Municipal News & Jobs

Kansas Municipal News

Labette County officials hold special session to appoint replacement county clerk

The Labette County Republican Party is holding a special session Monday night to choose a successor for the county clerk.

Peggy Minor has been working for Labette County since 1986 and assumed her role as County Clerk back in 2013. Minor will be retiring from her position early with more than a year left in her term.

Monday night, the Labette County Republican Party members will nominate her successor, who will assume the role on December 1st.

Deputy County Clerk Gena Landis has expressed her interest in taking on the role.

City’s RFP for river ideas closed; so what happened?

The city’s request for proposals to activate the Arkansas River did not get the response that Troy Houtman, director of the Park and Recreation Department, wanted.

“I got one proposal,” he says.

It was from the same person who Houtman told Have You Heard? about last week, and that’s someone who wants a party barge on the river, which would require hundreds of millions of dollars to dredge the river.

(Read more: Wichita Eagle)

Garden City Community College Named One of Top 50 Schools in the US for Transferring

Garden City Community College has been named one of Student Loan Hero’s top 50 schools in the country for successful transfer from community college to four-year university.

The rankings were based on transfer-out and graduation rates of students attending public two-year schools that grant less than half of their degrees and certifications for career or vocational training. GCCC shares a 17^th place ranking with eight other two-year institutions, putting it in the top 25 out of 513 community colleges ranked overall.

GCCC Vice President of Instruction Marc Malone said the rankings confirm what administrators like himself already know about transfer success and the long-term benefits of an associate degree.

(Read more: Western Kansas News)

Kansas Bets On Wrestling Tournaments, Pickleball And Trampolines With $25 Million In Bonds

On the last day of September, a bulldozer scooped dirt from an empty field between a hotel and a fence separating the land from a house-lined street in Garden City.

In 18-24 months, a massive $41 million sports complex, called Sports of the World, is slated to open at this site, with courts of all kinds — pickleball, basketball, volleyball. There’ll be a trampoline park and an outdoor recreation area with cornhole and a life-sized Battleship game. It’s expected to host cheerleading, wrestling and other sports tournaments, drawing in people from Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas.

“People will travel up to two hours to eat at a restaurant,” said Molly Basham, the marketing director for American Warrior Construction, which is building Sports of the World. “So we’re trying as hard as we can to develop and make southwest Kansas the destination for our entire region.”

(Read more: RSS Feed)

8 Kansas counties urged to upgrade their voting equipment

A handful of Kansas counties are being urged to upgrade their voting machines to a voting system that creates a paper record of each vote.

The Topeka Capitol-Journal reports the American Association for the Advancement of Science urged Geary, Grant, Greeley, Hamilton, Harvey, Sumner, Wallace and Wilson counties to upgrade to newer voting machines.

Those eight counties currently use voting machines that record voter choices electronically without creating a paper record.

Katie Koupal with the Kansas Secretary of State’s office says fewer than 10 of the state’s 105 counties use election equipment that doesn’t create a paper trail. She says several counties are planning to buy new equipment before next year’s presidential elections.

(Read more: KWCH News)

Spring Hill welcomes new leaders in Public Works, Police

Public Works has a new leader at the helm.

Jim Boyer will take over the department, which consists of the Streets, Parks and Utilities divisions. Boyer was appointed by Mayor Steven Ellis at the Oct. 10 City Council meeting.

Boyer is no stranger to Spring Hill, having served in a variety of positions within the City for eight and a half years. Previously, he held the titles of City Superintendent, Line Maintenance Supervisor, Wastewater Collections Supervisor and, most recently, Utility Superintendent.

(Read more: City of Spring Hill news)

From highways to quilts: KDOT employee uses engineering skills to design and create

Joyce Muhlenbruch, KDOT’s Area Construction Engineer in Dodge City, was recently featured in the Dodge City Daily Globe, but it wasn’t for her ability to highway engineering skills It was for her ability and talent for designing and engineering breathtaking quilts.

Muhlenbruch says there were always quilting and sewing projects in their home when she was growing up in Hanoverton, Ohio. She learned to sew by the time she was five and was quilting with the church ladies by the time she was in middle school.

