City of Winfield offering rebates for electric car chargers

The City of Winfield is now offering rebates for customers who install level 2 electric car charging stations at their homes or businesses.

Customers can earn a rebate up to $1,500 for installing a charging station, according to information provided by Winfield City Manager Taggart Wall.

The car charging stations are a new addition to other rebate programs offered by the city.

“We are pleased to be on the front end of this evolving change in the electric industry,” Wall said.

(Read more: The Arkansas City Traveler)

Ranson Financial2019-12-01T18:02:16-06:00December 1, 2019|News|

Great Bend pitches two new entrance sign ideas for approval

The City of Great Bend and Great Bend Convention & Visitors Bureau pitched the possibility of adding two new entrance signs along the highways coming into the city.

For starters, the Great Bend CVB chose the two entrances with the most traffic to potentially put the signs. According to traffic counts, Great Bend’s two most-traveled entrances are coming in from the east on US 56 Highway or east 10^th Street and coming in from the north on US 281 or north Main Street.

CVB Director Christina Hayes says they narrowed down their sign selection for the two entrances.

“We asked Mark’s Custom Signs and B&B Metal Arts to throw some numbers and sign possibilities, and the CVB Board decided on the designs from Mark’s Custom Signs,” said Hayes.

(Read more: Great Bend Post)

Ranson Financial2019-12-01T17:59:19-06:00December 1, 2019|News|

Commissioners discuss bridge proposal

When they met this week, Leavenworth city commissioners considered a request for support for a project that could result in the construction of a new bridge across the Missouri River.

But city officials suggested following a process that would bring together various stakeholders and look at other transportation alternatives.

The issue was discussed Tuesday as city commissioners reviewed a letter sent from commissioners in the Leavenworth County government.

(Read more: Leavenworth Times)

Ranson Financial2019-12-01T17:57:02-06:00December 1, 2019|News|

Mayor, council to consider approving downtown TIF district

The school board for Topeka Unified School District 501 loomed last October as a potential threat to the creation of a tax-increment financing district to encourage development in downtown Topeka.

But that no longer appears to be the case as Topeka’s mayor and city council prepare Tuesday to consider establishing the Dynamic Core TIF District in an area bounded generally by S.W. Topeka Boulevard, S.W. 17th Street, S.E. Adams Street and the Kansas River.

The USD 501 board voted 6-1 on Nov. 21 to support creation of that district, provided the proposal involved is revised to include specific wording requested by the district. The dissenting vote was cast by board member Scott Mickelsen, who said he was philosophically opposed to TIF districts.

Ranson Financial2019-12-01T17:53:45-06:00December 1, 2019|News|

Topeka Metro bus service to reduce routes beginning Monday

The last trip of the day for Topeka Metro buses will come one hour earlier beginning Monday.

Those buses will finish their final runs between 6 and 7 p.m. instead of between 7 and 8 p.m., as they do now, Topeka Metro general manager Bob Nugent said Wednesday.

He acknowledged some people who currently use the day’s last bus to get to or from work will consequently no longer be able to do so.

Ranson Financial2019-12-01T17:51:11-06:00December 1, 2019|News|

Reno County will continue mosquito trapping in 2020 using local funding

State funding for mosquito monitoring won’t be available to Reno County next year, so the county health department plans to fund continued trapping of the insects from its budget.

Local health department officials, meanwhile – at the request of state health officials – plan to travel to Topeka during the upcoming session to make pitches to the governor and state lawmakers to add funding to the state’s fiscal 2021 budget to support mosquito monitoring and testing for mosquito-borne viruses.

(Read more: Local – The Hutchinson News)

Ranson Financial2019-12-01T21:29:46-06:00December 1, 2019|News|

New Beginnings Inc. building tiny houses to address big needs

In Hutchinson, it’s an economy house, not a tiny house.

“Tiny houses” conjures up images of the HGTV show and a house on wheels, according to Hutchinson associate planner Aaron Barlow.

“We use the term economy home,” he said.

The Hutchinson-based New Beginnings Inc., which addresses housing needs, envisions building three economy homes on a vacant lot at 15 W. 8th Ave. that it recently purchased from the Hutchinson Land Bank.

“We’re now in the design process,” said Shara Gonzales, president and CEO of New Beginnings. “We had to get the property first.”

(Read more: Local – The Hutchinson News)

Ranson Financial2019-12-01T21:30:26-06:00December 1, 2019|News|

Big settlement offered to wind farm foes

Expedition Wind, the company approved Nov. 15 to develop a wind farm in the southern portion of the county, has sent letters offering settlement to plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit opposing the project. The company offers various settlements, some as much as buying their property for 1½ times its value.
The offer would apply only to plaintiffs of a suit filed Aug. 14 in district court. The property purchase offer is only for those who live within the footprint of the wind farm.
Plaintiffs who live within a mile of the wind farm were offered an initial payment of $5,000 and annual payments of $2,000. Those who live up to five miles of the wind farm were offered a single payment of $2,500; and those more than 10 miles away a single payment of $1,000.
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(Read more: HILLSBORO Star-Journal)

Ranson Financial2019-12-01T21:28:01-06:00December 1, 2019|News|

Reno County in running for regional opioid response grant

Besides the CDC grant announced last week, the Reno County Health Department is also in the running for a $750,000 two-year multi-county grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance.

The grant would be used jointly by Reno, Harvey and Barton counties to address the opioid abuse crisis regionally, said Health Department Director Nick Baldetti.

“It’s not a sure thing, but we’ve got a legitimate shot at it,” Baldetti told the Reno County Commission on Tuesday.

That confidence comes from the fact the department was recently contacted by the federal agency to provide audited financials, to show it can manage a grant of that size, which is a vetting process beyond the initial application phase.

(Read more: Local – The Hutchinson News)

Ranson Financial2019-12-01T21:37:58-06:00December 1, 2019|News|

High-dollar art installations commissioned by the City of Lawrence begin to take shape

After a competitive process, artists have been selected to create some of the city’s highest-dollar public artwork in recent years.

The City of Lawrence has budgeted about $450,000, as part of its Percent for Art program, for three art installations at the newly renovated building that houses Fire Station No. 1 and the Senior Resource Center; the new police headquarters in northwestern Lawrence; and the new transit center on Bob Billings Parkway. Artists have been selected for the first two projects, and the selection process for the transit center is forthcoming.

The city has a long-standing resolution, enacted in 1986, that allows it to set aside up to 2% of a building project’s budget for public art, and the City Commission elected to allocate the funds as part of recent budgets.