Kansas Municipal News
Commission debates giving planning board more direction on wind zoning
The Reno County Commission next week will consider directing the county planning board to move forward with public meetings in the southeast quadrant of the county to discuss the implementation of zoning there, and leave debate about zoning for the rest of the county for later.
The board, in another unexpected move, pulled the reappointment of two Reno County Planning Commissioners from its consent agenda and then approved the reappointment of one, but not the other, without commenting on why.
At the start of Tuesday’s weekly meeting, Commission Chairman Bob Bush said that Road and Bridge Superintendent Don Brittain suggested to him that the county commission consider giving direction to the planning commission to split the zoning debate “into two or three sections, and to look at the southeast corner first, where the natural boundaries are.”
(Read more: Local – The Hutchinson News)
County awards design services contract for Metcalf 2.0
The Metcalf 2.0 project to rehabilitate the busy Louisburg thoroughfare has taken another step forward.
The Miami County Commission on Wednesday, Nov. 20, awarded a contract for survey and design services to BG Consultants.
Seven firms submitted proposals for Metcalf 2.0, which is a joint project between Miami County and the city of Louisburg. A selection committee composed of staff and government officials with the county and city trimmed that list to three candidates. Based on the quality of the proposal and the bid price, BG Consultants emerged the frontrunner.
(Read more: The Miami County Republic)
Pottawatomie County Commission requests more information before approving design of Fleet Maintenance Facility; Limerick Ln. extension project encounters roadblock
Fleet Maintenance Facility
Although the final design and specifications for Pottawatomie County’s new Public Works Fleet Maintenance Facility have been completed, approval from the county commission will have to wait at least one more week.
“Commissioner (Pat) Weixelman asked a question about one of the particular pieces of the design relative to the wall design,” Peter Clark, the director of the public works department, said. “It has a CMU wall sitting on a slab foundation with a trench footing underneath that and he wanted some more detail about how the vapor barrier would work, specifically in that wall system so that it would keep thermal penetration and keep the condensation from happening inside the building.”
Commissioner Weixelman also asked for information on the capital-improvement-plan balance and end-of-year projections on transfers that could provide more funding for the project.
The commission decided to move $300,000 to the Capital Improvement Plan fund from the Road and Bridge Equipment fund and to keep $600,000 in the public works equipment reserve.
(Read more: 1350 KMAN)
Delayed bond payment did not appear to affect Lawrence’s bond rating
Commissioner Stuart Boley said recently that in October of 2014, the city missed making a bond payment that was due on city debt. The missed payment is the type of event that could cause the city to suffer a reduction in its bond rating, which would cause the city to pay higher interest rates on its millions of dollars in debt…
Finance Director Jeremy Willmoth, who was not with the city at the time of the incident, said he did find records that confirmed the missed bond payment. According to records, the city had a $46,951.11 interest payment due on Oct. 1, 2014, for a set of general obligation temporary notes — a type of short-term bond — that had been issued earlier that year.
However, the city did not make that payment on Oct. 1. The city did not make the payment until Dec. 15, 2014, after the city received a delinquency notice. …
Willmoth said he did not find any records indicating that the city had to pay a penalty for the late payment. He also didn’t find any records indicating that the city’s bond rating suffered as a result of the late payment. The 2014 temporary notes received the highest rating that Moody’s bond rating service provides for those kinds of bonds. A 2015 issuance of temporary notes by the city received the same rating. Boley, however, said the incident didn’t go completely unnoticed by the bond rating agencies. He said for the past five years, the city has had to disclose the missed payment among the reams of paperwork that are provided to potential bond buyers.
Read more: LJWorld.com.
Church Sues Lenexa For Denying Its Request To Operate A Homeless Shelter
A Lenexa church is suing the city for denying its request to use its building as a temporary homeless shelter.
Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church says the denial infringes on its exercise of religion, violating the Constitution, state law and federal law.
The church, at 9400 Pflumm Road, occupies a former elementary school building adjoining commercial and office properties, although the building is zoned residential single family.
The church recently partnered with Project 1020, a nonprofit that provides temporary housing to homeless people, to provide overnight shelter for up to 40 homeless individuals per night from December through March.
(Read more: Rural Messenger)
For some rural US TV viewers, local news is anything but
When Dianne Johnson channel-surfs for news in her rural western Nebraska home, all she sees are stories about Colorado crime and car crashes from a Denver television station more than 200 miles away.
It’s frustrating for the 61-year-old rancher, who wants to know the latest developments in Nebraska politics and sports. When floods devastated huge swaths of Nebraska this year, Johnson struggled to keep tabs on what was happening.
