‘It’s our right.’ Residents seek their own town outside controversial JoCo warehouses

They don’t need their own City Hall, but residents of what would become the newest town in Kansas said they must establish their own city limits to protect their endangered rural lifestyles. Dozens of those who live in the unincorporated outskirts of a sprawling industrial park in southwestern Johnson County asked to form their own city in hopes of stopping — or at least slowing — the ever-encroaching development of industrial warehouses. Opposition to the massive Logistics Park Kansas City intermodal facility has been brewing for months. But it has only boiled over as the industrial park hopped over Interstate 35, coming closer to the rural homes that people bought to be surrounded by fields and pasture — not giant warehouses and semi trucks.
Source: Joco 913 News

2021-06-24T07:58:37-05:00June 24, 2021|News|

Despite consultant’s recommendation, this Johnson County pool will open for summer

The Lenexa City Council has rejected a consulting firm’s recommendation to close Ad Astra Pool near 83rd Street and Maurer Road. Instead, council members committed to maintaining an aquatics facility at that location. The June 15 action was a victory for residents who had mounted an online petition in 2019 after an earlier attempt to close the pool, won a reprieve and continued to advocate for Ad Astra as the city scoped out an aquatics strategy for the future. Ad Astra had been targeted for closure because of its poor condition and high cost to renovate; stability issues on the site; a lack of visibility, access and room to expand; and its distance of only a mile to Indian Trails Aquatic Center, which is centrally located in Lenexa’s most densely populated area.
Source: Joco 913 News

2021-06-24T07:58:06-05:00June 24, 2021|News|

Bird scooters could be headed to Prairie Village after council advances pilot proposal

Bird Scooters could start showing up in Prairie Village in the coming months after the city council this week gave preliminary approval to a pilot program for the dockless electric vehicles. Prairie Village is the latest Johnson County city to enter discussions with a scooter company about bringing the vehicles to their streets. Overland Park also recently advanced an e-scooter pilot. The scooters have become a popular means of getting around in urban areas across the country since Bird debuted in 2017. While they’ve been welcomed as a more environmentally friendly way to make short trips than a car, they also pose safety and clutter concerns.
Source: Prairie Village Post

2021-06-24T07:57:40-05:00June 24, 2021|News|

Mission Hills residents wanting play structures in their yards have 4 new guidelines to follow

The Mission Hills City Council has set new guidelines for yard play structures and clarified definitions for different types of residential play equipment. The city will now strongly recommend that residents who want to have play structures on their property follow four guidelines approved by the city council. The Architectural Review Board previously required a resident to move their play structure at the request of a rear neighbor, according to city documents.
Source: Prairie Village Post

2021-06-24T07:57:05-05:00June 24, 2021|News|

‘We have to pay for it’: DA’s office faces high turnover, low salaries, lots of work

Lawyers in the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office are making low wages for their field and taking on “insane” caseloads, DA Marc Bennett said Wednesday, adding that it’s affecting the office’s ability to hire and retain employees. Attorneys are increasingly leaving the job behind for other public sector legal positions with better incomes that can help them pay off their student loan debt, Bennett said. “It’s tough to keep the balling rolling and keep cases moving when you have that kind of turnover,” Bennett told county commissioners.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle

2021-06-24T07:55:42-05:00June 24, 2021|News|

Emporia commission discusses wage scale concerns for city staff

The Emporia City Commission began a discussion regarding wages scale increases for city workers during its joint study/action session Wednesday morning. Human resources director Jo Lynne Herron said that the last official compensation study was completed in 2007, and in that time the consumer price index had increased by 24%. There was only one wage increase for city staff during that period, a 2% cost of living adjustment in 2014. “We are 22%, 23% behind changing our wages since the last time we did a compensation study,” Herron said. “We looked at increasing that to get to what we could be, should be comparatively. That was prohibitive, costly. There was no way we could do that.”
Source: Emporia Gazette

2021-06-24T07:55:22-05:00June 24, 2021|News|

Johnson County cities change liquor laws to allow for Sunday morning sales of booze

Cities around northeast Johnson County are beginning to change their laws to allow for the purchase of beer and other alcoholic beverages at an earlier time on Sundays. The moves conform with a law passed by the Kansas Legislature earlier this year and signed by Gov. Laura Kelly, House Bill 2137. That law garnered attention this spring primarily for permanently allowing the sale of cocktails to-go, which was allowed last year on a temporary basis during the pandemic. But HB 2137 also allows for the sale of beer and alcoholic liquor to begin as early as 9 a.m. on Sundays. Previously, liquor license holders could not sell alcohol on Sundays until noon, a vestige of the state’s strict prohibition laws dating back to the 1800s.
Source: Shawnee Mission Post

2021-06-24T00:24:07-05:00June 24, 2021|News|

Sedgwick County to receive over $100M in COVID-19 funds, asks for input

Sedgwick County will receive $100,235,109 from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and is asking for the community’s input in how to spend it. ARPA was passed earlier this year to continue recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The county says the funds can be used provide financial support to individuals, families, and businesses, and cover specific costs for school and local governments. “Your participation in this brief summary will help the Sedgwick County Board of County Commissioners develop an effective spending plan that focuses these funds where they are needed the most,” the county said in a news release.
Source: KAKE – News

2021-06-23T22:27:21-05:00June 23, 2021|News|

Parsons OKs land bank plan

Land banks allow cities to hold property in trust for the purpose of transferring title to someone who will repurpose the land. The property involved usually has assessments and back property taxes attached, but as they come into land bank ownership, the taxes and fees are forgiven. Oftentimes on abandoned properties, those assessments and taxes go unpaid for several years until they are sold at a sheriff’s auction, at which time most of the taxes and fees are forgiven anyway after they sell for nominal prices. Having a land bank will allow the city to transfer such properties more quickly. “I consider this the opening salvo in a lot more programs to revitalize all the empty properties and the abandoned houses and everything in our town. This is the start. This is the first piece of the puzzle,” Commissioner Leland Crooks said.
Source: Parsons Sun

2021-06-24T07:31:19-05:00June 23, 2021|News|
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