Hutchinson News)
Reno County approves study of landfill fees
A rate study next summer on fees for the Reno County landfill is among nearly $490,000 in otherwise ongoing annual contracts for the landfill the Reno County Commission approved on Tuesday with a Wichita engineering firm.
The $33,000 study, in part, will explore whether the county should begin charging tipping fees to users instead of just a flat annual fee the county now assesses on property tax bills.
“We think the landfill is in a healthy financial state,” said Monte Markley, vice president and project director with SCS Engineers. “This is to go in a more overall positive direction how the county may want to administer and conduct billing. Is it a more equitable way to bill county residents if you’re a single, elderly person not using much trash?”
(Read more: Local – The Hutchinson News)
Wichita Police chief appointed to Trump law enforcement commission
Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay is one of 18 people appointed to President Trump’s new law enforcement commission.
On Wednesday, Ramsay was sworn in by U.S. Attorney General William Barr during a ceremony in Washington, D.C. Barr appointed the members of the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice following an Oct. 28 executive order from Trump. The Commission will meet monthly for the next year to explore issues affecting law enforcement, including the best approaches to lowering violent crime.
“There is no more noble and important profession than law enforcement. A free and safe society requires a trusted and capable police force to safeguard our rights to life and liberty,” Barr said in a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. “But as criminal threats and social conditions have changed the responsibilities and roles of police officers, there is a need for a modern study of how law enforcement can best protect and serve American communities. This is why the President instructed me to establish this critical Commission, whose members truly reflect the best there is in law enforcement.
(Read more: Local News |)
Prairie Village council advances consideration of repealing ban on pit bulls
The Prairie Village city council on Monday directed staff to draw up language that would repeal the existing ban on pit bulls in the city. The proposed ordinance change will come before the council for formal consideration at a meeting in the coming weeks.
The vote to advance the idea of repealing the ban on pit bulls followed more than an hour of discussion among the governing body and as much time in comments from members of the public. More than two dozen people — most of them, but not all, Prairie Village residents — addressed the council asking the city to remove the “breed specific language” from its books, citing evidence that such bans were unwarranted and ineffective, and that responsible dog ownership is the key to ensuring pets don’t pose a threat to people or other animals.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post – Neighborhood news and events for Prairie Village, Fairway, Mission Hills)
Ambulance gets stuck on call, again
For the second time in two weeks, a Hillsboro ambulance crew got stuck on muddy roads while on a call.
The crew was transporting a patient home from Newton Medical Center at 12:53 a.m. Saturday when the vehicle became mired in mud on Falcon Rd. between 140th and 150th Rds.
“It appeared to be a good road, and they stayed on the blacktop as long as they could,” EMS director Travis Parmley said. “It just didn’t work out well.”
(Read more: Marion County RECORD)
Junked cars, homes worry Florence residents
Florence Council needs to crack down on the number of decrepit vehicles in the city, community member Phil Baldwin said during Monday’s council meeting.
“Just going from the restaurant to my house, I bet I drive by 10 or more cars that haven’t been moved for a long time,” he said. “Some of them are jacked up without tires and they don’t run. For some reason we’ve given them the ability that by paying money, they can keep them there.”
City ordinance allows one non-running vehicle per property with a $50 permit, as long as the vehicle is in respectable condition and surrounding grass is maintained.
(Read more: Marion County RECORD)
Ron Fehr maintains professionalism, friendliness as long-time Manhattan city manager
Longtime Manhattan city manager Ron Fehr said he begins each day with a smile, an eagerness to work with his coworkers and aspirations to make Manhattan better.
“I wake up every morning, and I’m still very motivated to come to work,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of great things on our plate.”
Fehr’s friendly personality, eagerness and extensive knowledge of the city are among the reasons his former colleagues believe he has been able to be successful in his position as city manager for so long.
Read more: Manhattan Mercury.
A Massive Gap Explains Why Muni Bond Yields Are Near Record Lows
Over the next month, about $25 billion of municipal debt will be paid off. Bondholders will receive another $13 billion of interest payments in February. And mutual funds have pulled in nearly $7 billion of new cash already this month.
Yet over the next four weeks, only a fraction of that money may find new securities to buy: American states and cities are so far set to sell just $13 billion of bonds in that time, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
That yawning gap between the amount of cash looking to be reinvested and the amount of new securities being sold is driving the municipal market to new heights. Yields are at the lowest since the 1950s, 30-year munis are hovering around their highest values against Treasuries since at least 2001, and this month’s 1.2% return marks the strongest start to a year since 2016.
(Read more: Bloomberg)
City of Manhattan eyeing strategies to better attract, retain employees
Dealing with frequent employee turnover and difficulty recruiting, Manhattan is hoping to make changes to its workplace environment and transform the city into an “employer of choice.”
Multiple department heads echoed similar staffing troubles during Tuesday’s City Commission meeting. Administrative staff told commissioners relatively low pay compared to what businesses or other cities offer in their respective fields, employee sentiment that good performance is not rewarded and growing dissatisfaction with the work-life balance in the organization have contributed to the situation.
“I really believe if we were a private company, we’re probably not heading in the right direction as an employer of choice and we need to turn that around,” says Public Works Director Rob Ott. “And that’s hard to say because I’ve been a big part of that in upper management and it is eye-opening [to see]some of the surveys that we’ve done. We do need to change and we need your help to turn it around.”
Turnover city-wide in 2019 was 11.5 percent and nearly half of all employees have been in their current positions for five or fewer years. Departments with the highest rates of turnover are typically those with lower pay, specifically in the areas of street and park maintenance. Parks maintenance has a 31 percent turnover rate and street maintenance has a 25 percent turnover rate. About 17 percent of the city’s workforce is also eligible for retirement within a ten year period.