However, she didn’t make her first quilt until she was expecting her first child. She decided to make a Raggedy Ann and Andy quilt with a denim back, which she hand-pieced and quilted herself.

(Read more: Kansas Transportation)

Geary Community Hospital officials identify key issues for potential county commission assistance for the hospital

This past week officials from Geary Community Hospital issued challenges to the Geary County Commission. A member of the governing body, Ben Bennett, said one is to advocate for medicaid expansion. “We’ve advocated for that with our elected representatives for the last year. Hopefully that will give us some relief from the non-paying public that we have to serve.”

In the past officials have estimated that could mean one million dollars per year for Geary Community Hospital, if medicaid expansion is approved by the legislature.

Another challenge involved discussion of a possible future property tax increase support the hospital. Bennett stated that can be done but to do it there are some statutory restrictions on the commission. “And that’s not something that we I know have been very receptive of because of our challenges that we have in the county.” Bennett added the hospital is important to them but the county would have to be prudent.

(Read more: Junction City Post)

County health plan seeks to deal with suicides, food deserts

Decreasing suicides and reducing the number of households that struggle to get enough food are among goals of a recently created health improvement plan for Shawnee County.

The county health department is working to mobilize and engage community organizations and other government entities — including school districts — to team up with the county to address issues spotlighted in that 2020-2022 Community Health Improvement Plan, the county’s community health planner, Susan Caman, said Monday.

“I hope that this plan is a foundation for the start of those collaborations,” Caman told county commissioners Bill Riphahn, Kevin Cook and Aaron Mays.

Caman made a presentation at Monday’s commission meeting about the 45-page plan, which can be found on the county’s website.

German delegation visits Lawrence to celebrate 30th anniversary of Sister Cities program

The world seems a little smaller thanks to a now 30-year relationship between Lawrence and its German sister city.

The program has sent hundreds of students to live with host families in both countries, has facilitated regular visits from delegates, and has even led to at least three marriages, according to Sister Cities Lawrence Chair Bill Keel, who is also a University of Kansas German professor. But Keel, who has been involved with the related Friends of Eutin program since its beginning, said the biggest benefit was the perspective it brought to the individual participants.

Lawrence seeking feedback on desired developments in low-income ‘opportunity zones’

The public will soon be able to provide input on what developments they would like to see in low-income areas of the city that have been designated as federal opportunity zones.

There are two Lawrence census tracts designated as opportunity zones, and developments within their limits are eligible for tax incentives under a provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. One of the opportunity zones encompasses all or part of three eastern Lawrence neighborhoods, and neighborhood groups have pressed for more local discussion and input regarding the program.

Deputy vs. deer highlights fall hazard

Cowley County law enforcement are warning drivers to be aware of deer near roadways now that the mating season is in full swing.
Not even sheriff deputies can escape the wildlife darting in front of them.
A Cowley deputy struck a deer at 11:40 p.m. Wednesday night in the 11000 block of 322nd Road, near the Kansas-Oklahoma border.
advertisement
The deer caused damage to the driver-side fender and door areas leaving minor damage. The deputy wasn’t injured, according to a report.

Tiny house project has big impact for small schools

Under the watchful eyes of their teachers, students drilled dozens of screws into metal frame after metal frame Wednesday morning at Ness City High School as they began a project that will provide vacation housing in Colorado and experience that will last the students a lifetime.

While 6A and 5A schools like Hutchinson and McPherson take on large building projects and complete an entire house over the school year, that’s not feasible for smaller schools like Ness City.

Instead, these mostly 3A, 2A and 1A schools are taking on a 3-1A-sized building project — tiny houses.

(Read more: Local – The Hutchinson News)

Kansas farmers use tech to save water, increase growth

Father and son Ryan and Eugene Goering of Moundridge grow corn, soy and wheat. In the past, this team tried a variety of ways to save on output and to grow smarter. They used a few probes to decide how dry the soil was, and they used an app to determine their crop output by location.

But they knew they had more to learn. Last year, when they heard about the Kansas Water Office’s Water Technology Farm program, they applied.

