Municipal News & Jobs

Kansas Municipal News

Wichita council approves $500 million water plant contract; calls rebid ‘too risky’

Wichita City Council moved forward with plans to build a new water treatment plant Tuesday, awarding a $500 million contract to Wichita Water Partners. The group includes two companies that spent thousands of dollars on Mayor Jeff Longwell’s golf outings and meals before he steered the contract in their favor.

City Council members voted unanimously to award the contract – the biggest single contract in the city’s history – saying they didn’t want to risk losing federal funding for the project and that they weren’t sure if any other companies would bid on the project.

None of the council members mentioned Longwell’s relationships or gifts, which became a key election issue. They did say they have been fielding questions from concerned citizens since The Wichita Eagle reported Longwell’s relationships with some of the water partners in September.

(Read more: Local News |)

It’s no nightclub, but that’s what neighbors fear for planned Wichita event center

If you’re going to the planning commission meeting on Thursday, you’d better get there early if you’d like a seat.

That’s the advice of the planning department, which has been hearing quite a bit from neighbors of a potential event center near 37th and Woodlawn.

“I just thought that this was something that was needed in Wichita,” Jake Hartman says of the business.

(Read more: Wichita Eagle)

Commission, trustee jobs could conflict

Eighteen months ago, Arkansas City commissioners voted to disband the South Central Kansas Medical Center Board of Trustees and take responsibility for the financially-struggling hospital themselves.

The commission essentially fired the trustees they had appointed to govern the medical center and took on dual roles of city commissioner and hospital trustee.

Since then, the medical center’s debt burden has been lowered, and the facility is operating at a profit under a new CEO. But questions linger about conflicting interest and even the legality of elected officials holding both positions.

Unsolicited materials issue will be revisited

Another look at the situation of regulating the placement of written materials on the property of Derby homeowners resulted in the City Council following a recommended action of having the staff report back in six months.

The council examined the situation at its Nov. 12 meeting and was undertaking a second reading of the ordinance at the Nov. 26 meeting.

However, in between that period, there was a meeting with city officials and representatives from the Wichita Eagle and ANS Newspapers. ANS is the entity that places the printed materials in Derby under contract with the Eagle.

Evergy looking to make amends with Wichita homeowners angry about transmission poles

Evergy, formally Westar Energy, looks to make amends with angry homeowners after the utility placed 57 large transmission poles through a northeast Wichita neighborhood.

The company laid out a few alternative options to these large poles to homeowners Tuesday night—but some neighbors and state representatives still aren’t satisfied.

“Our goal this evening was to present a couple different options, that our engineers were able to come up with to people who live in the neighborhood, to residents who have been affected by the project, and really be able to talk about what those options look like, and get feedback that we might be able to incorporate”, said Gina Penzig with Evergy.

(Read more: KWCH News)

Lawrence City Commission to reconsider raising age to buy tobacco products to 21

One of the first actions by the new Lawrence City Commission was to take up a proposal to ban the sale of tobacco and vaping products to people under 21.

The previous commission declined to consider a Tobacco 21 ordinance earlier this year, but two newcomers to the commission, Commissioner Courtney Shipley and Vice Mayor Brad Finkeldei, were sworn in as part of the commission’s meeting Tuesday. Commissioner Lisa Larsen proposed reconsidering the ordinance, and the commission voted 4-1, with Mayor Jennifer Ananda opposing, to put the topic on a future agenda.

Topeka OKs ordinance banning camping in some areas

Topeka’s city government will ban camping in some locations, including downtown Topeka and North Topeka’s NOTO Arts District, while continuing to allow it in others.

The Topeka City Council voted 9-0 Tuesday evening to approve a compromise proposal putting those rules in place.

“Great work,” Deputy Mayor and Councilwoman Sandra Clear said afterward of the considerable effort the council’s public health and safety made receiving input and working with city employees to craft that ordinance.

Salina, Saline County still at impasse over Expo

Last week, the Saline County Board of Commissioners said it wanted to hear from the public before taking action on the Expo Center. This week, the public responded.

The Salina City Commission was offering the county a lease agreement of 25 years with three five-year options on the Expo grounds, which the city owns. The agreement would require the county to invest $5.7 million in the project in the first five years of the lease.

The county was hoping for a full 40-year lease if it was going to invest that much so early and last week drafted a letter to the city stating its intentions to vacate the land in August 2021.

(Read more: News – Salina Journal)

Goddard minors who vape face strict penalties

Goddard minors who pull out a vape for a quick puff will face strict penalties.

On Monday, the Goddard City Council voted in favor of an ordinance that will supersede the state penalty of $25 for a minor in possession of a pod, which can contain liquid with nicotine or THC. Goddard Police Chief Fred Farris, who spearheaded the ordinance, said the state statute mentions E-cigarettes but not the pods and the current penalty doesn’t discourage minors or educate them about the illnesses happening from vaping. Kansas legislators have been talking about amending the law.

(Read more: Local News |)

Official who lied about Garden Plain’s drinking water gets probation, fine

A man who used to serve as Garden Plain’s water system operator will spend a year on probation and pay a $1,000 fine for lying about where he got samples used to test the town’s drinking water quality two winters ago.

Arthur Wolfe, 64, of Norwich, pleaded guilty in September to falsifying bacteriological reports required by the Environmental Protection Agency. An indictment alleged Wolfe collected tap water from the city’s water treatment plant in 2017 and 2018 but claimed on reports that it came from four different homes in Garden Plain.

