Those who have yet to vote will have a chance to decide more than just elected officials in the coming days. There is a ballot initiative on the Harvey County ballot, asking voters whether or not to remove a county rule requiring establishments with a liquor license to earn at least 30 percent of their sales from selling food. The ballot question follows successful campaigns to remove the requirement in many counties across Kansas recently, including Reno, Butler and McPherson counties. Harvey County is the only county with such a requirement, compared to its neighbors, outside of Marion County. A vote yes on the ballot would remove the requirement. A vote no would maintain the requirement.
Source: Harvey County Now

The Halstead City Council considered a new gas agreement with Kansas Municipal Gas Agency that could potentially lock them into a 30-year agreement. City Manager Ethan Reimer introduced the council to a “pre-pay” proposal he received from Kansas Municipal Gas Agency. Reimer said the proposal was more of a dedicated discount than pre-paying for gas. The proposal would save about $33,000 per year. The length of the agreement would last 30 years, but the city would have the option to re-evaluate after five years.
Source: Harvey County Now

The latest scam has hit Sedgwick, with several people receiving calls from a person claiming to be Chief Bryan Hall, threatening the person and saying there are outstanding fines. “We received phone calls from a few people that said they didn’t answer for the unknown number and the person left a message, indicating it was a serious legal matter, that they identified themselves as Chief Bryan Hall and the number came in from our main number,” Hall said. “That’s something that people can use computers to clone numbers, but the number they left to call back was a Google number.” If something is suspicious, Hall wants the public to reach out and bring it to the police department attention. These scammers are ever-evolving, trying to steal money by changing tactics, whether it’s by phone or by email.
Source: Harvey County Now

Enrollment dropped for the Newton School District but funding levels are projected to increase for the next year. The Board of Education reviewed a presentation at its Monday night meeting. The district saw a decrease of 99 full-time equivalent students for this school year. Overall enrollment dropped from 3,130 to 3,030 or 3.2 percent. Budget-wise, the general fund is expected to increase from $21.3 to $22.5 million according to information in district documents presented at the Oct. 28 meeting.
Source: Harvey County Now