According to Adam Harrison, the human resources and finance officer for the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, recruitment and retention of correctional officers (COs) is an “uphill battle.” “Working 12-hour shifts with violent offenders,” Harrison told the county commission, “our application pool is practically non-existent.” Harrison added that 70 percent of the applicants the department does receive are disqualified because they fail the urinalysis, polygraph, or background checks. To increase interest, Harrison proposed an increase in starting pay from $16.67 an hour to $18 an hour, a raise of $1.33 per hour. Officers typically work 2080 regular and overtime hours per year, and the proposed raise would increase payroll by $7,800 each month.
Read more: -Morning Sun

McPherson USD 418 has opened an online survey to provide additional feedback on facility planning for the district. This follows up on the work of a facility study committee, open houses held in October, and a phone survey commissioned by the district. The survey, which is being managed by ExcellenceK12, a company which works with school districts on community research, and should take about 3-5 minutes to complete.
Read more: Ad Astra Radio | Your Hometown Radio Stations & Local News Source

Halstead City Council authorized city staff to sign paperwork and send $136,000 to the Kansas Department of Transportation for the city’s portion of the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) improvement project. The amount represents the city’s 20 percent match for the grant originally awarded by KDOT in July 2022. Anticipated costs for construction engineering, construction, and inspection costs per the accepted bids on the project are $678,227. City Manager Ethan Reimer said the next step will be to meet with the contractor and get anticipated construction dates. He said it will mostly be five-foot-wide sidewalks running on the north side of Sixth Street from Spruce to West and on Chestnut from the United Methodist Church south to Tenth Street. Also included in the project is changing Sixth Street from four lanes to two dedicated bike lanes, a middle turn lane, and two driving lanes. Crosswalks will be updated with signage. The crosswalks in front of the high school will be moved to Santa Fe, based on the traffic patterns of kids, according to Reimer.
Read more: Harvey County Now

North Newton now will have a parks and recreation committee. That’s after the North Newton City Council voted 4-0 in favor of establishing the group at its regular monthly meeting on Monday night. “The creation of a parks and recreation committee, which focuses on advising the city council on how to best utilize and improve the city’s parks, trails and open spaces, was identified as a productive way to fulfill some of the outcomes in our strategic plan,” City Administrator Brad Harris said at the meeting. “This ordinance will establish a group of four residents, selected by the mayor, and a council liaison member to engage in this work. The committee will meet regularly and serve in an advisory role, and its recommendations and findings will be presented to the city council for consideration.”
Read more: Harvey County Now

The room was packed and hot, both in temperature and in palpable anger. It was just a regular meeting of the Olathe Planning Commission in late 2024. But on this agenda, a Michigan-based developer called Magnus Capital Partners LLC wanted to rezone a 14-acre property west of 161st Street and Mur-Len Road for mixed-use development featuring what was referred to as “workforce housing.” The developer said the project, called HōM Flats, would be geared toward the young professional making between $50,000 and $85,000 annually, with 200 or so apartments proposed in all. Roughly a dozen neighbors spoke in opposition to the project during the public hearing. The reasons they gave ran the gamut: Fears about traffic, crime, property values, the degradation of the views from their property, etc. There was one common thread, though: HōM Flats wouldn’t be the right fit for the existing character of the neighborhood, one of the eight Golden Criteria based on a 1978 Kansas Supreme Court ruling.
Read more: Johnson County Post

Local officials, prospective homebuyers and industry experts largely agree that Johnson County doesn’t have enough housing, which often squeezes prospective homebuyers or puts renters in unsustainable living situations. Johnson County’s 2021 housing study painted a concerning picture of the situation, and in the intervening years, the county’s housing shortage has only gotten worse. The Post found that through 2024, there was a 3,500-unit deficit in new housing development across Johnson County, compared to the housing study’s goals. And, the process of getting new housing projects planned, approved and eventually built can be so cumbersome that such developments are functionally dead on arrival.
Read more: Johnson County Post