(Read more: Local News |)

Overland Park approves permit for display of moving lights on City Place building at U.S. 69 and College Blvd.

After months of discussion and negotiation, the developers of City Place got the go ahead to roll moving light displays atop four buildings going up at College Boulevard and U.S. Highway 69.

The Overland Park City Council granted a special use permit for an indefinite time period for the LED light panels that are a part of the design of the office buildings. Developer Ken Block has said he thinks the displays will create a unique sense of place to draw people to the development after business hours. Block and lawyer Curtis Holland said the artistic displays would enhance the College Boulevard corridor, which the city wants to update.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post )

Reno County administrator finalists announced

The director of the Reno County Health Department and Finney County’s county administrator are two of three finalists who will be interviewed Wednesday for the Reno County administrator job.

The third candidate is a former county administrator from Missouri.

The three finalists are Nicholas “Nick” Baldetti, of Hutchinson, Randall Partington, of Garden City, and Dean Brookshier, of Missouri, according to a release from Reno County human resources director Renee Harris.

(Read more: Local – The Hutchinson News)

Attorney General’s Office to Provide KOMA & KORA Training

The Office of Attorney General Derek Schmidt and will provide public training on open meetings and open records on Tuesday, December 17 from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. in Heritage Hall of the Tony’s Pizza Events Center, 800 The Midway.

Employees and members of City and County boards, commissions and committees subject to the Kansas Open Meetings Act (KOMA) and the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) are welcome and encouraged to attend. The training will be filmed and published on the City of Salina’s YouTube account by December 31.

(Read more: Salina KS News)

Eureka City Council Approved 1% Sales Tax Ordinance

On Monday, November 25, City Council members voted to officially approve a 1 percent sales tax that will be applied toward construction on River Street. Eureka voters approved the tax in November, during the general election. At their meeting, councilmembers approved ordinance #4259 (found on page 10), authorizing the tax levy. Collection of the tax should begin on April 1, 2020. “Very thankful to the citizens for supporting this,” said Mayor Michael Countryman.

(Read more: Eureka Herald RSS)

5-percent increase in water rates approved for Wichita in 2020 to fund new treatment facility

The City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve a 5-percent water and sewer rate increase in 2020 to help fund Wichita’s new water treatment facility.

The rate adjustment, which is expected to gradually increase over the next few years, will fund a small portion of the $553 million total project cost for the Northwest Water Treatment Facility, a project that will replace Wichita’s existing 80-year-old plant.

With the new combined water and sewage rate increase, homeowners are expected to pay between $2 and $7 more each month, while commercial businesses are expected to face about a $28 increase. Industrial customers will average a $2,600 increase each month.

(Read more: KAKE – News)

OP approves $200M in tax incentives for billion-dollar Brookridge project

The long-planned Brookridge redevelopment project won a supermajority approval for more than $200 million in tax incentives during a marathon Overland Park City Council meeting that ran from Monday night into early Tuesday morning.

According to the Shawnee Mission Post, Mayor Carl Gerlach cast the final and deciding vote in favor of the project around 1:15 a.m. Tuesday.

Zoning discussion to focus on county’s southeast corner

The chair of the Reno County Planning Commission agreed Tuesday to have the planning board take up the question of zoning the southeast corner of the county soon and to leave debate about zoning other parts of the county for later.

That after board chairwoman Lisa French was asked to appear before the Reno County Commission to receive the suggestion.

“We hear a lot of support for doing zoning in the southeast part,” French said. “We got hung up on thinking about the whole county, so the direction from you encourages us to deal with that first. It will help us focus on attention on that.”

(Read more: Local – The Hutchinson News)

Labette County forms wind farm board

Labette County commissioners on Monday set the advisory committee that will look into wind farm regulations and also gave the facilitator some direction on getting the group started.

The commission named the members to the wind farm study group by a series of resolutions. They are Sandy Krider, Labette County Public Works director; Rod Landrum, retired executive director of the Labette Health Foundation; Kevin King, a crop insurance agent who lives near Big Hill Lake; Mel Hass, who formerly lived within the footprint of a wind farm in DeKalb County, Illinois, before moving to Labette County; and Lori Whitworth, an attorney who formerly lived in Neosho County, where Apex Clean Energy is building a wind farm, and is familiar with wind energy.

(Read more: Parsons Sun)

Roeland Park council approves city boundary change for the first time since 1959

The Roeland Park city council in November adopted a resolution changing the city boundary for the first time in 60 years.

“Roeland Park just got a little bigger,” Mayor Mike Kelly said.

When a city boundary is changed by the addition or exclusion of land, Kansas state law requires that city to declare, via a resolution, a city boundary before Dec. 31. This year, Roeland Park annexed 1.269 acres of land at the northeast corner of Roe Avenue and Johnson Drive.

Wichita City Council approves more than $100 million in aerospace IRBs

The Wichita City Council on Tuesday approved more than $100 million in industrial revenue bonds for local aerospace companies.

The approved IRBs will help finance the completed construction of a new facility being leased to the city’s largest employer, Spirit AeroSystems Inc., and facility upgrades throughout 2019 for the second-largest employer, Textron Aviation.

IRBs require no taxpayer commitment and the city acts only as a pass-through entity. However, using IRB financing can help developers and companies secure a lower interest rate on projects.

(Read more: Wichita Business Journal)