With the help of KWO, manufacturers, the Kansas Corn Commission and Kansas State University, the Goerings restructured their pivot system, making half of the seven towers a control unit and reframing the other half with a variety of nozzles. The pivots were fitted with different output nozzles, in a variety of configurations and lengths of tube. Some were orange, others blue, and several were black — but most importantly, they ranged in height and output. The Goerings also decreased the amount of water per pass and lowered the water pressure from 20 pounds to 6 pounds.

(Read more: Local – The Hutchinson News)

USD 489 foundation to raise money for security upgrades through dinner, auction

Tickets are now available for the second annual Hays USD 489 Dinner Show and Auction.

Proceeds raised through the auction and dinner in part will be used to fund the completion of the district’s secure entrance project. The second phase of this project will include adding audio and video systems. This will allow office staff to speak to and see visitors before they are buzzed into school buildings.

“It’s going to give a better view of who the person actually is as opposed to looking 10 or 15 feet through the door. It is going to give a better visual of who the person is and allow us to communicate with them if we have some questions,” Superintendent Ron Wilson said.

(Read more: Hays Post)

Reno County Republicans make their pick for a new sheriff

Thursday night, the Reno County Republican Party had to make a choice between two current members of the Reno County Sheriff’s Office to fill the position as sheriff. The two choices, were Captain Darrian Campbell who currently heads the patrol division and Captain Steve Lutz who heads the detective division.

By a close vote of 23-18, Captain Darrian Campbell was selected by the Republicans and his name will be sent to the Governor to complete the process.

The current sheriff Randy Henderson will retire and Campbell will then be the new sheriff on Dec. 28.

(Read more: Hutch Post)

USD 308 Board to consider further improvements to sports complex

The Hutchinson USD 308 School Board will consider further improvements to the USD 308 Soccer complex during Monday’s meeting. The district wants to make improvements to more fields and the one baseball practice field.

The project includes regrading the fields, installing new irrigation and then planting turf. The work will start with the two south soccer fields in the spring and the two north fields next fall.

The work will be done by Turf Solution who was also the contractor for the main soccer field renovation last year. The cost of the project is about $392-thousand along with an annual maintenance contract that is expected to cost less than $50-thousand per year.

(Read more: Hutch Post)

Hutch USD 308 to consider soccer fields upgrade

The Hutchinson Unified School District 308 Board of Education will consider at its 6 p.m. Monday meeting at the Administration Center, 1520 N. Plum St., a proposal to spend $392,356 on a soccer practice fields renovation project.

This represents Phase II and Phase III of the overall project.

Phase I included renovation of the soccer game field, as well as the baseball practice infield, and carried a cost of $351,269 when it came to the board in June 2018. It won approval on a 4-3 vote. Voting for that capital outlay expenditure were: Tad Dower, Valarie Gibson-Smith, Lance Patterson and Anette Roberson. Voting no were: Kail Denison, Greg Meredith and Randall Gray.

(Read more: News – The Hutchinson News)

Work begins at future King of Freight office building in WaterWalk

After sitting vacant since Gander Mountain closed in 2017, the riverfront WaterWalk building will soon have some movement inside.

A building permit recently pulled by JACO General Contractor Inc. shows that $500,000 of tenant improvements are about to begin at 605 S. Wichita.

In May, the Wichita City Council approved an amended ground lease that cleared the way for King of Freight LLC to become the new tenant in the former Gander Mountain building. City documents showed the fast-growing freight brokerage had plans to turn it into the company’s new Wichita headquarters.

(Read more: Wichita Business Journal)

‘Annexation bonanza’ as city adds 500 acres

The city of Gardner, in what one councilmember described as an “annexation bonanza,” annexed almost 500 acres of land south of Interstate 35 during a council meeting Oct. 7.
The city also approved a major development agreement with a developer who plans to build retail, commercial and residential properties on parts of newly annexed lands.
The council approved a motion to annex 82 acres located along the north side of 199th street and south of I-35.
The council also approved a voluntary consent annexation of a series of parcels of land located along 199th street after receiving voluntary annexation requests from several property owners in the unincorporated area.

(Read more: Gardner News)