“If we actually had local news, we would watch it,” she said. “But all we get is Colorado drug busts and stories about who got murdered in Denver. It has nothing to do with us.”
Johnson is among an estimated 870,000 households nationwide that receive at least one distant network affiliate’s feed from their satellite TV service providers because they don’t live close enough to get conventional over-the-air signals.
(Read more: KSN-TV)
12 years after Greensburg, rebuilding as been a mixed success
A dozen years after a tornado nearly wiped out Greensburg, city leaders acknowledge that the decision to rebuild as quote “the greenest community in America” has been a mixed success.
The E5 tornado that touched down May 4 2007, killed 11 people and destroyed most of Greensburg.
The Kansas news service is reporting that the decision to rebuild in an environmentally friendly way was to set itself apart from other rural towns.
City administrator, Stacy Barnes acknowledges some expectations at the time were unrealistic but says the town continues to work on projects, and she remains optimistic about the town’s future.
(Read more: KSN-TV)
Badges and Burgers
The Pittsburg Fire and Police Departments Fire Up the grill to help kids in the neighborhood. It was the annual badges and burgers event. This year, the proceeds go to the Children’s Advocacy Center. The center provides child safety specialists who serve children in Pittsburg.
(Read more: KSNF/KODE – FourStatesHomepage.com)
Lenexa exempting itself from state law requirement for official city newspapers
The city of Lenexa no longer has The Olathe News as an official city newspaper for publishing legal notices. City leaders have agreed to exempt Lenexa from K.S.A 64-101, the state law regarding official city newspapers. And The Johnson County Legal Record is now the only official publication for Lenexa’s public notices.
In 1997, the city had passed a charter ordinance exempting itself from the state law so it could designate multiple newspapers by resolution. At that time, The Johnson County Legal Record and The Olathe Daily News (renamed The Olathe News in 2009) became Lenexa’s official newspapers.
Since then, The Kansas City Star has acquired The Olathe News, and now the publication no longer meets state law requirements because the Star is published out of state. To be considered an official city newspaper of Lenexa, a publication must be circulated on a regular basis and must be published in Johnson County, or at least in the state of Kansas.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post – Neighborhood news and events for Prairie Village, Fairway, Mission Hills)
County takes step toward creating Family Park master plan
A comprehensive master plan for southwest Topeka’s Family Park, featuring trails and pickleball courts, should be complete in three to five months, Shawnee County parks and recreation director Tim Laurent said Monday.
He spoke after County Commissioners Bill Riphahn, Kevin Cook and Aaron Mays voted 3-0 Monday morning to solicit proposals from qualified companies interested in contracting with the county to develop that plan at a cost not to exceed $71,000, while accepting input both from the public and from Laurent’s department.
The master plan is to cover matters that include design, layout and future maintenance of the park, which will be located just south of Midwest Health Aquatic Center, 2201 S.W. Urish Road, according to a document in the agenda packet for Monday’s meeting.
(Read more: Local – The Topeka Capital-Journal)
Wichita will receive $14.2 million grant to replace transit center
The City of Wichita will receive $14.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to build a replacement transit center to meet current and future regional transportation needs. The building will connect 17 bus routes, four circulator trolleys, commuter transit and boost economic development in the West Bank area of the Arkansas River.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao today announced that the Federal Transit Administration will award $423 million in transit infrastructure grants nationwide to improve the safety and reliability of America’s bus systems and enhance mobility for transit riders. A list of the selected projects is available online.
“Public bus systems throughout the country provide millions of Americans access to jobs, healthcare, grocery stores, and other vital services,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.
(Read more: KSN-TV)
Barton County extends rent-free agreements for two agencies
As a means of community support, the Cottonwood Extension Council and the State of Kansas Parole Office are housed in the county office building at 1208 Kansas in Great Bend. Each agency gets to stay there rent free but reimburses Barton County for a portion of the building’s utility costs.
“They pay their utilities and phone system costs,” said Barton County Administrator Phil Hathcock.
For years, the county has extended office space to these two agencies rent free because they are taxing agencies. If Barton County started charging rent, then the agencies would have to raise their taxes to pay the county.
(Read more: Great Bend Post)
Commission approves 2020 funding for senior centers
Butler County commissioners unanimously approved contracts for senior centers within the county at their Nov. 19 meeting. Senior centers within Butler County will receive a slight increase in funding budgeted by the commission for fiscal year 2020.
“We try to budget in a slight increase annually based on what we can afford within the budget,” William Johnson Jr., Butler County administrator, said.