(Read more: 1350 KMAN)
Municipal Bond Trends for January 22, 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.
Earthquake drills to become standard in Emporia schools
A 4.5 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter 3.6 miles southwest of Hutchinson shook Kansas at 1:08 p.m. Sunday, with tremors felt throughout the region — including the Emporia area.
The US Geological Survey had initially reported that the earthquake was a magnitude 4.4 earthquake, but later upgraded it. No damage was immediately reported.
After a 4.2 earthquake damaged buildings in the Hutchinson and Burrton Public Schools districts in Aug. 2019, and with earthquakes becoming more frequent occurrences, the Kansas State Department of Education added earthquake drills to the list of safety drills some Kansas schools are required to complete throughout the year.
(Read more: Emporia Gazette)
Topeka sticks with plan to outsource social service grants
The city of Topeka will stick with last month’s decision by its mayor and city council aimed at outsourcing the city’s program that provides grant funding to social service agencies.
A divided city council on Tuesday evening narrowly rejected Councilwoman Christina Valdivia-Alcala’s proposal to rescind that action, which was taken Dec. 17.
Five council members voted Tuesday to overturn last month’s move — but six votes were needed to accomplish that.
Votes in favor of overturning last month’s action were cast Tuesday by council members Valdivia-Alcala, Karen Hiller, Sylvia Ortiz, Hannah Naeger and Spencer Duncan.
(Read more: Local – The Topeka Capital-Journal)
State grant funds new homes in Greensburg
Greensburg was recently one of 13 Kansas communities awarded $2.3 million for rural housing development from the Kansas Moderate Income Housing program, a supplement to Kansas Housing funding from the state. The grant money will help develop affordable housing for moderate-income families.
What it means for Greensburg is that two new duplexes will be built to serve as housing units for moderate income families, something the Greensburg-area has been in need of since the tornado in 2007.
The duplexes, already under construction, are across the street from the Youth Core Ministries office on the corner of Garfield and Oak streets. The first duplex could be finished in four months followed by the next one completed in another four months, with the overall goal of having both ready to rent by August 2020, pending any major weather issues or other delays, said Stacy Barnes, Greensburg City Administrator.
(Read more: News – Dodge City Daily Globe – Dodge City, KS)
Kansas DMV Services Aim To Drive Down Office Wait Time
The Kansas Division of Vehicles added two new options to reduce wait times and long lines at driver’s license offices across the state.
The agency launched a scheduling platform so people can make appointments instead of showing up at a DMV office and waiting in line.
Division of Vehicles director David Harper says the service is available in Wichita, Andover, Derby, Topeka, Kansas City (Kansas), Lawrence, Manhattan, Mission, Olathe and Overland Park.
“That’s helped a lot with our wait times and helping people plan their time,” he says. “They can schedule a specific date and time to come in, and the wait times are typically have been under 15 minutes for those people coming in.”
(Read more: RSS Feed)
150,000 Kansans Who Drink From Private Wells Are Largely Blind To Contamination
About 150,000 people in Kansas get their drinking water from private wells.
How clean, and safe, is that water? Short answer: It depends.
But new research suggests those wells deliver water tainted with a range of pollutants. Some leaked from dry cleaning operations. Yet far more wells soak up, and deliver to taps, fertilizer that’s been building up in Kansas soil and water over generations of modern farming.
But it’s not up to regulators from Washington or agencies in Topeka to test private well water quality. That falls to individual well owners. With little to no government oversight, some public health officials worry that’s creating a system where far too many people are left vulnerable to potential cancer-causing pollutants and toxins.
(Read more: RSS Feed)
Parsons hears info on Medicaid
The expansion of Medicaid in Kansas could result in $1.8 billion in increased economic output.
That was the message that Jim Zaleski, city of Parsons economic development director, brought back from a luncheon in Topeka sponsored by the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas. The event was titled “The Business Case for KanCare Expansion.” KanCare is the state’s Medicaid program. The meeting featured David Toland, Kansas secretary of commerce.
Under the Affordable Care Act, states can expand their Medicaid systems to cover adults with incomes of up to 138% of the federal poverty level. During former Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration, the state avoided expansion and the billions in federal funds it would bring, but Gov. Laura Kelly and Republican Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning reached a compromise last week that could lead to expansion.
(Read more: The Miami County Republic)
Wichita Art Museum begins $700K update of its lobby, entrance and other gathering spaces
Several spaces inside the Wichita Art Museum will soon have a whole new look.
The museum has started transforming several of its major gathering spaces with a $700,000 remodel project that includes includes upgrades to the main entry and lobby, great hall and The Living Room, the museum’s interactive spot for activities beyond the gallery.
Work started last week and is expected to finish April 25 during a free re-opening event.
For now, the museum’s main entrance is closed during construction and visitors are directed to a temporary entrance on the east side of the building through the Living Room doors. Look for the Tom Otterness sculpture called Dreamer’s Awake.
(Read more: Wichita Business Journal)
Finney County hires interim administrator
On Monday, the Board of County Commissioners approved Robert Reece to step in as interim County Administrator until the search committee finds a permanent replacement for the position.
Monday, February 17, 2020 will be Mr. Reece’s first day in the Finney County Administrator office.
Mr. Reece comes to us from Pottawatomie County in Eastern Kansas, where he served as County Administrator for 20 years. Prior to that he worked as their Director of Finance. …
“Due to the size of Finney County, an interim administrator is necessary to oversee the daily activities, support the department directors, and make decisions in the absence of the Board,” says Commission Chairman Duane Drees. “Mr. Reece is an ideal fit, given his background and experience.”
(Read more: Western Kansas News)