When it comes to the Salina economy, there’s a little bad news.Overall, the city’s prospects are booming. The bad news is the coronavirus pandemic. "The 800-pound gorilla is the COVID," said Mitch Robinson, executive director of the Salina Community Economic Development Council. "We’re going to have to live with it, for how long we don’t know." Motels, hotels and restaurants have taken a real hit, said Robinson…
Source: News – Salina Journal
Samantha Garrett grew up in Crawford County, attending Southeast High School and Pittsburg State, where she graduated in December of 2018 before taking a job as marketing manager for Jock’s Nitch Sporting Goods. In the past couple of months, though, Garrett has taken on a set of responsibilities that are new not only to her, but also to her new employer — which is technically every citizen in the county. Since mid-August, Garrett has been Crawford County’s public information officer — a position that did not exist before she took the job, and which was created primarily in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as county officials saw a need to improve communication with the public.
Source: Pittsburg Morning Sun
Pittsburg could benefit from building a $24 million, nearly 50,000 square foot conference center, a consulting firm hired by the city and Crawford County told the city commission this week ."You’ll recall back in April we talked a little bit about a big gap in our hospitality industry that has really become a big driving force of our local economy, and that gap is the lack of an adjoined hotel-conference space here in our community," …
Source: Pittsburg Morning Sun
The Lawrence Community Police Review Board is moving forward on changes to strengthen oversight of complaints against police and to ensure that more information about complaints is available to the public. As part of its meeting Wednesday, the board voted unanimously to advance the draft of a new ordinance laying out the board’s powers for a final legal review with city attorneys. A division of the police department, the Office of Professional Accountability, decides what constitutes a complaint and conducts the investigation, and board members agreed that it was critical for the board to be able to request an independent investigation if the board disagrees with the conclusion of the police department’s investigation.
Source: LJWorld.com.
City of Lawrence residents whose income has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic can soon apply for assistance in paying their city utility bill. The city has been awarded $500,000 from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES, for an assistance program to help utility customers with economic hardship due to COVID-19. The program will help residents cover utility bills incurred between March 1 and Dec. 10, and will begin accepting applications on Nov. 1, according to a city staff memo.
Source: LJWorld.com.
After 22 months away, Merriam Police Cpl. Phil Lewis has returned to work following treatment for colon cancer. It was a long road back, because Lewis suffered a series of medical setbacks after being diagnosed in January 2019. “Unfortunately, nothing went as planned, and I experienced a lot of complications from the numerous surgeries and treatments I had,” the 17-year police veteran said in a news release. “Although my recovery was anything but routine, it was successful, and I am now cancer-free.”
Source: KC Star Local News
City leaders have approved tax breaks and other economic incentives for a project that will bring a pretzel production facility and close to 300 jobs to Lawrence. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission voted unanimously to approve an approximately $4.4 million economic incentives package for VanTrust Real Estate for an approximately 150,000-square-foot production facility for Indiana-based Pretzels Inc., which is expanding its operations to Lawrence.
Source: LJWorld.com.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development State Director for Kansas Lynne Hinrichsen today announced that USDA is investing $31,900 toward a new backhoe for the city of Glasco…. The city of Glasco will use the $31,900 grant to assist with purchasing a John Deere backhoe for the Glasco Public Works Department. This project will allow the city to have reliable equipment to continue providing maintenance services for its nearly 500 residents, including fixing the streets, water line leaks, moving rocks and snow, among other projects. This community partnership is made possible by the additional contribution by the applicant of $26,100.
The decimated municipal-bond insurance industry is having a renaissance. Weakened by Covid-19, state and local borrowers are using insurance at their highest rates in more than a decade. This type of upfront protection offers a promise from insurance companies to pay investors if the municipality defaults. Overall, the share of newly issued muni debt carrying insurance reached 7.13% in the second quarter and was 6.8% in the third quarter, up from an average of 4.72% in the decade before the pandemic, according to Municipal Market Analytics data. Fueling the trend is a drop in local government creditworthiness that has left public officials looking for ways to keep down borrowing costs.
Source: WSJ.
Arkansas City commissioners approved a special tax incentive Tuesday in hopes of luring builders to the new Compass Point housing development. A proposal presented to the commission called for a 90-percent tax rebate on the first $150,000 property value for 10 years. That is an increase over the city’s current tax rebate program, which allows 75 percent for seven years. After a brief discussion, elected officials approved the resolution, but also raised the property value cap to $250,000.
Source: The Arkansas City Traveler
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