Funding for FY2020 is as follows, according to the meeting agenda found on www.bucoks.com: Senior clubs level II — Benton $2,300, Whitewater $4,000; Senior centers level I — Cassoday $9,200, Towanda $11,200; Senior centers level II — Douglass $31,800; Multi-purpose senior centers level I — Andover $36,500, Leon $35,500, Rose Hill $34,100; Multi-purpose senior centers level II — Augusta $46,130, El Dorado $48,680; Grand total — $259,410.
(Read more: andoveramerican.com)
Pawnee Mental Health receives USDA grant to expand telemedicine and rural access to mental health
Rural access to mental health care is expanding in Kansas thanks to a $42.5 million US Department of Agriculture grant announced last week.
Those dollars are being invested in 133 distance learning and telemedicine projects including Manhattan-based Pawnee Mental Health Services. Executive Director Robbin Cole says Pawnee was awarded nearly $500,000 to expand video conferencing services to Jewell, Mitchell and Washington counties in north-central Kansas.
“With this grant, we’ll be able to place equipment in those offices as well as the county health departments in those counties to enable residents to receive the mental health services that they need five days a week,” Cole said.
(Read more: 1350 KMAN)
2019 local consult meetings wrap up in Liberal and Colby
(Read more: Kansas Transportation)
Derby residents concerned about littering from free newspapers left in yards
The City of Derby says The Wichita Eagle’s free newspaper, Neighbors, is distributed to approximately 6,800 households each week.
Some residents, like Nick Sharp, are concerned that the paper is causing littering in the city.
“It’s just accumulating more trash, you know. You got plastic bags that aren’t recyclable,” Sharp said.”Its just more stuff going to the landfill that nobody wanted in the first place.”
(Read more: KWCH News)
UG Commission approves up to $100 million in IRBs for PQ plant expansion
The Unified Government Commission, on an 8-0 unanimous vote, approved issuing up to $100 million in industrial revenue bonds for the PQ Corp. on Thursday night.
PQ-Zeolyst is expanding its industrial operations at 1700 Kansas Ave., in Kansas City, Kansas. The company makes catalysts that are used by other companies to help the environment, according to UG information.
During a public hearing continued from the last UG Commission meeting, only two persons spoke, the same who appeared last week, Janice Witt and Tscher Manck. Witt opposed the IRBs, stating basically the same thing as last week.
(Read more: Welcome to Wyandotte Daily!)
The Troubling Decline in City Revenue Growth
The most startling conclusion of The National League of Cities’ new fiscal conditions report was that revenue growth “stalled” last year and that this trend has continued—creating real problems for city budgets.
This came as a particular shock to us because gross domestic product from coast to coast continues to grow. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, “Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased in all fifty states in the first quarter of 2019.”
So, the question emerges: While the economy has remained healthy, why are so many cities experiencing revenue growth stagnation or even declines? Columbia, Missouri (population 122,000), for example, saw annual growth in sales tax revenues of 5.8 percent in 2011, but just 1 percent growth in 2018. The city’s budget report last year noted, “Sales tax growth has been historically low for the last four years. These revenue challenges appear to be long term problems.”
(Read more: Route Fifty – All Content)
Kansas college hopes to grow wine industry within state
A community college in Kansas hopes to promote the winery industry in the state by providing space and resources for small wineries getting started in the business.
Highland Community College at Wamego opened a wine incubator called 456 Wineries last month. Director Scott Kohl said Highland received a federal grant in 2016 to start it.
Kohl said 456 Wineries is a part of the school’s viticulture or grape-growing program and enology or wine-making program.
(Read more: KAKE – News)
Southeast Kansas lags behind state unemployment average
The Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released preliminary October unemployment rate estimates this week, noting they reached a new low. In southeast Kansas, however, unemployment remains higher than the statewide average.
“Kansans can recognize two important milestones this month. The unemployment rate fell to 3.1 percent in October, the lowest rate in 40 years. April 1979 was the last month the unemployment rate was 3.1 percent,” Kansas Secretary of Labor DelÍa GarcÍa said in a release. “Additionally, October established a record high level in the number of Kansans working.”
While Kansas’ overall unemployment rate may be declining, among 15 counties in the southeast corner of the state — Greenwood, Coffey, Anderson, Linn, Woodson, Allen, Bourbon, Elk, Wilson, Neosho, Crawford, Chautauqua, Montgomery, Labette and Cherokee — the average unemployment rate was closer to 3.5 percent.
(Read more: Leavenworth Times)